‘I can still hear their words’: the fight to save the Híɫzaqv language

While Cree, Anishinaabemowin and Inuktitut still have a relatively large number of speakers, other tongues are on the brink of extinction. Photograph: Alex Takats

Centuries ago, the music of the Híɫzaqv language echoed across a territory of deep fjords, rugged islands, windswept beaches and thick forests.

And then, for more than a century, the lands now in the western reaches of Canada fell quiet.