Kokum’s Miigisag

Have you ever tried to do something new and it was a total disaster? Have you ever given up when something was too hard? Learning something new can be difficult and takes practice. Not giving up when something is hard is the real challenge. In the story Kokum’s Miigisag, a young girl watches her kokum do beadwork. Her kokum is an expert beader. Feeling inspired, the young girl decides to give it a try but she soon discovers beading is hard work. Frustrated and impatient, the young girl believes she’ll never be as good a beader as her kokum and she puts her beading needles away. Has she given up on learning to do beadwork, or will she try again?

Jackie is Anishinaabekwe from Marten Falls First Nation, in Treaty 9 territory. She lives a bicultural life navigating urban and bush landscapes. Time spent on the family trapline immersed Jackie in bush education and connections to land. Jackie is an educator who believes uplifting stories by Indigenous storytellers need visibility in every classroom. A mother of two, Jackie demonstrates resiliency and understands the importance of sharing Indigenous knowledge with her children. Jackie enjoys creating beadwork and continues writing her stories to share across Turtle Island.

Charles Hebert was born in Sturgeon Falls and is a citizen of the Dokis First Nation. He has been drawing since the age of four. He was awarded the Art Achievement Bursary from Northern Secondary School and chose to pursue his art career by attending the Classical Animation course at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. In the following years, Hebert worked as a layout artist for Wrightway Sportwear in the screen printing department. He also studied Graphic Design at Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario. After returning to his artistic pursuits following a career in Municipal recreation, he self-published an illustrated children’s book. He has immersed himself in his Indigenous culture and has been busy producing paintings and Indigenous crafts. Married to his wife Linda for thirty-three years, he has two adult children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.