The new book Living Language Rights: Constitutional Pathways to Indigenous Language Education is more than the author’s vision to return to a time when Indigenous languages flourished in Canada. Lorena Sekwan Fontaine argues that customary laws, Canada’s Constitution, and international laws demand that Indigenous languages claim a prominent space in this country.
“I make a legal argument in there that Indigenous people have language rights to education in Canada. Our languages are endangered because the government and the churches created these educational institutions that devalued Indigenous people’s culture and language,” said Fontaine, Cree and Anishinaabe and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba.
“Many kids were harmed in there for just speaking their language to the point of being afraid to speak the language and being ashamed of their cultural identity. We’re now in a place where our languages are endangered,” she said.
It’s something Fontaine has personally experienced.
In her book, Fontaine examines her own family and their connection to their language and culture. While her maternal grandparents “risked their freedom during the residential school era to protect the Cree language and culture within our family,” her parents were reluctant to speak Cree or Ojibway around their children. In turn, Fontaine’s generation never learned their language.
“The silence around our cultural identity created a shame…” wrote Fontaine, pointing out that she felt “the silent shame.” It was a shame experienced by two generations.
The birth of her daughter Sarah (Nimijiien Niibe Ikway) was a “transformative period” for Fontaine
“When you have a child and you’ve inherited this legacy in your family where there’s shame and harm and abuse around speaking our ancestral language, it’s pretty traumatizing to have a child and realize that past and what you have inherited from your…I wouldn’t say from my family, I would say from the government, their policy. My family was a victim to that,” said Fontaine.
Living Language Rights begins with the recounting of the time when settlers and missionaries first came to what would become Canada. Indigenous languages thrived and those who came to the land learned those languages and protocols.
“I wanted to find documents that would give me a glimpse of what it was like in a period where our languages were dominant,” said Fontaine, who is a professor and department head of Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba. “That, I would argue, was a time when our languages were living in Canada.”
Fontaine also draws the comparison between the treatment of Indigenous languages to the French language, which was recognized alongside English in the Officials Languages Act in 1969.
“I was in a community in Quebec where they have bake sales to just keep their (Indigenous language) homeschooling alive,” said Fontaine. “Then I look back at my experience in (French) immersion programs where I had a bus that picked me up, I had school outings, and my parents didn’t pay for that.”
The answer lies in education and making Indigenous languages part of the schooling system, she says. However, even with the federal government’s adoption of the Indigenous Languages Act in 2019 and the creation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in 2021, there is insufficient funding for Indigenous languages in the education system.
“There’s an inequality. That’s where I get frustrated and angry. I get sad when I look at the work that communities are doing and we keep losing Elders every day. And it’s almost like everything’s against us when we are working on these programs,” said Fontaine.
There are success stories, she adds, programs that are producing first language speakers but it’s “hard work and what I would say to them is that they should have the resources that they require to do the work that they do.”
That lack of funding is a pattern by the federal government, Fontaine added. “They do studies, royal commissions. They have recommendations, calls to action. They spend a lot of money on research and yet there’s no (money for) action.”
Fontaine admits she worries about where Indigenous languages fit on the priority list for new Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney whose focus is not on a relationship with Indigenous peoples like the one his predecessor Justin Trudeau had.
“It’s a different time. (Carney) is not focused on reconciliation. He’s focused on making sure the economy grows, the economy improves,” said Fontaine. “But I guess where my faith lies is in our leadership and our communities that are doing the work. And the young people…What I noticed over the past 10 years is that young people are demanding language programs. They’re seeking out community classes…Now they’re full with waiting lists.”.
She is heartened that in her home province of Manitoba, New Democratic Party Premier Wab Kinew, from the Onigaming First Nation, has just funded Cree and Ojibway immersion at universities.
Fontaine and daughter Sarah are on their own language journey. Fontaine has raised Sarah with an understanding of her Cree and Ojibway heritage, taken her to ceremonies and provided her with a naming ceremony.
Fontaine would like to see Living Language Rights serve as a useful resource for people.
“I hope it gives them support to go and negotiate,” she said. “Our languages are treasures and…we have rights in this country to make sure that they thrive, that they’re passed on to our children.”
