Goodbye Buffalo Bay, research and reaching into the past

Goodbye Buffalo Bay (Theytus, www.theytus.com) was launched in British Columbia in McBride, BC, on Wed., April 22, 2009, at The Beanery 2 Cafe. The last four chapters of Larry Loyie's newest book tell of his year in McBride when he was 15 years old.

Book summary: Goodbye Buffalo Bay

"In his last year in residential school, Lawrence learns the power of friendship and courage. Returning home, he finds himself a stranger to his family and First Nations culture until he hears his grandfather's gentle guiding voice. Before he turns 16, Lawrence fights a terrifying forest fire, flies for the first time, makes his first non-Native friends, works on the green chain at a sawmill in McBride, BC, and fulfills his dream of living in the mountains."

To write the final four chapters, Larry returned to McBride, assisted by a Canada Council grant.

Excerpt from Goodbye Buffalo Bay by Larry Loyie.
Published by Theytus, www.theytus.com, p. 112-113:

As they neared McBride, the Fraser River curled beside the train track. Lawrence felt rising excitement as they pulled into the station platform.

McBride was a small village in the Robson Valley. It seemed as if the whole town was out on the platform waiting for the train. Some boarded the train to leave for Prince George and points beyond. The Rocky Mountains to the north and the Cariboo Mountains to the south pushed in toward the village. McBride Peak on Mount Teare seemed so close Lawrence fancied he could climb it in an hour.

“I love McBride,” he said to Elizabeth. “I could stay here forever.”

“That’s the cafe where I’ll be working.” She pointed inside the station. The Beanery Cafe had a big window that looked out onto the platform. Elizabeth was pleased. “I’ll be the first to see who gets off the train. Who knows? Maybe some famous movie star will get off one day.”

His sister strode out of the station carrying her suitcase. Lawrence hurried to keep up. “We’re staying with cousin Adele and her husband Frank. They live across the river,” Elizabeth said. She walked to a taxi nearby, got in, and told the driver their destination.

Background: Larry arrived in McBride as a 15-year-old in the late 1940s. He came by train with his older sister Elizabeth who had a job as a waitress at The Beanery, then a Canadian National Railway cafe.

Larry was hired to work nights on the green chain in Sam Arbour's sawmill a few miles out of town. Skating on the back eddies of the Fraser River, he made new friends such as his first sweetheart Thelma (now Thelma Molendyk of McBride). He learned the meaning of personal freedom and determined to see the world, and to return to McBride one day.

The final four chapters of Goodbye Buffalo Bay share a time in the author's life when he was discovering who he was in the world outside of the Indian residential school he had attended for six years. As he sets about doing a man's work on the green chain, he learns how to speak up for himself, make new friends, enjoy a new-found personal freedom, and set goals for his future.

When Larry and his partner Constance Brissenden first returned to McBride in the summer of 2007 to do research for his book, the author went to the library to ask if anyone knew if Thelma was still in town. They met later that day, to Thelma's amazement. Both recalled each other well, even though nearly 60 years had passed.

Thelma showed Larry and Constance photos of herself as a teenager in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She filled in many details about the town in those years. Thelma also gave Larry the contact number of Hinda Simkin, daughter of Sam Arbour who owned the sawmill where Larry worked.

Hinda Simkin, Larry and Constance met up in Vancouver where she now now lives. Hinda was able to fill in more facts regarding the sawmill where Larry worked.

As well, local McBride historians welcomed Larry and Constance in 2007 at The Beanery 2 Cafe where they shared memories about earlier days.

McBride, BC, is a beautiful town. It will always have a special place in Larry’s life.

"It's not enough to remember and write about your past. You must also check it to make sure your memory is true," says Larry. Research plays a major role in all his books.

Larry Loyie's six-week book tour and excellent reviews for Goodbye Buffalo Bay

Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden recently returned from an exhilarating six-week book tour with Goodbye Buffalo Bay and his three earlier titles, When the Spirits Dance, As Long as the Rivers Flow and The Gathering Tree.

They gave a book launch and school readings in McBride, BC (which features in Goodbye Buffalo Bay)and a visit to the Dunster Fine Arts School in nearby Dunster, BC. The people of the area are wonderful. Noteworthy is the amazing Thelma Molendyk, the "real Thelma" in Goodbye Buffalo Bay. Thanks to the Beanery 2 Cafe and Bistro (in the old CNR station, and a must-stop if you travel to McBride) for hosting the event.

Then we moved on to four library readings in Vancouver (thank you to the many people who came to Central Branch, Britannia, Carnegie and Gathering Place to hear Larry and Constance). Your presence made everything special. We enjoyed meeting Hinda Simkin again with her daughters at VPL Central Branch. Hinda is the daughter of Sam Arbour, the owner of the sawmill in McBride where Lawrence worked in Goodbye Buffalo Bay.

We flew to Ontario for one week (17 talks) with the Durham School Board and the next week (13 talks) with Trillium-Lakeland School Board, plus two talks with the impressive readers at Toronto's Earl Beatty School.

We met up with Jeff and Linda Burnham and nephewn Josias twice on this tour. They are www.goodminds.com, an important resource and source of Aboriginal books and music. And GREAT people! They are always helpful and knowledgeable and supportive of Aboriginal authors.

Then we flew back to BC, and gave two presentations on Aboriginal Day (May 26 for this school) at Surrey's Wm. F. Davidson School. Thank you Debra Merrier, Aboriginal education consultant, and students for your enthusiasm for Larry's book and Aboriginal culture overall. It was an exciting and heartwarming day.

We gratefully acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts for its support in helping to make this wonderful tour a reality -- we presented to more than 2,000 people!

The support and interest in Aboriginal culture is stronger every year.

Larry wants to share some other news about Goodbye Buffalo Bay.

If you are curious about what award-winning Cree author Larry Loyie experienced in residential school and how it influenced his early working years, you will want to read Goodbye Buffalo Bay.

This is Larry’s first chapter book. It was published by Theytus (www.theytus.com) last fall and has already become a classic look at the residential school experience. It is unique because it explores what happened when he went home at 13 years of age to find his place in his family, culture and community again. Written with truth, insight and humour, the chapter book is loved by all ages of readers.

In addition to being “Highly Recommended” by CM (Canadian Materials) from the U of Manitoba, and called “a joy to read” by GEIST reviewer Patty Osborne, Larry Loyie is honoured that Goodbye Buffalo Bay is featured as a “Title of Exceptional Calibre” by the Canadian Children’s Books Centre in the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens.

The book was also positively reviewed in The Globe & Mail by Susan Perren. Here is what she wrote:

GOODBYE BUFFALO BAY

By Susan Perren, The Globe & Mail

By Larry Loyie with Constance Brissenden, Theytus, 142 pages, $14.95, ages 10 to 14

This memoir continues one begun in picture-book form. As Long as the Rivers Flow (Groundwood, 2002), written by Cree author Loyie with Brissenden and illustrated by Heather D. Holmlund, describes in words and pictures Loyie's idyllic childhood near Slave Lake in northern Alberta in the 1940s. As that book ends, 10-year-old Larry and his sister and younger brothers are taken away from their family and sent to a residential school.

This memoir, a prose narrative, is Loyie's story of his time at the St. Bernard residential school on Buffalo Bay, and of his re-entry to the world beyond the school when, his education finished but by no means complete, he is sent home, not quite 14. It is an account of institutionalized emotional and physical brutality meted out by priests and nuns. It would be utterly heartbreaking were it not for Larry's resilience, his ability to survive the system, even overcome it, by learning how to stand up to the tyrannical – if not diabolical – Sister Denise, and how to find the best in the place in the form of the saintly Sister Theresa, whose time with Larry imparts in him a love of learning that will last for the rest of his life.

This memoir owes much of its power to its author's candour, his openness about his feelings. The residential school's aim was to beat its students into submission, literally and/or figuratively. It was a highly successful operation, in that sense, and one that left children deeply scarred.

