Community comes together to create a scholarship in Indigenous Language Revitalization in memory of T’łat’laḵuł Dr. Trish Rosborough

T’łat’laḵuł Dr. Trish Rosborough from the Kwakiutl First Nation was an Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous Education (IED) at UVic and the former Director of Aboriginal Education for the BC Ministry of Education. Dr. Rosborough also served as a valuable board member of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and an avid user and advocate for FirstVoice.com. Trish was passionate about working in community and bringing Indigenous language revitalization methods and models to the communities where the language lives.

An adult learner of her late mother’s first language, Kwak’wala, Trish often used a narrative approach to her research, sharing stories of her personal journey as a language learner, teacher, and researcher. She participated in the mentor apprentice program to gain fluency in her language and worked very hard with her mentor to develop her language speaking skills. Trish’s research project, Beautiful Words: Enriching and Indigenizing Language Revitalization through Understandings of Linguistic Structure, stemmed from her view that it is important to consider both how to retain Indigenous languages and the rich worldview understandings within the languages.

Listen to Dr. Rosborough speak on CBC Radio’s Unreserved.

Trish passed away on August 15, 2019. Read the UVic in-memoriam article. 

In the fall of 2019, the T’łat’laḵuł Dr. Trish Rosborough Memorial Scholarship in Indigenous Language Revitalization fund was created to carry forward Trish’s good work and lift up learners who are working on Indigenous language learning and revitalization. More information about the fund and how to contribute can be found here.

Trish’s influence and impact reached into many communities through her work at UVic, the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, the BC Ministry of Education, the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), and more. After her passing, Professor Emeritus, Wanosts’a7 Dr. Lorna Williams worked with the First People’s Cultural Council and champions in each group to bring people together to determine how best to honour Trish’s legacy and support advanced language proficiency within Indigenous communities. With the support of the Rosborough family and connections facilitated by Wanosts’a7 and IED faculty and staff at UVic, the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and Foundation made generous contributions to endow the scholarship. 

Donations from many other contributors to the fund add to this endowment while also making it possible to award the first scholarship in the fall of 2020. It will be awarded to graduate students working toward advanced Indigenous language proficiency.

Gilakas’la to the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and Foundation and everyone who worked together to bring this memorial scholarship to endowment and create a lasting legacy for our dear colleague, friend, teacher, and mentor, T’łat’laḵuł Dr. Trish Rosborough.

A more in-depth tribute to T’łat’laḵuł Dr. Trish Rosborough can be found in in the Fall 2019 IED newsletter.