Truths That Bear Repeating

Louise Bernice Halfe, whose Cree name is Sky Dancer, does not identify as a “survivor.” The word “victor” is truer to her experience. Halfe’s career achievements attest to her victory. She has published several award-winning poetry collections, starting with Bear Bones & Feathers, from 1994. She has served as poet laureate for the province of Saskatchewan (2005–06) and as the Canadian parliamentary poet laureate (in 2021–22). In 2017, she received the Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize for her body of work, and she was appointed, in 2025, a member of the Order of Canada.

But to judge by wîhtamawik — her latest book, which assembles oral presentations, essays, and poems — Halfe’s greatest success may well be in her spiritual dexterity and determination to live a life rooted in Cree teachings and connection to the land. The volume traces the writer’s long-term commitment to creativity and Cree language, culture, and ceremony. It reads as a...