David Bouchard's Blog, page 9

Seven Gens - Rainy River

A week in Rainy River -

Seven Gens is one of Aboriginal Canada's reasons to believe. http://www.7generations.org/

I am just home from a week in Rainy River working with Anna, Kim and Director Brent - working with students, staff and parents of four major reserves. Our goal was to inform these communities of the need to read as well as what it takes to become readers. Each of my listerners was gifted with a copy of my recent release, Voices from the Wild. Some of these kids own three books and only three books, all three books that, over the past six years, Seven Gens put into their hands.

Windigo Island is the hardest of the reserves to access however with Lake of the Woods frozen over... This picture tells the story.

I am home fulfilled and hopeful after a good week on Windigo Island, in Big Grassy, Lac La Croix, Onigaming and Seven Gens High School in Fort Frances and in Canada's first secure custody facility for Aboriginal Youth, GE-DA-GI-BINEZ Youth Centre.

Electronic books

Electronic Books - are they for me? 

If I have learned anything over the past few decades, it's to expect the unexpected.

When eBooks first hit the market, I said/believed that they had a place in the world of novels and short stories. I had trouble visualizing them in the world for picture books or children's books. Add sound/music to the total picture and I had serious doubts.

Then I met Steve at Crow Cottage. I saw, first hand, the beauty of picture books on an electronic screen. When he suggested that we could add sound, I was only too happy to let him try one of my titles.

Crow Cottage published I am Raven. The response we received from the iStore was amazing. Andy's art is second to none. Geoff's work with the sound track is magical. I was - I AM thrilled. Thus, we did a second book - Beneath Raven Moon.

Check out Steve's website showing here and the possibilities of the electronic media for all books, even those like mine that are so multi-sensory.

http://crowcottagepublishing.com/crow...

2016

It is 2016 and as with every new year, comes new promise. 
Already on the up side: Leonardo, in accepting his Golden Globe for Best Actor in The Revenant, has made fans and friends with all Indigenous people in North America. What a gifted, insightful and good person he has proven to be.

On the down side: David Bowie died of cancer yesterday at the age of 69. There isn't a family who has not felt the pain of that terrible disease...and now, our world music family mourns.

As for me, I am gearing up for an exciting year in which I hope to share learnings, make new friends and grow as a person. I have two or three books in the making; Reading Red, Proud to be Métis and The Journal of Etienne Mercier...  And I am involved in several exciting projects with Rubicon...books/series that should support and serve indigenous people.

I hope to meet many of you this year, new and old friends. I wish you health and happiness - you and your loved ones. I am thinking nothing but positive thoughts for our new governments...and for those of our American neighbours. Good luck - Bonne chance! A bientot!


My agent Chris Patrick's job is to put me in touch with the right people. His job is to help me spread hope and teach the learnings that will allow our youth to tackle the world we have saddled them with.

This morning, Chris sent out the following letter. If your board or school community is looking for hope and/or direction, please give Chris a call. He is open and accommodating and has been responsible for many successes in my work.


Dear BC Education First Nations Workers:

It is so very exciting and appropriate that BC Ministry of Education has put such a strong focus on First Nations issues in the professional development mandate.

So long overdue.

I have the honour of working with David Bouchard, Canada’s renowned Métis author and champion for literacy at all levels.


With this new focus comes one notable and significant shift: The importance of aboriginal learning.David Bouchard is Canada’s  best-selling Aboriginal author and is a notable and recognized expert in reading.  In his upcoming, new book, Reading Red, A Métis Story for and about Aboriginal Readers, readers and their potential role models come to understand why it is imperative we all become readers. They come to understand what they have to do to become readers and the benefits of doing so. David reaches out to Métis, Inuit and First Nation Elders, parents, educators, students, and youth as well as all who have a vested interest in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children. In Reading Red: A Métis Story for and about Aboriginal Readers, he offers strategies that community members, parents, and educators can use to guide their youth toward becoming lifelong readers.Surely, some have questioned why B.C. schools would focus on aboriginal culture and not that of other ethnic groups.  “The knowledge, the literature and the language from where other people in the province have come from still exists, still grows and still flourishes in other parts of the world,” said Jo-Anne Chrona, curriculum coordinator for the First Nations Education Steering Committee. “This is the only place in the world that holds this knowledge. ... If it’s not taught and learned here, it will not be taught anywhere else.”David has a formidable list of books for readers of all ages, books in 13 Aboriginal languages.  His writings speak to culture, tradition and values of Canada’s Aboriginal people.  He has partnered with Canada’s very best visual artist and musicians.  His approach to reading and writing is his own. He has cut a new path that is sure to be followed by writers in years to come – a path for people whose cultures and styles of learning are special and unique. Through stories, flutes and life learnings, David Bouchard touches the lives of students, parents and educators in all matters that affect Aboriginal interests. David presents to conferences, teachers, parents and students.  His presentations have earned him Nation-wide recognition and he has been awarded the Order for Canada for his contribution.I invite you to learn more about David at his website (www.DavidBouchard.com) and encourage you to have David visit the teachers, parents and students of your district.Please call me if you have any further questions.

Chris PatrickMore Than Words Books/MTW Publishers823 Hendecourt RoadNorth Vancouver BC   V7K 2X5Phone: 604-985-2527Toll free: 866-786-4237Fax: 604-985-2565www.DavidBouchard.com

December - and still smiling

It's December and I am still smiling.

I have qualified for Super Elite Status yet again this year. What that means is that I've boarded an Air Canada flight 95 times in the past year - either that or I have flown 100,000 miles. Either way, I've been out there and it's been good.

Yesterday, I spoke to the administrators of Grand Erie. The GREAT Conference was held in the beautiful community of Niagara on the Lake - an ideal venue that speaks to the value the district places on these dedicated professionals. I hooked up with old friends and made several new ones. I'll be back in Grand Erie in the winter months and again in the spring. Smiling.

I have one last event this December. This coming Friday, I will speak to the students of Abbeydale Elementary in Calgary and in the afternoon, I'll work with the staffs of three of Calgary's Area Three schools. That's probably enough...

Merry Christmas to all...from my family and Santa (sometimes known around Victoria as David Manson).

October and what a fall!

It is still October - for two more days. I am rushing to get this in so that I can say I blogged in October. I am embarrassed that I've not been more diligent it keeping up my BLOG but, dear friend, check out my calendar and you'll know why I have seemed - otherwise occupied: http://davidbouchard.com/speaking/calendar

There was a time when I insisted that my agent Chris get me home every five days, but the reason for that insistence is now 17 years old and cares somewhat less whether her dad kisses her good night or not. So I travel a little more in season. Summer and Xmas still provides me/us with the most amazing family time imaginable.

This fall has been the busiest fall since Chris and I began working together 16 years ago. Much has happened. I have three new books; The Great Law, The First Flute and The Song Within my Heart. Canada has a new government that has committed itself to better understand and communicate with Aboriginal people. Truth and Reconciliation has already affected my world as a touring
Aboriginal expert in literacy. The next decade could/should prove to be an opportunity not yet seen in Canada - for we First Nation, Metis and Inuit people.

I have a new book ready to go to print. Reading Red edited by Suzanne Keeptwo will make an impact. Things are soon going to change for Aboriginal people and I will be there on the front line. Very exciting!

That's it for October. I am off to pack for an exciting November. Off to Ottawa, Guelph, Calgary...

It is my sincere hope that you, dear reader, are as happy and healthy as I am today.

September 2015

September...and that means school 

For a touring educator/author whose mission is to share the love of and the need for reading, September is the starting gate.

For me, it was late August at which time I flew Bearskin Air from Thunder Bay to Fort Frances where I was invited to work with one of Canada's most exciting educational initiatives, Seven Generations Education Insitute. (http://www.7generations.org/)

Tuesday, I head back to Ontario.

I will be spending the better part of two weeks working in and around Six Nations. I will endeavour to post a few pics as Ontario is most beautiful at this time of the year (as our our youth who look to the school year with dreams and anticipation).

On September 20th, along with Neil Pasricha, Sheree Fitch, and Werner Zimmermann, I will be part of the class of Canadian festivals, Telling Tales that takes place annually at Westfield Heritage Village in Rockton, Ontario.

From there, I'll be...ah...that's enough of a review and an overvies. I'd best stop with this and wish everyone involved with education and/or our youth a great year.

2015 is and will be one of the best ever!

Summer 2015

Summer of 2015

2015 has been amazing - as I knew it would be.

My spring and early summer tours were packed with new and exciting friends and challenges. I traveled tens of thousands of miles setting the scene for a July and August at home in our garden. And that is amazing!

