The Faculty of Arts Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges (FAIIRK) is taking shape at Թ. It will be a permanent institutional and academic home for the Indigenous Studies program and Indigenous language reclamation in the Faculty of Arts.
Approved in 2025, the Institute is a direct response to the Provost’s Task Force Report on Indigenous Education and Indigenous Studies, specifically Call to Action 32, which called for the creation of a standalone academic unit in Indigenous Studies.
FAIIRK is funded with the support of a $3-million gift from alumnus Gerald Rimer and family.
“This institute provides Indigenous scholars and students with an official, visible academic home,” said Director Noelani Arista. “The long-term plan as mapped by the Provostʻs Task Force Report includes building Indigenous Studies into a full bachelor’s program, and eventually a graduate program, as well.”
Language reclamation at the centre
At present, Language reclamation is at the heart of FAIIRK’s work. One of its core initiatives is the Indigenous Language Revitalization MA-PhD program, an interdisciplinary program Arista helped establish with colleagues in linguistics Profs. James Crippen and Jessica Coon. The program will eventually be formally housed within FAIIRK.
Graduate student Arihwisaks Colin Benedict, a Kanien’kehá:ka scholar from Akwesasne, is part of that program. After completing intensive immersion training at Onkwawén:na Kentyóhkwa, Benedict chose Թ because it allowed him to remain rooted in his community while pursuing advanced language research.
“With the creation of FAIIRK, Թ is providing an institutional home for Indigenous language research,” Benedict said. “That kind of space is critical. When you’re working in community, funding can be limited and few places allow research freely. An academic institution provides infrastructure and stability.”
Benedict, who also teaches introductory Kanien’kéha language courses for adult learners in Akwesasne, says the planned Indigenous Language Lab will be especially important, offering access to recording equipment, transcription tools, and collaborative space.
“Having that support network for technical and logistical needs is essential for effective language research,” he said.
Building on this vision, Arista emphasizes the potential of Indigenous language reclamation in the modern era.
“Working in Indigenous language reclamation today is exciting, especially when we work with passionate students from Indigenous communities and combine that passion with new technologies,” she said. “Indigenous peoples have always been leaders in innovation, imagination and creativity. Bringing traditional knowledges into relation with contemporary technologies can proliferate new avenues of knowledge transmission and access, not only for Indigenous communities, but for the broader world.”
For Benedict, the work is deeply personal.
“I’ve spoken with elders in Akwesasne, and they’re very supportive of current language revitalization efforts,” he said. “They tell me that when we lose our language, we lose an inherent part of ourselves. Ultimately, I want to speak with my family and pass the language on to my children.”
Teaching grounded in Indigenous worldviews
²éDz&Բ;³ٱ, a Kanien’kehá:ka scholar from Kahnawà:ke and FAIIRK’s first full-time instructor, sees the Institute as an important milestone.
“We are on the cusp of a historic change at Թ,” she said. “This is about building something meaningful and sustainable, not just creating a program on paper.”
Whitebean teaches core courses for the Indigenous Studies minor, including the program’s capstone course. Her teaching centres Indigenous languages, oral histories and knowledge systems in ways many students have never encountered.
“I begin each class with the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen, the Thanksgiving Address,” she said. “It grounds us in humility, connection to the Earth and responsibility to future generations.”
She sees language revitalization as inseparable from Indigenous resurgence.
“Language loss was a form of violence,” she said. “Our languages carry our worldviews, our governance systems and our relationships to land.”
For Whitebean, her research and teaching are inseparable from her responsibilities to her community.
“As an Indigenous researcher, you don’t get to take that hat off. I do research on Indian Day Schools, and in my community, people will stop me at the post office or in the grocery store to talk about it,” she said. “If someone disagrees with something I’ve written or said, they can knock on my door and talk to me directly. That’s a different level of accountability, and it informs how we approach ethical research.”
Building permanence, not placeholders
For Arista, permanence is the key word. Indigenous Studies at Թ has long relied on sessional instructors and cross-listed courses. FAIIRK, she said, changes that trajectory.
“Without a dedicated academic unit, it’s impossible to sustain a degree program,” she said. McGIll students and Indigenous members of the community have communicated to me, “that this work should be treated as a genuine institutional priority.”
FAIIRK now has a physical home under renovation in Ferrier Hall, with accessibility for elders built into the design. Its first major public initiative, an Indigenous Language Symposium led entirely by graduate students, is taking place on April 23-24.
“The expertise is already here,” Arista said. “What FAIIRK does is bring that expertise together in a visible, lasting way, so Indigenous Studies and Indigenous language research can continue to grow here for generations.”