"I was born in Whycocomagh in 1932. When mother died in 1937 there were many foster homes until I was twelve years old. I put myself into the Indian Residential School in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. That school plays an important part in my life, along with native upbringing by many mothers. My education is by my people - I have a front seat to see and feel their needs, the major one being that we, too, live with ideal productiveness. The label is deeply rooted and the stroke of a native pen does wonders, especially for the coming generation. The importance of my country is why I try to portray the Indian as they are, so that others may see the part we play in our society. If I get too sentimental in my choice of words, excuse me. I have to call attention to the gentle peopleof Canada. My song is gentle, bear with me. I still want to offer my hand in friendship, the Indian of today." - Rita Joe

Straight from the heart, Rita Joe tells the story of her remarkable life: her tumultuous childhood in foster homes, education in an Indian residential school, turbulent marriage and daily struggles with prejudice, sexism and poverty. Over time, these battles led her to discover her poetic voice which helped her reclaim her Aboriginal heritage. In the fascinating final part of her story, Rita Joe writes movingly about old age, her lifelong spiritual quest and the promise of renewed hope and healing. Song of Rita Joe reveals to us an eloquent and courageous Mi'kmaq woman whose timely message of "gentle persuasion" has enriched the life of a nation.

Stolen Words I Am Not A Number When We Were Alone I'm Finding My Talk by Rebecca Thomas

Here is the enlightening story of an esteemed and eloquent Mi’kmaq woman whose message of “gentle persuasion” has enriched the life of a nation. Rita Joe is celebrated as a poet, an educator, and an ambassador. In 1989, she accepted the Order of Canada “on behalf of native people across the nation.” In this spirit she tells her story and, by her example, illustrates the experiences of an entire generation of aboriginal women in Canada. Song of Rita Joe is the story of Joe’s remarkable life: her education in an Indian residential school, her turbulent marriage, and the daily struggles within her family and community. It is the story of how Joe’s battles with racism, sexism, poverty, and personal demons became the catalyst for her first poems and allowed her to reclaim her aboriginal heritage. Today, her story continues: as she moves into old age, Joe writes that her lifelong spiritual quest is ever deepening.

With this collection, celebrated poet and Micmac Indian, Rita Joe, expands uponher desire to communicate gently with her own people, and reach out to the wider community of Canadians. On the eve of the 500th Anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas, Rita Joe once again extends her hand to us in friendship, and reminds us of the native culture that was here long before the Europeans. These new poems compel us to listen.

Born in 1932, in Whycocomagh, RITA JOE lived a hardscrabble existence, from foster home to foster home, experiences that helped her decide to admit herself to Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, a place most Mi'kmaq people had come to dread. It was a rare example of the child choosing Shubie, "to better myself," to get an education. That same determination compelled her to write about her personal combination of traditional Mi'kmaw spiritualism and Catholic faith, carrying forward her 'gentle war'. Her last poem, unfinished, was found in her typewriter when she died in March 2007.

In this wide-ranging anthology, scholars offer diverse perspectives on ethnomusicology in dialogue with critical Indigenous studies. This volume is a collaboration between Indigenous and settler scholars from both Canada and the United States. The contributors explore the intersections between music, modernity, and Indigeneity in essays addressing topics that range from hip-hop to powwow, and television soundtracks of Native Classical and experimental music. Working from the shared premise that multiple modernities exist for Indigenous peoples, the authors seek to understand contemporary musical expression from Native perspectives and to decolonize the study of Native American/First Nations music. The essays coalesce around four main themes: innovative technology, identity formation and self-representation, political activism, and translocal musical exchange. Related topics include cosmopolitanism, hybridity, alliance studies, code-switching, and ontologies of sound. Featuring the work of both established and emerging scholars, the collection demonstrates the centrality of music in communicating the complex, diverse lived experience of Indigenous North Americans in the twenty-first century.

This is the Final Report of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its six-year investigation of the residential school system for Aboriginal youth and the legacy of these schools. This report, the summary volume, includes the history of residential schools, the legacy of that school system, and the full text of the Commission's 94 recommendations for action to address that legacy. This report lays bare a part of Canada's history that until recently was little-known to most non-Aboriginal Canadians. The Commission discusses the logic of the colonization of Canada's territories, and why and how policy and practice developed to end the existence of distinct societies of Aboriginal peoples. Using brief excerpts from the powerful testimony heard from Survivors, this report documents the residential school system which forced children into institutions where they were forbidden to speak their language, required to discard their clothing in favour of institutional wear, given inadequate food, housed in inferior and fire-prone buildings, required to work when they should have been studying, and subjected to emotional, psychological and often physical abuse. In this setting, cruel punishments were all too common, as was sexual abuse. More than 30,000 Survivors have been compensated financially by the Government of Canada for their experiences in residential schools, but the legacy of this experience is ongoing today. This report explains the links to high rates of Aboriginal children being taken from their families, abuse of drugs and alcohol, and high rates of suicide. The report documents the drastic decline in the presence of Aboriginal languages, even as Survivors and others work to maintain their distinctive cultures, traditions, and governance. The report offers 94 calls to action on the part of governments, churches, public institutions and non-Aboriginal Canadians as a path to meaningful reconciliation of Canada today with Aboriginal citizens. Even though the historical experience of residential schools constituted an act of cultural genocide by Canadian government authorities, the United Nation's declaration of the rights of aboriginal peoples and the specific recommendations of the Commission offer a path to move from apology for these events to true reconciliation that can be embraced by all Canadians.

A varied and spirited collection of work by the Mi’kmaq writers of Atlantic Canada, this volume brings together young and old and includes short stories, autobiography, poetry and personal essays. Valuable as a landmark of an ancient culture, The Mi’kmaq Anthology also delivers to a wide audience the wealth of creative talent within the Mi’kmaq community. Although many voices here are new to the reading public, this volume radiates with deep spirituality, social awareness, intellectual energy and a passionate concern for preserving the Mi’kmaq way of life.Authors include Don Julien, Lindsay Marshall, Murdena Marshall, Mary Louise Martin, Elsie Charles Basque, Shirley Kiju Kawi, Noel Knockwood, Helen Sylliboy, Marie Batiste, Theresa Meuse, Isabelle Knockwood, Katherine Sorbey, Daniel N. Paul, Sunset Rose Morris, Harold Gloade and Rita Joe.