Powerful Voices in the Darkness

Night Spirits, The Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene, Ila Bussidor and Ustun Bilgen-Reinart will touch your heart. It is a story told in the powerful voice of some of the Sayisi Dene First Nation people who continue to be affected by a unilateral decision of the federal government of Canada to relocate their group in 1956. This single act almost destroyed them, had it not been for their inner strength and resilience that comes with having survived for thousands of years on their traditional lands in northern Manitoba, Canada. 

It makes no sense why the Canadian government would make a decision of this magnitude little over fifty years ago, which was thoughtless, shortsighted, and barbaric. What were they thinking!

Imagine what would happen if you and your family were yanked from your community without warning and put in a place that was totally foreign. A place with language and customs beyond anything you could have conceived.  How would you cope in a place where your skills and livelihood were not adaptable to your new environment putting you completely at the mercy of the government?  

This is a story of how the Sayisi Dene barely survived, their struggle, and how they eventually saw a ray of light in the bleakness that consumed them. 

At the end of the day, it was the sighting of a caribou herd, which provided them a glimpse of a renewed sense of hope.  

I highly recommend you read this book. It is a difficult book to read and you'll want to turn away from the ugliness, brutality and the truth as told by the voices in this book. This is our shared Canadian history. It is real. It is ugly. Moreover, it should never have happened. 

I guarantee you will never see another first nation person the same way again because your heart will be open to seeing the integrity and humanity that always existed within each Sayisi Dene.