NVIT partners in new Indigenous language fluency degree

MERRITT, B.C. — For the first time, students will be able to receive a new bachelor’s degree of Nsyilxcn language fluency offered by UBC Okanagan (UBCO), in partnership with the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT) and the En’owkin Centre in Penticton.

This will be the first bachelor’s degree of its kind in British Columbia. It will boost the number of fluent Nsyilxcn speakers at a time when Indigenous languages in B.C. are critically endangered.

Nsyilxcn is an endangered language spoken throughout the land of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, which includes the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, Okanagan Indian Band, Osoyoos Indian Band, Penticton Indian Band, Upper Nicola Band, Upper Similkameen Indian Band and Westbank First Nation.

In a unique partnership, UBCO, NVIT, and the En’owkin Centre have come together to offer the Bachelor of Nsyilxcn Language Fluency (BNLF) program. This is the first degree under a newly designed provincial framework for Indigenous language learning initiated by the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) and Indigenous Adult and Higher Learning Association (IAHLA). The framework was developed from a discussion paper prepared for FNESC and IAHLA by Jeannette Armstrong, a knowledge keeper of the Syilx Okanagan Nation and associate professor of Indigenous studies at UBCO.

The degree is intended to sustain and revitalize Nsyilxcn language traditions, restore language competence and protect the knowledge of Indigenous communities.

By blending classroom learning led by community language experts with work directly in communities, students participate in an immersive learning experience that emphasizes instruction in and through language.

“The approval and delivery of this degree builds on decades of hard work between Indigenous institutes and their partners to develop the relevant and responsive language programming needed to address the critical state of First Nations languages in B.C. and move toward true reconciliation. We look forward to leveraging the strengths of these partnerships in order to build the capacity of our institutes and instructors to meet the growing need for language instruction within our communities,” said Verna Billy Minnabarriet, vice-president of strategic partnerships, NVIT, and chair, IAHLA.

The first cohort of students will graduate from NVIT with a Nsyilxcn language diploma in July 2021. UBC Okanagan will then welcome the first incoming class of the BNLF in September 2021.