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First Nations  Métis  Inuit
 
April 2020
Namebine Giizas (Sucker Moon) Ojibway 
The fourth moon of Creation is Sucker Moon, when sucker goes to the Spirit World in order to receive cleansing techniques for this world. When it returns to this realm, it purifies a path for the Spirits and cleanses all our water beings. During this time we can learn to become healed healers.
 
Sikwan
This is the season in which the ice begins to candle, the snow settles, the streams start running and the geese fly in. 
 
Niisikipisim (Goose Moon) Cree
Month geese return and indication of the coming spring
Land Acknowledgement
 
We acknowledge that Guelph is situated on land that is steeped in rich indigenous history and currently home to many First Nations, Métis and Inuit people.
 
Today, we acknowledge the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation on whose traditional territory we are meeting.
 
Let us be grateful to the many generations who have come before us and, as we share with each other today, may we listen well and use our voices to show that we are walking together on a path of mutual respect and support, mindful of the many generations yet to come.
 
Acknowledgement
 
We are building this path upon gifts of wisdom and stories gifted to us by seven generations past of Our ancestors in order to build, feed, and nurture seven generations yet to come. We are honoured and humbled to share a path gifted by authors, poets, and illustrators.
 
New relationships are walking this path, and we are excited to share this opportunity with allies. This path is being built together with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit of Guelph with their ally, Guelph Public Library. Guelph Public Library is grateful to walk this path with their First Nations, Métis, and Inuit allies.
 
These stories hold the gifts of all Our relations, human and non-human.
 
With humility, we are building this path to ensure respect for stories for those seven generations of faces not yet seen.
 
 
About the First Nations Métis Inuit Newsletter
 
This NextReads newsletter consists of a selection of the First Nation Communities Read - 2018/2019 Longlist of Nominated Titles and 2019/2020 Longlist of Nominated Titles. Each First Nations Métis Inuit NextReads newsletter attempts to include a title created by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit creators. Some newsletter issues may not include a creator from each of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities due to the greater number of First Nations authors, poets, graphic novelists, and illustrators represented on the First Nation Communities Read Longlist of Nominated Titles. The Guelph community acknowledges and honours the creations of all Indigenous nations equally.
 
In Indigenous ways of living and learning, each story has and gifts its own voice. The shared voices of the storyteller, creator, author, illustrator are unique gifts too. Likewise, if you receive these ‘story gifts’, your voice has its own unique response.
 
Along with a summary, each book listed in NextReads includes an acknowledgement of all the creators. And to show reciprocal respect, the voices and reflections of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit who live in Guelph and area are shared as well.
 
First Nation Communities Read
 
First Nation Communities Read is an annual reading program launched in 2003 by the First Nations public library community in Ontario. First Nation Communities Read selected and other recommended titles:
  • encourage family literacy, intergenerational storytelling, and intergenerational information sharing;
  • are written and/or illustrated by, or otherwise involve the participation of a First Nation, Métis, or Inuit creator;
  • contain First Nation, Métis, or Inuit content produced with the support of First Nation, Métis, or Inuit advisers/consultants or First Nation, Métis, or Inuit endorsement.
 
Selected Books and Reflections
Jonny Appleseed
by Joshua Whitehead

Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, becomes a cybersex worker who fetishizes himself in order to make a living. Jonny's world is a series of breakages, appendages, andlinkages - and as he goes through the motions of preparing to return home for his step-father's funeral, he learns how to put together the pieces of his life.

The Creator:
Joshua Whitehead is an Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit writer, poet and Indigiqueer scholar from Peguis First Nation. His work seeks to centre the unique experiences of queer Indigenous young people.
Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age
by Darrel J. McLeod

As a small boy in remote Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod is immersed in his Cree family’s history, passed down in the stories of his mother, Bertha. But after a series of tragic losses, Bertha turns wild and unstable, and their home life becomes chaotic. Darrel struggles to maintain his grades and pursue interests in music and science while changing homes, witnessing domestic violence, caring for his younger siblings, and suffering abuse at the hands of his brother-in-law. Meanwhile, he begins to question and grapple with his own sexual identity.

Mamaskatch--"It's a wonder!" in Cree--is a heartbreaking account of how traumas are passed down from one generation to the next, and an uplifting story of one individual who broke the cycle in pursuit of a fulfilling and adventurous life.

The Creator:
Darrel J. McLeod is Cree from Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. Before pursuing a writing career, he was a chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. Darrel lives, writes, sings, and plays jazz guitar in Sooke B.C.
nîtisńak
by Lindsay Nixon

nîtisânak honours blood and chosen kin with equal care. A groundbreaking memoir spanning nations, prairie punk scenes, and queer love stories, it is woven around grief over the loss of their mother. It also explores despair and healing through community and family, and being torn apart by the same. Using cyclical narrative techniques and drawing on their Cree, Saulteaux, and Métis ancestral teachings, this work offers a compelling perspective on the connections that must be broken and the ones that heal.

Creator:
Lindsay Nixon is a Cree-Métis-Saulteaux curator, award-nominated editor, award-nominated writer, and McGill Art History PhD student. They currently hold the position of Editor-at-Large for Canadian Art. Nixon has previously edited mâmawi­-âcimowak, an independent art, art criticism, and literature journal, and their writing has appeared in Malahat Review, Room, GUTS, MICE, esse, Inuit Art Quarterly, Teen Vogue, and other publications. nîtisânak is their first book.
We Sang You Home
by Richard Van Camp (writer) and Julie Flett (illustrator)

In this sweet and lyrical board book from the creators of the bestselling Little You, gentle rhythmic text captures the wonder new parents feel as they welcome baby into the world. A celebration of the bond between parent and child, this is the perfect song to share with your little ones.

The Creators:
Internationally renowned storyteller and bestselling author Richard Van Camp teams up with award-winning illustrator Julie Flett for a second time to create a stunning board book for babies and toddlers.

Orca Book Publishers is pleased to offer this paperback as a dual-language (English and Plains Cree) edition.

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