Language revitalization work at one First Nation in eastern Canada has been ongoing for over two decades. Several approaches have been put in place: core teaching of Mi'gmaq as a primary school subject, language documentation and the creation of an online dictionary, and an Elders' focus group on language, as well other shorter-term projects. In 2006, a group of university researchers was invited to collaborate with local Mi'gmaq language instructors who were trying out an image-based way of introducing adult community members to their language. After 10 years of continuous community-university contact, from 2006 to 2016, a non-Indigenous researcher reflects on the involvement of the academic applied linguist outsider in a constantly changing learning process.