David Bouchard's Blog, page 13

The calm before the storm

I was home for Valentine's Day. Vicki and I were able to get into Brasserie l'Ecole (Victoria's most charming French bistro) for steak et frites!

The next morning (the 15th), I spoke to CUPE in Langford. What a perfect audience! CUPE members were ready to relax, laugh, and hear stories about the potential for their own families and for the families of those they serve. As Grapes would say, I just love those people.

Now to get my head together... January and February have been very full months. I don't think I have had this kind of year since Chris and I began our journey 13 years ago.

Today, I'm back to planning and packing...Slave Lake, Rocky Mountain House, Standoff, Edmonton and Enoch...and then Paris for our annual trip to the Paris Book Festival. This tour will last over a month with a couple short stops at home so that I can see my dad.

Thank you to all of you who have hosted me and helped me achieve my dream of giving students the tool they need to succeed and thrive. Showing here is my good friend Dr.Phyllis Cardinal with whom I have been blessed to work on several important educational initiatives. Without committed professionals like Dr. Cardinal, I couldn't do what I do.

Miigwetch all of you.

Group hug from Victoria, B.C...

Winter from coast to coast...

We prairie people are well aware of how cold it gets on the prairie in the winter. Yet we choose to live in that cold for what the weather offers and for what it shelters us from. We are only too happy to suffer through -45 degree January's to avoid Vancouver's bridges and Toronto's 401, 407, 404, 427...Don Valley Parkway... So when, last week, I found myself on Toronto's motorways in -20 degree weather, I wondered...

Thank you trustee Jerry Chadwick for allowing me to access so many of your aboriginal parents, staff and students. Thank you for letting me tell some your many minorities that the world is accessible to them.

I don't mind if our students choose not to read but it troubles me to no end to think that they were never shown or told that through reading, they can achieve their goals and access their dreams.

2012/2013 will have been my busiest year ever. Things are happening in our big country. Idle No More is waking Canada to the reality that we can be...no, that we have to be better than we have been. We are Canadians and if we are told the truth, we will do better than we have done. If we've done wrong, it is usually because of poor communication, either intentional or not.

I am traveling to cities, towns and reserves from coast to coast to coast and I am seeing change.

Whoever wrote Don't sweat the Small Things and They are all Small Things hasn't lived in the world I have lived in. It is the little things in life that matters. God is in the detail. Life is about little things and they are happening.

To be a part of these historical times is an honour and a responsibility I do not take lightly. When Education Today writer John Schofield offered to help me spread the good word, I was more than grateful. I was honoured and I was humbled.



http://ca.zinio.com/browse/publicatio...

2013

Idle No More, Chief Spence forces Harper to meet with her, Metis and Non-status Natives are now said to be "Indians"...As 2013 unfolds, things are happening in Canada. If I have learned from the previous decade, it is to expect the unexpected.

Social Media matters. Global changes are happening in a way that wasn't thought possible a decade ago.

As I fly out for Northern Alberta, I wonder. Will northern schools finally get access to books, libraries and perhaps even librarians? Will Aboriginal students become the readers it will take for them to graduate on par with their non-Aboriginal counterparts? Will government recognize the needs and the dreams of all children?

There is much to hope for and it is all possible.

2013 will be an interesting year.

Christmas starts early for me...

It's December and I'm done my fall tour...

I have been on the road for three full months. My calendar shows what has likely been the busiest fall since I began touring twelve years ago. I've been everywhere but home. However, I'm now home for a month, home to catch up on my writing and home to make time for family and loved ones.

I wanted to post one picture that best describes the past few months and I think this is it. Canada has become a wonderful tapestry of colours and cultures. We are a stronger and better country than we once were. We are brighter and more caring...more tolerant and more interesting.



I have spent the past three months talking to parents, educators, trustees and the public at large. However, the greatest influence I've had has been on students. Primary children have heard me say that stories are better for them than television. They have heard me say that the best stories come from... 1. their Grandparents 2. their teachers and 3. from the library. Intermediate and Secondary students have heard me say that reading is a humanity and not a science...that anyone can become a reader and through reading, access anything their heart desires. All it takes is one book.

I'm home to write that one book...the one that might open the door to one person. That is my task over the next few weeks...that and to sit with my old dad as he prepares to go meet mom who died a year ago tomorrow, December 10th.

Geoff Edwards is the sound producer in each of my books. I am blessed to have him in my life.

Almost December and...

It's almost December and I'm still on the road.

I have traveled tens of thousands of miles in the last month alone. Treaty 7. Treaty 8. Cree8 Success, Conferences focusing on Aboriginal issues, literacy, reading...parenting... I've been back and forth from coast to coast to coast. It's almost Christmas and I have but two more weeks on the road then home.

I love my work...it's the travel that can be harsh. You'd think that being Canadians, a little snow wouldn't set us back and put us off track but does. A simple snow fall can (and often does) shut Calgary's airport down and the rippling effect of that is crazy. My flights have been cancelled, delayed, re-routed and almost always late. Travel...that's the hard part of touring.

The best part? ...This is it right here.. and in the picture shown here, my good friend Jason Jones from Red Gut in Ontario...Jason and the Junior Ojibway class. This is why I do what I do... This is what keeps me out there...

Holly Claus - the Harry Potter of Christmas

  Hundreds of thousands, through my conference work, have heard me say that Holly Claus is my favourite Christmas book ever.

Hundreds of thousands have heard me say that Holly Claus is the Harry Potter of Christmas - a book that every family should have read...should have in their library to read and re-read at this time of the year.

If you have not experienced the magic of Brittney Ryan's New York Times best selling Holly Claus, consider this my gift to you.

Imagine a place in time where Santa would receive a letter from a boy asking what he, Santa, would like for Christmas. What if that letter contained the magic that would allow Santa and his wife Vivianna to finally have the child they have dreamed about for centuries. What would they name their child and how would the Christmas Princess deal with the curse that followed her into the land of the Immortals...the land of Forever...???


Canada... Holly Claus is a book for young and old alike. I first shared it with our daughter Victoria when she was six. I last shared it with her...last night... My 14 year old will tell you that her childhood was highlighted by two books - Harry Potter and Holly Claus.

When I asked if she had not outgrown these two classics, she simply answered;

"Dad, I haven't outgrown Harry and Holly. I grew up with them."

A quick November check in...

Early November and I'm home...for my dad's 95th on Tuesday, the 6th.

I've been on the road since...???...September. I've had a couple pit stops, one including son Etienne's wedding in San Fran. but I've been out there and everywhere. Other than conference work and schools, I was a part of an amazing book launch. Our Rainbow Crow was launched at Toronto's Arts and Letters Club . At the event, David Jean, my partner, sold the original drums from our book. Magical evening...

I have a month left before I'm home for Christmas...a favourite time for my family and me.

There is much to say and share but I don't want to miss a single opportunity to share a great list that United Library Services has just released: https://www.uls.com/ULS/email/2012/10/first-nations-list.html?utm_source=ULS&utm_medium=email&utm_content=displaylink&utm_campaign=2012%20First%20Nations

September Tour

I'm home packing and planning for my next tour...just having returned from two exciting weeks in Canada's far north.

I'm home from the NWT and Rainy River. I traveled thousands of miles and was just as many smiling faces.

In this picture, I am visiting my good friend Jason Jones and the intermediate Ojibway class in Fort Frances. This is one of a number of superb language programmes I'm witnessing from coast to coast to coast...small steps, but steps nonetheless!

First Nations schools still shortchanged

First Nations schools still shortchanged