In her colourful children’s book, KISĒWĀTISI –Be Kind, educator and language advocate Elizabeth Merasty (a member of the Peter Ballantyne First Nation, Saskatchewan), immerses us in Nehiyaw (Cree) pedagogy. 

This true account of her mother’s experience in the Sturgeon Landing Indian Residential School is approached with gentleness, beauty, and warmth. 

Told in traditional storytelling style in English, translated to Cree by Edie Venne (Lac Laronge Indian Band, Saskatchewan), and with watercolour artwork done by Métis illustrator Brie Phillips (Creighton, Saskatchewan), a teaching of kindness passed to Elizabeth by her late mother Cathy Merasty is brought to life. 

With the story visually painted to resemble a hide and complemented with painted bead designs based on actual beadwork by Elizabeth’s late Aunt Angelique McKay, Elizabeth and Brie skillfully work together to gift the reader with a holistic work of art that honours history, connection, and culture. 

Not only does this combination of language, lesson, and artwork symbolize skill and craft, but it activates further imagery of old ways of life, land, teaching, being, and all that is Indigenous identity, as well as the loss of these things. 

“We chose the hide as the background or border of all the paintings very intentionally. There is content in the story that is heavy, but it is kindness and resilience that shine through,” Phillips says.

“Hide is very soft and warm and comforting but also strong. Home tanning is a long process with a lot of love, time, and attention put into it. We wanted the story to feel held in the same way: with softness but also strength.” 

In the painting of the residential school, some of the beadwork is visibly unravelling.

“We wanted this to represent all that so many students lost or had taken from them during their time at residential school, such as language, traditions, land, and family.” 

This storybook comes complete with a teacher’s guide in the back of the book in both Cree and English, a detailed collage of historical photographs of Elizabeth and her family, two colouring pages that are free to copy and distribute, and resources for those seeking support in navigating this often difficult topic. 

With language revitalization also a goal of this book, author Elizabeth Merasty encourages readers and language learners to keep on learning their language: 

“Ahkameyimo (persist or keep going). I encourage people to use apps that have a voice of a fluent speaker saying the word. Replay and try to copy the sound of the fluent speaker,” she says.

“It may help to think of learning new Cree words like beading. Gathering a word here or there may seem like a small thing: yet, eventually those small things can be gathered together to create something beautiful.”