Kyle Napier is achieving big things outside the NWT, but his connection to his home is as strong as it's ever been.
"I go back a few times a year," the 35-year-old said. "Whenever I cross into the boreal, that's when I feel home.
"It's a connection you can feel in your marrow."
For Napier, who grew up in Salt River First Nation with Dene/Cree/Metis heritage, home is Fort Smith.
However, he currently lives in Edmonton, where he teaches at the University of Alberta, NorQuest College in Edmonton and MacEwan University and remotely at the University of Victoria and Mount Royal University in Calgary.
He teaches a number of disciplines, including communications, linguistics and Indigenous studies. He's passionate about all of the subjects he teaches and derives great joy from seeing his students' connect with the material.
"I read once that if you haven't refreshed your material in five years, either the field is dead or you are," he said with a laugh. "That might be an inappropriate saying but it's one I kind of resonated with as an instructor. I love staying fresh in the field, and applying the stories of today [to my teaching]... either news of the day or contemporary situations or case studies in pedagogical contexts.
"That all goes a long way. It's a way to help myself find the passion, and also to work with the learners in an individual way so that they can apply their own passions."
Napier's interest in teaching subjects like Indigenous studies is a product of his experience. When discussing his road to his current position teaching in Edmonton, he brought up a moment from his childhood, when he and his mother moved to Pennsylvania to live with a man who would become his stepfather of "23 years of so."
"I think it was eighth grade," he said. "There was a class-wide spelling bee, then [I went on to] a school-wide spelling bee, then a countywide spelling bee... There are various other elements to the story, but when it came down to it, I misspelt a word [at the countywide spelling bee], and the word that I misspelt was Indigenous.
"To be so disconnected to literally misspell the word Indigenous SA国际影视传媒� as an avid reader as a kid SA国际影视传媒� that really kind of jostled me."
Napier's interest in his Indigenous heritage was amplified again when he was "about halfway through" his undergraduate in journalism at Calgary's Mount Royal University, when he participated in the university's Treaty 7 Field School program.
"I spent however many days SA国际影视传媒� seven days or so SA国际影视传媒� out in different areas across Treaty 7," he said. "[I went from] going through my own business down south and feeling kind of disconnected, to feeling reconnected to the land and knowing I have to go back home.
"Every single class that I could, I made my focus Indigenous language revitalization," he added. "I just pivoted. Now I'm completely committed to learning my language. I encourage other people to as well because the English worldview, it's not connected to these lands. Indigenous languages, they're languages of the land. Having reconnected to my language, it feels like everything else is really coming to life too."
Still learning
Despite his busy teaching schedule, which saw him lead nine different classes in the fall 2024 semester, Napier is not resting on his laurels. He is also currently working on his PhD.
"I'm wrapping up my candidacy, and hoping to pass it soon," he said. "It's called Seven Directions of Language Revitalization. I'm looking to different Indigenous languages around the world: four different languages from the cardinal directions, which includes north, east, south and west, but also above, below and within."
Napier believes there is a "brain drain" occurring in the NWT, with many of the territory's "really well-educated folks" relocating because they "can't seem to find the same opportunities up North." Nonetheless, he encourages young Indigenous people in the NWT to pursue their dreams and explore their options in post-secondary education.
After all, leaving the territory doesn't mean it is no longer home.
"It can be really challenging to find the right school," he said. "One of the biggest indicators for post-secondary Indigenous students is whether or not they feel like they have a sense of community.
"Since the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada], a lot of institutions have made a commitment to so-called Indigenization. [Potential students should] try to see what is lip service and what is actually a commitment that's made from [the schools]. I would recommend going to a place and seeing it, and feeling it to see if you naturally feel comfortable there. That can be expensive, [but] take that orientation. Try it. Apply to a few different schools. If you decide to change your degree halfway through, that's OK, most students always do SA国际影视传媒� it's just changing and shifting and growing."
