The history of western separation in Canada
James Baird is the host of the podcast Canadian History Ehx. He joined CBC Saskatchewan's The Morning Edition to discuss the history of western separation in Canada.
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CBC
5 days ago
- CBC
Summer memories of grandparents, art and a very large turtle inspire Kitchener author's new picture book
Kitchener author Kate Jenks Landry new children's book, A Summer Without Anna, tells the story of young Junie who spends the summer with her grandparents because her older sister is sick. While Junie does miss her family, she also has little adventures, including looking for an elusive giant turtle. Landry joined CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris to talk about how she drew inspiration from her own summer experiences. Audio of this interview can be found at the bottom of this story. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Craig Norris: Congratulations on the book! Tell us about Junie? Kate Jenks Landry: Junie is fictional, but the story draws on experiences from my own childhood, so she's sort of an alternate version of me, as I had a similar experience when I was a child. My brother was ill and in the hospital quite a lot and I spent a lot of time with family and friends. My brother was younger than me, not older. So there are differences that drew the character in a slightly different direction. But I think similarly to me, she uses a newfound interest in art. In her case it's photography to kind of make sense of the world around her and the challenges that maybe other kids her age aren't facing. And even though she's being so well cared for and is so loved, she's figuring out all of this stuff that's happening and she's using a camera. For me, it was writing, but I wanted to give her something to help her sort of capture the world around her and tell a story. Norris: And was there a cottage in your past? Jenks Landry: There sure was! Norris: What do you remember when you think of that? What were the sights and smells that you think about? Jenks Landry: My cottage was on Crane Lake, which is near Parry Sound and it belonged to my Nan and Pop, just like Junies Nan and Pop. And it was such a core place in my childhood. It was like a typical kind of Muskoka cottage with the evergreen trees and that black-green water. And there was a turtle, a large ancient turtle. And no one could remember how old, no one remembered it not being there. And once a summer or every few years, you'd see it, there'd be a sighting. In the book, the turtles' name is Edmund. In real life, the turtle didn't have a name, but Edmund was the name of my grandfather who owned the cottage. A really interesting thing I think people don't realize about picture books unless you're the author or illustrator, the illustrator is the one who's comes up with the vision for character design and setting. The illustrator of this book, Risa Hugo, who grew up in Japan and Vancouver. So she has a very different set of references. It wasn't really a Muskoka setting but was her take on a lake cottage. She said she was really inspired by the movie My Neighbor Totoro which was something that when she was Junie's age, she was obsessed with watching over and over again. So she had this kind of idyllic, almost English-looking countryside. So even though it's rooted in those really classic Muskoka cottage memories for me, the kind of alchemy of the illustrator working with my words created something completely different. Kitchener author's new book tells nostalgic story of summers spent in cottage country 4 days ago Duration 1:32 Kitchener author Kate Jenks Landry has a new children's book out. A Summer Without Anna tells the story of a young Junie who spends the summer with her grandparents because her older sister is sick. While Junie misses her family, she also has little adventures — including looking for an elusive giant turtle. Kate Jenks Landry told CBC K-W's Aastha Shetty more about the new book, which was inspired by the author's own life. Norris: Risa Hugo's art is beautiful! Jenks Landry: It really is! Risa has done a lot of really amazing Canadian books. She has another book Metis Like Me that has just been honoured and I'm just so honoured to have worked with her. Norris: What does it do for you to get something out there that's this personal? Jenks Landry: It's really complex. I think I wanted to do something that tapped into an experience that I had that was really challenging, but also very formative for me. I think going through something really challenging when you're young forced me to kind of constantly be in a mode of observing and making sense of the world. That sort of was the origin of my being a writer, and I wanted to tell that story. And I think a lot of kids have similar experiences of having to be away from parents or their bedroom or their home at a time when something difficult is happening in their families. So I wanted it to be personal and drawn those sort of core personal memories. But I also wanted to keep it open enough that kids with maybe similar in some ways, but different versions of that experience could, find something in it. And I, I felt like there wasn't really a ton of stories out there that spoke to what it was to be a sibling or just be a kid who's just kind of off on the side while your parents are off dealing with something else. Norris: That's true. I mean, you think about Junie's trip to the cottage, and in a parent's mind, you're thinking, 'Oh, well, this is beautiful, she's just gonna escape for this summer.' But that doesn't really actually happen. Jenks Landry: No, and I think it's a combination. I really love children's books that are complex and are not just one thing because this experience wasn't just one thing for me. For children, I think that's always the case. So beautiful memories are happening at the same time that really profound challenges are. So for Junie, I think she's having these really poignant memories with her grandfather in their fishing boat. She's being comforted by her grandmother and by the water itself. Swimming in the lake and being submerged in in bodies of water has always been very calming for me. I wanted to kind of think about how immersion in nature and in family is bringing comfort even in the midst of all of these challenges. And for me, I have those memories of the cottage. But also, I had an aunt and uncle that I stayed with that had a backyard pool. And I would just spend eight hours a day in this pool and my aunt would bring me peanut butter sandwiches at the side of the pool because I wouldn't get out.
