Strengthening X̱aad Kíl: Haida Language Immersion with Dr. Jasḵwaan Bedard

In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Jasḵwaan Bedard, a Haida language educator and advocate from G̱aw Tlagée, Massett, Haida Gwaii, and Assistant Professor in the Indigenous Languages Program in the Department of Linguistics at Simon Fraser University. Jasḵwaan’s work centres on X̱aad Kíl, the Old Massett or Northern Haida language, and on immersion, pedagogy, translation, transcription and language learning guided by Haida community laws and values. Jasḵwaan prefers the term language strengthening rather than language revitalization. As she explains, Haida languages have always been living. Her work is concerned not simply with preserving a language, but with learning it, speaking it, teaching it and strengthening the relationships between language, community, land and ways of knowing. Recorded live at the CiTR studio on September 30, Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our conversation moves through X̱aad Kíl itself: its sounds and structures, the challenges of…