Research

This research is made possible by the support of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario as part of the Consortium on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).

As an Indigenous institute that offers an array of Indigenous language programming and where Indigenous language revitalization is a core area of focus, Six Nations Polytechnic (SNP) is committed to the language acquisition journeys of our adult learners and exploring how adaptive learning technologies might lend themselves to their success.

Indigenous Language Revitalization - The Context of the Work

All six of the Hodinohsyo:ni languages (Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca, and Tuscarora) are critically endangered, with few first-language speakers remaining. Recognizing that action is required to ensure these vitally important languages are both preserved and stabilized, Six Nations Polytechnic embarked on the first phase of a 3-year Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) grant to create a new group of Advanced-level second-language speakers of Cayuga.

This published report contains the results of a year-long study conducted by Six Nations Polytechnic at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory from March 22nd, 2016 to February 2nd, 2017. The study titled, "The Path to Creating A Critical Mass of Onkwehonwehnéha Speakers at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory" was made possible through an Ontario Trillium Fund grant and support from Six Nations Polytechnic and the Six Nations Language Commission.

President Jamieson serves on the Six Nations Language Commission which administers significant funding for community-based language revitalization. This linkage is consistent with SNP’s role in language revitalization, which further strengthens community planning and cohesion for language revitalization and overall contributions to enhanced language revitalization outcomes.

This SSHRC funded project, in partnership with McMaster University, concluded in the summer of 2013 and has left a lasting legacy for future language and culture revitalization work. For more information on this project, please visit the Research portion of our website.

Associate Professors Will Coleman, Daniel Coleman, Rick Monture, Theresa McCarthy, Susan Hill and Dawn Martin-Hill contributed to research and project development throughout the year.

This camp funded through Six Nations Welfare targeted families with children aged 5 to 12 years old and their parents. Camp leaders used the family learning model to engage participants in language and cultural activities in both Gayogoho:no’ and Kanien’keha.

Funded for two years by the Ontario Trillium Foundation to catalogue Mohawk, Cayuga and Onondaga language and culture archives.

May 31, 2013 - Wilfrid Laurier University, Six Nations Polytechnic, and the University of Saskatchewan collaborated on a research project on the Internationalization of Indigenous Rights and Governance. This project is funded by a research grant from the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) to study the impact of international institutions and global governance documents in promoting legislative protection and culture survival for Indigenous peoples.

The Deyohahá: ge: Indigenous Knowledge Centre begins exploring the natural sciences from both Indigenous and western perspectives in this curriculum project entitled Bi-Cultural Science. Please contact us for more information on this project.