Cree grandfather and granddaughter collaborate to tell Wisahkicahk stories
CBC
Solomon Ratt has written many books about the Cree language but this time he wanted to make it a family project.
But he had hidden intentions when asking his granddaughter Ailah Carpenter who attends arts school in Saskatoon to illustrate the project.
“This was a good way of getting my granddaughter to read the stories and come to know the stories that were from my mother to me to my granddaughter,” said Ratt.
Ratt, a retired professor of Indigenous languages at the First Nations University in Regina, is from Stanley Mission in northern Saskatchewan. The new booklet is a series of stories on the cultural hero Wisahkicahk he heard from his mother before he was taken away to residential school in Prince Albert, Sask.
“I'm really glad she agreed to do them," said Ratt.
"I had found it very rewarding. I don't think she knew the reason why I asked her to do the story.”
Ratt said he missed out on a lot of stories as a child because he was away all year at residential school, and storytelling done only during the winter months in some Indigenous communities.
Now, Ratt said he wants to make sure his grandchildren and other children learn from these stories.
“They also have philosophies on how to live, which we can all use as adults, and how to treat each other, how to raise our families, how to treat our mates. Those lessons are in the stories,” said Ratt.
Carpenter said it was an intense and personal process to do the illustrations as she had to read and research a lot to make sure the tools and clothing she was drawing were accurate to the time. She said she has learned some of the metaphorical explanations in the stories and enjoyed the humor in them as well.
Her grandfather is known for his work with Cree language revitalization, so she said she wanted to do a good job. She said the work allowed them to grow closer and now she shares these stories with her friends.
When she was younger, she made Cree flash cards for the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre but she feels storytelling has more reach because of how engaging it is.
"I want to do my best to carry such things forever and onwards as long as I'm working as an artist,” said Carpenter.
Ratt read from the stories in Cree in a social media video celebrating Indigenous Storytelling Month. February is Indigenous Storytelling Month in Saskatchewan.
A First Nations family recently appeared on a popular U.S. daytime talk show to showcase their own styles of powwow dance.
People in Canada have a new, less invasive way to test for HIV at home, following Health Canada's approval of an oral self-test.
Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., is working with Nakota communities to return valuable cultural archives of recordings of their elders.
Children face five major risk factors early in life that can set them up to develop food allergies, says a Canadian-led team of researchers who sifted through studies on 2.8 million participants in 40 countries, one of the largest reviews of its kind.
Deep within a dark growing chamber in the bowels of a research lab at Acadia University, a lumpy white substance blooms up from an industrial tray.
Most of the world doesn’t require a prescription for birth control. Why do Canadians still need one?
Leah Morris has been on birth control since she was a teenager. She remembers that first appointment being deceptively simple.
Nearly $300M in federal contracts went to companies later removed from Indigenous Business Directory
Over $285 million in federal government contracts for Indigenous businesses were awarded over a five-year period to companies that have since been removed from its Indigenous Business Directory, according to a response to a written question in the House of Commons.
The Artemis II mission, which was initially supposed to launch on Feb. 8, has now been delayed by at least a month after NASA found a hydrogen leak while fuelling the tank.
Facing the reality that a majority of Canadian students are using generative AI for schoolwork, more educators are bringing artificial intelligence into their university classrooms, setting clear rules and encouraging students to use it responsibly — and with a critical eye.
Five more First Nations have joined a court challenge against new federal and provincial laws aimed at fast-tracking development, saying they threaten Indigenous rights.
Scientists who monitor Canada’s environmental health and protect Canadians from extreme weather events and industrial disasters could soon find themselves on the federal government’s chopping block.
The federal government is reviving proposed legislation that would allow digital health information to be shared safely across electronic systems, giving both patients and providers access to more comprehensive medical records.
Some First Nations in Saskatchewan will hold information sessions about making claims under the Federal Indian Hospitals Settlement. One lawyer from Keeseekoose First Nation says having to revisit the experience can be difficult and she wants to help.