Message from the Gathering: Spring 2026 Feast

St. John’s, NL – First Light held its second Gathering of Voices on March 19, 2026, bringing together nearly 100 community members, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, youth, and partners for a seasonal feast rooted in culture, ceremony, and storytelling.

As part of this year’s Culture Camp, the gathering welcomed guests from communities across the province alongside local participants. The evening opened with ceremony, including prayer, lighting of the kullik, and smudging, followed by teachings, drumming, and storytelling that grounded the space in Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Two invited storytellers shared personal journeys of reconnecting with Indigenous languages and identity, sparking reflection and dialogue across 12 circle conversations. Participants spoke to the importance of Indigenous languages, the challenges facing language revitalization in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the urgent need for coordinated support.

From these conversations, three core themes emerged:

The meaning of Indigenous languages – Language is deeply tied to identity, culture, spirituality, and connection to land and community. Participants described language as survival, belonging, and empowerment.

Ongoing impacts of colonization – Generations of language loss due to policies such as residential schools and forced assimilation continue to affect individuals and families today, creating barriers to learning and reclaiming language.

The need for revitalization and support – There is strong community desire to learn and use Indigenous languages, but limited access to teachers, programming, and resources highlights the need for sustained investment and collaboration.

Participants emphasized that revitalizing Indigenous languages requires community-based, culturally grounded approaches. This includes supporting language carriers, creating opportunities for families to learn together, increasing visibility of Indigenous languages, and ensuring access to land-based and community learning spaces.

The Gathering also highlighted the role of Friendship Centres in creating safe, inclusive spaces where Indigenous people can reconnect with language, culture, and community in urban settings.

Language is one of the strongest ways our community connects back to culture, identity, and each other, especially in an urban setting where many people are navigating disconnection. What we continue to hear is that the desire to learn is there, but the resources and funding to support that work are still too limited. If we’re serious about revitalization, we need to invest in the spaces and people carrying this work forward.

Chad Bedard, Manager of Knowledge Mobilization at First Light

The full Message from the Gathering can be downloaded here.

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