Passing the Torch: Lexéywa in Chinese Translation
Beatrice Elaine Silver's memoir Lexèywa: I pass the torch to you is forthcoming in a Chinese translation by Dr. Sung-ming Chow, with the Society of Nkukwa ta Tmucwa - Our Grandmother Earth proudly sponsoring its release.
Translating Indigenous stories into widely spoken settler languages is an essential step toward truth and understanding. Many newcomers to British Columbia rely on information in their first languages, yet too often encounter biased narratives that obscure Indigenous histories and struggles. By making works like Lexèywa available in Chinese, we open doors for deeper learning and authentic connection, ensuring that newcomers can better understand the province they now call home. It is with the hope that this effort will inspire other language communities to consider translating Indigenous stories into their own languages, so these truths can continue to ripple outward and reach even more hearts.
The release of this translation comes at a meaningful time: September is the month we honour Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. These days remind us of the ongoing responsibility to remember the truths of residential schools, stand with survivors and their families, and commit to building relationships rooted in respect and justice.
About Lexèywa: I pass the torch to you
Leaving home to live at Indian Residential School was an inevitable event for young Bea Silver, a Sto:lo girl in Kilgard, Sumas. Attendance was compulsory for Native children like her and her many older siblings who had already been attending since before she was born. They never talked about the school, but her brothers prepared her for it when they taught her boxing! Bea tells what it was like.
About the Author:
Beatrice Elaine Silver is an educator, organizer, and political leader. Former Chief of her home community Semath of Sto:lo, Ms. Silver started her career as a school teacher, the first in the Fraser Valley to have come out through UBC's Native Indian Teacher Education Program. She was later a Principal in Bella Coola, and District Principal in North Vancouver.
In the past few years she has collaborated with former Residential School students to build the Sts’elemoqw Thrivers Society, hosting community healing events and amplifying Sto:lo cultural traditions. Last Fall she was awarded the Andrew Thompson Award by West Coast Environmental Law, recognizing her outstanding lifetime contribution to environmental protection and sustainability through law. Beatrice’s second book, Lexeywa, was published in 2018.
About the Translator:
Dr. Sung-ming Chow relocated to Vancouver two years ago due to the political situation in his home of Hong Kong. There, Dr. Chow specialized in sociology, social history and social policy, and brings these gifts to bear in his new translation of Beatrice Silver’s childhood memoir of Indian Residential School, Lexeywa.
A lecturer of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a social activist, selected publications include: Buying Brings Changes (2012), Sharing Cities (2014), Open Cooperativism (2017), Economics? I Can Do! (2022), as well as The Genealogy of Hong Kong in Cinema (2023), among others. Dr. Chow is a member of Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society and the founder of C^Mind Cross Cultural Society, a think-and-do tank devoted to cross-cultural collaborations based in Vancouver.