2024 is L.M. Montgomery’s 150th birthday! The L.M. Montgomery Institute (LMMI) at the University of Prince Edward Island is celebrating with 150 tributes – celebratory statements or greetings – that reflect upon personal connections to Montgomery or on an aspect of her life, work, or legacy.
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The celebration of Indigenous joy emerged alongside reclaiming the joy found in Indigenous art and culture and, in Canada, one path toward healing that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission opened up. As Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood, a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh journalist, wrote about National Truth and Reconciliation Day in 2022 for The Narwhal, “Education around the ongoing colonial policies impacting Indigenous Peoples should take place all year, and the celebration of Indigenous joy and innovation too. We often carry joy in one hand and grief in the other.” In their tributes, Colette Poitras and Julie Pellissier-Lush recognize the Indigenous values of joy, good life and love, and family shared by Montgomery.
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Colette Poitras on Montgomery’s Miyo-Pimâtisiwin
Upon first reading Anne of Green Gables, I remember being entranced by the story of a high- spirited orphan who, after arriving, eventually charms the entire community. Despite hailing from a different part of the country, Anne Shirley’s story was reflective of my own sense of self. I saw myself within Anne “with an ‘e.’” As we all know, she was imaginative, intelligent, fierce, and joyful, despite facing painful challenges. Years ago, my kids and I went on a cross-country tour. I made sure to stop at the Green Gables Heritage Place in Cavendish, introducing them to the world of Lucy Maud Montgomery. We then read the series for the first time as a family. Montgomery brilliantly shares a universal experience – the quest to find love and the power of community. The Cree call it “miyo-pimâtisiwin,” to live a good life and be loved. What could be better?
Happy birthday!
Colette Poitras is a Métis librarian and the Chair of the From Sea to Sea to Sea: Celebrating Indigenous Picture Book Collection.
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Julie Pellissier-Lush on Montgomery and Family
When I was just a little girl my mother passed away from lymphatic cancer. She was my everything, nurturer and culture giver, because she was Mi'kmaq. My father and I traveled for many years, both of us a little lost with figuring out this life without her. We ended up in Sydenham, Ontario where I started grade three. My teacher, Mrs. Cassidy, was such a wonderful lady and soon noticed this sad lost little girl who always sat at the back of the class and she looked at my file. It said I lived with my father who was a student at Queen's University, so she called him up that night and asked if he needed any help with me. He said every Wednesday he had to be at school late, which meant I would be alone, and she said she would take me after school every Wednesday until he got home. This was a whole new adventure for me. I met her husband, Bert, later becoming Bertie to me, and with no children of their own, I became their happy addition to their family as my father worked hard to get his education. My first Christmas with them they gave me a book, Anne of Green Gables, and inside the front cover it said, “Dear Julie, may you love this book as much as we do, love your Matthew and Marilla.” They told me there was a reason they didn't have any children: they were waiting for me and that this was a story from my home in PEI, so I would never forget where I came from. I loved Anne, and I especially loved my Matthew and Marilla. How can one book give you more family you didn't even know you needed?
Julie Pellissier-Lush is author, poet, actress, Band Councillor, past poet laureate, and Mi'kmaq Knowledge Keeper.
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Next week our tributes will celebrate Montgomery in the context of World Mental Health Day (October 7th).