Introductory Ktunaxa Online Language Course – Spring 2026
Join Alfred Joseph and Mara Nelson for 12 weeks of Foundational Ktunaxa Language Learning. Learn the sounds, words and some history of the Ktunaxa Language. This course is designed for you to garner skills that will enable you to carry Ktunaxa Language forward to your communities, classrooms, and on the Land.
This course is open to everyone – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants who wish to learn to uplift language revitalization. If you are a non-Indigenous language learner, we encourage you to review these reflections prior to commencing this course on what it means to be a non-Indigenous learner in an Indigenous language learning course.
Key Information:
- 12 x 1.5 hour language learning sessions on zoom
- Mondays at 7pm Mountain Time / 6pm Pacific Time
- February 23 – May 11
- Recorded and the recording will be shared in case you can’t make all of the sessions
- A certificate of attendance is provided for attending the live and/or virtual sessions
Cost:
- Early Bird Registration: $240 ($20/session) until January 31 & $300 ($25/session) after January 31
- FREE for Indigenous Participants
- Indigenous Participant 75% discount option (if you are able and would like to contribute)
- 25% Group Discount: For groups of 5 or more using this code at checkout: N945QEAF
- For groups of 10 or more, we can offer larger group discounts. Please check out the group rates here, and email programs@outdoorlearning.com for more info and to register.
Your course fee goes towards supporting our charity in covering the course costs, including ensuring that we compensate the course instructors adequately, and that we can continue to offer learning opportunities like these.
Facilitators:
Alfred Joseph is a highly respected Ktunaxa Elder and past chief of the Akisqnuk Nation. He is an expert in Ktunaxa language and knowledge and an immensely passionate, dedicated and talented educator. He was a student at St Eugene’s Residential School and graduated from Olds Agricultural College. He has a farm with hay production and farm animals, and a Trail Riding operation for 25 years, ending in 2000. He is very knowledgeable about and utilizes all aspects of Ktunaxa Culture. He teaches Ktunaxa Language and is very involved with sharing Ktunaxa Traditional Knowledge and encouraging implementation into Ktunaxa Nation Council Programs and Policy.
Mara Nelson is ʔaqⱡsmaknik (a Ktunaxa person) Her family is from Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡiʔit. She is a great great granddaughter of Suzette Antiste and John Phillips, great granddaughter of Mary Agnes Phillips and Tom Cunliffe and granddaughter of Sadie Cunliffe. She has a background in education as a Sign Language Transliterator and Education Assistant. She has extensive experience in the classroom with students and teachers alike which has enabled her to create fulfilling modified working course plans. She has been a keen student of her Ktunaxa language, learning as much as she can from Alfred. She is deeply connected to the land, water and all living things.
Supporting Resources:
- Ktunaxa Nature Walk: Alfred Joseph’s Walkabout
- q̓apkiǂ – Ktunaxa v: to tell someone everything (features Alfred Joseph and Mara Nelson)
- ?a-kxam̓is q̓api qapsin (All Living Things)
- Walking Through the Seasons
