Born in Victoria in 1943, Randy Bouchard has undertaken ethnographic, linguistic, and ethnohistorical research with numerous First Nations throughout British Columbia. His work has been ongoing since 1968. Beginning in 1971 and continuing today, he has worked closely with socio-cultural anthropologist Dr. Dorothy Kennedy. In 1972 Bouchard and Kennedy founded the BC Indian Language Project, dedicated to the documentation and preservation of BC’s First Nations languages, cultures, and histories.
Kennedy and Bouchard’s comprehensive study of the Native people of the Desolation Sound area, Sliammon Life, Sliammon Lands, was published by Talonbooks in 1983. They are also co-editors of Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America, published in 2002 by Talonbooks. Indian Myths & Legends is an acclaimed annotated translation of Franz Boas’ landmark anthropological study, Indianischen Sagen, which was originally published in 1895.
As Bouchard and Kennedy Research Consultants they continue to contribute to the establishment of Aboriginal rights and title claims, having recently shown that the Squamish and the Lil’wat First Nations both have Aboriginal rights and title interests in the Whistler area, making them First Nations co-hosts of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
The Lil’wat World of Charlie Mack, published by Talonbooks in February 2010, is Kennedy and Bouchard’s tribute to one of their First Nations collaborators.