Miss Teenage Canada Emma Morrison and Griffin Poetry Prize winner Liz Howard both important to sound of Chapleau story

Before I get specific about some of the sounds of the Chapleau story as I officially mark 10 years of writing Chapleau Moments, let me explain PERSIATS + G! which has been a guideline for me all my writing life, and is something I try to use as a guideline, no matter the issue.

 In 1964, I took a course in American history from Dr Charles W Paape, and he used the formula to put history into perspective. All elements of it are in every event to a greater or lesser degree.

For example, an election is a political event of course -- but it is also about economics, religion, social life, intellectual life (education), the arts, science and technology, and the "G" is geography - the place where it happens.  Metaphorically, it all happens on Main Street in the village where we live.

I have always been indebted to Dr Paape for his formula as I have used it time and time again.

Here is an example of Dr Paape's formula using Rev. Father Romeo Gascon the parish priest at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church from 1911 to 1958 when he died and G. B. Nicholson.

He was active in Chapleau life far beyond his duties to the Roman Catholic community. 

Referring to research by Gemma Gagnon, Father Albert Burns SJ, noted that the Jesuit Fathers on October 19th 1911, transferred the parish to a zealous priest, who had been two years pastor of Cochrane,

By 1916 he had become involved in Chapleau sports and was the coach of the Young Elephants, a baseball team that played on a ballfield located at about the present site of the golf course. My grandfather Harry Morris was a member of the team.

In his book "Waking Nanabijou: Uncovering a Secret Past", Jim Poling Sr. notes that he was a "miniature whirlwind" interested and active in everything from architecture to painting to golf as well as hunting and fishing. Mr. Poling, who was at one time the general manager of the Canadian Press came to know about the Chapleau priest as he was researching a history of his family.

He also enjoyed woodworking and had a printing press in the rectory.

Just before Christmas, on December 18, 1918, Sacred Heart Church was destroyed by fire, but Father Gascon went to work right away and within a year a new beautiful church had been built on the same location and its 90th anniversary was celebrated on December 24, 2009 at Christmas Midnight Mass. Father Gascon had sketched out the design for the new church and celebrated the first mass in it. On Christmas Eve 2019 the church will celebrate its 100th anniversary

He was also president of the Kebsquasheshing Golf Club at one time, and enjoyed playing a round of golf with his friends from all denominations, including his good friend George Fife, the manager of the Chapleau Electric Light and Power Company who was also reeve of Chapleau from 1938 to 1942. I can recall saying good morning to both of them as they visited either on the front verandah of the Fife home on Lorne Street or the steps of the power company office on the site of the present Bargain Shop. Father Gascon greatly contributed to the sounds of the Chapleau story.

In the early years of Chapleau there is likely no one who contributed to the sound of the story in every one of Dr. Paape's formula than G. B. Nicholson

In about 1913 Guy Rogers visited Chapleau and wrote in a report that while there he made a friendship with "the real leader of life in Chapleau, a Mr. G.B. Nicholson, a fine Christian, and able man of affairs."

Rogers had been sent to Canada from England by the Archbishop of Canterbury of the Church of England to travel on the Canadian Pacific Railway to observe the work being done by the church as well as the lifestyle. He gives a glimpse into life in Chapleau at the time in the following statement: "How the early settlers stood the monotony and hardship of life is known only to them and God."

However, G.B. Nicholson, who was born on Prince Edward Island in 1868, and came to northern Ontario to work for the CPR with whom he worked for 17 years, where he also served as general secretary or general chairman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers on the CPR eastern lines for 10 years. He turned down promotions as the man who came to be called "the father of Chapleau" had other plans for his life and the community.

In 1901, largely because of efforts by Mr. Nicholson, Chapleau became incorporated as a municipality in Ontario, and he became its first Reeve -- serving until 1913, and being returned by acclamation in the elections then held yearly for council. Chapleau experienced a remarkable period of growth during his time in office. A water works system was built with hydrants throughout the community. Two schools had been built and the high school was being planned. A town hall, described as 'a most moden building for the times' complete with theatre opened in 1913. Sidewalks were laid throughout the town, something that always amazed me as a kid seeing how early in Chapleau's history they were built. Go for a walk and take a look!

In 1910, the very efficient Chapleau Fire Department was created.

The railway YMCA with rooms and a restaurant received compliments and in 1914 the Lady Minto Hospital opened under the guidance of the Victorian Order of Nurses. The business section contained a number of special, general and department stores and the population had reached about 2,500 people.

Of course there were so many others who greatly contributed to the sound of Chapleau's story and each made it a better place to live, work and play for all of us as the greatest resource a community has is its people.I have included a photo of some from the sod turning for the new sewage system circa 1950.

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But in reflecting on the community's story I decided to include two very talented Chapleau citizens who brought great attention to the community and credit to themselves in the 21st century

The Globe and Mail reported that Liz Howard from Chapleau,  became the youngest winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize, receiving the $65,000 award for her collection Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent.

Liz Howard

"I sort of feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience It may seem really strange but I feel as though I actually died some time ago and [I'm] living in an afterlife," she told the newspaper.

Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent is the first debut collection to win the prize, as well.

Liz who also received $10,000 for taking part in the Griffin Prize readings, said the award would allow her to pay off her student loans and concentrate on her next book.

"I have several different projects in my mind, and it's hard to focus," she said. "All I want to do is write. All I want to do is do this one thing. And this is such a confirmation."

