Nahanni Fontaine wants to see more people who look like her in government

Recently elected NDP MLAs Nahanni Fontaine and Wab Kinew flipped the script on protocol and representation at their swearing-in ceremony.

Rather than a bible, both members used traditional sacred pipes to be sworn into their offices.
 
"I was gifted that pipe because it came from a long journey," said Fontaine. "It came from a long journey of healing, it came from a long journey of advocacy and it came from a long journey of fighting for our people. What better thing to take your oath on for your people and for all peoples?"

 
A traditional honour song sung by community women opened the ceremony and Maples Collegiate students closed the ceremony with their big drum. For Fontaine, hearing drums as she entered the swearing-in was an extraordinary experience.

"I was proud of the fact that we did something that had never been done before," she said. "That's our right to embed and incorporate our culture and reclaim and re-situate that space, so it was quite beautiful."
 
Fontaine didn't see herself represented as an Indigenous person or as a woman in the halls of government. She said her election and swearing-in ceremony are positive steps toward equal representation for all Manitobans.
 
"Indigenous peoples are the fastest growing peoples in this province and we have to be reflected in that," she said. "My job, my role, my sacred responsibility is to ensure [Indigenous people are reflected], so that when other Indigenous people working in that building or that start coming in there as MLAs they see themselves reflected."

Fontaine emphasized the importance of honouring past struggles for Indigenous inclusion in government, while safeguarding equal representation in the future.

"I'm going to continue to fight for that so that it becomes the norm that Indigenous people choose to run and get elected," she said. "I want to make it the norm that Indigenous people are fundamentally integrated in all aspects of government."