E Nâtamukw Miyeyimuwin : Residential School Recovery Stories of the James Bay Cree, Volume 1

Although Ruth DyckFehderau is the writer, this is a community project, owned and controlled by the James Bay Cree health dept (because stories are medicine) The James Bay Cree hired outside writers because “our own writers have enough to carry.” Each story was difficult to retell to the writer. Most residential school stories are still passed on in traditional ways – there are many healing projects going on, this is just one project to deliver the stories to a wider audience people whose stories are in the book are people who want their stories in a book (not a traditional Cree art form), want their stories shared outside eeyou istchee, want to tell their stories anonymously because they hold a position of prominence in the community and feel they can’t speak freely otherwise, they want to control how children and grandchildren discover their stories, sometimes protecting perpetrators (whom they might love) just for other privacy reasons methodology: hearing the story, sometimes multiple times, going away to write it up, then returning for approval, as many times as that took. Resources were offered for healing throughout the process, themes heard throughout: healing does not mean justice has been done; sometimes this is the first time these stories have been told; storytellers worried about telling the stories of others; the intent of these stories is to help others although the book contains difficult content the stories are often uplifting – no need to be afraid of what is on the page. Each story, each person, each healing process, is different. first book will be followed by 2 or 3 more in the coming years.