Heiltsuk Revitalization: Introducing New Letters for the Haíɫzaqv Language

By Kevin King, Type Designer & Researcher, Typotheque

Indigenous people in British Columbia speaking Haíɫzaqv language were missing characters to correctly render the language in writing. As part of an ongoing partnership between the Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) Nation and Typotheque under a Memorandum of Understanding, Heiltsuk Revitalization and Typotheque have created this video in order to present the story of how the publication of new Latin script characters were achieved and included in Unicode Version 16.0. 

This represents a major achievement for language reclamation and sovereignty for the Haíɫzaqv Nation, as it provided complete representation of their orthography within the Unicode Standard, removing significant barriers to digital language access. Alongside this announcement, Typotheque has prepared localized fonts – free and available in perpetuity to all community members – as well as updated keyboard layouts.

With this roadblock removed, Heiltsuk Revitalization and Typotheque look forward to collaborating under partnership on actions that help further extend the impact of this successful character addition to Unicode which enables greater access and engagement of Haíɫzaqvḷa (the Heiltsuk language) for the present and future.

To learn more, please read the full announcement on the Heiltsuk Revitalization website, and visit the Typotheque Indigenous North American Typography Research project’s website here.