Ron Ignace, former chief of the Skeetchestn Indian Band, acclaimed researcher and respected alum and member of the SFU community, has been appointed the first Commissioner of Indigenous Languages.

Le7 pyin te sitq虛t te swum茅cwilcstem re qweqwelt茅ns re xwexw茅yt te qelm煤cw wel me7 yews. Ta7 me7 sc煤7tsems re snecwent茅m re qweqwelt茅n-kt re sts虛el茅wt.s ne swet.s k smenmen煤l虛ecws ne7茅lye ne tmicw-kt.鈥� Tikwemt煤s me7 sucwentw茅cwmentem re qweqwelt茅n-kt.

We celebrate this day where we breathe new life into all of our Indigenous languages for the future. Our languages will no longer stand in the shadow of other languages here in our land. Let us always honour our Indigenous languages.

~Ron Ignace, Commissioner of Indigenous Languages

Ron Ignace, former chief of the Skeetchestn Indian Band, acclaimed researcher and respected alum and member of the SFU community, has been appointed the first Commissioner of Indigenous Languages.  

On Monday, June 14, 2021, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage, announced the first appointees to the new :

• Ronald E. Ignace, Commissioner 
• Robert Watt, Director 
• Georgina Liberty, Director 
• Joan Greyeyes, Director 

As the , the Office of the Commissioner will operate independently from the Government of Canada. They will support and work with Indigenous peoples, their respective governments; other governing bodies, communities and organizations; the governments of Canada and the provinces and territories; and all Canadians to support the self-determined work of Indigenous peoples in reclaiming, revitalizing, maintaining and strengthening First Nations, Inuit and M茅tis languages. 

As a member of the Secwepemc Nation, Ron Ignace was the elected chief of the Skeetchestn Indian Band for over 30 years. He holds a BA and MA in Sociology from University of British Columbia, and Ignace completed his PhD in Anthropology from SFU in 2008, his dissertation focusing on Secwepemc oral history.

Ignace has held positions of chairman of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council and president of its cultural society, where he initiated a broad program of research and reclamation on Secwepemc language and culture. His work includes the long-standing, innovative university partnership with SFU. 

Alongside his life partner, linguistics and Indigenous studies professor Marianne Ignace, Ron Ignace co-founded the award-winning Kamloops program at SFU in 1988 and co-developed with colleagues and departments at SFU, the university鈥檚 first First Nations Studies courses and programs, and the First Nations鈥� language courses and proficiency certificate programs (now the Department of Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Languages Program, respectively). 

The Ignaces also co-wrote Secwepemc People, Land and Laws: Yeri虂7 re stsq虛ey虛s-kucw, an award-winning, critically acclaimed book covering 10,000 years of Secwepemc history and law.

 In 2019, their decades of work with BC鈥檚 Indigenous communities was recognized with a Governor General鈥檚 Award for Innovation. 

鈥淎s Ron鈥榮 partner in life, research and Indigenous language revitalization, I am proud and thankful that he was appointed as the inaugural Indigenous Language Commissioner in Canada,鈥� says Marianne Ignace.  

鈥淢y words are echoed by the messages of congratulations and support that he has received from Indigenous language communities, organizations and individuals that support language revitalization throughout the country, and from his and our colleagues at SFU and many other institutions.鈥�

SFU鈥檚 Indigenous Languages Program (INLP) continues to be a site for the critical work of sustaining and revitalizing Indigenous languages, and the program will continue to strengthen partnerships with Indigenous communities and organizations. 

As the director of INLP, Marianne Ignace says the department is 鈥渆specially proud of the recent and upcoming graduates and graduands of our partnered intensive Indigenous immersion programs at the Yukon Native Language Centre, Champagne-Aihishik First Nation, the Heiltsuk Nation, Squamish Nation, and in the Secwepemc Nation. And we also support the creation of new speakers and torch-bearers of the h蓹峁卶虛蓹m铆n虛蓹岣� 虛 (Downriver Halkomelem) language whose descendant communities together are bringing their language back through intensive learning, the Haida community of Old Massett, and the Vancouver Island Hul虛q虛umi虛num community.鈥�

Read the full press release on Commissioner Ron Ignace and the Directors within the newly formed Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages .