Wolastoqey: Rising Voices in Language Revitalization

Presented by the Chan Centre in conjunction with the Dot Com Series presentation of Jeremy Dutcher

A conversation on the revitalization of the Wolastoqey language with Dr. Bernard Perley and Logan Perley.

Dr. Bernard Perley is the Director of the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies at UBC whose research is rooted in language revitalization and linguistic anthropology.

Logan Perley is a CBC journalist based out of New Brunswick as well as an advocate for the Wolastoqey language.

Moderated by UBC Asper Visiting Professor and CBC journalist Angela Sterritt.

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If we make the argument that a language has become extinct, then we can't find a way to revitalize the language because once it's extinct it's gone... For me, it's shifting from language death to language life. When you think about life then you think about joy. Instead of focusing on the trauma, how do we laugh at that trauma and then take control of the future of the language ourselves?

Dr. Bernard Perley, Director of the UBC Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies