Dates: Thursdays October 17, 24, 31, November 7, 14
Time: 7:30 - 9 PM
Place: Online Zoom
In her book BECOMING A MATRIARCH: A MEMOIR published by Alfred A. Knoff Canada in 2023, Helen Knott shares the impact of the losses of her mother Shirley Big Foot and her Asu June Big Foot within six months of each other. Without these women to care for her, Helen Knott grows into the role of caring for members of her extended family and in her Indigenous community in Fort St. John in British Columbia.
As a member of Prophet River Dene Zaa Nation in northeastern British Columbia, Helen Knott identifies herself as a Dreamer as well as a poet and a storyteller.
She is also an activist, protecting the lands and waters in the Peace River watershed in the construction of a hydro dam.
Helen Knott also has Cree and Metis roots from northwestern Alberta. Treaty 8 was signed in 1899 by representatives of the Crown and leaders from First Nations, covering about 840,000 square kilometers in northeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta, northwestern Saskatchewan, and southwestern Northwest Territories.
This vast area is home to 39 First Nations. Helen Knott notes that her great-great-grandfather Chief Makenecha signed the last adhesion to Treaty 8 in 1911, having participated in an act of protest in the 1890s by pushing more than seventy wagons used by miners and settlers over the cliffs along the Peace River into the waters below.
In her own journey of healing, the deaths of her mother and grandmother provide Helen Knott with the challenge to live into her life’s purpose.
The first question for each session gives each participant opportunity to put to words what we are learning:
What catches your attention in this part of this book?
The rest of us listen to what others are learning.
In Talking Circles, each participant is equal, no matter how long one has been on the journey of learning about the history of relationships between Settler-descendants and Indigenous Peoples or one is just beginning this journey.
Some background information and a set of further questions based on the content of that particular section will be provided to help in the exploration of that part of this book.
More information on the topics and book is available HERE.
BECOMING A MATRIARCH: A MEMOIR (Alfred A. Knoff Canada, 2023) is available at Inigo/Chapters, Amazon, and Good Minds in paperback for about $23.
This book is also available as an audible book for those who like to listen to stories. There are no copies of this book at the office of Trinity Anglican Church in Aurora.
Please register with the Trinity Office Administrator Kelly Clarke in Aurora by calling her at 905-727-6101, and providing your email address and telephone number in case some difficulties arise in sending or receiving the ZOOM link.
If you have any questions, please send the Talking Circle Facilitator David Franks an email at davidapfranks@gmail.com or call him at 905-715-9997.