The Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest (KILN) is in its eighth year of operations, started in the grassroots by a local group of Indigenous language lovers and learners. Our vision is to champion the urban resurgence of Indigenous languages through following the Kanyen’kehá:ka Kayanerenkó:wa (Great Law of Peace) and the Anishinaabe Seven Grandfather Teachings, ​we aim to lift each other up through peace, strength, and a collective mind, and continue to support other Indigenous-led community initiatives ​as well as create a space of openness and acceptance for all who wish to learn. At our new building located at 610 Montreal Street, Kingston – situated on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe peoples – we invite you to attend our community workshops and language learning sessions. Watch this page for our upcoming 2022 programs calendar.

Knowledge Sharing and Storytelling – The Heart of Dibajimowin

The Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest invites you to engage in language revitalization with Dibajimowin: Urban Indigenous Languages Revitalization Project. The centerpiece of this website is a collection of thirty digital stories about culture and language made by community members. Each personal story shares insights into the barriers to language learning and cultural connection as well as the many ways we are resilient and relentless. For each story, we pulled out key themes to create new language learning resources such as vocabulary lessons, creative activities and cultural teachings. We have sorted the stories in different ways: by digital story, by language and by cultural teachings. Explore and Enjoy!

We relate to one another through stories. This collection provides many opportunities to learn from each other—about identity, language, culture, family, land and more.

There are language activities connected to the themes of each digital story.  We model many different language learning approaches such as games, songs, conversations, vocabulary and grammar lessons.

We provide further teachings on some of the ceremonies, historical moments and cultural issues shared in the digital stories.

The Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest runs events throughout the year. Check out Upcoming Events here!

Please get in touch!
Email us at [email protected]

Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest

610 Montreal Street, Kingston ON K7K 3J2

613-544-3065

Thank you…

We would like to acknowledge funding support from the City of Kingston, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Government of Ontario, The Canadian Institute of Health Research, Canada Summer Jobs, the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle, the United Way, the Community Foundation of Kingston & Area and the Kingston Community Credit Union.

We would also like to thank our close community partners: Kahwá:tsire Indigenous-Led Child & Family Programs, Loving Spoonful Kingston, Walking the Path of Peace Together Hwy 15 Indigenous Food Sovereignty Garden, Queen’s University and Tsi Tyónnheht Onkwawén:na. A special thanks to Community Story Strategies, for leading our language activity gathering workshops, helping us to create the digital stories and designing this website.