“A National Crime” Article in Canada’s History Magazine
As part of the Bryce@100 commemoration, Defining Moments Canada has contracted Métis journalist and writer Miles Morrisseau to write a “A National Crime” for Canada’s History Magazine. The article, which will be in the October/November print issue of the magazine and subsequently posted in whole on the Defining Moments Canada website, is now available online. Once available on the website, the article will also be available in French.
“The first time I tried to read Bryce’s pamphlet, I could not get through it, even though the document consists of fewer than twenty pages. The weight of the words, and the depths of truths revealed in Bryce’s statistics, were too much to bear in one sitting. For Indigenous people — especially the survivors of the Indian residential school system and those of us who are their descendants — the horrific truth laid bare in this thin text is one we feel deeply within our hearts, our minds, and our spirits.” -Miles Morriseau
This article serves as the flagship article of the Bryce@100 commemoration, which will look to add context and educational resources in order to help teachers bring The Story of a National Crime into every canadian classroom. Already, Defining Moments Canada has created historical articles, started a podcast and made available the text of Bryce’s 1922 pamphlet in audio and text format, in both French and English. Defining Moments Canada has also created a glossary to accompagny a reading of the document. The project will continue until June 2023, and will also feature lesson plans, videos, interviews and more pedagogical resources.
As part of the process of writing this article, Miles Morrisseau took on the task of recording a reading of Bryce’s 1922 publication, which you can find on the Defining Moments Canada website here and on youtube here. He was also invited to take part in the first episode of the upcoming podcast, We Need to Talk About Bryce, Courageous Conversations with Bobby Henry and Guests.
Miles Morrisseau is a Métis writer, journalist and multimedia producer from the Métis Homeland in Manitoba. He began his career as a writer/broadcaster for CBC Radio in Winnipeg. He produced documentaries on Sunday Morning, CBC radio’s flagship documentary program. As a national native affairs broadcaster, he covered the Mohawk Gambling War in Akwesasne, the Death of the Meech Lake Accord and was one of only mainstream journalists who had access behind the barricades during the Oka Crisis, entering on one of a handful of boats that smuggled in food and medicine. He was Editor-in-Chief of Nativebeat, the Beat of a Different Drum, which was chosen best Native American Monthly by the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA). He was Editor-in-Chief of Aboriginal Voices Magazine and Indian Country Today. He produced Buffalo Tracks with Evan Adams for APTN. As program manager for NCI-FM, Manitoba’s Indigenous Radio Network, he helped launch Streetz FM the first radio station by and for Indigenous youth in Winnipeg, MB. He has six children and seven grandchildren and has been with his partner Shelly Bressette for over 35 years. He lives in Grand Rapids, Manitoba on one of the last pieces of Métis land still in the hands of Métis people.