Tracey Herbert originates from the St’uxwtews First Nation (Bonaparte Band), located in the territory of the Secwepemc Tribe in the Thompson Okanagan region of B.C.’s interior. She has changed and influenced approaches to First Nations language preservation and revitalization in B.C. and Canada, and her leadership in the areas of health, cultural and linguistic well-being of First Nations is benefitting all of British Columbia by creating opportunities for all citizens to appreciate Indigenous culture.
As CEO of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC), and in partnership with Royal British Columbia Museum, she led the development of an award-winning exhibit on Indigenous languages of B.C. showing the critical level of endangerment of B.C. First Nations languages and showcasing the amazing work of B.C. First Nations language champions.
Since 2003, she has managed the development and implementation of FirstVoices.com, a unique online language documentation tool that is used by Indigenous people in B.C. and Canada. FirstVoices version 2.0, launched this year, now serves over 70 Indigenous languages in B.C., Alberta, the Yukon, Alberta, Quebec, Nova Scotia, California and New South Wales, Australia. She is working with Google, Microsoft, National Library and Archives, National Research Council, Assembly of First Nations, and Royal BC Museum. Her greatest legacy has been her unwavering advocacy and commitment to ensuring the revitalization of Indigenous cultures of B.C. Through her work the Indigenous people’s voice is finally heard in telling their stories in song, art, music, exhibitions, performance and how history is told and languages recovered, revitalized and maintained.
As chair of the Endangered Language Project, a hub for those championing language revitalization to share resources, Herbert brought academics and community representatives together to catalogue all endangered languages in the world and to share best practises through a global network of experts. She is also the B.C. Assembly of First Nations’ representative as a technician for the Chiefs Committee on Languages and the Chair of the National Assembly of First Nations Costing Committee for the development of the national legislation on Indigenous languages.
A sought-after speaker, she has spoken at the Micmac Language Conference, B.C. Museums Association Conference, and the Heritage B.C. conference. In 2019, she will lead an initiative to bring together Indigenous peoples from around the globe to celebrate the United Nations Year of Indigenous languages.
Her advocacy has resulted in the provincial and federal government making significant increases to their investment in languages. In 2018, the B.C. government increased its contribution to $50 million and the federal government increased its contribution to $3.6 million, all of which will increase opportunities through community grants for people to learn their languages and for the languages to be saved from extinction through documentation and learning through immersion.
She also led a partnership with the Vancouver Opera to develop an indigenized version of the Magic Flute that featured the Coast Salish language, an Indigenous set and costume design, and choreography while creating nine job opportunities for Indigenous artists and singers.
Tracey Herbert was taught by her grandparents to believe that people have a responsibility to support each other to achieve their goals. Her 30 years of work in health education, planning and language revitalization has been a lifetime of creating opportunities for indigenous peoples to flourish and be valued as the first peoples of this land.