Although Larry emerges seemingly unscathed, he describes incidents in which his ever-present, residual anger about his treatment, and the treatment of other children, threatens to overwhelm him. As this book ends, Larry is still a teenager, but one who has gained a measure of freedom from guilt and anger. We can only hope that there is more to come from this fine writer.

Vancouver Book Launch and Taeko's Cookies

Thank you to all who travelled the residental school road with us last night... our old friends (Heather, Lucina, Elisa, Anthony, and others), residential school researchers (Alison and colleagues), SGI Buddhist supporters, new friends like Hinda Simkin (daughter of Sam Arbour who owned the sawmill in McBride, BC), her daughters and niece, Yuri and Tyler, Sam, Lily and family, and many new faces. Monica came from Salt Prairie, AB, too. We had a wonderful evening with you in celebration of Larry Loyie's new book Goodbye Buffalo Bay from Theytus Books.

Thank you to Beth at Carnegie Library (see you for our 3 pm reading today) for introducing us and your kind words. Thanks also to VPL for the great space and all the assistance. Suzanne (at Theytus) your poster was greatly appreciated.

And thank you to Taeko in Japan for sending cookies. We shared them last night and enjoyed thinking of you. How amazing that the cookies arrived for us at Gathering Place (where you used to volunteer) on Tuesday. Very clever!

-- Your friends, Larry and Constance

Aboriginal Publishers & Resources (Aboriginal books)

Aboriginal Publishers in Canada

[note: If you know of additional Aboriginal publishers or resources, please email: livingtradition@telus.net -- we will expand this list]

• Theytus (Penticton, BC) – Canada’s first Aboriginal publisher, in business for nearly 30 years. Publishes adult and children’s works on Aboriginal themes by Aboriginal authors -- www.theytus.com

• Kegedonce Press (Cape Croker First Nation, Wiarton, ON) – Award-winning Native-owned and operated. Develops, promotes and publishes the work of Indigenous peoples -- www.kegedonce. com

• Gabriel Dumont Institute (Saskatoon, SK) -- High-calibre Metis-specific resources – www.gdins.org

• Ningwakwe Learning Press (Southampton, ON) – publishes culturally appropriate resources for the Aboriginal literacy field, located at Saugeen First Nation -- www.ningwakwe.on.ca

• Pemmican Publications Incorporated (Winnipeg, MB) – Publishes books that promote Canadian Metis writers and illustrators through stories that are informed by Metis experience – www.pemmican.mb.ca

• Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre (Saskatoon, SK) – Materials written in Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Dakota, Nakota, Lakota or English that pertain to the First Nations of Saskatchewan – www.sicc.sk.ca

Resources:

• www.goodminds.com – www.goodminds.com began distributing Native educational resources in April 2000. It is a Native-owned and operated business located on the Six Nations Reserve at Brantford, ON. www.goodminds is owned and operated by Linda and Jeff Burnham. Sheila Staats is the cultural book reviewer. The company now offers 4000 Aboriginal titles including books and music and has recently branched out to carry non-Aboriginal books to offer a comprehensive distribution service. An excellent resource with an informative website.

• www.oyate.org – “Oyate is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and that all people will know our stories belong to us.” A fascinating, informative and thought-provoking U.S. website, indispensible in learning how to “read” books about Aboriginal people, fiction or non-fiction.

Student Questions About Residential School

Student Questions About Residential School

We asked grade 10 sociology students at St. Andrew’s School in High Prairie, Alberta, to write questions related to Larry Loyie’s presentation on his life in residential school and his new book Goodbye Buffalo Bay (a true story of life in a residential school... and moving on). These excellent questions were the result.

These questions can be used to prepare a class for a residential school presentation. When Larry answers questions like these in a classroom setting, he is respectful of the age, comprehension and sensitivity of the students.

