Lenore Keeshig-Tobias facts for kids

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias is an Anishinabe storyteller, poet, and journalist. She is also a strong supporter of Indigenous writers in Canada. She belongs to the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. Lenore was a key person in important discussions about cultural appropriation in Canadian literature during the 1990s. Cultural appropriation is when someone from one culture takes ideas, stories, or traditions from another culture, especially a minority culture, without proper understanding or respect. Along with Daniel David Moses and Tomson Highway, she helped start a group for Indigenous writers called the Committee to Reestablish the Trickster.

Early Life and Family

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias was born Lenore Keeshig in Wiarton, Ontario in 1950. She was the oldest of ten children. Her parents were Keitha (Johnston) and Donald Keeshig. Lenore says her parents taught her to love storytelling and poetry. Her mother enjoyed poetry, and that's why Lenore's first name comes from a poem called "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias has four daughters and one son. Her husband is David McLaren.

Education Journey

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias went to St. Mary's Indian Day School on the Cape Croker Reserve for primary school. She started high school at Loretto Academy in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and finished at Wiarton District High School.

Later, she studied at York University in Toronto. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in creative writing in 1983. While in college, she started writing poetry actively.

Career Highlights

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias lived in Toronto for many years. In the early 1990s, she moved back to the Bruce Peninsula.

From 2001 until now, she has worked at Parks Canada. There, she has been a naturalist, which means she studies nature. She has also been a cultural interpreter, helping people understand different cultures, and a researcher of oral history, which is history passed down through stories. When it's not the main season for Parks Canada, she teaches at George Brown College in Toronto.

Standing Up for Indigenous Voices

In 1983, Lenore Keeshig-Tobias was one of two people from Sweetgrass Magazine who went to a meeting at Pennsylvania State University. They discussed whether it was possible to start an association for Indigenous newspapers. This meeting led to the creation of the Native American Journalists Association.

In 1990, she wrote an important essay for Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper. It was called "Stop Stealing Native Stories." In this essay, she criticized non-Native writers for using Native stories and experiences. She called it a "theft of voice." She pointed out examples like Darlene Barry Quaife's Bone Bird and W.P. Kinsella's Hobbema. She argued that these books by non-Indigenous writers became very popular, while important works by Native writers, like Basil Johnston's Indian School Days and Maria Campbell's Half Breed, did not get the same attention or support.

In 1991, Lenore Keeshig-Tobias became the first chair of the Racial Minority Writers' Committee at the Writers' Union of Canada. She started this committee because she was concerned that Indigenous and racialized writers did not have enough access to support and opportunities in the writing world.

She also served on the advisory board of Oyate. This is a group that helps educate people and supports Native American and Indigenous Peoples' experiences.

In 1992, the Racial Minority Writers' Committee organized an event called The Appropriate Voice. About 70 Indigenous and racialized writers gathered in Orillia, Ontario. They met to talk about their shared concerns and the difficulties they faced in getting their books published in Canada. From this meeting, they created a motion against cultural appropriation. This motion was sent to the Writers' Union of Canada and was approved by its members on June 6, 1992.

These efforts led to the Writing Thru Race conference in 1994. This was a gathering of Indigenous and racialized writers in Vancouver, hosted by the Writers' Union of Canada. Lenore Keeshig-Tobias spoke at the opening night of this event. Writing Thru Race is now seen as a very important moment for discussions about race and literature in Canada.

Published Works

Creative Writing

Books for Young Readers

• Bird Talk/Bineshiinh Dibaajmowin (Sister Vision Press, 1991) - This book is in both English and Ojibway. Her daughter, Polly Keeshig-Tobias, drew the pictures.
• The Short-Cut (Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1995)
• Emma and the Trees/Emma minwaah mtigooh (Sister Vision Press, 1996) - This book is also in English and Ojibway. Her daughter, Polly Keeshig-Tobias, illustrated it.
• The Truth about Nibbles (Ningwakwe Learning Press, 2005) - This book is in English. She wrote it with her husband, David McLaren, and her daughter, Polly Keeshig-Tobias, drew the pictures.

Selected Poetry

• Running on the March Wind (Quatro Books, 2015) - This was her first full book of poetry.
• "Those Anthropologists" in: Fireweed: A Feminist Quarterly of Writing, Politics, Art & Culture (Winter, 1986) p. 108.

Stories

• "The Porcupine" in: Tales for an Unknown City (edited by Dan Yashinsky, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992)

As an Editor

Books

• Into the Moon: Heart, Mind, Body, Soul (Sister Vision Press, 1996) - This is a collection of poetry, fiction, myths, and personal essays written by Native women.
• All My Relations: Sharing Native Values Through the Arts (Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native Peoples, 1988) - She co-edited this book with Catherine Verrall.
• Walking a Tightrope: Aboriginal People and Their Representations (Waterloo, Ont. : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2005) - She co-edited this with Drew Hayden Taylor, Philip Bellfy, David Newhouse, Mark Dockstator, and others.

Magazines and Journals

• The Ontario Indian (1981-1982) - She was the editor.
• Sweetgrass Magazine: The Magazine of Canada's Native Peoples (1982-1985) - She helped start this magazine and was an editor.
• The Magazine to Re-establish the Trickster (1988-1997)

Scholarly and Activist Writing

• "The Magic of Others" in: Language in Her Eye: Views on Writing and Gender by Canadian Women Writing in English, edited by Libby Scheier, Sarah Sheard and Eleanor Wachtel: Coach House Press, 1990.
• Resource reading list: annotated bibliography of resources by and about native people (Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native Peoples, multiple years)
• "Of Hating, Hurting, and Coming to Terms With the English Language" in:Canadian Journal of Native Education, Vol. 27, No. 1, Advancing Aboriginal Language and Literacy, 2003, pp. 89–100.
• Contemporary Challenges: Conversations with Canadian Native Authors Hartmut Lutz Fifth House Publishers, 1991
• "Not Just Entertainment" in: Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children, edited by Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale
• Keeshig-Tobias, Lenore and McLaren, David, (1987), "For As Long As the Rivers Flow", This Magazine , Volume 21, No. 3, July, pp. 21–26.
• Keeshig-Tobias, Lenore.1984. (a found poem). In A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women, ed. Beth Brant, 123-24. Toronto: The Women's Press
• Lenore Keeshig-Tobias. “White Lies.” Saturday Night, October:67-68.
• Beyer, David and Tobias-Keeshig, Lenore. Powwow Dancer. Sweetgrass (July/August 1984)
• The Spirit of Turtle Island. Tobias, Lenore Keeshig. Nova Productions, 1988. 1 videorecording (28 min.)

Awards and Recognition

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias has received several grants and awards for her work.

Grants

• Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1979, 1980)
• Ontario Arts Council (1986-1989)

Awards

• Living the Dream Book Award (1993, illustrator Polly Keeshig-Tobias): This award was given for her book Bird Talk. Students from different schools chose it as the book that best showed the values of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Author's Award (1987 with David McLaren) for their article: "For As Long As the Rivers Flow", published in This Magazine, Volume 21, No. 3, July, pp. 21–26.