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.
In that time, they’ve supported each other’s growth while sharing space with students from a third language stream: St’át’imc. The inaugural graduating cohort has six St’át’imc language learners working toward a December completion date.
“This shared experience has created invaluable opportunities to carry on this sacred relationship for generations to come,” Sandy says. “We’ve reconnected with traditional ways of knowing and being as neighbours.”
Each of the nine graduates follows a unique path, but all speak to a common theme: the power of language as healing. Many have pursued capstone projects that strengthen connections to family and nation—developing curriculum, creating parenting tools or mapping traditional territories through language.
And not all journeys look the same. Some students took longer routes to graduation; others stepped away for certificates, diplomas or personal reasons. All are recognized. All are included.
“We also want to acknowledge the many language learners who shared this journey with us,” Sandy says. “Whether they pursued a certificate or diploma or are simply taking a break … their presence shaped us.”
As the Class of 2025 celebrates, their work is far from over.
“We are language champions, cultural connectors and the torchbearers of our future,” Sandy says. “Each word spoken in NłeɁkepmxcin is a testament to resilience, a celebration of heritage and a promise for a vibrant future.”
For Sue Sterling-Bur, who helped guide the development of the programs as manager of Strategies and Operations Indigenous Initiatives, the moment is more than a milestone.
For her, it’s a return.
“These nine graduates are more than a cohort,” she says. “They’re a circle of restoration. Each one carries forward the hopes of past generations and the tools to shape what comes next. Through their capstones, their stories and their language work, they’re showing all of us that resurgence is possible—and already happening.”
