Alumni Profile: Samson LaMontagne

A French immersion student in Regina and a lover of sport, LaMontagne enrolled at USask in 2001. He “red shirted” on the men’s Huskie basketball team in his first year and went on to play five seasons with the squad. “By my second year, I really started to focus on school,” he said. “I took four classes a term while I played ball and that really helped me with time management, a skill I’ve carried with me throughout my life.”

It was, he said, a time of making good friends and of immersing himself in various classes with a particular focus on sport science. When he graduated, LaMontagne “thought about all of the people who supported me in my journey and decided I’ve got to give back.” That decision led him to SUNTEP and the start of “a journey of learning about my family’s Michif heritage, culture, and language.”

LaMontagne’s French background sped his acquisition of Southern Heritage Michif, an endangered language, as well as his learning Northern and French Michif. A teaching position with Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools allows him to share his knowledge of language and phys ed. He currently teaches Grade 4 at Georges Vanier School where he offers language instruction to the whole school on “Michif Mondays.”

When not at school, LaMontagne prepares and presents Zoom Michif classes for clients as far afield at Ontario and B.C. “I also make free, fun content for everyone on my social media platforms to help revitalize the language, keep it alive. It’s a passion that doesn’t seem like work.” You can find him at michifwithmonoksamson on Youtube, Instagram & TikTok. 

Learning a language is like learning a sport, he said. “You have to get in your reps. That’s what I learned from basketball – it’s about building relationships and a sense of community. It can really help with a career but also with your enjoyment of life.” Aykooshi!

Article originally published at https://kinesiology.usask.ca