by Lauren Scott
“Right now, we begin to pull something free. We try to speak it: all the words, all the stories, all the songs,” says a calm Moe Clark, having just finished beating her drum. These words, stories and songs are pulling free of the misconceptions about Indigenous culture, and everyone who attended the Aboriginal Service Centre (ASC) Coffee House Poetry Night: Reclaiming Indigenous Voices was invited to listen. There was not a free chair in Rooster’s Coffee House the night of Jan. 14. ASC Coordinator Ash Courchene said the poetry night was all about Indigenous women and their voices. The event included three Indigenous female poets and performers from across the country. First up to the microphone was Anishinaabe poet and writer Vera Wabegijig, followed by Taqralik Partridge, an Inuit poet and Carleton student, and finally Métis multi-disciplinary artist Moe Clark. These scheduled performers were followed by an open mic session, resulting in two more eye-opening performances.
Courchene says that he is using events like these to change misunderstandings about Indigenous peoples. As a second-year Political Science student minoring in Indigenous Studies, Courchene says he has noticed that the historical and contemporary experience of Indigenous people is often excluded from the larger national narrative.
“For the longest time we didn’t even have a voice. For the longest time we got shut down or (were) misconstrued. If you look at the media and how they portray First Nations people, it’s either the ‘noble savage’ or the ‘dying breed.’ There (is) never a space for our views…our world views, and our opinions…” said Courchene. “(T)his is something that [we are] trying to take back, to make that space, to say ‘this is who we are’ and not what the Canadian government says and not what television says.”
It is clear to see, then, why Courchene feels that the poetry night was important. Indigenous voices were given a platform to express their words, stories and songs. Songbird Moe Clark used multiple mediums to express her voice. She incorporates spoken word, stories and music using a looping pedal to create what she calls “a landscape of sound.”
As a Métis woman, she feels connected to the Earth and its landscape. This is where she found her voice and this is what she used to take it back. “I think for me in large part it’s really connecting my voice to the energy and the wisdom of the Earth, and to really understanding how my voice and my story is related to what’s happening right now,” she said. “Reclaiming Indigenous voices, in a way, it’s about reclaiming those relationships that are essential to our well-being and essential to our wellness as people and as Indigenous people. I think for me it’s about putting roots down in a deeper way.”
Vera Wabegijig’s writing is heavily inspired by her Anishinaabe upbringing. She says that speaking is the best way to reclaim the voice that was taken from her through all the misconceptions about Indigenous peoples. Though she feels compelled to speak, she encourages others to listen.
“One of things that I heard when I was much younger was that our longest journey that we will ever have in our life is from our heart through our mind…If we listen to people then we listen with our hearts, and then sometimes people are listening up here,” she said, pointing to her head.
“But they’re not connecting the two. I think that has a lot to do with a lot of misunderstandings but also [with] realizing that we’re all human. So, I think that’s the gift with poetry too, that it helps us connect with the human spirit.”
Courchene was really pleased with the turnout of the poetry night and is hoping to bring in a similar crowd to the Indigenous hip-hop night at the end of the month. He says that he will continue to try and plan events that will spark outside interest in Indigenous culture.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol.7, No. 4 (Jan/Feb 2015).
