Daughter of late Indian City founder Vince Fontaine finishes song he started writing for his mom [Video]

Gabrielle Fontaine grew up listening to the stories about the life her grandmother Nora had before having children, including the pivotal role she played in securing her family’s treaty rights and status.

“You wish you were there,” said Fontaine, an Anishinaabe singer-songwriter from Winnipeg who performs with Indian City, a band founded by her late father, Vince Fontaine — Nora’s son.

“You always wonder what it would be like to actually be there in those moments.”

That message is now captured in the song Mother, a single released by Indian City just in time for Mother’s Day, paying tribute not only to Nora but to the work of Vince Fontaine. 

“My dad just just loved his mom,” said Gabrielle Fontaine. “I know he wanted to honour everything that she did before he even came along, and everything she did when he was here.”

Before his death in 2022, Vince had begun writing a song about his mother — part …