Edmund Metatawabin

Edmund Metatawabin (ON, Canada), former chief of Fort Albany First Nation, is a Cree writer, educator and activist. As a residential school survivor, he has devoted himself to righting the wrongs of the past, and educating Native youth in traditional knowledge. Metatawabin now lives in his self-made log house in Fort Albany, Ontario, off the reserve boundary, on land he refers to as my “Grandfathers’ Land.” He owns a local sawmill and also works as a consultant, speaker and researcher. At Wordfest, Metatawabin presents Up Ghost River: A Chief’s Journey Through the Turbulent Waters of Native History, a raw and powerful memoir about the abuse the author endured in residential schools in the 1960s.