The First Peoples' Cultural Council supports B.C. First Nations communities to maintain, preserve and restore their languages by providing funding, training and capacity building, and advocacy for language immersion, collaboration, planning, language and culture, and archiving programs. They distribute provincial and federal funding, and administer immersion-focused programs.

Funding is offered in the following categories:

  • Language Immersion and Planning Programs:
  • Aboriginal Languages Initiative: is a federal program funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage. ALI provides funding support for community and regionally based projects directed at maintaining, revitalizing and promoting First Nations languages.
  • The B.C. Language Initiative: supports projects to revitalize British Columbia First Nations languages through documentation, immersion programs, materials and curriculum development, traditional and cultural programming, and community collaboration. First Nations communities and organizations are eligible to submit proposals.
  • FirstVoices: is an online Indigenous language resource developed by First Peoples’ that has gained international recognition. Community-based teams of fluent-speaking First Nations Elders and technically savvy youth are trained in the collection, editing and uploading of words, phrases, songs and stories.1372 words from the Barkley Sound Dialect of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation are archived on this site, with the ability to listen to some audio clips and study common phrases.