We're gaining steam! Over the weekend, author Gloria Mehlmann (Gifted to Learn and the forthcoming Adam's Tree) sent a letter in support of libraries, and has given her permission to share it here. Sincere thanks to Ms Mehlmann for sharing her moving words.
As an author, the library remains my bread and butter. The library fed mind and soul when, as a fourteen-year-old First Nations girl, without home and family in town and city, I found refuge there. Then as a young teacher in the Regina Public school system, the library filled my knowledge gaps about Canadian culture. It provided boxes of books borrowed by the school aimed at supporting the curriculum. It also helped teach me how to navigate the complexities of our reserve/Canada relationship.
As a government worker in the Department of Education, thanks to the library services that Regina offered, I was able to lead the integration of Indigenous content and perspectives in the provincial K-12 curriculum for all Saskatchewan students. As library trustee, in hope of giving back, I became a member of and, later, Chair of the Regina Public Library Board and a lifelong member of the Saskatchewan Libraries Association. I am proud to have helped carry on the work of that great Canadian and first Chair of the Regina Public Library Board, George H. Barr (1878-1960), King’s Counsel for Saskatchewan (appointed 1917), whose works provide rare insight into local governance and constitutional issues specific to ‘Indians’.
As a writer, thanks to the library’s Canadian journals, stories, and career reference materials, I found my way to becoming a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada, the Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild, and the Federation of British Columbia Writers as well as a number of writing groups. Libraries, world-wide, held my first book, Gifted to Learn (UAP 2008) - a number still do. I hope libraries will be there to hold my new book (due this June) Adam’s Tree (Radiant Press 2019). I hope so because a book that helps clarify Indigenous and Canadian relations and their impact in our day needs such a home. You see, when it comes to libraries and their holdings, my reserve had long been a knowledge desert. I ask: Are we trying to turn Ontario into a reserve, or what?
Gloria Mehlmann grew up on the Cowessess First Nations Reserve in Saskatchewan. A recognized supporter of libraries and learning (ongoing as writer and author), she is a recipient of the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal 2005: "The Lieutenant Governor has bestowed the Medal on you in the name of the provincial Crown for your significant contribution to the people of Saskatchewan." Gloria is a supporter of the international EDIP Sovereign Wealth Solutions (head office in Vancouver) aimed at Indigenous communities controlling their destiny and quality of life through wealth-generating partnerships.
If you're an author who'd also like to voice your support for Ontario public libraries, please email me at 4eyed.bookworm@gmail.com