Do First Nations have a right to Indigenous Language Schools?

In Canada, people have a right to publicly-funded education in either of our official languages, French and English. Now, some people want that right extended to First Nations languages, like Cree, Ojibwa, and Dene.

As guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, children of Francophones living outside Quebec, where numbers warrant, are entitled to a French-language education.

David Leitch is a Toronto lawyer, and is part of the executive of the Aboriginal Section of the Ontario Bar Association. Lorena Fontaine is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

They both believe the constitution of Canada guarantees First Nations the right to funding for education for indigenous language schools.

Fontaine's parents and grandparents were fluent in Cree and Ojibwa, but were punished for speaking their language in residential school. As a result, she never learned to speak the languages, and can't pass them along to her children. Fontaine believes that guaranteeing a right to education in a First Nations language would be part of the reconciliation process. 

There was an attempt by the government to destroy the languages. After I had my daughter I realized it was very evident in her life, because I have no where to teach the language. I have no place to send her to learn Ojibwa or Cree, our ancestral languages.- Lorena Fontaine,  Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg

Leitch argues that another section of the Constitution, Section 35, which guarantees aboriginal treaty rights and land claims, also guarantees a right to keep cultural ties like language alive. Therefore, the government has an obligation to provide First Nations language schooling, similar to French-language schooling outside of Quebec. To him, it's an issue of equality. 

I want peace in my own country. I don't want to feel like 350 years later, the people who were here first, their languages, their culture, their traditions are trampled upon.- David Leitch, Lawyer

Leitch is optimistic that one day, he'll mount a constitutional challenge against the government, arguing they have a duty to provide First Nations language schooling.