The FPPC is a council formed by the government that administers “the First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Program”. The FPPC aims to support Indigenous communities as they revitalize their cultures and traditions. I like this resource because it is a BC based resource and it provides a diversity of resources including accessible links to programs, initiatives, libraries and stories. One of the programs available is the Language Technology Program which is a grant for up to $230,000 to “support language and revitalization using technology”. It is a three step program that involves using FirstVoices to record and archive the language, a digitization program to convert resources to an accessible digital format, and a third step to develop digital tools such as language apps to further language education.
- Record
- Digitize
- Develop
I like this program because it focuses not only on the recording or documentation of language but also finding solutions to meet the barriers and demands of the digital world, loss of languages and separation of communities. At the program description page, there are abundant links to help participants through this project including a digitization knowledge base, digitization toolkit, firstvoices knowledge base, language lists and more.
It is critical that there are initiatives like this council to fight for Indigenous community representation and revitalization. Specifically, for the government to support, fund and provide these opportunities as well. There are 6 language programs currently available through the FPPC ranging from mentorship programs to youth language empowerment programs.
https://fpcc.ca/program/ltp/
Thank you for this post Natascha! I have experience working with First Peoples Cultural Council and they do amazing work and provide amazing resources. There are so many recordings of elders over the last number of decades that could be lost if not for organizations such as FPCC providing funding, training and resources to digitize these valuable community assets.