On February 19, Reid Thompson Library in Humboldt hosted an evening of Aboriginal storytelling with Joseph Naytowhow. The elder is a singer, storyteller, actor, and writer originally from the Sturgeon Lake First Nation. Naytowhow entertained the audience with traditional stories and some anecdotes of growing up both on his traditional homeland and in a residential school.

Naytowhow was soft-spoken in his narrative but always passionate about conveying the heart of the story. He loves to teach and have audiences interact. Two children in the audience were integral parts of his storytelling, particularly about the sometimes tenuous relationship between the Cree and the Blackfoot tribes. 

Rather than dwell on the darkness of war and the struggles of growing up in the residential school environment, Naytowhow recounted lighthearted moments of both the historical competition between tribes and of his own experience. One tale relived some adolescent hijinx where he and a friend went on a “stealth mission” in their school only to inadvertently cause a flood.

In another reenactment, his two youthful helpers acted out a pair of stories that relayed both the valour and the mercy of Cree and Blackfoot warriors coming together in a contest. In all of his stories, Naytowhow was attentive to the music, the language, and the audience. The audience joined in singing refrains, learning Cree words and phrases, and dancing the traditional Round Dance at the evening’s end.

For Naytowhow, the stories are an important part of cultural preservation for First Nations communities, but he considers it important for European settlers to hear the stories as a path to understanding.

“When I tell these stories, what I find is we’re still working on good relations. It became obvious to me to tell these stories to the kids and they would remember.”

Teaching younger generations these stories forges a connection that may be more readily adopted according to Naytowhow. It was also a means for Naytowhow to work through some of his losses and to come to understand the history of Canada shared between settlers and Indigenous people.

“I had to really work through that and the only way I felt I could feel at peace was through telling stories through the eyes of our old people. I went back to the culture of the old people, and their stories are gentle.”

The gentle nature of those tales is what Naytowhow works to preserve with language and humour. In a time when political, environmental, and economic considerations have put Indigenous relations in the national spotlight, Naytowhow invites people, through his stories, to engage in the simple act of listening. 

“We are going to need the patience to listen to each other, to sit down and just slow down. Everything has been so rapid-fire throughout these years. Sometimes a voice that you haven’t heard before is there.”

Naytowhow sees how the voices of First Nations people, silenced for many years, have been collectively gathering.

For his part, Naytowhow has been crisscrossing the country and working with various groups in libraries, universities, halls, and schools telling stories, singing, sharing, and listening in a continuing effort to bridge understanding both within himself and among others.