September 22, 2009

Golf signs in Ktunaxa

St. Eugene Golf renamed in Ktunaxa languageThrough a coordinated effort by staff and Ktunaxa elders, golfers at the St. Eugene Golf Resort Casino can now learn a few words in Ktunaxa as they play a round.

"We want to be more than a golf resort," said Dallas Ferguson, chief executive officer. "We want to be able to educate people on the Ktunaxa and aboriginal people as a whole. We see it as something unique we can offer as part of that whole experience you are just not going to find anywhere else."

Currently, the tee box markers throughout the golf course are being changed as the holes have been renamed in the Ktunaxa language—with phonetic spelling and translation. In keeping with the Ktunaxa culture, the nature of the course and the overarching environmental ethos of the resort, the hole names reflect far more than distance and shape. They show an intimate knowledge of the environment that developed over 10,000 years of aboriginal history and 11 years of first-hand experience with the course.
Below:  "Graeme Douglas, Dorothy Alpine and Richard Bellerose show off the new name tag at hole No. 2."