David Bouchard wants people to share stories. The aboriginal author has been touring the country talking to kids about the gift of reading by sharing stories and experiences with them. He was at Dr. Brass and M.C. Knoll schools to talk to kids from throughout Yorkton.
Telling stories and reading are things that can build bridges between cultures, and Bouchard's books are aimed at that direction, taking the stories from his culture and using them to connect to different kids in different ways.
"My writings are aimed at allowing aboriginal people the gift of reading, and allowing non-aboriginal people the gift of coming to know some of our culture, some of our traditional values, who we are, our past and our future."
Bouchard says that his focus is not on making decisions for kids, but instead showing them what they can gain from reading and learning through his stories.
"I would really like all students to know that they can become readers. There is a myth out there that says reading is for rich, white kids who are gifted, and that's nonsense. Reading is accessible to every child, regardless of their colour, regardless of their financial status, or of their IQ. Any child can be a reader... It just takes one book to get hooked, and if they get hooked it can rock their whole lives."
His approach is to tell kids about the joys of reading and telling stories, but he says that it's important to make sure that he isn't telling them what they must do, instead Bouchard says it's about showing them the possibility and letting the kids make up their own minds. He says that a focus on testing is something which can make it more difficult for kids to find the joy of reading, and Saskatchewan needs to resist the heavy emphasis on standardized testing seen south of the border.
"We shouldn't kill the pleasure in storytelling by trying to test them and label them, it's a real bad habit we have. At least in Saskatchewan we still have some common sense and we know to put that testing phobia off until as late as we can."
His goal is to help kids connect with stories, and he says that touring schools and telling those stories is a way to get kids hooked, and help them connect with their heritage. He says that aboriginal storytelling is on the ascent, and his speaking to kids is an example of how it can connect.
"Some things you really can't teach, you have to live. I'll give them a story today, an aboriginal story, and the First Nations kids will shine. And they will keep that story in their heart and it will not be what I look like or what my message was, but that story will be there. They will want more. Stories are our culture, and we've lost a lot because of residential schools, resistance and Metis in hiding, but in life everything comes in circles, and it's coming back."
It has been five years since Bouchard has been in Yorkton, and he's impressed by what he sees. He says that for him, it's good to see how varied the community has become, with the influence of nearby reserves and more in migration building on the well known Ukrainian base. He says that it's exciting to come back to a city and see the effects that a booming economy has had.
"Yorkton is evolving, it's growing, it's booming. I was here five years ago, and it's a real nice thing to see... Yorkton has become, from an outsider's perspective, a lot more global, a lot more multi-cultural," Bouchard says.
