Sixteen students from the Shoshone-Paiute tribes spent a week at Boise State University learning their endangered ancestral languages through a first-of-its-kind youth language program funded by Integra Resources, a Canadian mining company developing the DeLamar gold and silver project in Owyhee County.
The weeklong program paired tribal elders with middle and high school students for language instruction while introducing participants to college life in Boise State dorms. Afternoons focused on environmental stewardship through partnerships with organizations including the Boise WaterShed and Bogus Basin, Integra External Affairs Manager Emily Hendrickson said in a video news release.
The program is part of a 2025 agreement between Integra and the Shoshone-Paiute tribes that commits the company to investing in tribal communities and helping preserve tribal culture and the environment while it develops the DeLamar mine.
The Shoshone-Paiute tribal languages are in decline because of past assimilation policies in boarding schools that forbade their use.
“I had a second grade teacher that would wash our mouths out with soap,” said Lynneil Brady, a tribal elder in the news release, referring to the consequences of speaking her native language in school.
With money and support from their agreement with Integra, the tribes want to target their language crisis, said Integra spokeswoman Brittany Lock in a call with Idaho Education News.
Another goal, Lock said, was to make higher education feel more accessible to tribal youth by giving them exposure to campus life while they stayed at Boise State.
While Integra’s program for the Shoshone-Paiute was the first of its kind, other tribal educators in Idaho have explored the possibility of reviving their languages with multigenerational learning.
At the 2025 Idaho Indian Education Summit, a Nez Perce educator floated the idea of a multigenerational Nez Perce language school, lamenting a lack of funds to execute the idea.
Integra, which owns the DeLamar project, is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.
DeLamar has made 43 political campaign contributions in Idaho for the 2026 election year, according to Idaho Sunshine. The company donated $13,250 to Idaho Senators and House Representatives, and $10,000 to Gov. Brad Little’s campaign.
