Carrying It Forward
John Brady McDonald
John Brady McDonald has lived in Kistahpinanihk, an area that includes Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, for nearly all his life. A member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and a descendent of Metis leader Jim Brady, John Brady has worked to move carefully between these two nations – to learn their stories, honour their traditions and reclaim their languages, all of which were nearly lost to him.
In Carrying It Forward: Essays from Kistahpinanihk, the author looks at everything from the city of Prince Albert to his experience of residential school, to northern firefighting, to his time in the United Kingdom, where he "discovered" and "claimed" the island for the First People of the Americas. These are essays filled with history, much careful observation and some hard-learned lessons about racism, about recovery, about the ongoing tragedies facing Indigenous peoples. With honesty, a poet's turn of phrase and a bit of sly humour, John Brady pulls us deep into the life he has lived in Kistahpinanihk and asks us to consider what life could be like in a New North Territory.
A member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, John Brady McDonald is a writer, musician, poet and painter. He is also a residential school survivor. He has published several books, including the poetry collection, Kitotam: He Speaks to It, which was a finalist for the 2022 High Plains Book Awards in the Indigenous Writer category and the SK Arts Poetry Award as part of the 2022 Saskatchewan Book Awards.