Date of publication: Monday 1 September 2025
Richard Wagamese and the Black Canadian Experience: A Reflection on Place and Survival.
By
Andy (Kwaku) Kusi‑Appiah
————
“The geography of Black life in Canada is always under
negotiation…Dispossession, exile, & belonging are
not fixed but contested.”
Dionne Brand.
“Resurgence is not only resistance, but also the practice
of living an Indigenous life regardless of the colonial state.”
Leanne Simpson.
————
Abstract
This article explores the life and literary legacy of Ojibwe author Richard Wagamese[1] through the lens of environmental philosophy, political ecology, and the lived experiences of Black Canadians in urban contexts such as Ottawa. Drawing parallels between Indigenous and Black histories of displacement, cultural erasure, and resistance, the article highlights how Wagamese’s writings offer profound insight into the intersections of identity, place, and survival. The library as sanctuary, the city as battleground, and storytelling as resistance emerge as central themes, offering a space for solidarity between communities historically marginalized by colonial power structures. The piece underscores the relevance of Wagamese’s work not only to Indigenous readers but also to Black Canadians navigating parallel struggles in the ongoing fight for dignity and belonging in Canada.
Keywords: Richard Wagamese, Indigenous literature, Black Canadian identity, libraries, resilience, environmental justice, intersectionality, Ottawa.
Introduction:
As an environmental philosopher and political ecologist, I focus on how identity, land, trauma, and survival interact and intersect within political and urban landscapes in place. The works of the late Ojibwe writer Richard Wagamese, marked by dislocation, healing, and resilience, resonate deeply with Black Canadians who understand the experience of marginalization and cultural perseverance.
Separated from his family by the Children’s Aid Society, part of what is known as the ‘Sixties Scoop’ in Canada, Richard Wagamese faced abuse, homelessness, and substance dependency before finding solace in books and storytelling (Hudson, 2014). Wagamese was reunited with his Indigenous family at age 23, at which point an Indigenous elder bestowed upon him the name Mushkotay Beezheekee Anakwat (“Buffalo Cloud”), marking his role as a storyteller (Lederman, 2017)
Libraries as Cultural Refuge:
During his homeless teen years, Richard Wagamese frequented public libraries not just for shelter, but also for refuge in literature. The library was that warm spot we crave when temperatures plumet to negative figures. I do not have to ‘preach’ to anyone who has lived through the harsh winters of Ottawa-Gatineau. Wagamese wrote; “The library was a sanctuary, a place where I could escape the cold and the darkness” (Wagamese, 2008). The library was also something else for Richard, a place he could get cooked meals (thanks to a good Samaritan who took it upon herself to make sure that Richard was fed while doing his research in the library).
In his book ‘One Native Life,’ Wagamese recalls the library “like an enchanted forest,” where he explored stories that revealed parts of himself previously unknown (Wagamese, 2008). Wagamese’s life mirrors the experiences of many Black Canadians; newcomers, youth, and scholars who have also found power and possibility in similar public spaces.
Urban Life & the Search for Identity:
Wagamese’s writing often grapples with the realities of urban Indigenous life, especially the alienation, invisibility, and danger that come with being displaced in your own land. In his writings, his characters navigate poverty, addiction, and the deep sense of loss that comes from cultural erasure. This is also the plight of Black people in Ottawa.
In his acclaimed novel titled ‘Indian Horse,’ Wagamese (2012) describes the psychological violence of residential schools and urban assimilation. He writes: “When your innocence is stripped from you, when your people are denigrated… you come to see yourself as less than human. That is hell on earth, that sense of unworthiness. That is what they inflicted on us.” (Wagamese, 2012).
This resonates with the majority of Black Canadians, especially those raised in cities like Ottawa, Toronto, or Montreal. Many Black Canadians, regardless of their educational background, have wrestled with and continue to wrestle with subtle but intense racism in our schools, corporate institutions, on buses, in workplaces, in hospitals, in our homes, and even on the farms where we cultivate food to feed the masses. Black people are under constant observation; our actions are monitored and recorded. The level of control exerted over us is oppressive, and it doesn’t seem to be abating!
In our neighbourhoods, our places of residence, our supposed sanctuaries, there is a pervasive sense of being watched constantly, tracked frequently, and overly regulated! For example, one cannot open one’s garage door without being told to shut it, because it is causing a nuisance to the neighbours. Ottawa Bylaw will visit you at any flimsy report told by your neighbours.
