News and Events
Dr. Marianne Ignace receives FASS Research Excellence Award
October 29, 2025. In recognition of producing sustained and impactful scholarly output and achieving national and international acclaim throughout her career, Dr. Marianne Ignace has received the FASS Research Excellence Award in Humanities.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2025
September 30, 2025. September 30 marks the annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. It is a time for reflection, to come together in the spirit of Reconciliation and to honour everyone who has been impacted by Canada’s residential school system.
Celebrating the legacy of INLP retirees
September 29, 2025. A celebration event in honour of esteemed retirees of both Linguistics and Indigenous Languages was held on September 4th. INLP retirees Donna Gerdts and Peter Jacobs each delivered a speech to mark this career milestone. INLP Director Marianne Ignace offered words of congratulations in Secwepemctsín as well as English, noting how valuable the contributions of Jacobs and Gerdts have been over many years. Ignace also warmly welcomed new INLP faculty member Lauren Schneider and acknowledged the promotion of Jasḵwaan Bedard to the rank of Assistant Professor.
WAVES Summit celebrates the work of First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities
September 26, 2025. The Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages held its inaugural WAVES Global Indigenous Languages Summit on August 11-14, 2025. Several faculty, students and alumni from the Indigenous Languages Program of the Department of Linguistics at SFU presented research at the summit.
Indigenous Languages faculty and students present at ICLDC 9
September 4, 2025. INLP had a very strong presence at this year’s International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation. Presenters included INLP faculty, alumni, and current graduate students. As INLP Professor Donna Gerdts explains, “This biennial conference is the leading one in the field of language revitalization, with a very competitive acceptance rate.”
Salish language researcher Lauren Schneider joins faculty of Indigenous Languages Program
August 25, 2025. This Fall term, INLP is welcoming Assistant Professor Lauren Schneider as a new member of faculty. Schneider’s research is focused on the morphosyntax of the Salish languages of the Pacific Northwest. Schneider's methods include working with the Hul’q’umi’num’ community on description, analysis and reclamation of their language. She is also researching the morphosyntax of a broader range of North American Indigenous languages. Schneider will be teaching a course titled Phonetics and Phonology of an Indigenous Language this fall.
Dr. Marianne Ignace recognized by FASS for lifetime achievements in research excellence
August 20, 2025. The FASS Research Excellence Award in Humanities recognizes the dedication, hard work, and excellence exhibited by researchers within FASS. Dr. Marianne Ignace is the Director of INLP and the Indigenous Languages Centre.
Student-Community Engagement funding awarded to Danika Shaw and Ben Chung
July 4, 2025. The funding will support a language immersion workshop series titled Haitzaqvla la Nalkvaxv: Speaking Heiltsuk in the City. Urban Haitzagla community members will practice speaking their Ancestral Tongue and reconnect with belongings held at local institutions. INLP Diploma student Danika Shaw is the team leader, and team member Ben Chung is an MA student at the Department of Linguistics.
INLP Graduates cross the stage at Convocation Ceremony F: View the Video
June 12, 2025. PhD graduates included Dr. Jasḵwaan Bedard and Dr. Sdahl Ḵ’awaas Lucy Bell, as well as honorary degree recipient and esteemed Elder, Dr. Iyál' (Vanessa) Campbell. MA graduates included Victoria Fraser, Tammy Jack, Lisa Orton, Tracy Thomas, and Kaiya Williams. Other credentials awarded (view video via link below for details) included the Certificate in Indigenous Language Proficiency, the Diploma in Indigenous Language Proficiency, the Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Arts and Social Sciences, and the Bachelor of Arts: Minor in Indigenous Language and Extended Minor in Linguistics.
INLP graduate Kaitlyn Cunningham awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Inclusion, Democracy and Reconciliation
June 11, 2025. Since she was five years old, Kaitlyn Cunningham has been learning hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, one of the three dialects of the Halkomelem language. When Cunningham turned 17, she began volunteering to teach hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ to youth in the community alongside her sister Leah Meunier. A significant component of Cunningham’s language revitalization efforts is the founding of the xʷəlməxʷqən Cultural Society (XWCS), founded in 2022. In recognition of her lifelong dedication to Indigenous language revitalization, Cunningham is being awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal.
Watch video: Hul'q'umi'num' Numeracy, Immersion Style | Created by the Hul'q'umi'num' Language and Culture Society
May 29, 2025. The Hul’q’umi’num’ dialect is spoken by the Snaw-naw-as, Snuneymuxw, Stz’uminus, Penelakut, Halalt, Quw’utsun’, and Malahat people and their relatives living among the neighbouring Coast Salish peoples. In this video, mathematics is used as a way to help teach students Hul’q’umi’num’ language and culture via immersion.
Colloquium by Lauren Schneider | Corpus-informed syntax: Exploring Hul’q’umi’num’ serial verb constructions
May 13, 2025. Lauren Schneider is a Visiting Assistant Professor and Interim Director of the NAMA Program at The University of Arizona. She recently completed her PhD at SFU Linguistics. Schneider’s focus of research includes working with the Hul’q’umi’num’ people on description, analysis, and reclamation of their language. Schneider is also currently learning more about the morphosyntax of a broader range of North American Indigenous languages. She recently presented at the Workshop on American Indigenous Languages (WAIL).
Colloquium by Ted Kye: Shedding new light on denasalization in Lushootseed
May 6, 2025. Ted Kye currently works at the Department of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle. His areas of research include phonetics, speech production, corpus linguistics, and phonetics of underdocumented languages. Learn more about his research here.
Dear Canadians: A Call for Justice for MMIWG2S+
May 5, 2025. "Red Dress Day is a call to end gendered and racialized violence against Indigenous people in what is now Canada. A call to create a new reality and new narrative, where we understand it is up to each of us to be part of a solution for the MMIWG2S+ crisis." INLP Instructor Jasḵwaan Bedard provides an inspiring message about the significance of Red Dress Day. "We can create a new narrative where every person is valued and safe."
Colloquium by Colin Brown: Clause typing and clitic linearization in Gitksan
May 1, 2025. Colin Brown is an SSHRC Postdoctoral Scholar at UBC Linguistics who received a PhD from the Department of Linguistics at UCLA. The empirical basis of Brown's research comes from novel fieldwork on understudied languages, primarily Sm'algyax and Gitksan (Tsimshianic, Canada/USA) and more recently, Mam (Mayan, Guatemala/Mexico). His research focus includes the morphosyntax of A'-movement, the semantics of non-canonical questions, and the linearization of sentential clitics.
INLP Instructor Jasḵwaan Bedard successfully defends her PhD thesis
April 4, 2025. A huge congratulations to Jasḵwaan Bedard! On April 3rd at 12:30pm, Bedard defended her thesis titled X̱aad Kíhlga Tl'a Gúusuugiigangsaang: A Haida Research Framework for Learning X̱aad Kíl. [Note: Dr. Bedard graduated at Ceremony F on June 12th, 2025. Her rank is now Assistant Professor.]
SFU to confer honorary degree on Elder Iyál' Campbell
March 13, 2025. The degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, will be conferred on Elder Iyál' (Vanessa) Campbell on Thursday, June 12th during the 9:45am Convocation ceremony. About Elder Iyál' Campbell: Skwxwú7mesh sníchim, the language of the Squamish people, has been the life’s work of educator and Elder Iyál' Campbell for more than 50 years. In 2018, she began teaching for the newly created Diploma in Indigenous Languages - Skwxwú7mesh sníchim. INLP extends our deepest congratulations to Elder Iyál' Campbell!
CBC News features INLP graduates in report on Squamish Language Nest
February 10, 2025. INLP graduates are featured in a video interview with Lisa Christiansen, who visited Ta Tsíptspi7lhḵn (the Squamish Language Nest), where families are taking part in immersive language lessons and celebrating Squamish culture.
Tania Willard, INLP Shadbolt Fellow, to present on Jan 30
January 7, 2025. The FASS event, titled Speaking: Before, During, and After Colonialism, is an evening of conversation with the four Shadbolt Fellows, followed by a Q&A session and a catered reception. The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities program increases the visibility of the contributions and critical power of the humanities and arts to the university community. It also engages the wider community through publicly involved scholarship and creativity.
Report: Indigenous Language Revitalization Symposium
December 6, 2024. Indigenous partner community members, SFU faculty members and administrators, and others from the SFU community gathered for the Indigenous Language Revitalization Symposium. Community participants included representatives from around a dozen communities from both BC and the Yukon. Funding for the Indigenous Language Revitalization Symposium was received from SFU's Aboriginal Strategic Initiative and the McConnell Foundation through the BC Collaborative for Social Infrastructure.
Sharing Successes and Exploring Next Steps: Indigenous Language Revitalization Symposium Highlights
November 26, 2024. 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, and INLP’s partner First Nations communities.
New faculty member Jasḵwaan Bedard honoured at Old Masset in Haida Gwaii
November 07, 2024. A dinner event was held in honour of Jasḵwaan Bedard becoming an INLP faculty member. FASS Dean Laurel Weldon and Chair of Linguistics Panos Pappas travelled to Masset for the event and to strengthen ties with the Indigenous communities of Haida Gwaii. Several local dignitaries, including Chiefs and Elders, attended the event to acknowledge Bedard for her hard work on language revitalization.
Indigenous language professionals explore strengths-based language proficiency assessment
September 24, 2024. INLP and SFU’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) invited the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to Burnaby campus to lead an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Assessment workshop.
Introducing our new Shadbolt Fellow: Tania Willard
August 28, 2024. We are hosting Tania Willard, MFA, an Indigenous artist, curator, and professor, as a Shadbolt Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. Through collaborative projects such as the BUSH Gallery and support of language revitalization in Secwépemc communities, Tania activates connection to land, culture, and family, centering art as an Indigenous resurgent act.
