Indigenous peoples from around the world are working tirelessly to keep their languages living and thriving. It is time to review, explore and examine the policies, habits of practice, worldview of higher education to see both the opportunities and challenges in the work with Indigenous languages. Ideas will be shared and illustrated through stories.

Dr. Lorna Wánosts’a7 Williams is an esteemed member of Lil’wat Nation in British Columbia. She is Professor Emerita of Indigenous Education, Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Victoria where she led the establishment of Indigenous Language Revitalization, and is Canada Research Chair in Education and Linguistics.

Dr. Williams is Chair of First Peoples Cultural Foundation; Elder/member of the Ministers Advisory Council on Indigenous Women; Member of the Indigenous Circle for SSHRC and member of Canada UNESCO committee on the Decade of Indigenous Languages. She had the privilege of being inducted into the Order of British Columbia in 1992, and later inducted into the Order of Canada in 2020.