Yes, just like our Indigenous brothers and sisters, Black people in the Ottawa-Gatineau region are over-disciplined, and under-recognized (McKittrick & Woods, 2017). Wagamese’s depiction of identity in flux, caught between rejection and reclamation, is something we know too well.
Mapping the Intersections of People, Places & Environments:
Wagamese’s stories illustrate how place shape identity and belonging. His appreciation for landscape as healing, and urban life as challenge, echoes the insights of Black scholars like Katherine McKittrick, who explores Black geographies and how liberation emerges in creative expression (Hudson, 2017; McKittrick & 2007), and Dionne Brand, who examines how geography shapes Black experience (Brand, 2001).
Storytelling as Survival and Resistance:
Wagamese viewed storytelling as an act of survival and reclaiming. Scholars Neal McLeod and Sarah Tate explore how Wagamese “re-stories” colonial landscapes, disrupting dominant narratives and privileging Indigenous storytelling as truth (Tate, 2018; McLeod, 2015). In Black culture, storytelling, from oral history to hip hop, serves a similar function, preserving memory, resisting erasure, and fostering community (Baker-Bell, 2020; Banks-Wallace, 2002).
Reflection:
Reflecting on Wagamese’s work brings me back to the classroom, where I lecture students from diverse backgrounds; Black, Indigenous, Caucasian, and other settler colonialists. Together, we explore how the environment is not just about nature, but also about belonging, memory, and survival. Wagamese’s life and literature expand my understanding of how humans relate to place, and how those relationships can be both violent and healing.
In Wagamese’s writings, I find echoes of my own community’s resilience.
I see our elders who have kept our culture alive despite erasure (Smith, 2012). I see the youth carving out space in institutions that were never meant for them.
I see Black Canadians, like Indigenous peoples, insisting on our right to exist, fully, to tell our stories, and to shape our futures.
I see in Wagamese’s resilience reflections of our elders, and in his search for voice, the determination of Black youth carving space in systems not made for them.
Conclusion:
Richard Wagamese’s legacy speaks far beyond Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. It reaches out to all who have been pushed to the margins, to all who have had to rebuild themselves from brokenness, and to all who have turned pain into poetry. Wagamese’s work reminds us that trauma and beauty can coexist, and that healing often begins with reclaiming our voice.
For Black Canadians, Wagamese’s life offers not only inspiration, but also an invitation to read across difference, to listen with humility, and to find common cause in the ongoing fight for justice, dignity, and home.
Ma no asi!
Works Cited
Baker-Bell, A. (2020). “We Been Knowin”: Toward an Antiracist Language & Literacy Education. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 16(1), n1.
Banks-Wallace, J. (2002). Talk that talk: Storytelling and analysis rooted in African American oral tradition. Qualitative Health Research, 12(3), 410-426
Brand, D. (2001). A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging.
Hudson, P. (2014). Canada and the Question of Black Geographies: An interview with Katherine McKittrick. The CLR James Journal. 20(1): 233-240.
Lederman, M. (2017). Ojibway author Richard Wagamese found salvation in stories. The Globe and Mail Newspaper, May 24, 2017.
McKittrick, K. & Woods, C. [eds] (2007). Black Geographies and the Politics of Place.
McLeod, N. (2015). Indigenous Poetics in Canada. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Simpson, L. (2017). As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance.
Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). London, England: Zed Books. (Original work published 1999)
Tate, S. (2018). A novel Review of ‘Indian Horse’ by Richard Wagamese. The Cord.
Wagamese, R. (2008). One Native Life. Douglas & McIntyre.
Wagamese, R. (2012). Indian Horse. Douglas & McIntyre.
[1] Richard Wagamese was a renowned Ojibwe Canadian author and award-winning journalist from the Wabaseemoong independent Nations in Northwestern Ontario. His life story is a testament to resilience and the power of storytelling from the perspective of the marginalized and abused. He sheds light on the trauma and resilience of Indigenous people in Canada, particularly those affected by residential schools. Through his stories, Wagamese encouraged empathy and understanding between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous peoples. He won several awards including the Burt Award for First Nations, Metis & Inuit Literature for his book titled Indian Horse, and the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize.
Wooow! What an eye opener of an early African life experience in Canada that has been written in appreciating Spartial science and human interactions.