“We can be the change we want to see in this world.”

Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith

Writer, Editor, Author, Consultant

Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith is a Saulteaux woman from Peguis First Nation. Christine is an author, editor, and journalist who graduated from the University of Toronto with a specialization in Aboriginal Studies in June 2011 and went on to receive her Master’s in Education in Social Justice in June 2017.

Christine's memoir These Are The Stories: Memories of a 60s Scoop Survivor was published by Kegedonce Press in 2021. She has edited two recent, acclaimed anthologies—Silence to Strength: Writings and Reflections on the Sixties Scoop (Kegedonce Press, 2022) and Bawaajigan: Stories of Power [with Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler] (Exile Editions, 2019). Christine is currently working on a YA novel tentatively titled Heading Back to the Rez (James Lorimer & Company, 2025) and a second collection in an Exile Editions anthology series, also co-edited with Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler, is in the works.

Christine has written for the Native Canadian, Anishinabek News, Windspeaker, FNH Magazine, New Tribe Magazine, Muskrat Magazine and The Piker Press. Her first non-fiction story Choosing the Path to Healingappeared in Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marginalized Spaces edited by Michelle Sewell (2006).

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SERVICES

About My Services:

I am an Indigenous woman working to amplify the voices and stories of fellow First Nations/Metis/Inuit people. As a sole proprietorship, I am offering the following services:

. Editing which includes copy editing and developmental editing.
. Cultural Sensitivity Readings
. Beta Reading of partial or full manuscripts.
. Digital Content Editing.
. Textbook Proofreading.
. Curriculum Development. documents especially pertaining to Indigenous ways of knowing.
. Mentoring: the craft of writing; platform development for sharing your stories and viewpoints.

Note: For current pricing, please contact me to discuss your project.

If you are inviting me to give an author talk or presentation, please visit Christine's Presentation and Visit Rates for more information.

PORTFOLIO

RECENT WORK

PUBLISHED BOOKS

Silence to Strength: Writings and Reflections on the Sixties Scoop

From the 1960s through the 1980s the Canadian Children’s Aid Society engaged in a large-scale program of taking First Nations children from their families and communities and adopting them out to non-Indigenous families. This systemic abduction of untold thousands of children came to be known as the Sixties Scoop. Stories of the intergenerational disruption from loss of family and culture are shared in this collection, as are stories of strength and survivance.

In Silence to Strength, editor Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith gathers together contributions from seventeen Sixties Scoop survivors from across the territories of Canada. These courageous writings show there is strength in telling story, and power in ending the silences of the past.

Read an excerpt from Silence to Strength

These are the Stories: Memories of a 60s Scoop Survivor

These are the Stories is collection of personal essays comprising the life of a survivor of the Sixties Scoop. Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith reveals her experiences in the child welfare system and her journey towards healing in various stages of her life. 

“This is a heartbreaking first-person account of growing up in ‘care’, and the danger children face when they are scooped from their biological families and communities… but this is also a story about strength in the face of adversity, the struggle to heal from trauma, and also a journey of reconnection, healing, and ultimately finding a sense of home despite grief and loss. When people speak of resilience, this is what they mean.” 
—Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler, author of Ghost Lake

Read a review of These Are the Stories [Historical Studies in Education]

Bawaajigan: Stories of Power

Co-Editor: Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler

Ranging from gritty to gothic, hallucinatory to prophetic, the reader encounters haunted residential school hallways and ghosts looking on from the afterlife, bead-dreamers, talking eagles, Haudenosaunee wizards, giant snakes, sacred white buffalo calves, spider’s silk, a blood-stained diary, wormholes, poppy-induced deliriums, Ouija boards, and imaginary friends among the many exhilarating forces that drive the Indigenous dream-worlds of today.

Contributors: Lee Maracle, Richard Van Camp, Autumn Bernhardt, Brittany Johnson, Gord Grisenthwaite, Joanne Arnott, Dlani Valin, Cathy Smith, David Geary, Yugcetun Anderson, Gerald Silliker Pisim Maskwa, Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith, Sara General, Wendy Bone, Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler, and Karen Lee White.

Read a review of Bawaajigan [Quill & Quire]
Read a review of Bawaajigan [Broken Pencil]
Read a review of Bawaajigan [Malahat Review]
Read a review of Bawaajigan [BC Review]
Read a review of Bawaajigan [Event]

Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marginalized Spaces

Editor: Michelle Sewell

Growing Up Girl is an eclectic collection of poems, essays, and short stories that document the transition from girl to woman, as told by the girls and women who know the journey best. Whether she's coming undone or coming out the writing is authentic and passionate.

Contributors include Wendy Altschuler, Jennifer Karmin, Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith, Janet Vega, Latiffany Wright, and Jewel Sophia Younge, among others.

Editor Michelle Sewell is an award-winning poet and screenwriter whose work has appeared on NPR, Black Entertainment Television, Sinister Wisdom, and Port of Harlem Magazine.

RECENT MEDIA

Author Talks and Interviews

Sample Journalism

Smith, Christine Miskonoodinkwe. "Where is home? A perspective from a Sixties Scoop survivor," Anishinabek News, January 31, 2022.

Smith, Christine Miskonoodinkwe. "Canada Day is a contentious holiday. This is why I do not celebrate it", Toronto Star,  July 1, 2020.

Smith, Christine Miskonoodinkwe. "‘We do not want you anymore’: Sixties Scoop survivor still searching for home," Healthy Debate, June 17, 2020.

Rahman, T., Smith, C. Miskonoodinkwe, and Oriuwa, C. "Canada’s plan to eliminate tuberculosis in Inuit communities: Will it be enough?," Healthy Debate, January 24, 2019.

Smith, Christine Miskonoodinkwe. "How I use the teachings of the Medicine Wheel in my healing journey," Healthy Debate, October 3, 2018.

Smith, Christine Miskonoodinkwe. "‘I’m not the only one’: Reflections of a Sixties Scoop survivor," Anishinabek News, November 4, 2017.

Muskrat Magazine articles and reviews by Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith

Anishinabek News articles and reviews by Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith

Piker Press articles, essays, and other work by Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith

New Tribe Magazine issues featuring articles by Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith

Toronto Review of Books book reviews by Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith

CHRISTINE'S BLOG

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Open Call for Submissions!

CONTACT

For any questions or inquiries please call at 437-286-9306 or 416-571-3112 between 9AM and 5PM EST, email chrissy.miskonoodinkwesmith@gmail.com or fill out the form below.

 

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