Samuel Tremblay, better known by his stage name Samian, says he was shocked when a discussion with an organizer from a prominent Quebec song festival turned to how much of his proposed August show would be in French.
The Anishinabeg rapper and actor from Pikogan, Que. performs in French and Anishinaabemowin — one of many Algonquin dialects spoken in First Nations in Quebec, Ontario and other parts of Canada and the U.S.
He says the Festival international de la chanson de Granby (FICG) wanted assurances that no more than 20 per cent of the show would be performed in his Indigenous tongue.
