Ben Chung (He/him)
Workshop: Archiving Indigenous Language Materials
Ben (he/him) is a non-Indigenous linguist with a mixed Jewish & Korean heritage. His work background is in archiving and curriculum development of First Nations and marginalized languages. He works in the Language Technology Program at FPCC as a Program Navigator, supporting grant holders in their technology-based projects and programming. Ben has worked with communities on the central coast, in particular the Haíɫzaqv Nation, and shares in the uplifting of all languages in the province.
Contact: ben@fpcc.ca
Kim Lawson (She/her, They/them)
Workshop: Archiving Indigenous Languages
Kim is a member of the Heiltsuk Nation, and an archivist and librarian. She worked at the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and Xwi7xwa Library, and is now Community Engagement and Research Librarian at the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at UBC.
Contact: kim.lawson@ubc.ca
Kyra Borland (She/her)
Workshop: Acquisition: Community-Based Strategies & Curating Audio for Language Documentation
Kyra is a grateful non-Indigenous employee at FPCC of Irish ancestry. Kyra started her career working with Gitksan-speaking communities and credits her Gitksan mentors with fostering her passion for language revitalization. Kyra was formerly the Language Technology Program Coordinator, and is currently the Pathways Program Manager.
Contact: kyra@fpcc.ca
Koosen Pielle (She/her)
Workshop: Curating audio for language revitalization
Koosen Pielle is a strong and resilient woman from the Tla’amin nation. Tla’amin nation and her sister nations speak ʔayʔajuθəm (ay-ah-joo-thum), and Koosen has been part of language revitalization for 10 years. Koosen is finding new ways to infuse language into everyday life, and is doing so through her newly founded organization called jehjeh Media. In ʔayʔajuθəm, jɛjɛ means relative…but it also means tree. When we relearn our languages, we relearn the worldview of our ancestors. The trees are our relatives.
Contact: jehjehmedia@gmail.com
Anna Belew
Workshop: Creating Social Media Content
Contact: annabelew@fpcc.ca
Tiara Opissinow (She/her)
Workshop: Creating Social Media Content
Tiara Opissinow is from Onion Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan and recently obtained an undergraduate degree in linguistics from the University of Alberta. She is passionate about indigenous language revitalization and works with Prairies to Woodlands Indigenous Language Revitalization Circle to preserve and promote indigenous languages. In her free time, she actively learns the Cree language and looks forward to collaborating with her grandmother on upcoming video projects. Alongside her linguistic pursuits, Tiara enjoys sewing, exploring new places through travel, creating videos, and dancing jingle dress. Tiara’s commitment to language revitalization, cultural preservation, and creative expression positions her as an advocate working towards a vibrant and promising future for generations to come.
Contact: tiarawopi@gmail.com
Bridget Chase
Workshop: FirstVoices: Integrating Language Technology Tools
Contact: bridget@fpcc.ca
Evangaline Prevost
Workshop: FirstVoices: Integrating Language Technology Tools
Contact: evangeline@fpcc.ca