In this bilingual piece, the author writes about her grandfather Bernard Manigouche’s last dream. His territory was near Nehkupau Lake, where the author lived until she had to attend school. In his...
When food is copious, the Innut are happy, and to celebrate, the women would prepare neuaikan (dried meat) and melt the fat. As Ishkueu prepares the meat, her children come running; a huge wolf was...
In this combination of an essay and a short story, the author describes the importance of the dream for Innu people. In her dream, while visiting friends and family in Mingan with her one-and-a...
Following a brief introduction about the differences between “Algonquin” and “Algonquian,” this book discusses the Algonquin way of life and the different bands’ respective histories. The author...
In this poem, the author writes how one needs at times to rest from one’s burden and daily life, in order to walk stronger towards one’s destiny. Songs from the sweat lodge cleanse and heal as the...
The Innu, the “first inhabitants of the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean,” are the subject of this book which was published for the 150th anniversary of the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region.
There are 18 books in this collection of stories for children and youth (5-15y) that speak of family, the land, animals, objects, seasons, hunting and work, amongst other themes.
The author discusses here how the interpretive arts are a source for regeneration and conitnuity. He states that despite centuries of dispossession, erasure and infantilizing political practices,...
This book details the values, beliefs, practices, ceremonies and Elders’ teachings of the Huron-Wendat. The author reflects on nature, love, life and death as well.
The author discusses the history of belittlement of Indigenous Peoples’ practices, civilizations, societies and technologies. Centuries later, he says, the actions and religion of the early...
The author wrote this piece as a homage to Mathieu André. It tells the story of an old man who knew he was going to die soon. The old man reflects on his life, his friends and parents, the way he...
“The denunciation of violence against women is the announcement made to husband, father, man.” The poem reflects on the case of Sarah Balahagan, a Filipina woman who was imprisoned and beaten for...
Indigenous spirituality is based on patience and learning; one learns a little at a time, one day at a time, in order to know oneself, to recognize oneself in one’s humanity and dignity.
Before the arrival of the Hudson Bay Company, the Algonquins would meet every summer at La Pointe-aux-Indiens at the tip of Lake Abitibi to renew friendship and kinship ties. The author states...
The author discusses the future of the Atikamekw language; the desire to keep it alive, she says, is not enough. It requires valorization, dissemination and awareness-building by and large; in...
The author writes of her “mother race” as her pillar, her memory. Inserted into the reprint of her piece “Chiâlage de métisse” in the feminist journal La vie en rose.
This story is about a family, including father, mother, little sister Ikwé and of course, Makwa. Assiniwi uses the family dynamic as a model to describe each individual’s role within the group:...
The Innu were healthy, active, and attuned to their environment before the advent of mining near what was to become Schefferville in the late 1930’s. The author describes in this text the drastic...
The “dreamed country” is when autonomy is returned to Indigenous peoples and they have their own Parliament. Reserves have become holiday resorts and in Kanehsatake, the golf club is gone; Simone...
Three generations of Innu women talk about their perspective on life, family, men, work, politics, money and the future. The women’s voices are rooted in the present but oscillate between a...
In this piece, the author discusses Wendat dramaturge Yves Sioui Durand’s piece Le porteur des peines du monde and its live performance in downtown Montreal, a testimony of a wounded and assaulted...
An Antane-Kapesh’s second book is a cautionary tale of sorts for adult readers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Through the eyes of a young boy (who was raised by his grandfather in the forest)...
In this poem, the author reflects on all that she has learned from her Elders and from the land. She left in order to find the knowledge that would help her people, but she feels as if in exile....
In this piece, the author discusses Georges Sioui’s book Les Wendats. Une civilisation inconnue as being a “true rereading of History by an Indigenous [scholar].” No historical approach is ever...
This collection contains 7 speculative fantasy-type short stories and a lexicon. The first story tells of a great deluge caused by the angry Kijé-Manito following the murder of six hunters. The...
In this piece, the author calls for the support of all Indigenous people across Canada to regain control of their traditional lands. She calls for sovereignty and full autonomy, and that self...
One December morning, Tshakapesh’s sister awakes feeling disturbed. She is certain that this will be “a bad Christmas” for all Indigenous people; she’d had a nightmare. In the dream, in a small...
