TORONTO -- An award-winning Indigenous poet and residential school survivor who has used poetry to confront Canada鈥檚 fraught history with Indigenous people has been selected as the next parliamentary poet laureate.
Louise Bernice Halfe, who is also known by her Cree name Sky Dancer, was appointed Canada鈥檚 ninth poet laureate, succeeding Nova Scotia鈥檚 Georgette LeBlanc.
Raised on the Saddle Lake Reserve in Alberta, Halfe attended Blue Quills Residential School as a child and went on to become a social worker.
鈥淚t is a privilege to bring the First Peoples鈥� voices and stories, poetry and whatever genre they are bringing to life to the forefront,鈥� Halfe said in a statement.
Halfe鈥檚 poetry often dabbles in the political. In her 2016 collection 鈥淏urning in This Midnight Dream,鈥� she revisited her six years in a residential school and included observations on the Truth and Reconciliation process.
Halfe has said she wrote the collection because she 鈥渨anted the truth to be told.鈥�
鈥淭here is no reconciliation without truth. People need to know the personal, family, and community impact of residential schools. It went far beyond the government program. I wanted to tear away the masks of the 鈥榞ood intentions鈥� of the churches and government,鈥� Halfe said in
A lifelong poet, Halfe said her ultimate goal is to help poetry gain greater prominence in Canada.
鈥淢y dream is that poetry will be given the same stature as that of the novel,鈥� she said.
Critics have celebrated Halfe鈥檚 work for the way she slips between Cree and English 鈥� an interplay referred to as code-switching. In Halfe said she thinks in Cree and turns to poetry to highlight the beauty of the language.
鈥淐ree is a very poetic and picture rich language, that to me is also the decolonizing of the English language,鈥� she said
Halfe has received numerous literary awards, has been nominated for the Governor General鈥檚 Award for Poetry and previously served as Saskatchewan鈥檚 second poet laureate. Her next work, titled 鈥渁wâsis 鈥� kinky and disheveled,鈥� will be released in the spring of 2021.
The role of the parliamentary poet laureate is to write poetry for parliamentarians or for special occasions, to hold poetry readings, and to help curate the Library of Parliament鈥檚 poetry collection.
The position, created in 2001, comes with a $20,000 stipend, $13,000 for travel expenses, and a budget for planning programming and translation services.
With files from CTV鈥檚 Rachel Aiello in Ottawa
