My work has a community focus, and much of what I have done in the Northwest Territories has been done collaboratively with Tłı̨chǫ linguists, language and culture teachers, and educational specialists.

In my position at the University of Victoria I was able to participate in the administrative launch and intellectual development of the Certificate Program in Aboriginal Language Revitalization (CALR) and the BEd, Graduate Certificate, and Master’s in Indigenous Language Revitalization. Through these programs many Indigenous scholars and allies have developed their research and activist skills to take what they have been learned further than their instructors could have imagined.

Community research (books, reports, and electronic resources)

1990      Technical report on the Dogrib standard orthography. Department of Culture and Communication, Government of the Northwest Territories, in a supplement to the Report of the Special Committee on Aboriginal Languages, pp. 8-18.

1996     Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì Enı̨htł’è / A Dogrib Dictionary.  Edited by Leslie Saxon and Mary Siemens. Dogrib Divisional Board of Education, Rae-Edzo, NWT. Available at: http://tlichohistory.com/sites/default/files/Tlicho_Dictionary_0.pdf

Leslie Saxon and Mary Siemens

1999      Draft Dogrib Language Plan. Written by Jim Martin, Mary Siemens, Philip Rabesca, and Leslie Saxon. Department of Education, Culture, and Employment, Government of the Northwest Territories.

2003    Dogrib Knowledge on Placenames, Caribou and Habitat. Researchers Leslie Saxon, Sally Anne Zoe, Georgina Chocolate, and Allice Legat, Dogrib Treaty 11 Council. Report to the West Kitikmeot Slave Study Society, Yellowknife, NWT.  [173 pp.]  Available at: https://www.gov.nt.ca/sites/ecc/files/wkss_dogrib_knowledge_2002.pdf

2005-     (Website) Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì Multimedia Dictionary, Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency, Behchokǫ̀, NWT. Available at: Tłı̨chǫ Dictionary

2010 [2007]     Tłı̨chǫ K’ę̀ę̀ Ets’eetł’èe xè Enı̨htł’è K’e Yats’ehtıı / Reading and Writing in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì. Edited and written by Aliki Marinakis,  Mary Koyina Richardson, Leslie Saxon, and Mary SiemensTłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency, Behchokǫ̀, NWT.  [the copyright date of this book is 2007; it appeared in January 2010] Available at: http://tlichohistory.com/sites/default/files/reading_and_writing_manual_0_1_0.pdf

2011      Tłı̨chǫ K’ę̀ę̀ Yats’ehtı / Tłı̨chǫ Prayer Book. Second edition. Edited by Rosa Mantla, Leslie Saxon, and Tammy Steinwand-Deschambeault. Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency, Behchokǫ̀, NWT. Available at: http://tlichohistory.com/sites/default/files/Tlicho%20Kee%20Yatsehti%20Tlicho%20prayer%20book.pdf#overlay-context=en/learn/language/books

2011      Suggestions for the Third Edition of Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì Enı̨htł’è [Dogrib Dictionary]. Research report to Teaching and Learning Centre, Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency, Behchokǫ̀, NWT. Written by Aliana Parker and Leslie Saxon. [51 pp.]

2012     Yati [Language/Words] (application issued by iTunes). Edited by Leslie Saxon with Rosa Mantla, Tammy Steinwand-Deschambeault, and others. Programmed by Christopher Coey. Released 24 May 2012.

2024     Tłı̨chǫ Placenames — Indicators of Knowing Mǫwhì Gogha Dè Nı̨ı̨tłèè. Researchers: Allice Legat, Leslie Saxon, Georgina Chocolate, and Sally Anne Zoe. Editor: Mary McCreadie. Tłı̨chǫ Traditional Knowledge Reports, Series 2. Dedats’eetsaa, Tłı̨chǫ Research and Training Institute. Available at: https://research.tlicho.ca/sites/default/files/tlicho_placenames-mar.24.pdf

Articles and book chapters on community based research

2002      Keren Rice and Leslie Saxon. Issues of standardization and community in aboriginal language lexicography. In Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas, ed. by W. Frawley, K.C. Hill, and P. Munro, University of California Press, pp. 124-154.

Presentations on community based research (since 2005)

2005      Mary Adele Mackenzie, Aliki Marinakis, Joseph Martel, and Leslie Saxon, with Rosa Mantla, Rose-anna Mantla, Michel Louis Rabesca, Philip Rabesca, and Mary K. Richardson.  Dogrib Stories of Travel: Collaborating on Language and Culture.  12th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium.  University of Victoria, Department of Linguistics, June 2005.

2005      Jeannette Armstrong , Joy Davis, and Leslie Saxon.  UVic/En’owkin Centre’s Language Revitalizaton Certificate Program.  12th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium.  University of Victoria, Department of Linguistics, June 2005.

2006      Mary K. Richardson and Leslie Saxon. Spelling manual for Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì: A community-based project. International Dene/Athabaskan Languages Conference. Yellowknife, NWT, June 2006.

