Willie Ermine is blanketed by FNUniv Board of Governors in 2015 after marking 20 years of service. (FNUNIV/Facebook)

By Derek Craddock

ABORIGINAL STORYTELLING MONTH

LISTEN: The importance of narratives as shared by an Indigenous Elder

Feb 9, 2023 | 4:00 PM

For generations, Indigenous people shared the accounts of their origins and traditions that make them who they truly are.

During the month of February, this important practice is highlighted during Aboriginal Storytelling Month. However, one Saskatchewan Elder said the month should be focused less on stories and more on sacred teaching from First Nations.

Elder Willie Ermine is a Sturgeon Lake First Nation member, an orator, and an Assistant Professor at First Nations University in Prince Albert.

Ermine took time out of his day to speak to paNOW on Aboriginal Storytelling Month but in particular, about the difference between telling a story and a narrative from generations of Indigenous people.

Using everyday examples to clarify the distinction, Ermine said telling a story is more akin to telling your spouse how your day was at work or sharing with a friend about a significant current event.

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Ermine also believed that using the term storytelling minimizes the importance of Indigenous historical accounts and teachings.

When talking specifically about narratives, he said telling those accounts is sharing the bigger picture, a better story of First Nations people.

“I can give you the Cree Creation narrative and that’s the narrative of where our beginnings originate, our origins, and the things that happen since creation,” he said. “That’s narrative, that has a lot more substance to it, it talks about the truths of the people.”

“The narratives contain all the substance of who we are,” Ermine added. “It gives us identity and it gives authenticity to our cultural practices and our understandings.”

A couple of examples he gave of those narratives involve Indigenous dances and sacred songs, all of which have their unique origins.

Many of these narratives, Ermine said, are shared during the wintertime and with children. The hope of sharing the narratives with the younger generation is to teach and show them what it means to be Indigenous and how to live as a solid human being.

“They explain to us about our humanness, how to be a great human being,” he said.

“They came down through the millennia by people carrying this kind of knowledge and we call those Knowledge Keepers and they pass these sacred teachings to younger generations.”

Ermine himself, has already participated in other narrative events for the month with others coming up at the First Nations University and in Regina.

The Prince Albert Public Library is hosting a storytelling event with Curtis Peeteetuce on Feb. 17.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @PA_Craddock