Sharing Successes and Exploring Next Steps: Indigenous Language Revitalization Symposium Highlights

In October, members from several Indigenous partner communities and the SFU community gathered to participate in the Indigenous Language Revitalization Symposium.

The two-day symposium, generously funded by the SFU Aboriginal Strategic Initiative Fund and the McConnell Foundation, was a collaboration among the Office of the Dean in SFU’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), the SFU Indigenous Languages Program (INLP), and INLP’s partner First Nations communities. The gathering provided a forum for knowledge exchange among communities and for sharing feedback with FASS, INLP, and SFU about best practices and community needs. Two panel discussions, a roundtable session, presentations from INLP program alumni, and a keynote delivered by recently appointed INLP faculty member Jasḵwaan Bedard comprised the symposium program.

Over the two days, participants explored diverse topics including intensive immersion programs that help learners progress in language learning, SFU programs designed for Indigenous learners, and technology's role in language revitalization. The immersion panel, with presentations from Frances Brown, Kathryn Michel, and Marianne Ignace, highlighted the successes of language programs, such as the growth of the Haíɫzaqvḷa (Heiltsuk) revitalization initiatives and the over 30-year-long achievements of Chief Atahm School’s Secwepemctsín immersion program. Marianne Ignace summarized the critical message of the panel, noting, “If we can do intensive immersion-like language teaching and learning, with good resources, we can get ahead. We can get somewhere.”

Demonstrations of engaging online learning resources showed how technology can increase opportunities for learners to engage with language. The award-winning Blackfoot and Cree chatbots, shared by Eldon Yellowhorn, illustrated a way to lessen the anxiety associated with language learning. Seth Armitage modelled resources developed for Chief Atahm School using user-friendly online programs. These resources engage learners with Secwepemc speaking and listening practice and provide an engaging way to support the learning of challenging grammatical topics.

One of the symposium's highlights was Jasḵwaan Bedard’s keynote in which she discussed her work applying a Haida research framework to immersion. Drawn from her experiences learning and teaching her language, X̱aad Kíl (Haida), her work focuses on Haida Language Strengthening. Strengthening highlights the continuity of the language, unlike revitalization, which suggests a period of death. The framework, which focuses on what learners can do with language, also emphasizes a shift to a narrative that uses language of abundance to talk about language skills, creating a positive atmosphere that promotes language learning.

Overall, the discussions throughout the symposium emphasized the importance of capacity building and highlighted the value of spaces like this for sharing resources and ideas.