Rita Bouvier is a

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

educator and poet. Her poetry mixes English with

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

and

Michif Michif (also Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif, French Cree) is one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations (mainly Cree, Nakota, and Ojibwe) and fur trade wo ...

words and phrases.

Life

Bouvier was born in 1950 in

Île-à-la-Crosse Île-à-la-Crosse () is a northern village in Division No. 18, northwestern Saskatchewan, and was the site of historic trading posts first established in 1778. Île-à-la-Crosse is the second oldest community in Saskatchewan, Canada, followin ...

(Sakitawak), Saskatchewan, where she lived until moving to

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, Saskatchewan, where she currently resides. Bouvier holds a M.Ed. from the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

Published works

Blueberry Clouds
(

Thistledown Press Thistledown Press is an independent literary publisher based in Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River ...

1999)
Resting Lightly on Mother Earth: The Aboriginal Experience in Urban Educational Settings
(Editor) (Brush Education 2001)
papîyâhtak
(Thistledown Press 2004)
nakomowin’sa
(Thistledown Press 2015)
Keetsahnak / Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters
(contributor) (University of Alberta Press 2018)

Awards

Bouvier's first book of poetry, Blueberry Clouds was published in 1999 by

and was nominated for the 2000 First People's Publishing Saskatchewan Book Award. Bouvier was also honoured in 2010 with a Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Award (Practitioner Category). nakomowin’sa for the seasons was the 2016 winner of the Saskatchewan Rasmussen, Rasmussen & Charowsky Aboriginal Peoples’ Writing Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouvier, Rita First Nations poets 1950 births Living people University of Saskatchewan alumni 20th-century First Nations writers 21st-century First Nations writers