By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com 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…
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