A Montreal Member of Parliament Marc made an impressive gesture to mark the start of Aboriginal History Month on Thursday.



Ville-Marie-Le-Sud-Ouest-Ile-des-Soeurs MP Marc Miller addressed the House of Commons in Kanien'kéha, the language of Mohawk people, “on whose traditional land my riding is situated” he explained in a Facebook post.









He stood before the House, and said, “I stand here to honour the Mohawk language and I pay my respects to their people. Let us pay respects to the Creator for everything he has given to us that we may live peacefully. I am proud to stand here and speak to you in the Mohawk language. Hopefully it will help us become better friends. I also hope that we will hear the Mohawk language a lot more often here and that more Canadians will be proud to use it to speak to one another.”



He was met with a standing ovation, making the first time an MP has spoken Kanien'kéha in Parliament.



“It started out while I was Quebec Caucus Chair, challenging my colleagues to perfect their French. So I decided to take on a new language, as well!” he said.



Miller said he has been learning the language for several months to raise awareness of indigenous languages in Canada.