Anisininew Grandmothers’ Wisdom : Cultural Resilience and Healing in the Face of Colonial Violence and Genocide

Despite generations of deprivation inflicted by colonial systems, the Kookoma—grandmothers—of St. Theresa Point remain influential holders of knowledge whose teachings sustain their Nation’s healing and resilience.
In this book, Mary Anne Clarke presents the Anisininew Kookoma teachings as an opportunity to build peace by identifying and strengthening Anisininew parenting practices and governance. Clarke combines Kookoma wisdom and lived experiences in examinations of three critical laws, two that enact colonial violence—Canada’s Indian Act (1876) and Manitoba’s Child and Family Services Act (1985)—and one that may have the potential to decolonize—Canada’s An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families (2020). Based on the Kookoma teachings, Clarke explains how this new Act may be used to prevent ongoing colonial violence against First Nations children and families. There remains, however, deadly risks identified by Kookoma and Clarke who show instead what is needed to actualize transformative community-initiated political, legal, and social opportunities to have their families, nation, lives, and identities whole.