It's been quite the journey these past four years -- learning about my treaty heritage and the responsiblities associated with it. As part of this, I worked with some Nishnaabe members of the Stoney Point Reserve as they told their story of reclaiming their ancestral...
Heather Menzies’ Blog postings on
Indigenous Rights
Decolonizing the environmental movement? Review of “Decolonizing Prehistory”
The how of seeing reality fundamentally conditions the reality we work with. So to me, seeing nature solely through the lens of Western science is part of the problem. This book, reviewed here, reminds environmentalists (and others) of another, more deeply historical...
Seeking truth in Metis Heritage
Writing this review of Michelle Porter's poetic memoir, Approaching Fire, taught me a lot about the distorting power of official public memory. The review was published in the Literary Review of Canada (reviewcanada.ca), March, 2021. Three underlying facts propel this...
Renewing our relations with the earth
Renewing a lived relationship with the earth is essential to renewing our responsibility to sustain it as a habitat hospitable to human habitation. This is the implicit message of a book by Jerry Fontaine I just reviewed for the environmental magazine, Watershed...
Lindsay Keegitah Borrows’ “Otter’s Journey”
I want to amplify the voice of this clear-thinking and generous-hearted Anishinaabe-kwe linguist and lawyer by sharing a review I did of her book about Indigenous langugage and law revitalization, published in the Literary Review of Canada, June, 2019. When I headed...
Beth Brant in review
Here's a review of A Generous Spirit: Selected Works by Beth Brant Edited by: Janice Gould (Inanna Publications, 2019) Just published in Herizons Magazine (Fall, 2020) This inspiring and important book doesn’t just bring Beth Brant (Degonwadonti, Mohawk) to new,...
Today I Stand upon the Shore
'Today I Stand Upon the Shore' original music written and performed by Pat Mayberry 2014 Video by Heather Menzies Blog Series: A journey of reckoning and reconnection I went looking for my ancestors after writing No Time: Stress & the Crisis of Modern Life, which...
The Treaties | Ottawa negotiated in bad faith
printed in Literary Review of Canada Magazine in October, 2019 Read our lips: we agree to share the land, not surrender it. That, according to this fine, careful study, is what Indigenous parties were trying to say during the negotiations of Treaties One through Seven...
Honouring the Peace
printed in the Watershed Sentinelon Sept 14, 2017. The river, the beauty of the valley, the treaties With the drums and chants of “Makh Chi” (by Ulali) blasting on the car stereo, we descend into the Peace River Valley – we being Rita Wong and Valeen Jules with Poets...
Land and Power
Two books – Is Racism an Environmental Threat by Ghassan Hage and As We Have Always Done by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – explore the personal in the political.