{"id":100263,"date":"2025-12-11T12:58:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T17:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100263"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:58:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T17:58:54","slug":"new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By 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\u2019s vision to return to a time when Indigenous languages flourished in Canada. Lorena Sekwan Fontaine argues that customary laws, Canada\u2019s Constitution, and international laws demand that Indigenous languages claim a prominent space in this country. \u201cI 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,\u201d said Fontaine, Cree and Anishinaabe and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. \u201cMany kids were harmed in there for just speaking their language to the point of being afraid to… <\/p>\n

\n
\n
This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription – Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>\n
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By 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\u2019s vision to return to a time when Indigenous languages flourished in Canada. Lorena Sekwan Fontaine argues that customary laws, Canada\u2019s Constitution, and international laws demand that Indigenous languages claim a prominent space in this country. \u201cI 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,\u201d said Fontaine, Cree and Anishinaabe and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. \u201cMany kids were harmed in there for just speaking their language to the point of being afraid to... <\/p>\n

This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nNew book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0By 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\u2019s vision to return to a time when Indigenous languages flourished in Canada. Lorena Sekwan Fontaine argues that customary laws, Canada\u2019s Constitution, and international laws demand that Indigenous languages claim a prominent space in this country. \u201cI 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,\u201d said Fontaine, Cree and Anishinaabe and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. \u201cMany kids were harmed in there for just speaking their language to the point of being afraid to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T17:58:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T17:58:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":961,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/\",\"name\":\"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T17:58:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"\u00a0By 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\u2019s vision to return to a time when Indigenous languages flourished in Canada. Lorena Sekwan Fontaine argues that customary laws, Canada\u2019s Constitution, and international laws demand that Indigenous languages claim a prominent space in this country. \u201cI 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,\u201d said Fontaine, Cree and Anishinaabe and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. \u201cMany kids were harmed in there for just speaking their language to the point of being afraid to","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2025-12-11T17:58:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights","datePublished":"2025-12-11T17:58:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/"},"wordCount":961,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/","name":"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-11T17:58:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/new-book-presents-legal-argument-for-indigenous-language-education-rights\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New book presents legal argument for Indigenous language education rights"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100264,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100263\/revisions\/100264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}