Natasha Donovan

 

A picture can speak a thousand words, and fans of illustrated classics would know what it really means! Graphic novels are a relatively new genre, and it is only now that the usefulness of incorporating them in classrooms is being discovered.
Our third storyteller knows all too well how powerful pictures can amplify textual messages. Natasha Donovan’s award-winning illustrations have brought numerous Indigenous stories and accounts to life. Her illustrations have not only graced the covers of books but also they have been featured prominently in picture books.
A member of the Métis Nation of British Columbia from Vancouver, Canada, Natasha identifies as a self-taught illustrator. While her work primarily focuses on comics and children’s books, Natasha has also worked on graphic novels, notably among which is “Borders” (King & Donovan, 2021), a graphic adaptation of a short story of the same name by the acclaimed author Thomas King. In Borders, Natasha’s illustrations add a layer of complexity and new meaning to the story of a young boy who crosses the Canada/US border along with his mother to visit his sister.

The love for children’s projects is in part due to her neurodivergent brain that allows her to better relate to children, and her admiration for their imagination and capacity to express freely without restrain. Natasha has won several awards for her work and is resolute in her mission to bring joy to the banality of life, while ensuring that her book can narrate stories of loneliness and delight, thereby making them accessible to all.

Read Part 1 & Part 2

 

Shayla Stonechild

 

Shayla Stonechild is the founder of Matriarch Movement, an online platform that brings together social media narratives, interviews, wellness sessions, blogs, and a video podcast on Indigenous stories, experiences, and struggles. Shayla resolves to chart a new course in the way mainstream media presents Indigenous dialogue, which she aims to achieve by connecting with the Indigenous peoples and engaging and educating the non-Indigenous communities.

Shayla identifies as a Mètis and Nehiyaw Iskwew from Muscowpetung First Nations and has always centered her work on vocalizing the Indigenous narrative, and in particular, that of the Indigenous youth and the women. In the video podcasts, Shayla interviews Indigenous women and two-spirit people in an effort to explore their perspectives and empathize with their trials and tribulations. The blogs offer unique memoirs of the Indigenous peoples as they focus on wellness and healing to become “visible”. Matriarch Movement touches on important subjects such as language revitalization, reclamation, matriarchy, and sustainability among others, and functions as an educational tool for deepening our understanding of the Indigenous identity.

Shayla is a co-host on “Red Earth Uncovered”, a popular APTN docuseries that explores the connection between archaeological findings and ancient Indigenous legends. She earned the title of “Metis Youth Ambassador of Alberta” and was also the first Indigenous woman to be featured on the cover of Yoga Journal.

Read Part 1 & Part 3

 

 

 

 

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 2 & Part 3