Latest news with #Stonechild
CBC
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Shayla Stonechild, championing A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, wins Canada Reads 2025
Social Sharing After a few days of fierce and thoughtful debates, Shayla Stonechild has won Canada Reads 2025. The book she championed, A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, with Mary Louisa Plummer, survived the elimination vote on March 20, 2025. Podcaster and wellness advocate Stonechild successfully argued that A Two-Spirit Journey best fits the theme as "one book to change the narrative." In A Two-Spirit Journey, Ma-Nee Chacaby, an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian who grew up in a remote northern Ontario community, tells the story of how she overcame experiences with abuse and alcohol addiction to become a counsellor and lead Thunder Bay's first gay pride parade. "This story is not only about trauma and suffering, it is about unconditional love," said Stonechild during the Day Three debates. "Whether that's within two-spirit relationships, whether that's being of service to other people or whether that's just the love for telling your own story and speaking your own truth, Ma-Nee inspires you to take action and agency in your own life and to be an advocate for others, but also to be an advocate to love yourself a little bit deeper." Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew was the runner-up. Pastry chef Saïd M'Dahoma championed the moving novel. Dandelion is a novel about family secrets, migration, isolation, motherhood and mental illness. When Lily was a child, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family and was never heard from again. After becoming a new mother herself, Lily is obsessed with discovering what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls growing up in a British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families and how Swee Hua longed to return to Brunei. Eventually, a clue leads Lily to southeast Asia to find out the truth about her mother. Ultimately, Dandelion lost to A Two-Spirit Journey in a 3-2 vote on the final day. Canada Reads 2025: Linwood Barclay and Shayla Stonechild discuss memoirs 3 days ago Duration 3:01 Stonechild is a Red River Métis and Nehiyaw iskwew (Plains Cree woman) from Muscowpetung First Nations. She founded the Matriarch Movement, an online platform, podcast and nonprofit that amplifies Indigenous voices and provides wellness opportunities for Indigenous women and two-spirit individuals. She is also a global yoga ambassador for Lululemon and is the first Indigenous person featured on Yoga Journal's cover. Stonechild has hosted APTN's Red Earth Uncovered, appeared on Season 9 of Amazing Race Canada and co-hosted ET Canada's Artists & Icons: Indigenous Entertainers in Canada for which she won two Canadian Screen Awards. The 2025 Canada Reads winner brought a strong and well-researched perspective to the debates, both making a strong case for the A Two-Spirit Journey and acknowledging the merits of the other books in contention. Chacaby is a two-spirit Ojibwa-Cree writer, artist, storyteller and activist. She lives in Thunder Bay, Ont., and was raised by her grandmother near Lake Nipigon, Ont. Chacaby won the Ontario Historical Society's Alison Prentice Award and the Oral History Association's Book Award for A Two-Spirit Journey. In 2021, Chacaby won the Community Hero Award from the mayor of Thunder Bay. Her co-writer and close friend, Plummer, is a social scientist whose work focuses on public health and children's rights. She collaborated with Chacaby, who only learned English later in life and is visually impaired, to tell Chacaby's story in the most authentic possible way, drawing on academic research about Indigenous storytelling and years of friendship and mutual trust. The other three books were eliminated earlier in the week. Thriller novel Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey, championed by Maggie Mac Neil, was eliminated on Day One. The memoir Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston, defended by Linwood Barclay, was eliminated on Day Two. Novel Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper, championed by Michelle Morgan, was eliminated on Day Three. This year's show was hosted by Ali Hassan. The contenders and their chosen books were:
CBC
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Shayla Stonechild recommends 5 books that changed her life
Podcaster and wellness advocate Shayla Stonechild is championing A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, with Mary Louisa Plummer, on Canada Reads 2025. A proponent of self-help books rooted in science and stories of Indigenous resilience and perspectives, she is drawn to books that challenge the way she lives her life and open her heart and mind to new ideas. "I like books that bring light to stuff you wouldn't know otherwise," she said. Canada Reads CBC Books to share five books that impacted the way she sees the world. Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself is a book that talks about the power of being in the present and the power of meditation. In it, Joe Dispenza uses his neuroscience background to explain how you can reprogram your subconscious mind and let go of old patterns and reclaim a new identity. Stonechild read Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself in her early 20s, a formative time in her life. "That book set me off into my own meditation practice and also allowed me to let go of old identities and patterns that I no longer needed," she said. That book set me off into my own meditation practice and also allowed me to let go of old identities and patterns that I no longer needed. - Shayla Stonechild She also appreciated that Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself bridges the gap between science and spirituality. "A lot of people will be one way — they'll be all for science or all for spirituality — and to have someone connect them made it feel a little bit more validated." Sacred Instructions by Sherri Mitchell In Sacred Instructions, activist and attorney Sherri Mitchell, raised on the Penobscot Indian reservation, draws on Indigenous worldviews to address issues like environmental justice, land rights and intergenerational trauma. She shares wisdom from elders that will help heal our planet and uplift our communities to their full potential. "She just reiterated a lot of the thoughts that I was having and put it so beautifully together in a book that it inspires you to kind of look at the world in a different way," said Stonechild. Firewater by Harold R. Johnson In both his personal and professional life, Cree lawyer Harold R. Johnson witnessed many lives ruined by alcohol. Firewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (And Yours) was inspired by the loss of his younger brother to a drunk driver and is a passionate call-to-action to find solutions and help communities make informed decisions about the dangers of alcohol. "He's not trying to shame anyone, which is good," said Stonechild. Stonechild also appreciated how Johnson focused specifically on his own Saskatchewan community, bringing together lived experiences, historical information and statistics to open up dialogue on alcohol on Indigenous communities — and the world at large. "It might be a little bit controversial, but I also think it's something that is a lived reality in our communities. I like books that are controversial in a way that makes you see the other side of something and provides you with new information." The World We Used to Live In by Vine Deloria Jr. In The World We Used to Live In, Standing Rock Lakota scholar Vine Deloria Jr. describes stories and rituals from Indigenous people around Turtle Island and shows how they fit into our modern world. Stonechild was particularly appreciative of how The World We Used to Live In compiles many different scholarly articles and brings them together in one book. "He speaks of the power that lies in our rituals, in our ceremonies. But he's doing it through an academic lens," said Stonechild. "It was the last book he wrote before he passed away. So it's kind of his life's work, being a native scholar in terms of spirituality." The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga "All of us, in a way, are scared to say the wrong thing and we are always wanting to be liked, whether that's on social media or by our family and our friends," said Stonechild. That's why she was drawn to the book The Courage to Be Disliked, which uses philosophical theories to allow people to determine the course of their own lives, regardless of their own expectations and those of others. It's important to have the courage to actually be who you are in a society that tells you all to be the same. - Shayla Stonechild "You're not going to be liked by everyone and so it's important to have the courage to actually be who you are in a society that tells you all to be the same."
