NBE3UT Diverse Voices and Indigenous Influencers 2021 Indigenous Influencers Research

Instructions

1. Select 3 Indigenous Influencers from the same category of Influencers.

2. Research the biography, brilliance, and beauty of each Indigenous Influencer that you selected.
3. Use the tables below to organize your information.
Indigenous Influencer:Richard Wagamese

Resources Used Notes

Brief Biography:
- Where are they from?
- What Nation do they belong
to?
- Are they First Nations, Métis or
Inuit?
- Who are their family
members?
- Why are they important or
influential?
- What do they do?
- How did they get their start?
What are 3 important facts
about their life?
Did they face any challenges
or overcome any adversities?
Richard Wagamese was born on October 4th, 1955 in northwestern
Ontario. Richard Wagamese was born to Marjorie Wagamese and
Stanley Raven of the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations. His family
followed the traditional lifestyle of the Ojibwe people, fishing, hunting
and trapping. His first home, as he recalls in his essay “The Path to
Healing,” “was a canvas army tent hung from a spruce bough frame.”
As a toddler, he lived communally with his parents, siblings, his
maternal grandmother, uncles, aunts and cousins. When he was almost
three years old, his parents left him and his three siblings alone in a
bush camp for days while they were drinking in a town about 96 km
away. Cold and hungry, the children managed to cross a frozen bay to
seek shelter in the small railroad town of Minaki, where a provincial
policeman spotted them and dropped them off at the Children’s Aid
Society. From there, the siblings were taken away in what is known as
the Sixties Scoop, a government program in Canada that aggressively
“scooped” Indigenous children from their homes and placed them into
foster care. Wagamese continued to live on the streets for a number of
years, struggling with alcohol, drugs and post-traumatic stress disorder
from the abuse and alienation that had marked his young life. He spent
time in jail, lived all over Canada and worked countless jobs. By the
time he was 16 years old, Wagamese had dropped out of high school
and was living on the streets, or with friends, doing whatever he could
to survive. It was around this time that he began his literary education.
Wagamese landed his first reporting job in 1979 with an Indigenous
newspaper in Regina called The New Breed. He would go on to write a
popular Indigenous affairs column for the Calgary Herald, and also work
as a television and radio broadcaster. In 1991, he became the first
Indigenous writer to win a National Magazine Award for column writing.
His debut novel, The Keeper’n Me, was published in 1994 and won the
Writer’s Guild of Alberta award for best novel. This marked the
beginning of a prominent literary career. Wagamese went on to publish
eight more novels, one collection of poetry and five works of non-fiction.

Pick 2 most important or
interesting facts about the person.
Link the most useful article,
podcast, video, etc; that you
feel everyone should read,
hear or view about the
person.
NBE3UT Diverse Voices and Indigenous Influencers 2021 Indigenous Influencers Research
His 2012 novel, Indian Horse, about a survivor of a residential school
with an extraordinary gift for ice hockey, was a finalist on CBC’s
Canada Reads, where it won the People’s Choice award. Indian Horse
was adapted into a film in 2017 In addition to writing, Wagamese
lectured on creative writing at various universities, and was a faculty
advisor on journalism at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
and Grant MacEwen Community College. His work about the
mistreatment of indigenous children inspired many Indigenous and
non-Indigenous peoples and writers alike. Richard Wagamese died on
10 March 2017, at his home in Kamloops, British Columbia. He was 61
years old.
-It was not until some 25 years after he was placed in foster care that
Wagamese reunited with members of his birth family. His story closely
resembles that of Garnet Raven, one of the narrators of his first novel,
The Keeper’n Me (1994), which tells the story of Raven’s reintroduction
into Ojibwe culture in his 20s: “When I was three I disappeared,” Raven
says. “Disappeared into foster homes and never made it back until I
was twenty-five.”
-In his fiction and non-fiction, Wagamese wrote extensively about the
profound difficulties he experienced growing up in foster homes: “There
had been moments when the pain and the confusion were so intense I
felt as though my skin was peeling off,” he wrote in One Story, One
Song. “There were beatings and martial discipline that scarred me.
There was abandonment and neglect. There was a feeling of
melancholy that I carried for years, a haunting I was at odds to explain.”
He was shipped from one foster home to another throughout Ontario,
often the only Indigenous kid in school, a constant outsider.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/richard-wagamese
Instructions

