Ruby Peter has been a tireless advocate for Hul’q’umi’num language protection and preservation for many decades. What Was Said to Me is an educational and timely read.Ĭowichan Elder Sti’tum’atul’wut Mrs. She worked with the Native Indian Teacher Education Program at the University of British Columbia, working tirelessly to get a diploma program off the ground. Her work resulted in many well-deserved accolades including honourary doctorate degrees from the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University.

Later in life Sti’tum’atul’wut became a tireless advocate for indigenous language preservation. The children would encircle, and I would tell them stories, but away from the nuns where they couldn’t hear, because if they heard me speaking Indian, the children and myself would have been punished.” Sti’tum’atul’wut “…I used to tell the stories in Indian but always in a hushed voice because the Sisters were around. This is something that is personally impactful and will remain front of mind. According to Sti’tum’atul’wut Indigenous children who escaped the Residential School System still experienced the pressure to abandon their heritage. Her thoughts on the residential school system and its role in erasing the history of Indigenous Peoples are timely and speak to the generational trauma that continues today. Her relationship with her mother, including lessons on the importance of imparting knowledge and traditions to benefit future generations, is prominent throughout. The book concludes with her work later in life advocating for the preservation of her language by ensuring it is written and shared.

Stories spanning decades are told covering Sti’tum’atul’wut’s childhood learning the traditional way of life from her mother and other Elders in the community. As I read, I had to remind myself of that and accept it for what it is meant to be. This reads very differently from other memoirs or biographies I’ve encountered. Instead, it is raw, written as shared with moments of rambling, repetition, and the use of very plain language. It is therefore not as polished as one might expect. Oral histories by definition are conversations, and this reads like a conversation with your grandmother recounting stories about her life. “…it is raw, written as shared with moments of rambling, repetition, and the use of very plain language.” The result is an engrossing story of a woman who worked tirelessly to preserve and share her heritage as well as the language of her people: Hul’q’umi’num’.

Sti’tum’atul’wut’s life story was recorded in nine sittings in 1997, and this book is the transcript of those conversations. This is a first-person oral history told by Sti’tum’atul’wut, also known as Ruby Peter, to anthropologist Helene Demers from Vancouver Island University. What Was Said to Me piqued my interest because of my pledge to learn more about Indigenous culture and history.

What Was Said to Me by Ruby Peter