Seed Funding Secured for NIKLA’s Respectful Terminologies Project

January 31, 2023

The National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA) announced that seed funding has been secured to create a national platform for respectful Indigenous terminology to replace outdated and inappropriate terminologies used currently in cultural memory sectors such as museums, libraries, archives centers and galleries.

Monday, January 30th, 2023

Camille Callison and Stacy Allison-Cassin, Co-leads of the Respectful Terminologies Project of the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA) are very pleased to announce that seed funding has been secured to move forward the essential work of creating a national platform for respectful Indigenous terminology.

The Respectful Terminology Project was presented and discussed during national discussions between hundreds of participants in May 2022. There was a consensus on the need to develop a platform that enables a dynamic, multilingual set of terminologies applied to Indigenous Peoples, places, heritage, tradition, knowledge and cultures. These co-developed terminologies and vocabularies will be used to replace outdated and inappropriate terminologies used currently in cultural memory sectors such as museums, libraries, archives centers and galleries.

Following a call for support throughout the summer and fall, NIKLA is very pleased to announce that numerous organizations have committed to finance the seed funding phase of the project with contributions of $383,000 thus far. NIKLA thanks Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and their members, the Canadian Urban Library Council (CULC) and their members, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CKRN) and their members, the Internet Archive Canada and OCLC. NIKLA is also looking forward to creating reciprocal partnerships with other interested organizations to contribute to the project.

Over the next few weeks, NIKLA will proceed with the recruitment of a strategic lead to coordinate the project, invitations to the Indigenous Advisory Circle and the Technical committee.

Please visit the NIKLA website for periodic project updates and upcoming engagement opportunities.

(Via National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance)