CBC: Province’s Vital Statistics Act restricts what accents and symbols can be used. A Manitoba Indigenous couple named their daughter Atetsenhtsén:we, which translates to “forever healing medicine” in Kanien’kéha, the Mohawk language. They were given the name through ceremony via the birth mother’s traditional longhouse in Akwesasne. According to Robinson, the colon is commonly used in Kanien’kéha orthography and is necessary to say her name properly.

According to Manitoba’s Vital Statistics Act, when registering a child’s birth, “the given name and the surname must consist only of the letters ‘a’ to ‘z’ and accents from the English or French languages, but may include hyphens and apostrophes.””The naming of children in the Indigenous community with Indigenous names is a key part of cultural survival and resurgence, particularly set against the history of Indigenous children having their Indigenous names erased when they were taken from their families during the residential school era,” wrote Wab Kinew, NDP leader in a letter.