Residential Schools - "I Lost my Talk" - Rita Joe

Discussion about what residential schools were and what happened.

Issues Today:

- Aboriginal issues are different from multicultural issues. Native peoples did not immigrate to a different cultural context thinking that they might have to change their ways to fit into the society of a foreign country. Rather, their country became foreign to them with the arrival of other peoples, and they were forced to assimilate(Hutchingson, 2017 p. 158). Treaties were broken, land was taken, and residential schools established.

- The effects of residential schools are still being seen today.

- Across Canada, all but 4 of the approx. 60 Aboriginal languages are in danger of being lost. Unlike other languages, these languages cannot be revitalized.

- Traditional knowledge and teaching has been dying with the elders.

- It is important to preserve aboriginal culture.

Rita Joe:

- Mi’kmaq Poet

- ”I Lost My Talk”

- Rita Joe, a Mi'kmaq (Micmac) Indian was born in Whycocomagh in 1932. Daughter of Josie and Annie Bernard. She met Frank Joe in Boston and they moved to Eskasoni, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. They raised 8 of their children and adopted 2 boys.

- Back in 1973, that is when Rita Joe started writing. In Cape Breton Island, there was a Newsletter called The Micmac News. She wrote to the Micmac News periodically. There was one section of the newsletter which had poems and stories. Little did Rita Joe know that her poems would get published in the future. The editor of the newsletter gave her some very good advice: "save your poems and don't throw them away". Over time she gathered and saved a lot of her poems.

- Her first book "Poems of Rita Joe" was published back in 1978. Her second book, "Song of Eskasoni" was publish- ed in 1988. Several years later in 1991 she published her third book entitled "Lnu And Indians We're Called." Rita Joe's fourth book "Kelusultiek" meaning "we speak" was a compilation of poems and stories. This book had several writers who were all Micmac (Mi'kmaq) women. The book "Kelusultiek" was published back in 1995. It included her poetry and a short autobiography of herself. Her next book called "Song of Rita Joe - Autobiography of a Mi'kmaq Poet" was published in 1996. The sixth book was called "The Mi'kmaq Anthology," it was published in 1997. She and Lesley Choyce were the co-writers.

- Rita was named to the Order of Canada on October 23, 1989. She was invested in the Order on April 18, 1990. The following is the press release issued upon her appointment:

- "A Micmac poet, she is proud of her native heritage which she shares through her books, notably Poems of Rita Joe and Songs of Eskasoni. As an active member of the Nova Scotia Writers' Federation, and a speaker at numerous engagements, she has been a true ambassador for her people, promoting native art and culture across Canada and in the United States."

"I Lost My Talk" - Rita Joe

I lost my talk

The talk you took away

When I was a little girl

At Shubenacadie school

You snatched it away:

I speak like you

I think like you

I create like you

The scrambled ballad, about my word.

Two ways I talk

Both ways I say,

Your way is more powerful

So gently I offer my hand and ask,

Let me find my talk

So I can teach you about me.

Answer the Following:

- What does the title mean?

- Who is Rita Joe addressing in this poem?

- How does Rita Joe feel about what happened to her, and how do we know she feels this way? Give evidence from the poem.