Nahanni Fontaine visits for I Love to Read Month
Hon. Nahanni Fontaine the provincial Minister of Families made a stop in Selkirk last week at the Onashiwin Aboriginal Head Start Program. There she read Smile So Big a story that shares a message of self-acceptance and self-empowerment with readers.
Smile So Big is a book by Indigenous author Sunshine Quem Tenasco and illustrator Chief Lady Bird. Fountain started the reading by explaining why this story was important to her.
“What I really love about [Chief Lady Bird] is she embeds our beadwork and our traditional flower work into her art but the other thing that I really love about her is that she’s really deconstructing what it means to be an Indigenous woman. She’s really body-positive and all of that stuff. I really love her and I love this book,” said Fontaine.
Kathy Duncan, Onashiwin Aboriginal Head Start Program Coordinator was very honoured that Fontaine was able to make one of her stops this I Love to Read Month at Head Start. Head Start is a program that focuses on Indigenous culture for three and four-year-olds and providing opportunities for them along with their entire families.
“We want to instill the love of reading, strengthen it for them and make it a lifelong passion for them. Every day, we’re reading stories to [our kids] and even if they’re not fully understanding, they can tell their own stories, right from the pictures,” said Duncan.
She reached out to Fontaine to see if she could find some time to join them this month as their program is all about Indigenous families and with Fontaine being an Indigenous woman and the Minister of Families, it seemed like a great fit.
“They can look up to her. They’re probably going to see her on TV, hear her on the radio, and make that connection that they saw her, they had a picture taken with her,” said Duncan.
Fontaine says she was happy to read to our local children as reading is something that is very important to her life and that she made sure to instill in her own children at a young age.
“Books are such an important part of my life, as a mom and as an individual so every opportunity that I can, I come to communities and spend some time with kids and read. I try to do it. It’s a little bit harder now, but I always try to make time and that’s so important,” she said.
Fontaine was also impressed by the Head Start program.
“This program is extraordinary. I’ve never been here before and you can just feel the sense of community and family and love and pride. These types of spaces are so needed and so valuable in raising the next generation of Manitobans,” said Fontaine.
Record Photos by Katelyn Boulanger
