The third book in the Six Series of the Asiniskaw Īthiniwak project, entitled māskīkīy miskanaw: The Medicine Way, will be launched this September, along with a digital app and a teacher’s guide to using the book and app in classrooms.
The book tells the story of a Rocky Cree family on their yearly journey to hunt, gather traditional medicines, and learn from relatives in the heartland. Everyone has a clear purpose except for young Mwakwa, who struggles to find his miskanaw (the path for his life). While his cousin proudly leads his first moose hunt, Mwakwa knows he is not meant to be a hunter. How can he contribute to his community?
The book, a historical picture book for all ages, offers a vital window into the enduring science, wisdom, and resilience of Indigenous People. The book is authored by storyteller William Dumas, illustrated by Rhian Brynjolsen, with cultural and language notes developed in collaboration with Knowledge Keepers and Elders of the asiniskaw īthiniwak (Rocky Cree) communities of northern Manitoba.
The companion app is an interactive story brought richly to life through full-colour illustrations, songs and soundscape, games, and cultural notes. The Medicine Way app also features voiced narration; pop-up notes on the language, culture, and history of the Rocky Cree; maps of the territory in which the story is set; and games that encourage further understanding of and reflection on Rocky Cree culture. After it is released in September, the app can be downloaded free from the Apple store and the Play store.
The teacher’s guide supports teachers in using The Medicine Way book and app in classrooms. It presents four thematic modules that include suggested lessons, teaching strategies, and blackline masters with connections to Manitoba middle years curricula in Social Studies, Science, English Language Arts, Health, and the Arts as well as Rocky Cree culture and language. The four modules include an introduction to the book and its background, and thematic modules on medicines, hunting and gathering, and earth and sky. The teacher’s guide can be downloaded free from the Six Seasons project website or from the website of Portage & Main Press.
About the Six Seasons project
The Six Seasons project is a community-based partnership project that aims to support the ongoing work of reclaiming Indigenous languages, histories, and knowledges among the asiniskaw īthiniwak (Rocky Cree).
Housed in the Centre for Research for Young People’s Texts and Cultures (CRYTC) at The University of Winnipeg, the project develops a series of historical picture books, which are remediated into picture book apps and accompanied by teacher’s guides. The project aims to contribute to the ongoing work of reconciliation between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Canadians.
The first and award-winning book in the series, Pīsim Finds Her Miskanaw, was inspired by the discovery of the remains of a young Cree woman who lived 350 years ago that were discovered at Nagami Bay, Southern Indian Lake, Manitoba in 1993. The second book, Amō’s Sapotawan, was published in 2022, and told the story of Amō, a Rocky Cree girl in the 1600s, who embarks on the journey of becoming a pottery maker.
Book launch
Book 3, māskīkīy miskanaw: The Medicine Way, will be launched at an event on September 1 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Leatherdale Hall at The University of Winnipeg. Guests will include many of the Knowledge Keepers and Elders who have worked to create the book and its related materials.
“This event marks an important milestone in the collaboration between community researchers and academic researchers who have worked together for the past ten years to support the ongoing, grassroots work of reclaiming the culture and language of the asiniskaw īthiniwak of northern Manitoba,” said Mavis Reimer, Project Director. “It’s been a long road, not without its challenges. But, over the many years of our walk together, we have learned much. Perhaps most importantly of all, we have learned that it is not only possible but also profoundly rewarding to work respectfully together across our differences to create the gift of story for all of our children who will inherit the world we build for them.”
The Six Seasons project is a collaboration between the University of Winnipeg (and academic researchers from other Canadian universities) and two asiniskaw īthiniwak (Rocky Cree) communities in northern Manitoba – Nisichawaysihk Cree Nation (Nelson House) and O-pipon-na-piwin Cree Nation (South Indian Lake).
