Finding their words again — University of Lethbridge researchers work to preserve and revive the endangered Blackfoot language

Date published: June 11, 2026 | Estimated read time: 5 min Social SCiences and Humanities Research Council

At 72 years old, Annabelle Chatsis still remembers the fear.

As a five-year-old Indigenous girl, she was taken from her home on the Kainai (Blood) Reserve in southern Alberta and sent to residential school. Blackfoot was the language she spoke with her family, friends and neighbours. The language that carried stories, humour, teachings and identity. But, at school, speaking Blackfoot was forbidden.

“The trauma itself was severe enough that, as a five-year-old, when you’re being told not to speak Blackfoot, you don’t understand why you can’t, but you do understand that speaking it means you will be punished,” recalls Chatsis, who says only English was allowed.

“I knew at that young age that, in order to survive in residential school, I needed to not speak Blackfoot.”

Decades later, she understood the real impact of being silenced.

“When I entered into my early 40s, I started realizing less and less people were speaking Blackfoot,” she says. “Like me, they still didn’t feel comfortable or safe speaking the language.”

A language under threat

Researchers Annabelle Chatsis and Inge Genee at the A’tsimaani Blackfoot Language Conference, March 2026.

Photo: Jocelyn McKnight

Chatsis, who went on to receive a Master’s degree in social work from the University of Washington, always taught the Blackfoot language whenever she could over the years. After retiring from a career in social work, in 2024 she joined a movement at the University of Lethbridge to bring the Blackfoot language back.

“There’s a lot of wealth within that language for our people. We’ve lost touch with who we are,” she says.

Working alongside linguist and researcher Inge Genee at the University of Lethbridge, Chatsis, now the University’s Blackfoot Language Adult Immersion Program coordinator, is part of a growing effort to preserve and revitalize Blackfoot through research, education and community partnerships supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Their work is urgent.

Fluent Blackfoot speakers—many of them Elders—are disappearing quickly. With every loss, a generation of knowledge is at risk of disappearing.

“Blackfoot, like many Indigenous languages, is underresearched,” says Genee. A linguist originally from the Netherlands, she fell in love with the Blackfoot language the first time she heard it after arriving in Canada in 1997.

“As a linguist, I have studied many languages,” Genee explains. “But, Blackfoot is incredibly beautiful and complex. I had no idea languages like this existed.”

Capturing Blackfoot before it’s lost

For nearly 20 years now, Genee has immersed herself in the Blackfoot language and community. She has built a career trying to understand the importance of the language, and doing all she can to help those who are working to bring it back.

“There is so much we still don’t know about the language from a linguistic point of view,” she adds. “Recording and documenting it properly is incredibly important if we want to build strong school programs and opportunities for people to learn.”

Researcher Inge Genee thanks speakers at the A’tsimaani conference.

Photo: Jocelyn McKnight

Supported by two SSHRC Insight Grants and two SSHRC Connection Grants—Genee, Chatsis and their team of researchers and community members have gone inside classrooms, community centres and homes across southern Alberta and Montana—where Blackfoot is spoken—recording conversations with Elders and Knowledge Keepers who still speak it fluently. In a collaboration with the University of Alberta, the team has also received a SSHRC Partnership Grant for the 21st Century Tools for Indigenous Languages project. The goal is to create modern tools, like web-based dictionaries and searchable databases, to support Indigenous languages.

“Our work is completely guided by community voices. We couldn’t do our work without the support of SSHRC,” explains Genee.

The interviews the teams conduct are helping create the learning materials and digital resources that are all part of an online educational hub. The materials respect the four different Blackfoot dialects across Canada and the United States. The goal is to make Blackfoot more accessible for young people, families and communities.

“I think our work has had a real impact on reviving Blackfoot,” adds Genee. “I’m no longer afraid of Blackfoot becoming extinct, but I do want to make sure all of these communities have access to our research and know there is a hub of information online to learn from.”

That’s why the team now works with schools, community groups and educators to ensure Blackfoot resources become available and part of the curriculum.

A language tied to identity

For Chatsis, the language is about far more than words.

“It’s who we are,” she explains.

She describes Blackfoot as a living language deeply connected to identity, spirituality, relationships and culture.

“It encompasses our lifestyle, our abilities—everything. And we’re missing that.”

Chatsis believes that, for Indigenous people who have lost touch with who they are because of the pain caused by residential schools, relearning their language is an opportunity to heal.

Her hope is simple but powerful: to hear Blackfoot spoken confidently again in homes, schools and communities.

“I hope our communities become stronger by being able to speak a language that is such a big part of who we are,” Chatsis says. “I hope we can all finally put the fear aside.”

Want to learn more?

Hear some of the Blackfoot stories told by Elders, Knowledge Keepers and community leaders, or download the app with conversational phrases.