For more study material, see Larry Loyie's website: www.firstnationswriter.com

Here are the questions asked by the grade 10 students:

What was residential school?
What is a Mission?
What was residential school like?
What happened at residential school?
What was life like there?
What were some of the things that happened in residential schools?
What did the schools look like inside?
What did the sleeping quarters (dormitories) look like?
How long did you have to go to school?
Was it hard being young and not really having family around while you were at school?
Did their parents know how they were treated? Did they do anything?
How long did parents and children have to prepare before children were sent away?
In summer, when kids went home, was it celebrated?
Where did white people go to school?
Do things like that still happen?
In residential school was there lots of abuse?
What were some of the punishments in residential school?
Was Lawrence (Larry Loyie in his books) ever beaten up?
Did they have nurses or anyone to help them if they were sick?
Did many people try to escape from residential school and did they get out?
Was it hard trying to escape from the school?
What would happen if they caught you? If you escaped would they beat you?
What year did residential school end?
When you were in the school, what was your form of wealth value?
What did you do with others? Interact? Trade your value items? Or did you keep to yourself?
How long did you have to stay in school?
How did they take away the culture and language?
Do you still speak Cree?
Was it hard to become a writer?
When you started writing, what made you want to write about your childhood?
Did the residential school scar you for life?
Is there anything you wish you can go back into the past to fix?
What was the greatest thing that had happened to you in your struggling life?

Larry Loyie talks and news

April and May are busy months for Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden. We hope to see you along the way!

Presentations to May 1, 2009

Alberta Library Association Conference, Jasper, BC. Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden will give a talk “Perspectives on Aboriginal Publishing” on Friday, April 24 at 1:15 pm.

Introducing Goodbye Buffalo Bay, A true story of life in a residential school…and of moving on. Join Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at the Central Branch, Vancouver Public Library, 7:30 pm. All are invited to this free event.

Other free talks in Vancouver: The Gathering Place, Tuesday, April 28 at 2 pm; Britannia Branch Library, Wed., April 29 at 12:15 pm; Carnegie Community Centre, May 1 at 3 pm.

ALSO: McBride, BC. On Wednesday, April 22, 2009, noon to 3 pm at the Beanery 2 Bistro, Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden will visit for a Goodbye Buffalo Bay book signing and reading. Several chapters of Goodbye Buffalo Bay are set in McBride, BC.

Excerpt from Goodbye Buffalo Bay:

“I love McBride,” Lawrence said to Elizabeth. “I could stay here forever.”

“That’s the café where I’ll be working.” She pointed inside the station. The Beanery
Café had a big window that looked out onto the platform.

Elizabeth was pleased. “I’ll be the first to see who gets off the train. Who knows? Maybe some famous movie star will get off one day.”

His sister strode out of the station carrying her suitcase. Lawrence hurried to keep up. “We’re staying with cousin Adele and her husband, Frank. They live across the river,” Elizabeth said. She walked to a taxi nearby, got in, and told the driver their destination.

More news of Larry Loyie books:

Larry’s four children’s books have now sold more than 35,000 copies.

Goodbye Buffalo Bay from Theytus Books received a “Highly Recommended” rating from CM magazine. Review available on the CM website.

Now a best-seller: The Gathering Tree from Theytus Books, Larry Loyie’s fictional account of a First Nations family learning HIV awareness and prevention together is now a best-seller. Larry and Constance have heard from many classes (from grade 4s to college level) that they use the book for health studies. The Gathering Tree include 15 questions and answers about HIV and AIDS, prepared in a family friendly way by health educator Melanie Rivers of the Chee Mamuk education program of the BC Centre for Disease Control.

When the Spirits Dance, Larry’s family story set during the Second World War, will soon be available in a soft cover edition from Theytus Books. The book introduces many subjects, including how war affects a family, Aboriginal culture and traditions, a child’s anger and confusion when trying to understand the meaning of war, Aboriginal veterans, food rationing and other changes to lifestyle brought about by war.

