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Stories of authenticity

Indigenous authors are reinvigorating their cultures through storytelling

Deborah Kigjugalik Webster couldn’t find a bedtime story for her two daughters that reflected their Inuit culture, so she wrote her own.

Webster included her daughter’s names, Sonja Akilak and Nicole Amaruq, in the book, Akilak’s Adventure. The story follows a young girl who experiences taulittuq, the experience of moving without the sense of nearing one’s destination.

Webster was one of several Indigenous authors who talked about their book at the Word on the Street festival in Toronto last fall. Most of the authors emphasized the lack of Indigenous voices in books and they encouraged reading their books as a way to build better understanding of Indigenous history and cultures to make reconciliation a reality.

Left to Right: Tanya Talaga, Drew Hayden Taylor, Daniel David Moses, Lee Maracle. (First Stories/Michael Linennen)

The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission suggested 94 calls to action. One of those call upon the federal government to provide sufficient funding to preserve Indigenous languages. Currently, three out of four Indigenous languages are endangered.

“I’d like to see that continue, the promotion of Indigenous authors and stories and storytelling,” Webster said. “It was only recently in recent times that Inuit had a written language.”

Webster added that with more Inuit stories available, they provide a stronger identity and sense of self for Inuit.

“We need that strong culture and identity,” Webster said.

Aviaq Johnston from Igloolik, Nunavut thinks Inuit stories are important to remind themselves who they are. Johnston hopes her new book, “Those Who Run in the Sky” can inspire young men in her community. They face high rates of suicides, unemployment and high school dropouts compared to young women.

“They were really one of the strongest people in our community. They were the providers, they were fathers, they were teachers,” Johnston said.

Johnston emphasized the importance of teaching Inuit history in school.

“Our history is pretty unique and traditionally we live in such an isolated area of the world that we developed very specific society styles,” Johnston said. She emphasized that Inuit stories convey strong and important lessons which should be used more often in schools

Joanne Robertson, an Anishinaabekwe author from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation in Ontario was adopted and raised by a Caucasian family. She found herself at 27 years of age having to reconnect with her Indigenous identity.

“I’ve had to learn about myself because I’ve lost it all. My grandmother went to residential school, and all my sisters who were raised even on the reserve, they don’t have their language,” Robertson said.

Robertson has just started to learn Anishinaabemowin. She also incorporated some of the language in her new book, “The Water Walker.”

“For myself, it’s important to have Anishinaabemowin in the book. We’re all losing our languages,” Robertson said. “When you’re in school, you want to see yourself in books right? So I think it’s important that even adults and our youths see themselves in our stories.”

Lee Maracle, an author from the Stó:lō Nation in British Columbia who teaches Indigenous studies in University of Toronto, thinks there’s an important role for Indigenous authors in their nations.

“I am a knowledge keeper in my nation, so that is a responsibility that I have to my nation. And I uphold my responsibility as a citizen of the Stó:lō Nation,” Maracle said. “Other Indigenous authors may or may not do that. But if they do, I’m probably going to be their friend.”

She added that people have free will to learn Indigenous culture, but it comes down to what kind of person they want to be.

“What kind of country do you want to live in? It’s really up to you, but you really need to know what your country is all about,” Maracle said.

Ojibway playwright Drew Hayden Taylor from Curve Lake First Nations in Ontario published his 30th book last Spring. He believes using humour when talking about racism is a good approach to tell Indigenous stories.

“It has been our sense of humour that allowed us to survive for 500 years of colonization, and given a choice to make somebody angry, make somebody cry or make somebody laugh, I would choose to make them laugh,” Taylor said. “If you’re screaming at somebody, they’re going to turn and walk away, but if you tell them a joke, they will stay and listen.”

Taylor said racism can come from miscommunication and misunderstanding, which could be prevented if people were more educated about Indigenous history and cultures.

“The more people know about native people, and the more native people want to share with the dominant culture,” Taylor said. “I think it opens up the line of communications and makes it more possible to generate, create, and initiate a better relationship.”

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