Critical Perspectives and Reflections

By Barb Nahwegahbow Last Sunday I went to see the most recent play by Drew Hayden Taylor at Native Earth here in Toronto. It’s about a homeless Cree woman, a survivor of residential school who confronts her attacker who is now a bishop with the Anglican church. It’s a one-act 80-minute play. I found it dragged at the beginning and could easily have been reduced to just over an hour I think. At the same time I found the writing and acting pretty good. Many of the 40-45 people in the audience were non-Aboriginal women. In fact, my guest, a non-Aboriginal friend commented on this. There was a panel discussion following the play which included a First Nations woman who teaches indigenous studies at Humber College, and a non-Native woman from the Anglican Church who has some sort of role regarding residential school apologies and reconciliation. The discussion and comments got me thinking about a few things: 1)    Why are the Indians the ones who are labelled sick and nee...