Faculty of Arts Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges

Last Friday, FAIIRK gathered to celebrate graduating Indigenous students from across McGill University. From bachelor's degrees to PhDs, the graduates came from a wide range of programs and faculties, including Indigenous Studies, History and Classical Studies, English, Integrated Studies in Education, Law, and Human Resources Management.

Congratulations to all of our graduates! We are so proud to celebrate this milestone with you and look forward to seeing the meaningful work you carry forward!

Congratulations to this year’s Rathlyn Fellows, Megan Légaré and Allison MacLeod, who are the latest recipients of McGill’s Rathlyn Fellowships, worth $12,500 and awarded annually to two Indigenous students conducting postgraduate research.

Megan Légaré is a PhD student in Family Medicine, and Allison MacLeod is pursuing a master’s degree in Medical Anthropology. Their research aims to enhance health and well-being in Indigenous communities.

Read the full article in the McGill Reporter here: https://reporter.mcgill.ca/rathlyn-fellows-aim-to-enhance-health-and-well-being-in-indigenous-communities/

Over two days, we brought together Indigenous language practitioners, scholars, and community members to share experiences, challenges, and visions for the future of our languages.

From discussions on funding and technology to a powerful Kanien’kéha panel on language futurisms with live translation, this gathering showed the strength and importance of language revitalization work.

Thank you to everyone who was part of it and took the time to listen to these important conversations.

We are grateful to The Eastern Door and reporter Olivier Cadotte for covering our Tsitewatá:ti: Let Us Speak Again Indigenous Language Symposium last week.

Read the full article here:
https://easterndoor.com/article/language-revitalization-efforts

If you were unable to attend the symposium or watch the livestream, you can still watch both days on YouTube:

April 23:
https://youtube.com/live/pdQpuiZ3uwc

April 24:
https://youtube.com/live/K5C9jHfzRp4

McGill University Tsitewatá:ti: Let Us Speak Again! Language Symposium 2026-Day 2

Good morning!

We are about to begin the second day of Tsitewatá:ti: Let Us Speak Again! If you would like to watch live on Youtube you can click on the link here: https://youtube.com/live/K5C9jHfzRp4

The Faculty of Arts Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges, the Department of History and Classical Studies, and the History and Classical Studies Graduate Student Association invite you to join us on Tuesday, April 21 at 5:30 pm in the Thomson House Ballroom for the launch of Dr. Linford Fisher's exciting new book, Stealing America: The Hidden History of Indigenous Slavery in US History. This landmark text meticulously traces five centuries of Indigenous slavery in America, showing how human captivity, land theft, and forced assimilation ran together from 1492 to the late twentieth century. Pushing back against the erasure of this genocide from historical memory, Stealing America uncovers the plight, peril, and remarkable recovery of Indigenous communities across the US and Caribbean. Advance copies of Dr. Fisher’s highly anticipated work will be available for sale following his talk.

Linford D. Fisher is a Professor of History and the Faculty Director of the Center for the Digital Scholarship at Brown University and the Principal Investigator of “Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas,” a community-centered, tribal-collaborative digital project that explores how Indigenous peoples experienced settler colonialism and its legacies through the lens of slavery and servitude. He is the author of The Indian Great Awakening: Religion and the Shaping of Native Cultures in Early America and the co-author of two works on Rhode Island’s founder, Roger Williams, as well as dozens of other academic articles, chapters, and essays. His work has been supported by the NEH, ACLS, Newberry Library, American Antiquarian Society, American Philosophical Society, and Massachusetts Historical Society.

All are welcome to attend, but we kindly ask you RSVP in advance if possible at the following link:
https://forms.gle/EMKnfNqThvyfBVcG9

The first 50 guests to do so will receive a complementary drink ticket upon arrival at the event.

You are invited to attend the Indigenous Language Symposium, Tsitewatá:ti: Let Us Speak Again, hosted by the Faculty of Arts Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges at McGill University.

April 23 and 24, 2026
SSMU Ballroom
3480 Rue McTavish, Montreal

This two-day symposium brings together Indigenous language keepers, scholars, teachers, translators, archivists, and community practitioners from Turtle Island, Hawaiʻi, and Aotearoa. Panels will explore topics such as dictionaries, documentation, language policy, translation in storytelling and media, language technologies, and archives, with space for discussion and community engagement.

To attend one or more panels, please complete the registration form so we can ensure there are enough seats available.
Registration to Attend Tsitewatá:ti: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=cZYxzedSaEqvqfz4-J8J6u246yqjSdpOvRclEh7kaFRUMTI0WFpBNVQ0SUMwWlBTS1I1RTgyUDczRC4u

Indigenous vendors will be present on April 23 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. No registration is required to visit the vendors.