Maxine Baptiste

Biography

Dr. Maxine Baptiste is the language director at the En’owkin Centre and an instructor in the language teacher program. She teaches courses in the education department at UBCO, the Indigenous Language Revitalization program at UVic, and the ECE program at NVIT; and she has also taught Indigenous studies and history courses. Maxine has completed consultation work as a linguist, translator and writer of the Okanagan language for several projects, including plaques for BC provincial parks and the RCMP, an early childhood educator (ECE) book, children's stories and artwork for Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA), and other curriculum projects.

Maxine works with a team on translation projects for the ONA Chief Executive Council, which includes important documents for Title and Rights. Maxine also has experience working on language archiving projects where she transcribes audio files and double-checks the handwritten notes. “I am always willing to do this for people," she says, "as this data is so important, and digitization of this data is so valuable and much needed."

Maxine teaches in immersion camps, summer language teacher workshops, Pro-D day workshops for language teachers, and she has participated in "on the land" land-based teachings and learning for the Okanagan territory for culturally relevant sites and important landmarks tied to the Okanagan Traditional Territory.