Crystal Gail Fraser’s storytelling is how we understand the world

By Laura Mushumanski

(ANNews) – Historian and Associate Professor within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, Crystal Gail Fraser is “bringing my skills to help my own nation” by trying to make space for survival stories for Indigenous peoples living in Northwest Territories. The current author of, By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Fraser shares stories from Gwich’in forms of strength by trying to make stronger relationships in community.

For Fraser, “storytelling is how we understand the world, and many nations hold vast repositories of stories.” These stories can support our culturally diverse world in better understanding one another, she adds. This heartfelt and heart heavy work that Crystal engages in involves sharing stories of Indigenous peoples within the Northwest Territories and their experiences with Indian Residential Schools.

She is the first researcher and writer to share stories about Indigenous children in Inuvik and other northern communities who were displaced while missionaries left to run wild because there was no federal oversight. The survivor testimonies cited in the book became the answers Fraser had been looking for since she was a little girl.

“I didn’t know much about this either,” said Fraser on Indian Residential Schools in the North, but when the Truth and Reconciliation 94 Calls to Action came out in 2015, she was inspired to do something.

Embedded within By Strength, We Are Still Here is ancestral strength of how a nation overcomes adversity, leans on each other in times of need, and how the continuation of different forms of strength are drawn on to create deeper and meaningful relationships during healing times.

Writing this book, Fraser learned how to reach people as both writer and academic, and the journey has become an expansion of her own PhD thesis. The one thing that Fraser noted when doing trauma research and for anyone in this field of work is: “Take better care of oneself while writing stories. Look after yourself and keep things simple.” Where Crystal’s job has become a steward of looking after stories because “they deserve the same respect as all stories that are being shared,” she encourages learners to be curious about stories within all nations as they continue to be unraveled.

Gwichya Gwich’in historian Dr. Crystal Gail Fraser PhD., Indigenous Consulting Services Inc., currently offers consulting services for scholarly and historical research, decolonial and anti-racist methodologies, professional and creative writing. Other services include editing, community engagement with Indigenous Nations and communities, facilitation for workshops, meetings, professional development events and policy development.

 Laura Mushumanski is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter