We really like this month, and getting a chance to bring people into the library and connecting people in our community.” These are the words of Tawn Marshall of the Meadow Lake Library when speaking about Aboriginal Storytelling Month, an occasion observed each year at the local library and across the province throughout February. “The library has been participating in Saskatchewan Aboriginal Storytelling Month for so many years,” Marshall said. “I have been here for 10 years, and it’s long preceded me. I know LSSAP – Library Services for Saskatchewan Aboriginal Peoples – has been coordinating it since 2004, and they have specific stated goals they work toward.”

LSSAP’s goals with Aboriginal Storytelling Month are: to support and promote First Nations, Metis and Inuit oral storytelling traditions in Saskatchewan; to celebrate First Nations, Metis and Inuit history, language and culture; to promote cross-cultural relationships and understanding by promoting storytelling as an important foundational cultural activity; to facilitate and grow a living oral storytelling collection; and to share the vision of the LSSAP committee of collaborating through partnerships to enrich communities by promoting and improving library services for aboriginal peoples.

“What we try to aim for here at the library is to have an opportunity and a place for people to share their stories and their skills and their knowledge in a space everyone is welcome to come to,” Marshall said. “We want people to hear the stories and try out the teachings. We so appreciate LSSAP and all the work they do to make this possible for us. We really appreciate this opportunity to share Indigenous culture and knowledge, and everything we can do to get people to learn from each other.” A number of activities are planned at the library throughout the month.

“This year we’re doing something a little different,” Marshall added. “Lynn Murray from the North West Friendship Centre reached out to me to talk about collaborating and supporting each other in our events. Because of her, we’re able to offer so much more this year than we normally would be able to do on our own. I’m pretty excited about that. We have a few different events going on, some of them are here at the library, some are at the Friendship Centre and one is with a whole other community partner, the Meadow Lake Early Years Family Resource Centre. They’re going to be hosting one of our events as well.” The events kicked off Wednesday (Feb. 7) with Floyd Favel who was at the library to share his documentary, Ashes to Embers. “Floyd had never presented here before, so we were excited to have him,” Marshall noted. “He has an incredible background… he’s a very busy activist who we were very excited to have here.”

This Saturday (Feb. 10) will feature an afternoon of Métis music and culture with local musician Lucas Welsh, while next Wednesday (Feb. 14) the Rabbit and Bear Paws puppet show with Chad Solomon will be staged at the Early Years Family Resource Centre. On Feb. 22, Duane Iron will be at the library to share his experiences as a trapper. “Lucas’ stories, jokes and talents are always amazing,” Marshall said. “Chad Solomon’s puppet shows are interactive, funny, educational and so entertaining. He does an amazing job. He was last here in 2018 and I thought it was high time he came here again. Lynn also has an entire elders’ circle series running at the Friendship Centre Mondays and Wednesdays throughout February. It’s a great program. They will be making medicine bags, bannock, it sounds like a really good program.” Meanwhile, Marshall said, at the library, one of the big priorities is being a community space.

“I know sometimes there are people who want to reach out and learn more about other people, but don’t necessarily have those connections,” she said. “We can create that connection. We love it when people are interested in learning about culture and new skills, and we can be that connection. We especially strive to include our Indigenous community members and ensure we have a good spread of representation. We like to do what we can for all the communities within our larger community.”