Faculty
Marianne Ignace receives FASS Research Excellence Award
The Faculty of Arts and Socials Sciences (FASS) gathered at the Diamond Alumni Centre on October 23rd to recognize the achievements of faculty and staff at the FASS Fall Reception. Dr. Marianne Ignace, director of the Indigenous Languages Program in the Department of Linguistics, received the Research Excellence Award in Humanities. Ignace is also a professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies, and director of the Indigenous Languages Centre.
A resident of the Skeetchestn community in the Secwepemc Nation, Ignace currently teaches and coordinates courses in Indigenous languages in Secwepemc communities, Haida Gwaii and other places. She is currently completing two annotated and illustrated volumes of narratives in X̱aad Kil (Haida – through collaboration with the late G̱awangdlíi Skiláa Lawrence Bell) and Secwepemctsin (Shuswap – with Chief Ron Ignace), which show the intricate complexities of language, thought, environmental knowledge and their reflection in the laws of human conduct in each Nation.
For her leadership in a SSHRC partnership grant, Ignace received the 2019 SSHRC Impact Award (see video below). In recognition of her work building multiple successful research and educational partnerships in and with Indigenous communities, Ignace was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2020.
“The Department of Linguistics is thrilled that Dr. Marianne Ignace continues to garner recognition for her lifetime commitment to Indigenous communities and their languages. It is important to note that she began doing this work long before truth and reconciliation were part of our common discourse. The most impressive aspect of Dr. Ignace’s work is how her deeply nuanced and insightful research, a model of academic work, has been translated into effective action in terms of Indigenous language revitalization. It is one of the best examples of what we should strive for as an engaged university.”
Dr. Panos Pappas, Chair of Linguistics
“I am so very pleased that through this award FASS is recognizing the exigent and imperative work of our Distinguished Professor Dr. Marianne Ignace. Whether we are ready for it or not, we have entered an era of Reconciliation in relation(ship) to Indigenous Peoples and no one reifies this relationship better than Dr. Ignace and her heartfelt work in Indigenous language revitalization. Colonialism works relentlessly to extinguish our languages as they hold Indigenous sovereignty, power, and our proper place in this world. Dr. Ignace has always known this and has dedicated her life work of almost 50 years to revitalizing Indigenous languages. While she has working knowledge or speaks six different languages, she has also learned three Indigenous languages (Secwepemctsin, Haida and Sm’algyax), and has brought over six and a half million dollars of research funding into Indigenous Nations so community members have the time, space and place to learn our own languages. Dr. Ignace is reconciliation in action and I hope she sees this award as one small way of the academy letting her know her work is “seen” and invaluable. Yalh yexw kwa’asho:y Dr. Ignace.”
Ts'qwelemot aka Dr. Wenona Hall, Chair of Indigenous Studies