Woman’s Day Special Part 1

 

Meet The Indigenous Women Who Inspire Through Their Storytelling

This Friday is International Women’s Day, a day for reckoning the collective progress in achieving gender inclusivity. Today, we memorialize the sacrifices of the many men and women, as they strove towards a more inclusive and equitable society. But a movement isn’t a movement unless the voice of everyday people is heard. And many have lent their voice to the gender equality movement in the past.
But this celebration is incomplete without taking into account the stories of the Indigenous women of Canada, which serve as a testament to the intricacies and the complexities of their realities. We bring to you four such powerful storytellers, whose works blend their personal experience within the broad strokes of cultural identity, mired by the impacts of colonization.
From investigative journalism to creative art, we are bringing you a three-part miniseries of Indigenous women chroniclers to watch out for!

Angela Sterritt

A TV, radio, and digital journalist, Angela Sterritt shot to national fame in 2023 with her book “Unbroken”, which focusses on the stories of missing and murdered indigenous women alongside her personal struggle as she fought all odds to survive on the streets.
As a Gitanmaax member of the Gitanmaax First Nation, Angela’s father’s stories were pivotal in her journey as she sought to absorb her culture’s rich history, which was very different from her experience on the mostly-white Vancouver Island where she lived. Her father’s narratives captivated her, as she discovered the uniqueness of her culture, the strength in community building, and the resilience in her peoples’ fight for their land.

It was this discovery, along with her investigative reporting capabilities that brought to life Unbroken, a scathing reminder of the afflictions of colonialism and its impact on the histories of the First Nation Peoples. But above all, Unbroken is a celebration of the courage and the indomitable spirit of the Indigenous women, while stressing on the role of the media in the quest for their justice.

Fame is nothing new to Angela; she was adjudged Best Local Reporter at the 9^th Canadian Screen Awards, for her story on 2 members of the Heiltsuk Nation who were unjustly accused of bank fraud. Angela also hosted the award-winning CBC original podcast entitled “Land Back”, which explores the Indigenous experience in reconnecting with their ancestral lands in a meaningful way.

Unbroken was nominated for two prestigious awards: the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the Hilary Weston Writer’s Trust Award. It is now available at the BCIT Library.

Read Part 1 & Part 2