1. Select 3 Indigenous Influencers from the same category of Influencers.

2. Research the biography, brilliance, and beauty of each Indigenous Influencer that you selected.
3. Use the tables below to organize your information.
Indigenous Influencer: Katherena Vermette

Resources Used Notes

Brief Biography:
- Where are they from?
- What Nation do they belong
to?
- Are they First Nations, Métis or
Inuit?
- Who are their family
members?
- Why are they important or
influential?
- What do they do?
- How did they get their start?
Katherena Vermette was born on January 29, 1977 in Winnipeg,
Manitoba. Katherena Vermette was born on Treaty 1 territory, in the
heart of the Métis Nation in Winnipeg, ​Manitoba​. She is the daughter of
a Mennonite mother and Métis father and grew up in Winnipeg’s North
End, a heavily Indigenous neighbourhood known for its high levels of
crime and poverty, but also for its thriving culture and community. With
growing success as a poet, Vermette enrolled in the University of British
Columbia’s master of creative writing program. At age 35, she
published her first book of poetry, North End Love Songs, which went
on to win the 2013 Governor General’s Literary Award for English
Poetry, propelling Vermette into the public eye. Katherena Vermette is a
powerful young female Indigenous voice and a rising star of Canadian
literature. In her poetry, prose and film, she explores some of the most
vital issues facing Canada today: the search for identity and the
ongoing effects of historical and institutional prejudice.

What are 3 important facts
about their life?
-Katherena Vermette’s first career as a kindergarten teacher in
Winnipeg fostered her deep belief in education for Indigenous children.
This is seen in her collection The Seven Teaching Stories, a series of
seven books for young children that teaches about the seven sacred
teachings of the Anishinaabe Tradition, including love, respect, courage
and honesty
-In 2016, Vermette published her first novel, The Break (House of
Anansi Press). It opens as a young ​Métis mother witnesses a crime
outside her window. The narrative expands from this event into an
intricate web of perspectives, growing into an intergenerational family
saga about life in Winnipeg’s North End
-The year 2016 saw the premiere of Katherena Vermette’s first
documentary film, this river. Co-directed by Erika MacPherson and
featuring activist Kyle Kematch, this river explores the horrifying
experience of searching for a loved one who has gone missing. In the
film, Vermette speaks about the experience of losing her older brother.
this river won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary
 in 2017.

Did they face any challenges
or overcome any adversities?
Vermette’s first book of poetry, North End Love Songs, reflected her
intense and conflicted experience of life in this neighbourhood. “I spent
years trying to run away, get away, and be any place else before I
realized there was no other place I wanted to be, or could be, really,”
-When Vermette turned 14, her brother, Wayne, aged 18, visited a bar
with friends. It was the last time he was seen alive. The Vermette family
had little support or help in finding Wayne, due to what they perceived
as apathy on the part of police, informed by stereotypes of young
Indigenous men.

Pick 2 most important or
interesting facts about the person.
-Vermette began writing poetry as a child, a passion that has continued
throughout her life. To support herself, she has worked many jobs, such
as teaching kindergarten. She has also led writing workshops,
facilitated early literacy training, and run an Indigenous artist-training
and employment program.
-Vermette has won three awards thus far in her career, including the
Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry (2013), Best Short
Documentary, Canadian Screen Awards (2017) and the Burt Award
Canada Council for the Arts (2017)

Link the most useful article, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/katherena-vermette

podcast, video, etc; that you
feel everyone should read,
hear or view about the
person.

