Indigenous Story Spotlight
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As an author and creator, the act of publishing one’s story for others to read is a powerful act; for people in groups whose voices have been historically silenced, this act can even feel revolutionary.
We at FriesenPress have the privilege of helping many Indigenous authors share their stories in the form of beautiful, professionally made books. Their diverse titles range from tender children’s stories and poetry to thought-provoking fictional and nonfictional accounts of Indigenous life. A generosity of spirit and a willingness to help others deepen their understanding of Indigenous cultures and their core values unites these authors.
For this year’s National Indigenous History Month, we connected with the authors of Indigenous-focused books published with FriesenPress over the last 12 months. The result is our first-ever Indigenous Story Spotlight.
Storytelling can take many forms, including preservation, celebration, and education. We hope this list provides you with an opportunity to reflect upon and learn about the history, culture, and strength of Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) Peoples and the multitude of stories found therein.
Bonita Nowell, My Mother’s Legacy
My Mother’s Legacy is a survival story and celebration of the life of Angie Mercredi-Crerar — my mother. From life on the trapline in the Far North to meeting the Pope at the Vatican, her journey is one of perseverance and triumph. Many years ago, my mother promised her father that she would take care of her younger sisters and help others. I made a promise to my mother and my siblings that I would share her story.
This book is a gift for my mother and siblings and is dedicated to my mother, with love. It is my hope that my book creates greater awareness and understanding of Métis People in Canada by sharing a more personal reflection of traditional Métis values of family gatherings, humour, honesty, loyalty, music and dance, pride, respect for Elders, storytelling, sharing, religion, and food.
By having my book available through public libraries, university and college libraries — where several have indicated they are also using it as a reference for Indigenous Studies programming — I am contributing to the body of Indigenous works that are, in the words of author Gregory Younging, “an extension of Traditional Knowledge systems, Indigenous histories, histories of colonization, and contemporary realities. Indigenous Literatures frame these experiences for Indigenous readers and provide non-Indigenous readers with context for these realities.”
Visit the author’s website | Browse the book on our bookstore
Mike Hennessey, Sky Grounds Her Worry
My clinical work as an Indigenous licensed counselling therapist in the province of New Brunswick has always been a passion, considering the intergenerational trauma experienced by my own family and community of Pabineau First Nation. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, my colleague Rachel and I were abruptly cut off from face-to-face interventions with clients. This included a large proportion of Indigenous children in the Wabanaki Territory (Atlantic Canada) aged 4–7 years old. Virtual counselling was not an option for these young Indigenous children, so we searched for resources and stories that helped address the major challenges we had been observing in our clinical work at that time. We intended to share these resources with caregivers. Unfortunately, there was a dearth of content intended to support the social and emotional wellbeing of children and families from an Indigenous lens. That’s when it dawned on us to write our own stories. We developed the world of “Turtle Island”, with each child character reflecting an aspect of the Seven Grandfather Teachings, along with Dawn the Beaver, symbolic of wisdom, who was to be our Elder and teacher.
Sky Grounds Her Worry is a story specifically written to give children grounding techniques through a story written and illustrated from an Indigenous lens. The main character is an Eagle (“gitpo” in the Miigmaq language), which is a symbol of “love” in the Grandfather Teachings. However, a loving eaglet named Sky is still learning how to care for others without being overwhelmed by worry. This tale demonstrates one strategy to use with children to help them remain grounded in the present moment, connected to the Earth and their own bodies, so that fear and worry do not overwhelm them.
Illustrated by two Miigmag artists, Brandon Mitchell and Jessica Jerome, we hope that Sky Grounds Her Worry is a helpful resource for children and caregivers from all backgrounds. It is also available in the Miigmaq and Wolastoqey languages.
Jane Adams, The Adventures of Raisen & Radar
I have had the privilege of learning so many Anishinaabe teachings from being a member through my marriage. Western society tried to stifle our culture using residential schools and pushing to be like Westerners. The Indigenous people stayed strong and made sure to keep their teachings and culture alive in all communities. I’ve personally connected in so many ways. Through nature, song, healing. The sun, moon, and the land. Animals, birds, and trees. Each and every element that surrounds us has meaning and guidance. This beautiful Indigenous culture opens the door to see it.
When I became a grandmother of two amazing people, I wanted to share their culture with them. As they are very young, the way to pass this knowledge on came to me via a children’s book: The Adventures of Raisen & Radar.
The book is about two young children who honour and share in their Anishinaabe culture. They walk and share in nature’s wonders. The book is full of imagination, colour, and some language. Each of the four stories carries a teaching of the Anishinaabe people. Raisen and Radar let others into their world and culture — take a walk with them!
Visit the author’s website | Browse the book on our bookstore
Dr. Ray Aldred, Our Home and Treaty Land
What [my co-author] Matthew and I were trying to do with Our Home and Treaty Land was to give a visible expression of what it means to walk the circle of the earth together in a good way. We set the book up so that we go back and forth, discussing what it means to live out our creation stories. We have been placed on the earth in shared space. In our modern world, when land becomes contested, people react to their fear by trying to build bigger walls, buy more guns, or better locks, or have more police. We followed the ancient wisdom to locate confidence and freedom in the sharing of our relationship with the earth. If the earth is our relative, then we can embrace the things that come from the earth: food, medicine, shelter, and identity. If you think about these things and Canada, we were pointing out how newcomers, through a relationship with Indigenous people, have a relationship with this land. The treaty, the relationship, is with Indigenous people and the land. On the land, we have the opportunity to think and feel and experience the things that our ancestors felt, thought, and experienced on the land. We wanted to cast a vision of unity that was held together by the land as we shared this space where we lived out our spirituality.
