Curator
Gregory Scofield is a poet, playwright, teacher, youth outreach worker. A Metis of Cree, Scottish and English decent, his ancestry dates back to the Red River Settlement and to Kinesota, Manitoba. He was raised primarily by his mother and aunt in the lower mainland of British Columbia, having also lived in northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba and the Yukon. A former outreach worker in Vancouver that dealt with youth at risk, Gregory Scofield has taught First Nations and Metis Literature at the Alberta College of Art & Design, Brandon University and Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, and he has served in Writer-in-Residence at the University of Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba and Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Gregory Scofield’s skillful debut collection, The Gathering: Stones for the Medicine Wheel (1993), is emblematic of his poetry in that it incorporates Cree words and glossaries. Winner of the 1994 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, it was followed by an equally strong book, Native Canadiana: Songs from the Urban Rez (1996). Love Medicine and One Song (1997) is a collection of love poems and erotic verse. I Knew Two Métis Women (1999) celebrates the lives of his mother and aunt, and integrates songs by the Carter Family, Hank Snow, and other country-music artists. kipocihkân: Poems New & Selected (2009), is his first collection of selected poems that features previous works taught in university and high school curriculum, and Louis: The Heretic Poems (2011), is a skillful collection of poetry that explores the life and personal narrative of famed Metis leader Louis Riel.
Gregory Scofield is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. He continues to devote his time and energy to teaching First Nations and Metis literature and storytelling while also working with organizations such as the Gabriel Dumont Institute to develop and promote resource material on traditional Metis art practices.
Adapted from article by Brian John Busby. Gregory Scofield. The Canadian Encyclopedia, published by the Historica Foundation, 03/18/07.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/gregory-scofield/
About the Partners and Funders
Funders
The Canadian Heritage Portfolio includes the Department and major national cultural institutions. Together, they promote culture, the arts, heritage, official languages, citizenship and participation as well as Aboriginal, youth and sport initiatives.
About the LHF
LHF is a national Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) charitable organization with the mandate to educate and create awareness and understanding about the Residential School System, including the intergenerational impacts. These include removal of generations of Indigenous children from their families, as well as the Sixties Scoop, and the post-traumatic stress disorders that many Indigenous Peoples continue to experience. The LHF works to eliminate racism, foster empathy and understanding and to inspire positive action to improve the situation of Indigenous Peoples today. The LHF supports the ongoing healing process of Residential School Survivors, and their families and seeks their input on projects that honour them.
Since 2000, we have worked with Survivors, Indigenous communities, researchers, curators, and educators to develop educational resources that increase public awareness and knowledge of the history and effects of the Residential School System and the ongoing experiences Indigenous Peoples continue to face. Our projects include mobile exhibitions, websites, applications, publications, and several bilingual curriculums, including a program called Generations Lost–The Residential School System in Canada..