Welcome to Litsy!

5🌟 McLeod left me emotionally moved upon finishing this book. As he picks up where his first memoir left off and takes us through his life to now. I appreciated his passion for his people and culture and his need to reconnect with his ancestral roots. Touching on big themes here like colonialism, treaties, racism, suicide, poverty, discrimination in the workplace and challenges Indigenous youth face. His story is one of inspiration! #bookreview

A thoughtful memoir by a gay Cree man from northern Alberta, an educator, social activist & champion of Indigenous rights. I could feel his frustration at the corruption & racism he witnessed while working within a broken federal institution, the Department of Indian Affairs. McLeod‘s family was broken too, an ongoing source of pain & regret. Anonymous sex was his stress relief until he found internal peace & dignity. #LGBTQ #Indigenous

I certainly wasn‘t impervious to what we heard at our working group on residential schools. One lovely brown face after another screwed up in sorrow and anger as people recounted trauma at residential school. The worst story we heard was that of children having needles stuck into their tongues for speaking Nuu-chah-nulth, which everyone called “Indian” at the time, just as they did Cree, Anishnabe and Haida.
(Internet photo)

Youth suicide, a critical housing shortage, poverty, low educational attainment and lower life expectancy than the mainstream population define the modern-day legacy of colonization in both Argentina and Canada.