Describing the beauty and comfort of any garden is difficult to do in words so let me add a single picture. In the background, our McClure heritage home. In the foreground, our rose garden. In the far right...middle...our gargoyle Geoffrey. Hidden in the far back right, my shack.

I took a few days in early July and headed home to Saskatchewan for Back to Batoche days. Funny thing that, though I am Metis, my family had few links that I know of with Batoche.

I was born in Quill Lake, Sask. as our hamlet of St. Front has no hospital. My late father's family moved there from Lac St. Jean in northern Quebec (...they were of Innu bloodlines). My late mother's people (...of Ojibwa and Osage bloodlines) were from South Dakota and before that, Bay Settlement, Wisconsin. They moved up to Saskatchewan and settled in Bronco then in Ponteix.

No, we have no real attachment to Batoche and yet, the spirit of the Metis people gathered there welcoming all Metis people was wonderful. There is nothing like a Metis gathering.

So here I sit, in my shack on a beautiful ...whatever day... blogging, touching up my new website (...that should go live this coming week) and working on upcoming books.

First in line is a book on reading. A decade ago, I wrote The Gift of Reading and followed that up with For the Love of Reading.  This new book will also focus on reading but with an Aboriginal focus. Kokum, I can Read is being published by Goodminds of Brantford and edited by the tremendously talented Suzanne Keeptwo.

I am also putting the finishing touches on Proud to be Metis. This is a second book with Metis friend and artist Denis Weber. The book is being designed by Denis' wife Sharon who is herself an amazing artist. My friends at Red Deer Press hope to release this book in the spring.

In Proud to be Metis, Denis has done portraits of a dozen Metis people (...one is actually not Metis but is the Grandmother of a long line of important Manitoba Metis of her Scottish roots).

Much like my earlier book, The Journal of Etienne Mercier, I have written this book in Franglais - French and English combined with Michif words (as per the Gabriel Dumont's dictionary) highlighted throughout.

As I did in the Journal of Etienne Mercier, I have included music...songs that are a big part of our Metis culture. I have had fun manipulating the text in these... Geoff Edwards, my friend and partner in several books, will again work his magic in helping us create a book of poetry, art, culture and music... The book will include a download for readers to hear me read and sing it. I will use my flutes to enhance the reading. We are hoping to feature one of the songs of Metis singer Ray St. Germain. Go ahead, give it a whirl. Here is page one. Keep in mind that poetry should always be read aloud. The song at the end of this page is the classic Au Clair de la Lune -

 Oh...do you care to test your Metis history? Go ahead and give it a whirl...knowing that my Grandfather is showing  right below Louis... And the gray haired fellow behind Gabriel is Pierre Falcon.

  I had better go make some cucumber sandwiches. The Jays take the field shortly in Seattle and are very much in need of my full attention and support. They are still in the running -  God Bless...
  

Labrador

The Inuit communities of Northern Labrador

Mid May and I am home for another pit stop. I'm just back from... Northern Ontario, Toronto, Banff and a week in Labrador (thank you Wendy Marsh).

A picture tells a thousand words...so here is my novel: Nain and Hopedale - a week not to be forgotten...

Une Entrevue avec TFO

Ma visite au nord de l'Ontario... (merci Jo-Anne et Nicole)

Lors de ma visite au nord de l'Ontario (Sudbury, Longlac...), TFO a produit le suivant. Merci les hommes pour votre beau travail.


http://www.tfo24-7.com/david-bouchard-auteur-et-conferencier-metis/

Spring has arrived

Spring has arrived ...and I'm still headed to Nain.

I have been on the road more this winter than any year since I began touring 16 years ago.

Yes, my girls and I did the Salon du Livre again in Paris (our 12th consecutive year). I had been touring heavily prior to Paris and things didn't slow down when we got home. My calendar tells the story as does the smile on my face. I have travelled tens of thousands of miles and made thousands of new friends.

The month of May will be more of the same...planes, hotels and new friends. I am stoked.

The only glitch in my winter was my trip to Nain. I was snowed out. Normally, I'm snowed in but in this case, I wasn't able to get into Labrador. I flew to Toronto and as I was about to board for Halifax, was told that snow storms would not permit my getting in. We re-scheduled my tour for the beginning of May. I will soon be posting pictures and stories from the beautiful communities of Nain and Hopedale.