Unearthing Indigenous Leadership Principles

The purpose of this project was to provide an opportunity for Elders to share the leadership concepts embedded in their language and have them written and integrated into a youth leadership framework.

Project Dates: February 2017 – February 2019

Funding Amount: $24,600

Students Hired: 1

"We know we need to work together to save our language, to breathe breath back into our language in all of our communities." - Sara Child, Lead Researcher

Project Summary

The O’ma̱n’s ’Na̱m’a Project: Unearthing Indigenous Leadership Principles through Indigenous Language explores the knowledge surrounding Indigenous concepts of leadership.

Through the involvement of Kwakwaka’wakw Elders fluent in Kwak’wala, this project documents Kwakwaka’wakw leadership principles, values, knowledge systems, and connections to the land expressed through the lens of the local Indigenous language, Kwak’wala. The project will use the knowledge gathered to build a locally-relevant Indigenous leadership camp framework infused with the leadership principles found in Kwak’wala.