Storied writing

Emerging writers flourish at Aboriginal writing challenge.

For the seventh year in a row, many of the country’s young Aboriginals put pen to paper to enter the 2011 Canadian Aboriginal Writing Challenge.

Participants, ages fourteen to twenty-nine, were asked to submit a piece of writing that reflects on their Canadian or Aboriginal history.

Candace Toma

Fourteen-year-old Candace Toma was the first place winner in the fourteen-to-eighteen-year-old category. Candace lives in Natuashish, Labrador, and is a member of the Mushuau Innu First Nation. Her submission “Timeline: Ghost of the Future,” is about the forced relocation of her community from Davis Inlet to the town of Natusashish in 2002. “The movement of people from one town to another sounds just like a bunch of facts when you read them in a book or newspaper,” Candace said. “I wanted to show how painful it can be to be moved from your home and put in a strange place.”

Twenty-three-year-old Alyssa Megan General claimed the top prize for the nineteen-to-twenty-nine year old category. A member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory from Ohsweken, Ontario, Megan says that she was inspired by both her mother and her daughter.

“Since my daughter’s birth I have often thought of the lessons I would like to impart to her,” Megan said. “If I were to pass on anything to my daughter, it would be those concepts of peace, power, a good mind, as well as empathy.”

Alyssa Megan General

Megan’s poem “Enkonte’nikonhrakwaríhsyat’te (I will straighten out your mind),” combines legend with the history of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. Her poem focuses on the character of Tekanawita (the Peacemaker) as he sets out to create the alliance and helps heal troubled men along the way.

Candace and Megan both attended the awards reception held on June 6th in Toronto. An impressive mix of Aboriginal authors, artists, community members and leaders were present, including Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Angus Toulouse. Giller Prize winner Joseph Boyden was the Master of Ceremonies.

“This year proved to be a phenomenal one in terms of how many young First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people took up the Challenge. This baby continues to grow, and the passion of the voices of our country’s First Peoples can't be denied. I’m honoured to be a part of it,” Boyden said.

Canadian Aboriginal Writing Challenge was established in 2005 and has been organized by The Historica-Dominion Institute since 2009.

— Joanna Dawson