Oki, my name is Megan Smith. I am from the Piikani Nation in southern Alberta, which is located 30 kilometers east of the Rocky Mountains. I am currently obtaining a double major, BA in Indigenous studies, and BSc in Psychology at the University of Lethbridge. I will be completing the requirements for my program at the end of this year 2021, and convocation in spring of 2022.

This summer I was lucky to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Inge Genee’s research team. In the past couple years, I have taken Inge’s classes, and completed an independent study that required me to speak in Blackfoot with fluent speakers for many hours. Through all of those experiences I have acquired a passion for language revitalization, and I have been inspired time and again to learn as much of the Blackfoot language as I can and speak and teach it my two children.

This summer, my role was working on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call-to-Action 16 project. This required me to conduct an environmental scan on Canada’s post-secondary programming involving Indigenous languages and present the data at the June 2021 Sustaining Indigenous Languages Symposium online with Dominik Kadlec. This project was very meaningful to me as an Indigenous person, I really appreciated having a role on a great team, learning and being a part of this project. This has been an experience I will never forget, and I am so grateful for.