The Certificate Program in Aboriginal Language Revitalization is a partnership program of the En’owkin Centre of the Okanagan Indian Educational Resources Society with the Department of Linguistics and the Division of Continuing Studies at the University of Victoria.
The Program’s academic advisors include:
Jeannette Armstrong, Doctor of Letters HC; University of St. Thomas; BFA, University of Victoria; Fine Arts Diploma, Okanagan UC; Executive Director of the En’owkin Program; and Academic Advisor to the Certificate Program in Aboriginal Language Revitalization. Jeanette is currently a PhD Candidate, University of Greifswald, Interdisciplinary Studies, Indigenous Literatures and Environmental Ethics, and works part time with the Faculty of Indigenous Studies at UBCO.
Jeannette Armstrong is an Okanagan Indian who was born in 1948 on the Penticton Indian Reserve in British Columbia. She is the grandniece of Hum-Ishu-Ma (Mourning Dove, 1888-1936), considered the first Native American woman novelist. Armstrong is a writer, teacher, artist, sculptor and activist.
She speaks both Okanagan and English and received a traditional education from Okanagan elders and her family and has raised her own two children on the Penticton Indian reserve. Armstrong obtained a BFA from the University of Victoria in 1978, and in 1986 Armstrong became the director of the En'owkin Centre in Penticton. She is also the first director of the En'owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, a creative writing school organized by and for Native people that grants diplomas through the University of Victoria.
Armstrong writes poetry, fiction, essays, and children's literature. She also continues to make visual art and teaches creative writing and performance. She has been invited to speak to numerous international audiences on native issues including native education and indigenous rights. She is a well-known author and is the recipient of a Buffet Award (2003) for Indigenous Leadership.
The steering committee for the program provides both academic and policy direction to ensure that the program evolves to meet the needs of both participants and communities that are involved in language preservation and revitalization initiatives.
The Certificate Program in Aboriginal Language Revitalization is committed to partnering with aboriginal communities to offer elective courses that support the community in its efforts to develop language revitalization initiatives. The program will identify a new partnership in order to deliver LING 159 First Nations Language I with a focus on that community’s language so that CALR participants from that community, as well as other community members will be able to develop their knowledge of their language. As well, an intensive six-day elective course that is relevant to the interests of that community will also be offered to all CALR participants and to community members.
If you would like to explore the possibility of a community partnership to offer elective courses in future years, please contact Jeannette Armstrong by email or by phone at (250) 493-7181 or Brenda Weatherston.