Ten Years of Mi’gmaq Language Revitalization Work: A Non-Indigenous Applied Linguist Reflects on Building Research Relationships

Language revitalization work at one First Nation in eastern Canada has been ongoing for over two decades. Several approaches have been put in place: core teaching of Mi’gmaq as a primary school subject, language documentation and the creation of an online dictionary, and an Elders’ focus group on language, as well other shorter-term projects. In 2006, a group of university researchers was invited to collaborate with local Mi’gmaq language instructors who were trying out an image-based way of introducing adult community members to their language. After 10 years of continuous community–university contact, from 2006 to 2016, a non-Indigenous researcher reflects on the involvement of the academic applied linguist outsider in a constantly changing learning process.