Rita joe
Poet
Songwriter
First Natiion Women
Imagine how it would be like to...
lose your parents at a young age
be taken away from your community
be forbbiden from speaking your lenguage
And then take your experience as an advantage to inspire others and make awareness
Rita Joe
A famous Mi’kmaw poet who celebrated her language, culture and way of life.
Rita Bernard was born in 1932 in Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia. Orphaned at the age of ten, she soon found herself at the Shubenacadie Residential School. Forbidden to speak her language, she endured mental and physical abuse and left at age 16. Rita had to learn her native language again by talking with Mi’kmaq speakers (people from her same tribe).
It was after she was married that she began to write, starting with a weekly column called Here and There in Eskasoni. As a Mi’kmaq woman living in a time when prejudices were obvious and rampant, she wrote to be “the ambassador” for her people, believing “if I do not have fear, my people will have no fear.” Joe recorded the knowledge of her elders and the truth of her people’s struggle, patiently breaking down barriers one word at a time.
In 1989, Rita Joe was inducted into the Order of Canada and in 1992, she became a member of the Queen’s Privy Council. She received an Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1997 and doctorates from several East Coast universities. Rita’s husband, Frank, died in 1989 and a year later she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. She kept writing until her death in 2007.
Though she passed away of Parkinson’s disease five days from her seventy-fifth birthday, Rita Joe lives on through the power of her words.
“I was only a housewife with a dream to bring laughter to the sad eyes of my people”
-Rita Joe
What are residential schools?
Residential schools were created by Christian churches and the Canadian government as an attempt to both educate and convert Indigenous youth and to assimilate them into Canadian society. However, the schools disrupted lives and communities, causing long-term problems among Indigenous peoples. The last residential school closed in 1996. (Grollier Hall, which closed in 1997, was not a state-run residential school in that year.) Since then, former students have demanded recognition and restitution, resulting in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in 2007 and a formal public apology by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008. In total, an estimated 150,000 First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools.
Her poems
Rita Joe has been known for speaking the truth about residential schools, and how it is to live in a "White World" as a Native American. Her poem, I Lost My Talk, expresses not only the pain and suffering she experienced at Schubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia, but also her hope and conviction that her words could guide and inspire indigenous and non-indigenous peoples across Canada to journey to a place of strength and healing.
Other works:
Poems of Rita Joe (1978)
Song of Eskasoni (1988)
Lnu And Indians We're Called (1991)
Kelusultiek (1995)
Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi'kmaq Poet (1996)
The Mi'kmaq Anthology (1997)
We are the dreamers: recent and early poetry (1999)
“ She used to say writing was her therapy. She had a lot of painful memories and she had to get them out. She became a writer because she wasn’t allowed to write. The more they tried to break her will, the more she went her own way.”
-Ann Joe, Daugher of Mi’kmaw elder and poet Rita Joe C.M.
Legacy, influence, and significance
Rita Joe wrote powerful poetry that spoke about Indigenous identity and the legacy of residential schools in Canada. Her works continue to influence Indigenous and non-Indigenous writers and artists alike. Upon her appointment to the Order of Canada, Rita Joe was described as a “true ambassador for her people, promoting [Indigenous] art and culture across Canada and in the United States.” More affectionately known by some as the “gentle warrior” or the “warrior poet,” Rita Joe is remembered for the way her poems expose truths about residential school and about growing up Indigenous in Canada, while also speaking about peace, reconciliation and healing.
The Rita Joe National Song Project
“I Lost My Talk” also inspired the Rita Joe National Song Project (2016), a program of the NAC that encouraged students to create a song based on what Rita Joe’s poem means to them. Young artists from five selected communities across Canada sent in professional audio and visual recordings of their songs to the NAC to be showcased at the same time as the 2016 premiere of the performance based on Rita Joe’s poem. The performance also featured live entertainment by youth from Maniwaki’s Kitigan Zibi Kikinamadinan School in Maniwaki and ABMHS High School in Eskasoni, Cape Breton.
"My greatest wish is that there will be more writing from my people, and that our children will read it. I have said again and again that our history would be different if it had been expressed by us."
-Rita Joe
In her autobiography, Rita Joe challenges indigenous youth to find their voices, share their stories, and celebrate their talents.
"When I started the first time writing, I was trying to inspire all minorities with my work. To make others happy with my work is what I wanted to do."
-Rita Joe
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Joehttps://nac-cna.ca/en/bio/rita-joehttp://www.stu-acpa.com/rita-joe.htmlhttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schoolshttps://nac-cna.ca/en/lifereflected/ilostmytalkhttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rita-joehttps://nac-cna.ca/en/ritajoesong