Since Time Immemorial is a recurring series featuring community members whose families have been here since time immemorial. The ancestral knowledge carried by Lhaq’temish, Nooksack, and other Coast Salish peoples is knowledge about how to live in our shared home in a good, life-sustaining way. We live in a time when we need to restore our relationship with Mother Earth and with one another. We are grateful for these stories, told in the words of each featured individual.
Photograph by Julie Trimingham
Na-tak–ul-tan Tino Kurtz is a Lummi tribal fisherman who also works for Lummi Nation’s Cultural Resources Department, the mission of which is to “Preserve, promote, and protect our Sche Lang en.” Tino was also part of the Lummi creative team behind the bilingual children’s book Sa’le Q’ewet Netse’lh / Our Hearts Beat as One, which tells the story of the captive orca Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut / Tokitae / Lolita. The book features a translation key and other educational materials, and is currently being taught in Bellingham schools as part of the Since Time Immemorial curriculum.
Now’ Si’am, Nat’tak’ul’tan tse’ ne sna, che’ Xwlemi Sen—that’s saying Good day. My name is Na-tak-ul-tan, and I am from the Lummi Nation.
I grew up on the water, fished all my life. My dad’s a commercial fisherman, we fished herring and salmon up in Alaska, squid in San Francisco, sardines in Ilwaco. I do crabbing here at Lummi for the tribal fishery. I used to do shrimping and halibut, but the fishery has gone down, not much profit in it anymore.
And now you also work for the Cultural Department at Lummi?
Well, like I said, I was a commercial fisherman all my life. My oldest daughter is 15 now, she got to see some of that fishing life with me, she came up to Alaska once. But seeing me gone for most of the year was kind of tough. When I had my second daughter, I realized that I don’t want to be gone almost half the year away from my family. So I decided to find work closer to home. One thing led to another, and I ended up in the Culture Department.
What is the work that you do there?
I’ve been working in the Lummi language department for six years now. I’ve been helping us get into a more digital age. A lot of the recordings we have are all reel-to-reel or tapes. So most of my job these past few years is digitizing material and finding more ways to get our language out there to our people.
What kind of recordings?
Mostly of tribal elders. Al Charles knew the language, and there are recordings of him speaking, repeating phrases, translating. Also the late Tsilixw Bill James, a lot of recordings of him as well. Before he passed, I was able to do a few interviews with him. It was really awesome to hear his stories.
How many fluent speakers are there out at Lummi?
For speaking proficiently, I want to say five to ten. Not too many. I know of probably four for sure, but there’s others out there, I’m sure. But we’re always teaching, learning, bringing the language back in schools, through the recordings, through classes that are really helpful for our people.
And you just translated Sa’le Q’ewet Netse’lh / Our Hearts Beat as One, which I think might be the first bilingual Xwlemi Chosen / English kids book, or any kind of book.
Yes, translating that book was a very, very fun process for me. Having our language out there for the people to see is a huge step for us to get our language thriving again. It’s important for our people to know our language, because it’s part of our culture. If we know our language, we are closer to our people.
What is your dream for Xwlemi Chosen?
To have everybody speak it more fluently, similar to, I want to say, Navajo culture and Hawaiian culture. I was able to visit an immersion school on Maui and see how they had the language going. There were classes from kindergarten up to eighth grade. In eighth grade, they’re just speaking their language. They’re not even speaking English. I want that for our people.
Do you have a favorite phrase in the language, or something you like to say, or something you like to teach?
I don’t really have anything like that, but having the language around my house and having my kids say things in it really brings joy to me.
A silly example is when my kids are being too loud or talking back I say, Semexw, that’s quiet. Like, shut up. That’s a funny one. And they’ll say it sometimes, like, Semexw! And probably everyone at Lummi knows Mexwia, that’s belly button. Everybody knows that, they always tease, they’ll be like, where’s your mexwia? And a little kid will lift up their shirt and share their mexwia.
I think one phrase or word that a lot of non-tribal people know just from being around is hy’shqe, which is thank you but it’s also more than that, it’s thank you for your time and, like, thank you for everything that you’ve done.
Hy’shqe, Tino.
