Empowered voices, empowering voices

Lorena Sekwan Fontaine [LLB/00, PhD/18] is Cree and Anishinaabe, and a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. She is a Professor and Department Head of Indigenous Studies at UM. 

Growing up, she often heard her language spoken in the background but recalls it was never spoken directly to her. “It was like it was hidden to protect us,” she shared at her book launch at McNally Robinson this past November. 

That silence, she believes was rooted in protection. 

“If you think about when you’re a child, right from when you’re able to speak that you’re punished for speaking your language, and that continues into your adult life, it becomes so ingrained in you that you feel something bad will happen if you speak that language.”

Many parents and grandparents, carrying the lived experience of residential schools, made difficult choices they believed would shield their children from harm. 

“I believe our people were protecting us by not passing on the language because they thought something terrible would happen to us. They were told repeatedly that there was no future in being Aboriginal or speaking our languages,” she says.

Thinking back on the moments that led her to writing, she remembers observing residential school court cases on the rise following the completion of her master’s degree.  Around the same time, she attended a conference with her mother, where she heard Survivors being told there was little that could be done regarding claims for loss of language and culture, and that they ultimately did not have language rights. This horrified her. 

“I wanted to be able to tell those lawyers and Survivors that they do have language rights in Canada,” she says. “So, I went back to school and began my research.”

Turning to Elders for guidance, Fontaine understood that Indigenous languages are sacred gifts, and with that gift comes responsibility.

Her book, Living Language Rights, examines the history and legal recognition of Indigenous languages in Canada. She shows how languages have endured despite suppression, and why they remain central to culture, identity and nationhood. She argues that education is key to revitalization and explores how Canadian constitutional law protects Indigenous language rights.

Combining her personal experiences and scholarship, Living Language Rights underscores the shared responsibility of governments and communities to preserve and revitalize Indigenous languages. It is a call to recognize language not only as a right, but as a living inheritance that must be carried forward.