INLP MA students and Graduate Chair present at IASCL 2024
July 20, 2024. INLL MA students Martina Joe and Randeana Peter presented their research findings in Prague during the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language.
Jaskwaan Bedard: In her own words
July 15, 2024. Announcing our newest member of faculty in the Indigenous Languages Program (INLP), Jasḵwaan Bedard.
Dr. Marianne Ignace: Interview with Fairchild Television
July 2, 2024. Dr. Ignace spoke with Cantonese language broadcaster Fairchild TV about our Indigenous language revitalization efforts and the importance of reaching a "critical mass of adult speakers".
Benjamin Chung: Grad Student Profile
June 11, 2024. "I am grateful to have received a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master's (SSHRC CGS-M) and departmental Graduate Fellowships to support my research and time at SFU."
Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ performance of "Princess Tsawassa: A journey of discovery"
May 31, 2024. Students from our INLG 335 class brought to life a Tsawwassen origin story performed entirely in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ for an audience of eighty attendees, hosted by the Tsawwassen First Nation.
Dr. Heather Bliss and PhD student Lauren Schneider present at WAIL
May 07, 2024. As part of a session titled “Community approaches to Revitalization,” Dr. Heather Bliss delivered a research talk titled Weaving our knowledge together to create a Blackfoot learning hub, centred on Blackfoot language revitalization efforts.
Dr. Donna Gerdts and Dr. Marianne Ignace receive an award for Excellence in Leadership
March 25, 2024. Both Dr. Ignace and Dr. Gerdts are winners in the Excellence in Leadership category, of the 2022 Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Awards for Excellence in Graduate Studies.
Halat Kaiya Williams, Indigenous Languages graduate student, is interviewed by North Shore News
March 09, 2024. Halat speaks with North Shore News regarding the Language Nest program.
SFU Excellence in Teaching Award: Dr. Marianne Ignace
March 06, 2024. Congratulations to Dr. Marianne Ignace on receiving the 2023 SFU Excellence in Teaching Award. Other accolades include the 2020 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the 2019 Governor General's Award for Innovation.
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Kèyishí Bessie Cooley, MA: Lifelong Indigenous language advocate dedicates degree to Tlingit heritage
October 04, 2023. "As 79-year-old Kèyishí Bessie Cooley presented her master's degree thesis project at the Yukon Native Language Centre in Whitehorse—interweaving English and Tlingit as she spoke—it marked another milestone in what is already an extraordinarily accomplished life."
Legacy gift funds scholarship awards for Indigenous language learners
February 01, 2023. Thanks to a generous legacy gift from the Lobstick Foundation, endowments have been created to permanently fund two scholarship awards benefitting Indigenous students, guaranteeing its financial support for Indigenous language learners for many years to come.
Supporting students enrolled in the Indigenous Languages Program (INLP), the Dr. Aimee August Award in Indigenous Language Proficiency and the Dr. Ruby Peter Graduate Award in Indigenous Language Proficiency were established in honour of their namesakes, who had made great strides in Indigenous language revitalization, instruction, and documentation.
New master's degree program established to support Indigenous language revitalization
September 26, 2022. This new two-year program focuses entirely on training individuals who will go on to support the reclamation, revitalization, and strengthening of their Indigenous languages.
The RSC Presents the Class of 2020
September 8, 2020. The Royal Society of Canada celebrated new Fellows in an induction ceremony today for their "outstanding scholary, scientific and artistic achievement." Seven SFU Researchers were elected into the group of 87 Fellows.
New postdoctoral fellow, Dr. James Crippen (Dzéiwsh), aims to break down myths around Indigenous languages
June 19, 2020. Dr. James Crippen/Dzéiwsh started a Tenure-track appointment in January 2021 at McGill University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics. He was the first postdoctoral fellow in the Indigenous Languages Program in 2020 enabled through Aboriginal Strategic Initiatives.
Elders and great-grandchildren share the legacy of learning Hul'q'umi'num'
December 16, 2019. CBC News published an article highlighting the work Elder Ruby Peter and the Hul'q'umi'num' Language and Culture Society has done to preserve the Hul'q'umi'num' language. This past spring, four generations of Elder Peter's family received university honours from SFU.
First cohort of FNLP MA students graduating
June 13, 2019. The cohort based in Duncan, BC lead by Dr. Donna Gerdts has 12 students focusing on Hul’q’umi’num’, a Central Salish language. The other cohort lead by Dr. Marianne Ignace features 12 students focusing on 5 different First Nations languages: Haida, Halkomelem, Secwepemctsin, Tahltlan, and Halkomelem.
Coast Salish Elder and linguist Ruby Peter given SFU honorary doctorate
June 10, 2019. Sti’tum’at Dr. Ruby Peter has been conferred an honorary doctorate from SFU. Dr. Peter works indefatigably on behalf of her language, Hul’q’umi’num’. For over six decades she has trained new speakers of the language. Dr. Peter has contributed astonishing amounts of invaluable knowledge of Hul’q’umi’num’ in addition to mentoring dozens of students.