pily:)y Tyrooo, Wqrro Springs, Oregon. Mjrchj jQOI
THE CONFEDERATED LANGUAGE LESSON-
Language Update
News from Culture and
Heritage Department
Myra Shawaway
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Busy! Busy! Busy!! Our program has
become involved with the Legislative
Sessions going on at the Oregon State
Capitol. It truly has been a learning ex
perience for our staff on how laws are
made within the State of Oregon. And it
will be experiences that can be passed
on to our children and their children.
As Senator Avel Gordly stated, This is a
moment in history that is occurring to
day! The Culture and HeritageLanguage Pro
gram is very proud to be a part of a new
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Senate Bill 690 that will recognize our
elders and fluent speakers as very im
portant teachers in our communities for
the education of our children. The Bill
will make it clear that the Teachers
Standards and Practices Commission will
be, in coordination with Tribes, respon
sible to develop a Teachers Certificate
specifically for our people to teach our
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Early January, 2001, the Culture and
Heritage Director sent an e-mail to tribal
lobbyist, Michael Mason, asking the
question What would it take to have an
Oregon Bill similar to a Nebraska Bill that
was passed regarding Native American
Language Teacher Certification? It has
been a goal for the program to have our
language instructors certified to teach
the languages and be recognized as an
important part of cultural learning in
to the full Senate floor and to the House
of Representatives before the bill be
comes law.
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languages in schools, colleges, and other
avenues of learning. This will bring
recognition by state and institutes of
learning that our tribal languages and
cultures are an integral part of our
childrens' social development to suc
ceed in schools and remain grounded to
reach higher levels of achievement.
Teachers. Senator Clarno and Senator
Brown sponsored the bill with several
other Senators in support. Myra, Suzie,
Pat, Deanie, Madeline and Gladys gave
testimony in behalf of the Tribe support
ing the bill. Umatilla Tribe, Burns-Paiute,
and Grand Rhond also gave supporting
testimony on the bill. It truly was a his
toric moment to see all the people from
tribes in Oregon come together and sup
port one another in this great occasion.
The Senators were overwhelmed with the
support displayed at the hearing and
passed the bill unopposed. It will now go
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classrooms. We have always had a desire
to publicly recognize that our elders and
fluent speakers are the links that need to
be connected with our children, for
maintaining our self-identities and to
renew our cultural strengths. It was a
wonderful surprise that there were Sena
tors that also supported the idea, and
chose to support the effort; for, low and
behold two months later, our program
was at the State Capitol.
On March 8, 2001, several Elders and
tribal members attended the Senate Edu
cation Committee hearing that intro
duced Senate Bill 690, a bill that would
recognize and certify Native Language
The Culture and Heritage Department
has also been involved with Senate Bill
844 and Senate Joint Memorial 3, which
both relate to having all Oregon geo
graphic sites that have the name squaw
dropped and renamed a different name.
It will involve Oregon tribes in the pro
cess of re-naming some of the sites. We
currently are looking for suggestions for
sites in the Willamette Forest that have
the name Squaw Mountain and Squaw
Creek, which we understand are former
campsites of Charley Tufti and Jim
Winishut. We would appreciate those
families who are descendants of these
families to have input in renaming of
these areas. It would be great to hear
stories from these areas, if families are
willing to share. Please call our depart
ment at 553-3290 if you have comments
or suggestions on either of these issues.
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It is our hope that if both of these bill
pass the House and Senate and eventu
ally become law, that the signing cer
emony that happens at the Governors
office be open to those that came and
supported the issues at the State Capitol.
We will do our best to keep the commu
nity informed of the process, and up
dated in a timely manner that will allow
for those who would like to follow the
issues as closely as possible.
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