2007      Suzanne Gessner and Leslie Saxon. On-line dictionaries for Dene languages.  Athabaskan Languages Conference, Diné College, Tsaile, Arizona, June 2007.

2007      Suzanne Gessner and Leslie Saxon.  Dictionaries for endangered languages:  The on-line model.  International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages 42, UBC Okanagan and En’owkin Centre, BC,  August 2007.

2008      Chris Coey, SooYoun Ham, Leslie Saxon, Nicholas Welch, and Marie Louise Bouvier White) Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì Multimedia Dictionary. Linguistics Department Research Forum, University of Linguistics, January 2008.

2010      Working in communities: Some things I have learned. Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas, University of Ottawa, February 2010. Invited address.

Behchokǫ̀ evening

2010      Goxègoahdo [Tell us Stories]: Learning and Teaching Indigenous Languages. Aboriginal Languages Symposium: Our Languages – A Shared Responsibility, Government of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, NWT, March 2010. Keynote address.

2011      Rosa Mantla , Mary Koyina Richardson, and Leslie Saxon. Gomǫ, Gotà Ts’ı̨lı̨ Nı̨dè, Dàanì Bebìa Ts’ǫ̀ Gots’edee [As Parents, How we Talk to Babies]: Motherese in Tłı̨chǫ [Dogrib] and the On-line Multimedia Tłı̨chǫ Dictionary. Baby Talk Symposium, History of Medicine, University of Victoria, 2 April 2011.

2011      Dǫ Yatıì Ts’ǫǫ̀hk’e, Ayìı K’e Eghàlaıhdàa [My Work with the Tłı̨chǫ Language]. Tłı̨chǫ Terminology Workshop. Tłı̨chǫ Government and Community Services Agency, Behchokǫ̀, Northwest Territories, 13 December 2011. Invited speaker, presentation in Tłı̨chǫ .

2012      Albert Canadien, Leslie Saxon, Brenda Weatherston, and Jeannette Armstrong. Government of the NWT – CALR Partnership: Language Revitalization Planning. Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, 18 May 2012, and Athabaskan Languages Conference, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 15-17 August 2012.

2013      Linguistics serving Indigenous language revitalization. Teaching Amer-Indian Languages Conference, Tsuut’ina Gunaha Institute, Tsuut’ina Nation [Alberta], 15-17 February 2013. Inited workshop presenter.

2013      Revitalizing the languages of the earth. International Symposium on Knowledge Democracy: Decolonizing the University through Community Partnerships, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria, 5 March 2013. Invited panelist.

2013      Community accessibility, community uses, community contributions. Panel: Where from here? New digital technology developments and language documentation. Language Documentation: Past – Present – Future. International conference, VolkswagenStiftung Dokumentation bedrohter Sprachen / Documentation of Endangered Languages, Hannover, Germany, 5-7 June 2013. Invited panelist.

2015      Indigenous language revitalization: Non-Indigenous allies in academia. University of Victoria Retirees Association lecture, 4 July 2015. Invited speaker.

2015      Linguist meets geography: Documenting Tłı̨chǫ knowledge of place through place names. Department of Geography colloquium, University of Victoria, 20 November 2015.

2016     Rosa Mantla and Leslie Saxon. Consequences of working together: Research and learning in Indigenous language and culture collaborations. WSCLA 21. UQAM. 1-3 April 2016.

2016      Reconciliation in language and culture. CUVIC conference, University of Victoria. 28 April 2016. Invited panelist.

2016      Place names across time. Dene Languages Conference. Yellowknife. 6-8 June 2016. Plenary speaker.

2017      Rosa Mantla , Mary Koyina Richardson, and Leslie Saxon. Gomǫ, gotà ts’ı̨lı̨ nı̨dè, dàanì bebìa ts’ǫ̀ gots’edee: Motherese in Tłı̨chǫ. Inuktitut Language and Linguistics Workshop, Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, 30 May 2017. Poster presentation.

2020      Invited panelist with Wanosts’a7 Dr Lorna Williams and SX̱EDŦELISIYE Renee Sampson. Speaking the Land. Conversation with Chancellor Shelagh Rogers. Ideafest, University of Victoria. 5 March 2020.

2020      Rosa Mantla and Leslie Saxon. Community and linguistics: What they mean to us. Colloquium, Department of Linguistics, UMass-Amherst. 16 October 2020.

2022      Grammar and Placenames: A Settler Linguist in Indigenous Language Revitalization. Masterminds Lecture Series, University of Victoria Retirees Association and University of Victoria Institute on Aging & Lifelong Health.  13 April 2022.

2023      Grammar, placenames, love (*and marriage). Invited presenter, Workshop on Language Revitalization and Documentation Honouring Keren Rice, Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto. 12 May 2023.

Recognition

Largely on the basis of my community-based research and contributions to Indigenous programming at UVic, I received the 2014 Craigdarroch Award for Knowledge Mobilization. Due to my successful history working with Indigenous communities while a prof at UVic, I was a subject in Alison Brophey’s 2011 MA thesis, Education and experience in the preparation of non-Indigenous researchers working in Indigenous contexts (Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Victoria).