All of Larry Loyie’s children’s books are on the recommended resources listing of many school boards. The latest is the Calgary Board of Education which positively evaluated The Gathering Tree, When the Spirits Dance and Goodbye Buffalo Bay and will include them in the board’s May 2009 Recommended Resources listing for schools. The Calgary Board had already reviewed and highly recommended As Long as the Rivers Flow.

In March 2008, 2000 copies of As Long as the Rivers Flow were purchased by Scholastic Canada from Groundwood Books for use as part of the Moving Up with Literacy Program for Grade 5s.

We Hear From Schools

Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden have given more than 700 presentations at schools, libraries, colleges, universities, writers' festivals, conferences and so on. We love visiting schools and really appreciate the students and teachers we meet. Here is some recent feedback:

FROM CROSSROADS SCHOOL, DEVLIN, ONTARIO:

Thank you so much for visiting our school and sharing your stories and experiences. We truly appreciate your energy and your willingness to visit rural schools.

The children and teachers enjoyed your presentations and the information you shared. They also learned from you.

Sincerely, Donna Kowalski, Acting Principal

FROM ANOTHER GREAT SCHOOL: Sir Isaac Brock PS, Guelph, Ontario:
 After our presentation on residential schools

Hi Constance and Larry,

Here are some quotes & reflections from our students about your visit.

They are genuine, and haven't been "polished" in any way. Both myself and the students have learned a lot from your experiences.

Thanks again,

Sean. (Sean Cameron, Grade 6 teacher, Sir Isaac Brock PS, Guelph, ON)

Here is what the students wrote (no editing):

Larry Loyie,

we really liked how you explained your childhood and how you wrote a book about it.
Sarah & Annemieke


To: lary
From: Scott and Nicholas
We liked your books and presentation when you came to S.I.B.
We liked when you didn't just talk about your books you talked much about your childhood.



To: Larry Loyie
The book you wrote Where Thr Riverss Flow, is a really well written book. I loved it and all the detail you put in it. It was a really good book, I loved it so much. Thanks for coming in and talking to us about your childhood and how you were taken to residential schooling.
Brock.

Larry,
In the book as long as the river flows I thought you were very brave going through what you were forced to do. If that was me I would not have been as brave as you because I can't imagine what it would be like. I'm really impressed you took control of your life and became a writer after what the government did to you. You have taught me a lot in this book and I think you r doing a great job with it.
Kali.


Larry,
If I were in your shoes I would feel horrible if I were taken away from the ones I love.If I was taken away from the ones I love like my mom and dad,I would cry every single day.Your parents would have made the right choice because if they went to jail ,you would have nowhere to go so they would just send you to the school. It would be really hard to not speak my very own language ,but I would try hard not to so that I would not get beat up.It would also be really hard not to give a dirty look in the picture.I would be really upset if I were in your shoes.

Amy.

Larry's visit was very informing and a great learning experience. It really opened my eyes to the past. I was amazed that Larry was able to keep calm about something so tragic almost being tears myself, just hearing some thing so heart felt like it. It made me realize that even our wonderful country has had many flaws in the past.

Katie.

FROM SWAN HILLS SCHOOL, Division 1-K-3 – Thank You Address

Thank you for letting us enjoy your stories and for sharing your life with us. We liked when your grandma shot the biggest grizzly bear. We learned that you speak a different language. We also learned that you had difference medicine than us. You used plants and rat roots for medicine. We liked how you used tobacco to than the earth for making plants. We enjoyed the pictures in your story. Thank you for your book.

 Note that Larry and Constance also received a huge package of feedback and art from the students of the Swan Hills School. You students are wonderful!

ANOTHER MEMORABLE EMAIL: Independent Studies Program (adults)

I am a volunteer literacy tutor in the Independent Studies program for adults with developmental disabilities at Frontier College in Toronto.

This year our book club students chose to read As Long as the Rivers Flow. It was a challenging read for them but your words are so poignant and so well represented in the beautiful illustrations that I think the students were truly moved by your story. I certainly was.

Thank you for sharing this very important story. If ever you are in Toronto, you will be a welcome guest at Frontier College.