CBC
05-05-2025
- CBC
The history of western separation in Canada
James Baird is the host of the podcast Canadian History Ehx. He joined CBC Saskatchewan's The Morning Edition to discuss the history of western separation in Canada.
CBC
22-02-2025
- CBC
3 Black leaders in Sask. share their brushes with racism and how they're fighting against it
From the abolition of slavery to the modern civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements, Black leaders have long fought against systemic injustice. The 2025 theme for Black History Month is Black legacy and leadership. CBC Saskatchewan is profiling local leaders whose work not only honours the legacy of past Black activists, but also reinvents the spirit of resistance for a new generation. Jayna Amadasun, a leader in business When Jayna Amadasun came to Canada more than a decade ago, her path to employment was strewn with challenges. Amadasun did her nursing degree in the Bahamas, starting her career as a registered nurse, but went on to earn further degrees, including a doctor of medicine degree in the Dominican Republic and a master's in medical law and ethics in Scotland. But when she arrived in Canada, those qualifications didn't seem to matter. "Coming to Canada 11 years ago, doors were constantly closing," she said. "There were people you'd meet who were driving taxis, with medical degrees." She took an entry level administrative job, thinking she'd build her career from the ground up, but was surprised to find herself dealing with derogatory comments and inappropriate emails from her co-workers. "Racism and discrimination in the workplace will break you down emotionally," she said. She resigned from that job and began looking to transition into a new career. She's since become an author and a business coach, and took on volunteer roles, including chair of Black Canadian Women in Action, the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, and the Rotary Club of Regina Eastview. She said it's important for her to speak up for people in industries like health care who are subject to discrimination, but feel they can't advocate for themselves. "It's being a voice for someone who, at that moment, may not have the knowledge, education or courage to speak up for themselves," she explains. Regina and Saskatchewan are home to her now. She said it's important she uses her skills and knowledge to encourage people to push past barriers like racism and discrimination that threatens to hold them back. "It doesn't have to be us against them, or them against us. We're here to build a community." Petrice Dyer pushes for grassroots activism Petrice Dyer knows what it takes up to stand up against racism in the workplace. She first came to Canada as an international student in 2011 before taking up a job in Yorkton, Sask., and working her way up to financial manager. She shared a story about a day at work where she was using a broom to sweep up a necklace that had broken, spilling beads on the ground. She said a co-worker made a blatantly racist remark about her Jamaican heritage. "You should be sweeping the floor because you're from Jamaica," the co-worker said. "[Instead], you're sitting in the office, collecting the big bucks." She said that moment showed her that despite her professional experience, she was still seen through the lens of her skin colour. "That for me was a shock. I didn't expect to experience that level of racism, especially in a corporate setting." She escalated the matter to management and received an official apology, but her bigger goal was to see people in the workplace get educated about racism. The co-worker had been in the job for around 30 years. Dyer acknowledged that ignorance may have played a role in their racist outlook. "Racism is a learned behaviour," she said. "If we can learn it, we can also unlearn it." She's since left Yorkton to work in Saskatoon's banking and finance sector, while also managing her own event planning and decor business. 4 Black Canadian writers to watch in 2025, according to book aficionados Ryan B. Patrick & Alicia Cox Thomson She's also a board member of the Truly Alive Youth and Family Foundation, a non-profit that serves Black and minority communities in Saskatoon. The group holds monthly meetings with people in industries like policing, health, justice and education to talk about systemic oppression. "People sometimes are afraid to raise the issue [of racism], for fear of judgment or that they might get in trouble." She wants people to know they don't have to remain quiet about injustice and, even if they can not speak for themselves, they can come to her or others willing to help amplify those concerns. "My personal mission is to see that everybody is united as one, and [Black people] are not judged or doubted for occupying space that we have rightfully earned." Ibukun-Oluwa Fasunhan, amplifying Black voices in art Writing gives Ibukun-Oluwa Fasunhan a way to channel his frustration, and challenge the racism and discrimination he sees in the world around him. "The awareness of my skin colour and preconceptions about Black people happened when I relocated to Canada," said Fasunhan, who's originally from Nigeria and came to Canada in 2022 to study as a Ph.D student at the University of Regina. He began a mini social experiment, watching people's behaviour closely and seeing how people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds reacted to different situations. That observation led him to write his first play staged in Regina. Rites of Passage delves into the complexities of racial bias within Canada's immigration system by portraying the experiences of a Black immigrant compared with those of a mixed-race Canadian. He said he pours his frustrations out into his first drafts. One of his first readers of Rites of Passage commented, "If people see this, they're going to beat you up." In the follow-up and the edits, he said he tries to think more objectively about why things are the way they are and bring that understanding to audiences. His follow-up work, Off Guard, draws from real-life accounts of Black international students facing discrimination, bringing academic research to life on the stage. Fasunhan said he feels lucky that he's employed as the southern artistic director at Common Weal Community Arts, as it allows him to focus his work on advocacy and find ways to amplify Black and minority voices. "I look forward to a society where racial divides no longer dictate opportunities," he said. "It may seem far off, but I hope that day comes."
