John Brady McDonald stands with a staff member at the Stepping Stones shelter. (Submitted photo/John Brady McDonald)

By Nigel Maxwell

Community leaders

Sask. book award winner donates winnings to Prince Albert homeless shelter

May 26, 2024 | 8:00 AM

John Brady McDonald says as he was sitting at the Saskatchewan Book Awards, surrounded by glamour, all he could think about were the people living on the streets of Prince Albert.

And that’s the reason why he showed up on Thursday to the Stepping Stones Shelter and presented staff with a cheque for $2,000 – his winnings from the Indigenous Peoples’ Writing award he received.

“I sat in splendor while those from the very streets I wrote about sit on the ground,’ he explained in a social media post..

Carrying It Forward: Essays from Kistahpinânihk, won for Non-Fiction and Indigenous Peoples’ Writing.

The wide-ranging collection in the book looks at everything from McDonald’s experience of residential school to northern firefighting to his time in the United Kingdom, where he “discovered” and “claimed” the island for the First Peoples of the Americas.

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“It’s not hyperbole- the unhoused and homeless of the City of Prince Albert are despised by the community,” McDonald wrote. ‘These are human beings, deserving of acknowledgement, humanity and decency.”

McDonald then went on to explain as a Residential School survivor, and a grandson to a member of the Canadian troops who helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, he knows what it’s like when a society dehumanizes a group to the point where they are seen as a problem that needs to be solved.

“As I took the stage to accept the Indigenous People’s Writing Award, I knew where the prize money was going to go- not to make myself look good, but to help members of my community who need it. This is what my Grandfather would have done. This is what we do as warriors. We pick up those who stumble.”

YWCA Chief Executive Officer Donna Brooks said McDonald’s gift means a lot, further noting the advocacy and hard work he does for the community.

“It’s just so appreciated that he thought of us when he won the award,” she said.

Brooks added the money will go directly into the programs which provide services to the clients.

And with the hope McDonald’s gesture may inspire others, those looking to make a donation can do so through the YWCA’s website.

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell