Milky Way Timelapse from Jason Hines on Vimeo.
Winnipeg, MB
Cree and Gitxsan Nations
“My dad is a residential school survivor, so as a second generation residential school survivor, I really learned about the history of my people. I drew from a lot of those elements from different aspects of my life, and my reality at the time, so it was really a journey of self-discovery, as a writer, as an Aboriginal woman, as a young person at the time.”
View TranscriptMy name is Shaneen Robinson, and I won first place for my play, Notay Kiskintamowin, which means “Wanting to Know”.
My dad is a residential school survivor, so as a second generation residential school survivor, I really learned about the history of my people. I drew from a lot of those elements from different aspects of my life, and my reality at the time, so it was really a journey of self-discovery, as a writer, as an Aboriginal woman, as a young person at the time. It just really made it real for me, and I remember learning that I won and I was like, ‘How did I win this?’ All the amazing writers across the country; all these young people and their work that I had learned about in the past and just the amazing roster of writers that look at your work is what really, really made it real for me. And I thought it was just a really great honour.
And at the time it was a very emotional time because I was learning so much about myself and becoming a woman. And knowing my goals that I wanted had made me realize that I could do anything that I said I could do.
I had done a little bit of work at APTN, which is now where I am permanently, full time, as a journalist, and I think that it opened doors to writing. It made people take me more seriously and realize that I did have a gift of telling the stories of our people. Really, that’s my career now, telling the stories of my people, for my people, by my people.