Indigenous parents push for birth registries to allow their languages' special characters, accents

Kakeká ThunderSky named her 14-month-old daughter Tokala Wači Wiŋ ThunderSky-Catt — a Lakota name that means "dancing kit fox woman."

"When she was in my belly she was just dancing all the time and we were just drawn to foxes throughout my pregnancy," said the 23-year-old Anishinaabe mother from Winnipeg.

But the authorities in Manitoba that register names, won't accept that name.

ThunderSky had filled out the forms by hand to add the appropriate accents.

But when the birth certificate and health card were issued by the Manitoba Vital Statistics Branch, the name had changed. 

Tokala Wači Wiŋ — pronounced "TOE-callah-WHA-chee-wei" — was supposed to be written together as a first name.

But it ended up morphing into three names with no accents.

"I felt kind of angry and let down," said ThunderSky.

"They don't respect how we want to name our babies. They don't respect how we spell."

ThunderSky is one of a growing chorus of Indigenous parents demanding provincial and territorial authorities allow them to bestow Indigenous names on their children — with all the special characters, syllabics, accents, numeric or other non-English or French symbols used by some Indigenous languages.

Critics say restrictions against Indigenous names and spellings are a relic from a colonial past that must go. Some are threatening human rights complaints or legal action.

On Thursday the Manitoba government said in an email to CBC News that the province recognizes the "deeply personal nature of names," and the importance of parents being allowed to register their child's name in a way that respects "cultures, languages and identities."

The province says it's working with its federal counterparts, which are responsible for issuing identity documents but do not permit certain characters, accents or other letters outside of the Roman alphabet.

Statistics Canada declined a request for an interview. But in a statement the federal agency said "all civil registration issues" such as birth registrations and name changes are "the responsibility of the individual provinces and territories."