NBE3UT Diverse Voices and Indigenous Influencers 2021 Indigenous Influencers Research

Instructions

1. Select 3 Indigenous Influencers from the same category of Influencers.

2. Research the biography, brilliance, and beauty of each Indigenous Influencer that you selected.
3. Use the tables below to organize your information.
Indigenous Influencer: Eden Robinson

Resources Used Notes

Brief Biography:
- Where are they from?
- What Nation do they belong
to?
- Are they First Nations, Métis or
Inuit?
- Who are their family
members?
- Why are they important or
influential?
- What do they do?
- How did they get their start?
What are 3 important facts
about their life?
Eden Robinson was born January 19, 1968 in Kitimaat, British
Columbia. She was born in Kitimat General Hospital and raised in
Kitamaat Village, home to members of the Haisla Nation. Her mother,
who is Heiltsuk, met her father, a Haisla man, at a fishing stop in Bella
Bella, the traditional home of the Heiltsuk First Nation. The two raised
their family, including Robinson and her older brother and younger
sister.Robinson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of
Victoria. Her first published story, “Traplines” , was published in the
literary magazine Prism International while she was in her last year of
university. After graduating in 1992, Robinson moved to Vancouver with
ambitions to become a writer and later graduated from University of
British Columbia. In 2011, Robinson released The Sasquatch at Home:
Traditional Protocols & Modern Storytelling. Part of the Henry Kreisel
Memorial Lecture Series, The Sasquatch at Home provides insight into
Robinson’s culture, early life and family. The University of Alberta Press
described the stories in the book as “delightful, poignant” and
“sometimes quirky.” Robinson is one of the most prominent living
female Indigenous writers in Canada. Her stories and novels are highly
entertaining, gritty and original literary works that probe significant
issues facing contemporary Indigenous life in Canada: the enduring
tragedy of residential schools, intergenerational violence and the
destruction of traditional lifestyles and land brought on by industrial
development. Robinson has spoken publicly about many contentious
Indigenous concerns, such as the lack of subsidized housing for the
urban population and the high levels of pollution caused by the
aluminum plant near Kitimaat.
-She worked a number of odd jobs like a janitor, napkin ironer, dry
cleaner, mailroom clerk — that allowed her to dedicate time to her
literary craft.
-Robinson’s young narrators recount haunting tales of their disturbing
relationships with sociopaths and psychopaths. The collection won
Britain’s Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize for the best regional work by a
Commonwealth writer.
-Monkey Beach (2000), Robinson’s first novel, is set in Kitamaat. The
novel follows a teenage girl’s search for answers to and understanding
of her younger brother’s disappearance at sea. The book is both a
mystery and a spiritual journey, combining contemporary realism with
Haisla mysticism. Monkey Beach was praised nationally and
internationally as the work of a powerful and original new literary voice;
it was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s
Literary Award, and won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.
Did they face any challenges
or overcome any adversities?
Pick 2 most important or
interesting facts about the person.
Link the most useful article,
podcast, video, etc; that you
feel everyone should read,
hear or view about the
person.
Eden Robinson faced challenges early on in her career where she
initially struggled to get published. Her first novel, "Traplines," was
rejected numerous times before it was finally published. She also
struggled with the abuse of drugs and alcohol, which led to a difficult
period in her life and career. However, despite these challenges,
Robinson continued to write and publish acclaimed works, including her
trilogy of novels: "Monkey Beach," "Blood Sports," and "Son of a
Trickster."
-Eden Robinson has won multiple awards so far in her career including:
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (2001), University of Victoria’s Distinguished
Alumni Award (2001), Writers Trust Engel/Findley Award for body of
work (2016), Writers Trust Fellowship (2017)
-In addition to her successful writing career, Robinson has also been
involved in activism and advocacy for Indigenous rights and uses her
fame to bring light to injustices against the indigenous community.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/eden-robinson