Unearthing truths: The TRC's impact on Indigenous writing

'Colonialism tried to take away our culture': Chyana Marie Sage on the anniversary of the TRC

Luke Beirne

Chyana Marie Sage is the author of Soft As Bones, a memoir about intergenerational trauma. (Anneka Bunnag)

Reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Chyana Marie Sage said its legacy is the buried history it has unearthed.

The Cree, Salish and Métis writer's recently released memoir, Soft As Bones, is her own quest to better understand the childhood trauma and abuse that scarred her family, and its roots to colonialism, she says.

It's also a tapestry of poetry, history, Cree language, traditional ceremony and folklore that delves into her experiences, and those of her family, with compassion and strength.

Overall, it serves as something of a journey of hope for the Edmonton author — a tale of overcoming generations of trauma to reach new heights.

'Sharing their truths'

Sage's journalism has appeared in the Toronto Star, Huff Post and the New Quarterly. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Columbia University in New York, where she taught as an adjunct professor.

"I think Indigenous creatives have really responded to [the TRC] by sharing their truths. Step one is the acknowledgement of what happened here in Canada. You see that with a ton of memoirs having come out in the last decade," said Sage, noting works by authors such as Jesse Thistle, Terese Marie Mailhot and Julian Brave Noisecat.

She said these writers are unearthing and critiquing the colonial systems, which not only caused intergenerational trauma but also severed the passing of knowledge.

"There was a period of reflection from residential school and Sixties Scoop survivors," she added, "[but] we're now moving into this space where writers are talking about how those systems are impacting the generation of today."

Over the past 10 years, Indigenous writers have endeavoured to honour the TRC calls to action by uncovering the lasting impacts of colonial systems.

Sage said the impact of this can still be seen in the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who are homeless or incarcerated.

While writing Soft as Bones, the most important thing was "to show how everything is interconnected," says Sage.

Even though she was not in residential school herself, her grandfather was a Sixties Scoop survivor, and this impacted how he parented his own son, Sage's father, who — as the book details — was sexually abused and later abused Sage's older sister.

The original wound

The things that happened in her family while Sage was growing up caused her immense grief and confusion, she says. Her book was an attempt to understand and process her own experiences and search for the "original wound."

"Soft as Bones became this living archive and my family story became this microcosm, really, one small piece of this mosaic that makes up the Indigenous experience in Canada."

While writing about the harm that the colonial structures caused to her family, Sage said she also had another realization.

Sage says writing the book also made her realize that while colonialism tried to take away Indigenous identity, culture and ceremony, those things are all rooted in healing. "So the very thing that they tried to take away is the thing that is giving us our spirit back." 

 My family story became this microcosm, really, one small piece of this mosaic that makes up the Indigenous experience in Canada.

- Chyana Marie Sage

Sage said that coming out of those challenging experiences as a young person prompted her to embrace her own culture at a deeper level. Exploring its practices, traditions and ceremonies allowed her to heal.

"Maybe what I'm sharing is going to help someone else heal from these systems and their harms."

She says she hopes that readers who aren't familiar with the history of her people can gain more compassion and understanding of the difficulty Indigenous peoples have moving forward in life given their families, identities, languages and dignity have been stripped from them.

Writing as therapy

Sage said that writing can be used as therapy, but to do so, the writer must be willing to go back to dark places in their life.

"Part of that process is letting myself feel the big feelings, so sometimes I'm crying in my bed and processing and letting it go but not fighting it, I'm letting my body just feel those things."

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Sage also says she finds traditional means of cleansing helpful, such as walking in nature and praying on tobacco beside the water.

She said the book was her own call to action and a response to the racism she experienced as a younger person.

Sage says she also wanted the book to show how she was able to accomplish so much in the face of obstacles and hopes it will empower others to overcome their own life challenges too.

Now Sage is working on an Indigenous YA fantasy romance. "I'm deep in the throes of writing it …," she said. "It has been so much fun."

She said the book creates a world rooted in an epic love story because that is the heart of stuff that she likes to read.

I'm very excited to finish this and to gift it to the world and and to get it out there because I think this is where Indigenous literature is moving to," said Sage.

"It's like beautiful Indigenous love, magical realism. Bringing in all of our folklore and our traditions and kind of weaving it together in this new magical way for the rest of the world to interact with and to see what Indigenous joy looks like, what Indigenous love looks like."

SOURCE: https://www.cbc.ca/books/colonialism-tried-to-take-away-our-culture-chyana-marie-sage-reflects-on-the-trc-10-years-later-9.7010629