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By Maria Lironi
Dickie
Her powerful tale of the life of a young girl at a residential school has earned writing student Kerissa Dickie a top prize (for the 19–29 age category) in The Aboriginal Writing Challenge—a short story contest for young Aboriginal Canadians. Dickie’s winning story, “Wild Flowers,” is about longing, loss, and connection as part of the residential school experience.
She wrote it as part of UVic writing professor Lorna Jackson’s writing workshop. “Her story is full of heart, and she has taken such care with the depiction of another time and place,” comments Jackson. “Only a compassionate, talented writer can write this way. I’m so pleased that Kerissa’s work will reach a larger audience.”
A member of the Fort Nelson First Nations community, Dickie describes her stint as the project assistant to the Residential School Healing Project as one of her inspirations for the story. One of the project’s goals was to create a book using a compilation of survivors’ stories and artwork aimed to help in the healing process for each storyteller, to bridge the gap of understanding for younger generations, and to preserve a part of Aboriginal history that might otherwise be lost.
“Through reading their stories, I was given the opportunity to better understand what my grandparents, mother, aunts and uncles have been through and how it has shaped who they are today,” says Dickie. “It has given me an even greater sense of respect for the strength of those who came before me. I am a member of the first generation not to go to residential school in my community, and acknowledging that comes with a feeling of responsibility.
“There is nothing we can do to fix past sorrows, but we can honour them by emulating their strength in our own lives,” Dickie explains. “As to where the inspiration for ‘Wild Flowers’ came in, I must say that the stories of the survivors in my family and community have made a huge impact on the way I see the world and on the kind of stories I want to tell.”
“Wild Flowers” is now taught as part of the Fort Nelson First Nations’ Chalo School Grade 12 curriculum. Chalo School was where Kerissa first began her education as a child, and the school itself is named in honour of her grandfather, former Chief Harry—whose nickname as a young boy was “Tsalo,” or “Beaver Fat” because of his chubby cheeks.
The contest, which is organized by the Dominion Institute, invites young Aboriginal Canadians to submit creative short stories that explore a moment in Aboriginal history. This could be an event of personal, regional or national significance. Submissions are judged by a group of esteemed Aboriginal authors and leaders including Tantoo Cardinal, Tomson Highway and Chief Patrick Brazeau.
As the winner for her age category, Dickie will receive a cash prize and a trip to Ottawa to meet with a group of Aboriginal leaders who will celebrate her achievement. In addition, her story will be published in The Beaver: Canada’s History Magazine and in an anthology celebrating emerging native writers published by Theytus Books.
Visit www.our-story.ca to access the 2006 and 2007 winning stories and information about the authors.
Excerpt from
Wild Flowers
Settled into a hard cot that night, Rose listened to other girls chatter in the darkness. Some spoke Cree, but most spoke Slavey, and she listened to them make jokes about the nuns in their stuffy dresses. Rose listened to the wind wrestle with the large windows at the end of the room. She tried to stay as still as she could, and squeezed her thighs together. They had been ordered to urinate before bed, but the stalls and crowd of strangers in the bathroom had made her bladder lock up tight in self-consciousness. Now it was ready to burst and she was using all of her energy to will it away.
From “Wild Flowers” by UVic writing student Kerissa Dickie
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