Visit the authors’ website | Browse the book on our bookstore
Pearl Long Time Squirrel, Sacred Bird
I have always wanted to write the stories I heard when I was younger, but the opportunity to publish one never occurred until I retired. Not knowing how to publish a book was a challenge. I wrote Sacred Bird when I had free time. I also wrote it with the encouragement of my cousin, Carrie Hunt. Carrie was the last person to hear the story [orally] and she thought it was important for the story to be written down for future generations before it was lost.
During my discussions with Carrie, some very important points were brought up: today’s generation is “too busy” to sit and listen to stories, and the majority have lost their ability to speak and understand our language. As a result, they do not know their identity or their proud heritage. Some have “adopted” other nationalities’ ways and demeanours. This was very concerning for Carrie. Carrie and I wanted to give the younger generation an insight of the hardships and traumas experienced by our ancestors and their survival skills. Lastly, to inspire others to share by writing the stories they have heard.
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to FriesenPress for their support and guidance throughout the process of publishing Sacred Bird.
Mallory Eaglewood, Throwaway People
In my book, Throwaway People, Birdie’s carefully cloistered world breaks wide open when she finds the body of a fisherman washed up on a Scottish beach, reminding her of the brother she lost when she was 11. Her parents threw him away, and she never knew what happened to him. Decades ago, she’d fled abuse and she felt the doors closed to her for both her Native and White ancestry. Now, it is 1995 and at 59, she returns to Canada for answers. But to do that, she must walk through a minefield of racism and betrayal, as well as her own guilt and lack of confidence, to find her brother and her own identity, somewhere between Native and White. Balancing fear and determination, Birdie’s exploration of her tortured past puts her in the path of an unknown assailant who wants her story buried, along with her.
This story is my healing song, and my wish is to make generational trauma caused by the Residential School experience part of our national historical narrative. As my Native Gramma, a residential school survivor, used to say, “when one part of the circle is ill, the whole circle is ill.” Publishing Throwaway People is my humble attempt to give her a voice and the respect she was denied while living.
Visit the author’s website | Browse the book on our bookstore
Mark Thunderchild, Our Journey to the Dentist
This book’s inception started with an off-chance meeting in an elevator. Luckily, by that point in time, my elevator pitch for my first book had become refined.
That conversation birthed the opportunity for my children’s books to support the Indigenous Dental Association of Canada with their work with the Federal Government and Indigenous oral health.
Using my positive modern Indigenous living genre, the Indigenous Dental Association of Canada and I were able to create a fun normalization of First Nations people and Indigenous oral health in the form of Our Journey to the Dentist.
This book is not so secretly three different stories of the diverse ways in which I grew up in Indigenous Canada: I’ve lived in Nunavut, the north, and in the city. I have always had to travel for my health and dental needs. Each of these stories were very easy to draw on; for the mandate of this book, I just had to tell my story. Because of my diverse background, it’s the same story told through three different Indigenous circumstances.
Working with Dr. Sheri and Andrew McKinstry to promote Indigenous health has been nothing short of amazing and fulfilling, and we look forward to getting more Indigenous language translations for this book.
Dorothy Ladd, Memengwaa: The Monarch Butterfly
I marvel and am in awe to see the incredible transformations of the monarch butterfly through their four stages. My interest led me through the process to raise, watch, and set them free for their journey to Mexico through “tagging.”
I decided to publish Memengwaa: The Monarch Butterfly to educate others through vivid illustrations and story. The monarch butterfly’s spirit is important in our culture as it connects with our beliefs in the past and future.
This book was published both in English and Ojibway. The Ojibway language is taught in our local schools, and the book aids in the children’s learning of the language. Since the Ojibway language is declining, it is a means for our Elders to reinstate it by reading to their children, too. Though this book is intended for the younger set, it can be enjoyed by all.
Lee Hamelin, Beyond My Control
The reason I wrote about my storied journey is to help people understand the complexity of colonization and how it affected me — and still does. There is good that can come out of the bad. Beyond My Control is about my struggle with Native identity as a person myself, not someone else’s perceived idea of what it means to be Native. Many people do not know Native history and can’t fully understand what happened until they hear about it firsthand.
My goal with this book is to change people’s perspectives on living alongside each other, the less fortunate, and Indigenous peoples.
The Indigenous Poets Society, mihko kiskisiwin
The “Blood Memory, mihko kiskisiwin” project came into existence to breathe life into Indigenous ways of poetry through spoken word and storytelling. Indigenous Poets Society wanted to share the rich heritage that exists all over Turtle Island in storytelling the oral tradition. We felt that our regular online meetings with the Indigenous Poets Society could be so much more.
The idea to share on a monthly basis had existed firstly in our monthly Spoken Word competitions and community stage experiences. When the pandemic hit, we were forced to write and share from the confines and security of our homes.
Thankfully, founder Kevin Wesaquate had already established connections out east with the Guelph Poetry scene and had the privilege to meet Hope Engel from Plume Writers Circle. This union began when we co-facilitated “‘Write’ Relations” writers collective on Zoom during the pandemic, and Hope asked if Plume Writers Circle could join and become part of Indigenous Poets Society, so that we could have Indigenous Poets Society spread and reach across Turtle Island. We heard from amazing writers across Turtle Island and decided to collaborate and create this anthology.
Kevin suggested that we title the anthology mihko kiskisiwin, roughly translated to “Blood Memory,” which is a recognition that our stories from the past live through us genetically and through our language and lived experiences. We are here as Indigenous storytellers and poets to relay the oral traditions of the past. And most of all to encourage others to share and be proud of our writings. Together we collaborated to create this anthology. We have formed a great working partnership from Saskatchewan to Ontario that is sustained to this day to empower the artistic, storytelling, and literary voices of the people across our various nations and communities.
Visit the authors’ website | Browse the book on our bookstore
