'Just a tremendous spirit': Wab Kinew remembers fellow author Richard Wagamese
'He reached out proactively to the next generation of indigenous writers and helped us'
Author Richard Wagamese, from the Wabaseemoong First Nation, is being remembered this week as a mentor and "generous soul," by another writer who also hails from northwestern Ontario.
Wagamese, 61, was an accomplished journalist and award winning author of titles including Indian Horse, Keeper n' Me, and the memoir, One Story, One Song.
"It's been sad to realize that a tremendously talented man, but also a very loving man has left us too soon," said author Wab Kinew, who is also a member of Manitoba's legislature.
"But I'm also grateful ... that he was a part of my life."
Kinew was working as a broadcaster with CBC when he first struck up a friendship with Wagamese, about eight years ago, he said. It was Wagamese who reached out, with a message over Facebook.
As he began his own writing career, Kinew said Wagamese became a valuable source of advice on both the craft, and the business.
Wagamese was known to offer the same support to others, Kinew said.
"He reached out proactively to the next generation of indigenous writers and helped us. And helped us hone our craft, helped us pursue opportunity."
"I can only think that he did that because he believed in the value of more First Nations people, more Anishinaabe people, having the opportunity to share our stories."
Always quick to offer support and praise, he had "just a tremendous spirit," said Kinew.
Wagamese's own stories will have a lasting impact because of how they reflected the Indigenous experience in Canada said Kinew, in their portrayals of everything from ice hockey games, to the legacy of residential schools.
Telling those stories was "an act of giving," said Kinew, "so that we all might better understand one another, we can all have a clearer portrait of what this country that we live in is all about."