The First Nations Language Program (FNLG) was initiated in 1997 as part of UBC’s commitment to community-based collaboration with First Nations peoples, in recognition of the profound importance of these languages and of the cultural traditions they represent.
FNLG offers courses in a variety of First Nations courses; in particular, FNLG has a special relationship with Musqueam First Nation, on whose traditional territory UBC’s Point Grey campus stands. Several of FNLG’s language courses are dedicated to the Muqueam langauage, henqeminem. Students and community members attend classes at the Musqueam Elders Centre located on the Musqueam reserve, a bus-ride south of UBC’s Point Grey campus. Each year Musqueam hosts potluck dinners where students and Musqueam community members come together to see presentations and performances in henqeminem that students have written and prepared themselves especially for these well-attended and popular evenings.
In addition to the special place henqeminem has with the Program, FNLG has offered courses in Dakelh Dene and Cree, as well as Nɬeʔkepmxcin and Dene Zaˉge’. In the past year FNLG has expanded its course offerings to include language courses in Kwak’wala, a Northern Wakashan language traditionally spoken on Vancouver Island, on the opposing mainland, and the islands in between.
Find more about FNLG courses by visiting the FNLG website at http://fnlg.arts.ubc.ca/. If you’re a student, you can also take these courses to satisfy the Faculty of Arts language requirement!
For more information, contact:
First Nations Language Program
Room E256 – Buchanan Building E
Tel: 604.822.2512
Fax: TBA
Email: Director, Dr. Pat Shaw shawpa(at)interchange.ubc.ca