Muses From The North

Article 3: An Interview with Elder Kelsey Bighetty on Indigenous Philosophy and Culture

Jefferson Cook This interview was conducted on March 31, 2021 to fulfill the assignment of the course “Philosophy and Culture” (ANS 3400) by Dr. Jennie Wastesicoot. K.B: You’ve got some questions for me (laughter)? J.C: Yes; ok; so, it’s recording right now; they’ll hears us. Interviewee Kelsey Bighetty, interviewer Jefferson Cook. The three questions I…

Article 2: Poetry and Reconciliation

Madison Gurniak 1 Louise Erdrich’s “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” and Marilyn Dumont’s “Helen Betty Osborne” and Calls to Action             Indigenous communities in Canada have endured decades of oppression marked by racial discrimination, relative deprivation, socioeconomic marginalization, and victimization, among other forms of social injustices. The oppression subjected to these Indigenous communities has adversely…

Article 1: Working on Truth & Reconciliation at University College of the North

Jennie Wastesicoot   Since Canada and Indigenous people began working on reconciliation, a lot of good work has taken place bringing people together but at the same time bringing division and discomfort between Indigenous people as more and more truth is revealed about the things that happened at the residential schools.  This was evident at…

From the Editors’ Desk

Muses from the North (MFTN) is honoured to have received a grant from The Small Research Grants Fund by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) to release two special issues on the topic of Truth and Reconciliation based on the perspectives of students at the University College of the North (UCN). The majority…

Article 20: Summer Adventure Savings Challenge

Jodi Johnson It was a beautiful May morning, and Daisy Povey’s alarm abruptly interrupted her peaceful dream. It was time for her to start the day.   She had a quick shower, got herself dressed and made breakfast for her three children before it was time to wake them. She quietly tip-toed into each of their…

Article 19: The Women Beside You

Jett Bignell            This is the story of how I died. When I say this, I do mean literally. The girl with the bright future and all the promise in the world, gone. Was it worth it? Were the temporary moments of love and affection worth the abuse? Abuse, when people hear this, they never…

Article 18: Missing Missy

Jamie Bignell            I was in the first grade when I met her.  I didn’t know then that she would be my heart-to-heart dog, but she was!            I remember coming home early from school. We were sent home because a snow storm was bearing down on my town. As I opened the door to…

Article 17: You Will Never Understand: A Parody of “I Tell You True” by Ali Cobby Eckermann

Madison Gurniak            Ali Cobby Eckermann was born in 1963 in Adelaide and identifies herself as a Yankunytjatjara/ Kokatha. As Aboriginal, Eckermann has endured some of the distressing challenges the community has suffered in history. She was adopted at a tender age and continually suffered sexual abuse and immense racism. She gave birth at the…

Article 16: My Mother’s Hands

Tena Hart As I look upon my mother’s hands, I see the beauty of the world that she has held. In every vein and wrinkle her soft hands speak of a life that is filled with love, triumphs, and adventure. With her hands she has traced love into the tiny fingers of me and my…

Article 15: “You should’ve drowned that thing in the piss pot!”:A Memoir about my Grandmother

Jill Burton When she thinks back on her childhood and my grandmother utters those words sometimes, she laughs, a dry hollow laugh, like the wind blowing through a birch tree in the dead of winter.  Sometimes she’s silent and it takes my brain a few seconds to unravel the actual words and put them into…