The distinctive elements of cultures with minority languages are weakened in a world where the great powers conduct hegemonic policies. We often hear about biodiversity, but very rarely about linguistic diversity. The diversity of languages is not simply a variety of sounds and signs, but a plurality of worldviews, ways to name “reality.”

According to UNESCO, a language ceases to be spoken in the world every fifteen days. This is not only a language but also an identity that is greatly compromised by this disturbing phenomenon.[1]

Canada and Quebec are not immune to the reality of eroding languages as all Indigenous idioms still spoken in this country are constantly threatened at various levels. In the past, they suffered great losses caused mainly by colonization and the residential school system that prevented First Nations, Inuit and Métis to speak their native languages and live within their cultures. The decline of these languages continues from generation to generation even today.

Despite these overwhelming facts, some Indigenous languages are doing well in the country and have excellent chances of passing through the ages.[2] Decentralization and mobility are key words to understand these societies whose resilience is well established.

There is a whole history dating back several millennia that must be taken into account when considering these ancestral languages in an era of modernity. They are not merely used to communicate, but to express the entire cultural heritage which they represent. For cultures issuing from oral traditions, as is the case with Indigenous languages, all knowledge is preserved in memory rather than in writing.

Using an exploratory approach, Those Who Come, Will Hear proposes a portrait of the lived experience of select speakers who continue evolving within an increasingly weakening linguistic situation. By calling upon the poetry of these languages and the discovery of this sound garden – this film calls to meditate on issues related to endangered languages.