3. TPatT - Indigenous Texts in French | The People and the Text

: Le Guerrier aux pieds agiles; The story of a young warrior living with the Mohawks at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains.

: Le Voyage de Zomlok; This children’s SF novel takes place in an alternate universe and is inspired by Algonquin mythology.

: Le bras coupé; Le bras coupé is Bernard Assiniwi’s first novel; it is also the first novel to be written by an Indigenous writer in Quebec. Set in the 1870s in a village north of La Gatineau, when the white loggers and traders are moving into the Algonquin’s traditional hunting grounds, it is the story of Minji-mendam whose hand is cut off during a fight with six drunk white men. Bitter and resentlful, he hides in the forest and plots his revenge. Having lost his wife and the support of his community in his quest for vengeance against the colonizers, Minji-mendam becomes a symbol for the fate of the Algonquin people.

: Le bras coupé; Le bras coupé is Bernard Assiniwi’s first novel; it is also the first novel to be written by an Indigenous writer in Quebec. Set in the 1870s in a village north of La Gatineau, when the white loggers and traders are moving into the Algonquin’s traditional hunting grounds, it is the story of Minji-mendam whose hand is cut off during a fight with six drunk white men. Bitter and resentlful, he hides in the forest and plots his revenge. Having lost his wife and the support of his community in his quest for vengeance against the colonizers, Minji-mendam becomes a symbol for the fate of the Algonquin people. [Reprinted Bibliothèque québécoise, 2008]

: Le dernier rêve de mon grand-père; In this bilingual piece, the author writes about her grandfather Bernard Manigouche’s last dream. His territory was near Nehkupau Lake, where the author lived until she had to attend school. In his last dream, he knew he would be leaving soon; he saw Armand out on the ice of Lake Nehkupau, checking his traps. In one trap there were two beavers, one was white, the other brown, but both were old. In the dream, Armand removes the white beaver first, which meant Bernard would be dying soon. The other beaver meant they would be hunting still for a long time on that land.

: Le loup qui adorait manger du neuaikan; When food is copious, the Innut are happy, and to celebrate, the women would prepare neuaikan (dried meat) and melt the fat. As Ishkueu prepares the meat, her children come running; a huge wolf was hiding in the trees. She tries to shoo the wolf away but Neuaikaniss responds “I only want a little of your dried meat, you need not be afraid of me.” Ishkueu tells the wolf to leave. The other wolves make fun of him, warning him to stay away “otherwise they will sell your fur to the Hudson Bay Company.” Neuaikaniss visits the woman another time and tells her his name means “the one who likes to eat dried meat.” In exchange for some dried meat the wolf promises to watch over Ishkueu’s children while she works and to pull their sled. Neuaikaniss reamined with the family after that and had all the dried meat he wanted., This story illustrates how difficult it is to categorize indigenous writing. The story is not quite non-fiction as we understand it, yet it is not fiction either. Modern instinct points us toward Allegory, however it would best be described as Teaching from an Indigenous perspective.

: Le rêve des ours polaires; In this combination of an essay and a short story, the author describes the importance of the dream for Innu people. In her dream, while visiting friends and family in Mingan with her one-and-a-half year-old son Tshiuetin, she notices that her friend Germaine Mestenapeu is very depressed. They go for a walk through the reserve until the narrator sees her son rolling down a hill towards two polar bears, but she retrieves him from them without a worry. They continue their walk until an old man’s house and Tshiuetin runs into the courtyard. The bears are there again with their cubs, but Tshiuetin walks about them freely. As the narrator reaches for him, the old man stops her, saying he will be fine, and that he’s adopted the bears. She finds herself back in the first house, but with no one else than the old man and his wife. They have dinner and he tries to flirt with her; his wife notices but remains quiet. As he walks her out, he gives her a canine from a bear skull; it will give her strength, yet she says she is afraid. And wakes up., We see the blurred lines between fiction and non-fiction here in Indigenous writing.

: Les Algonquins; Following a brief introduction about the differences between “Algonquin” and “Algonquian,” this book discusses the Algonquin way of life and the different bands’ respective histories. The author ends with a reflection on present and future opportunities for the nation as a whole.

: Les Chants de la suerie; In this poem, the author writes how one needs at times to rest from one’s burden and daily life, in order to walk stronger towards one’s destiny. Songs from the sweat lodge cleanse and heal as the speaker travels to each direction and finds strength from the elements. Excerpted from “Les quatres directions.”

: Les Montagnais et Naskapis; For children (4-8y). A story about the Innus and Naskapis nations, their customs and practices.

: Les Montagnais, premiers habitants du Saguenay–Lac-St-Jean.; The Innu, the “first inhabitants of the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean,” are the subject of this book which was published for the 150th anniversary of the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region.

Indigenous Writing to 1992