Wil Sandy joins graduates from the Bachelor of Nsyilxcn Language Fluency and Bachelor of NłeɁkepmx Language Fluency programs during the procession at UBC Okanagan's 2025 graduation ceremony on June 5.
There is no single voice in this story. Only many moving as one.
This year, nine graduates from two Indigenous language programs -Bachelor of Nsyilxcn Language Fluency and Bachelor of NłeɁkepmx Language Fluency-walked the stage together at UBC Okanagan.
For each graduate, the moment is personal. But as Wil Sandy, part of the inaugural NłeɁkepmx cohort, reminds us, the celebration is rooted in something larger.
"It isn't just about acquiring linguistic skills," Sandy reflects. "It's about reclaiming, revitalizing and nurturing the very spirit of our nation and communities."
UBC Okanagan began offering the first degree program in Nsyilxcn-the language of the Syilx Okanagan Nation-in 2023, through a partnership with the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology in Merritt and the En'owkin Centre in Penticton.
The program is grounded in a language fluency framework developed by the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the Indigenous Adult and Higher Learning Association, in collaboration with First Nations communities, Indigenous institutes and public post-secondary partners.
Dr. Jeannette Armstrong, Professor of Indigenous Studies at UBC Okanagan, helped shape both the academic framework and the community partnerships that support it.
The degrees do more than teach language, though-they restore relationships among people, communities and the land.
With an emphasis on immersion, community-guided learning and intergenerational mentorship, the programs reflect a growing movement to reconnect learners with traditional knowledge systems, land-based teachings and one another.
For Sandy, that means understanding fluency as a form of responsibility.
"This program embodies respect, relevance, reciprocity and responsibility," Sandy says. "As we embrace and master Nsyilxcn and NłeɁkepmxcin, we're simultaneously giving back to our communities, strengthening cultural ties and fostering intergenerational learning."
This year's milestone marks the first graduating class from the NłeɁkepmx degree and the third from the Nsyilxcn stream-two language groups learning side-by-side at UBC Okanagan over the past two years.
