Musicians are often at the forefront of social movements, leading the way by showing through grace and art what is possible in a way most others can’t seem to see.

This was on full display Saturday night in London, Ontario, after a band from Hamilton made a simple gesture that gave a lesson on what it means to walk forward together in this country.

At the Junos Gala in London, composer and musician Jeremy Dutcher was awarded the Indigenous music album of the year for Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, a beautiful, ethereal work that takes listeners on a journey through time and generations.

Recorded all in the near-extinguished language of Wolostoq — there are only about 100 speakers left — the album is full of the songs and stories of Dutcher’s ancestors. The United Nations warns there are 87 Indigenous languages in Canada on the verge of vanishing. Through his music, Dutcher is doing his part to preserve, teach and reclaim the voices and lessons of the past so they thrive and are not forgotten. Our languages are who we are. Dutcher, 28, is a member of Tobique First Nation, one of six Wolastiqiyik or Maliseet Nation reserves in New Brunswick.

When Dutcher won his Juno, he strode towards the podium, his black cape flowing behind him as he received his glass statue and launched into a speech.

In Wolostoq, he said, “Psi-te npomawsuwinuwok, kiluwaw yut (all my people, this is for you).” He went on to thank his mother and acknowledge the other musicians in his category, asking Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Leonard Sumner and Elisapie to stand up.

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He told them that “all of your work changes this place,” and that it deserves to be recognized outside of an Indigenous-only music category. “Because our music is not niche. Our music is saying something.” Then, to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he said this: “A nation-to-nation relationship does not look like pipelines. A nation-to-nation relationship does not look like sending a militarized police force into unceded territory. And a nation-to-nation relationship does not look like, in 2019, our communities still on boiled-water advisory.”

Dutcher urged Canada to do better but just as he uttered the word “reconciliation,” loud music began playing, drowning out his voice and urging him off the stage. In a tightly scripted show, speakers are given only a certain amount of time to speak. Just as Dutcher was getting going, his moment disappeared.

But it wasn’t lost. The Arkells, who were up next after winning the rock album of the year, made sure of that. Bit of background here — the Arkells also happen to be artist ambassadors for the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund. Last year, the Junos were infused with remembrance of Downie after his death in the fall of 2017.

This year, Gord’s memory lived on in the words of Arkells lead singer Max Kerman who, without missing a beat, took the mic and said, “There’s been so much wisdom shared on the stage tonight, but our friend Jeremy didn’t get a chance to finish. So he’s gonna finish the night as he should,” and then he invited Dutcher back to the stage.

Moved, Dutcher poignantly said, “This is what giving space holds like. This is what holding space looks like.”

Reconciliation, he said, is a lofty goal, a dream.

“It doesn’t happen in a year. It takes time. It takes stories. It takes shared experience. It takes music. I have hope. I have to. That we can come to right relations with each other.”

Noting the distance still to go, he said if we aren’t on the same page, at least we should be in the same book.

In Wolostoq, he closed with this: “Nihkaniyayon ktpitahatomonen, ciw weckuwapasihtit — Nit leyic (when you lead us, think of all of us, for the ones yet born — may that be the truth).”

Jeremy Dutcher performs "Sakomawit" at the 2019 Juno Awards. The performance features violinist Blake Pouliot.

On Sunday night, after Dutcher — whom I introduced on the show — performed his haunting song Sakomawit, he faced a packed media scrum.

He was asked to comment on what happened. Dutcher said he had never met the Arkells before Saturday.

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After Dutcher accepted his award and before the Arkells won theirs, the band said to him, “I’m sorry you didn’t get to finish your speech.”

Dutcher responded with, “Me too. I don’t think they were ready for it anyway.”

But the Arkells were. So they invited him to finish what he had started.

“Classy move,” said Dutcher. “This is what it looks like, you know? We talk about these words all the time, ‘reconciliation,’ but what does it actually look like? It is meaningful relationships. It is allies holding space so that voices that haven’t been heard for a very long time can come forward.”