Name Basil Johnston Role Writer | ||
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Died September 8, 2015, Wiarton, Canada Books Ojibway Heritage, Indian School Days, The Manitous, Ojibway ceremonies, Crazy Dave | ||
Basil H. Johnston (13 July 1929 – 8 September 2015) was a Canadian writer, storyteller, language teacher and scholar.
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Biography
Johnston was born July 13, 1929 on the Parry Island Indian Reserve to Rufus and Mary (née Lafrenière) Johnston. He was a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, formerly Cape Croker (Neyaashiinigmiing), in the Bruce Peninsula.
Johnston was educated in reserve schools in Cape Croker and later sent, along with his sister Marilyn, to residential school in Spanish, Ontario. He wrote about his experience as a student at St. Peter Claver School for Boys in his 1988 book Indian School Day. After graduating high school as class valedictorian, he earned his B.A. with Honors from Loyola College (1954) and a high school teaching certificate from the Ontario College of Education (1962). In 1959, Johnston married Lucie Desroches, with whom he had three children – Miriam, Tibby and Geoffery.
Johnston died in 2015 at Wiarton, Ontario. Before his death he donated his papers, including photographs, correspondence and manuscripts to the McMaster University Library for use by researchers in the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections.
Teaching
Johnston taught high school at Earl Haig Secondary School in North York, Ontario, from 1962 to 1969, before taking a position in the Ethnology Department of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Part of his focus during his 25 years with the museum was the regeneration of the language, values and beliefs of Anishinaabe heritage. He developed an extensive series of Ojibwa language courses on tape and in print, believing that traditional language education was essential to understanding Indigenous culture. In the 1990 essay "One Generation From Extinction" he examined the essential role Indigenous language and literature play in restoring lost "Indianness". Of the impacts of lost language he explains:
There is cause to lament but it is the native peoples who have the most cause to lament the passing of their languages. They lose not only the ability to express the simplest of daily sentiments and needs but they can no longer understand the ideas, concepts, insights, attitudes, rituals, ceremonies, institutions brought into being by their ancestors; and, having lost the power to understand, cannot sustain, enrich, or pass on their heritage. No longer will they think Indian or feel Indian.
Writing
Johnston wrote extensively in both English and Ojibwa. Though he went on to publish numerous books, articles and poems, publishing companies were initially reluctant to release Johnston's work. While publishers recognized the authenticity of his writing, they questioned whether there was a market for it. His first book Ojibway Heritage was published in 1976 thanks to the support of Jack McClelland and Anna Porter of McClelland & Stewart. In 1978 Porter proved equally instrumental, fighting for the publication of Johnston's second book, Moose Meat and Wild Rice, after a McClelland & Stewart editor suggested the publisher pass on the title, in part, because stories of its kind were "currently passé." The book, which was nominated for a Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, comprised 22 fictional short-stories and offered satirical comment about the relationship between Indigenous peoples, government officials and the nature of acculturation.
Awards
Johnston was honoured with numerous awards for his work in preserving Ojibwa language and culture in addition to Honorary Doctorates from the University of Toronto, Laurentian University and Brandon University.