During her acceptance speech she said that"My upbringing was quite difficult and impoverished, and when I was young I sort of thought that perhaps it would be best to not exist "I guess I just want to say that it can get better. And for me, poetry made life possible."

At the awards ceremony, Liz said she has  several different projects in mind, and "it's hard to focus. All I want to do is write. All I want to do is this one thing."

Liz also paid particular attention to youth: "I know a lot of our youth today are struggling, especially our First Nations youth. And I guess I just wanted to say that it can get better. And for me, poetry made life possible for me. It made life tolerable for me - both reading it and writing it.

In an earlier interview Liz commented that ""My childhood in Chapleau, especially the significant amount of time I spent in the woods and lakes, are foundational to my writing. I am also very proud of my Anishinaabe (Ojibway) heritage and write about many First Nations issues."

Emma Morrison, a member of Chapleau Cree First Nation won not only the title of Miss Teenage Northern Ontario but Miss Teenage Canada,

After winning the Miss Teenage Canada title she told CBC News in an interview, "I want to stand up for all Canadians, regardlesss of gender, race, personal identity or preferences'

"Everyone needs to gain more self-love because I find today's society is more based on looks, how great you look on camera."

She admitted  her hours were long and she felt stressed over details during the pageant, but it was all worth it when she was crowned the winner. 

"At that moment, I was so shocked and so happy because  now this little, small town girl has accomplished such a big task," she says.

"It shows that no matter where you come from, you can set your goals high and big and work hard, and you will succeed. I feel like now I have a voice."

Both Emma and Liz have so greatly contributed to the sound of the Chapleau story. When reflecting on them, I realized more than ever that it was in Chapleau that I first became aware of the sound of story which has been such an important part of my life. I wish them well.

Thank you to all those who have responded to my column of July 11, especially Bobby and Margaret Rose Fortin who sent me a message and so kindly loaned me the Richard Brownlee Papers and other material.Bobby and Margaret Rose, both members of Chapleau pioneer families have helped so much. 

On a final note, Mr. Brownlee, one of Chapleau's first citizens was one of my first friends. After my father Flying Officer Jim Morris was killed on active service in the RCAF on July 16, 1943, my mother Muriel (Hunt) Morris and I lived with my aunt and uncle, Elsie and B.W. Bubs Zufelt on Beech Street. I would go through back lane to Main Street and the barber shop to visit him. He would also take me for rides in his car..

Please feel free to contact me with any you feel have created to the sound of Chapleau stories. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Reflections on Chapleau Moments: "With old friends, you've got your whole life in common"

Reflecting on having written Chapleau Moments for seven years now, increasingly I agree with a comment once made by country singer Lyle Lovett about old friends.

"You don't have to have anything in common with people you've known since you were five. With old friends, you've got your whole life in common." the singer wrote.

For example, when Kevin Walker contributed his "I'm so Chapleau" anecdotes, others commented, all having Chapleau in common, no matter where they may live now.

In 2015, after Dakotah Woods started to play for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, it resulted in much hockey talk, mostly about who (in my opinion) was Chapleau's greatest hockey player. 

As an aside Dakotah has visited Chapleau and met with youth from Brunswick House First Nation and Chapleau Cree First Nation... Watch for details!

That's one I wouldn't touch although several who played on teams I coached and managed in the 1970s would most assuredly be in the running -- "homebrew and otherwise" -- which incidentally was the title of a column written by my father Jim Morris in the Chapleau High School magazine circa 1932. How do I know as there was no byline on the story -- the late D.J 'Jim' Broomhead, a friend of my dad's told me so.

My personal favourite hockey player as a kid was Garth 'Tee' Chambers. 

When I was 'home' in 2015 for the launch of 'The Chapleau Boys Go To War' which I co-authored with my cousin Michael McMullen, it was a mini reunion with friends who still live in Chapleau and those who came home to show support -- yes, Lyle Lovett was right. As we chatted, I realized we had our whole lives in common.

And, thanks to Jim Hong, whose family has been running a business in Chapleau for nigh on to  100 years, we gathered at the 'Boston' about which at least one book could be written.

A highlight of my visit was the kindness of my lifelong -- at least since we were both five -- friend, Ken Schroeder, who took me on a nostalgic tour of backlanes, pointing out all the backyards and who lived there when we were kids.

Ken has an incredible memory, but I still have not quite figured out why he insisted he take my photo in the rhubarb patch in the backyard of the house where he was raised on Aberdeen Street.

I have been doing and teaching journalism and communications, one way and another close to 60 years now, and while doing a column on Ernest Lepine, reaiized that one of the stories I covered was the occasion when Mr. Lepine presented eggs to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau at the CPR station in 1982, and I had photos of it. I covered it for CBC Television News, while living in Chapleau.

I am so pleased to have been able to do  a column about the refugee family which arrived in Chapleau this year, and be able to refer to comments made by the late George Evans about why live in Chapleau. Although George arrived as an adult, I am sure all would agree he was so Chapleau!

During the seven years that I am been writing Chapleau Moments, thanks to Mario Lafreniere, it has struck me time and time again, of the accomplishments of Chapleau people both within the community and beyond its borders  -- ordinary people from a community, carved out of the wilderness of Northern Ontario -- doing exceptional things in times of peace and war.  I have only scratched the surface in sharing their success stories.

In  2016, for example, Chapleau can be justifiably proud of Liz Howard, who became the youngest winner of the prestigious Griffin Poetry prize.

Congratulations Liz.

Thanks to Doug Greig for all his help over the years.

Finally, I am so indebted to my friends Margaret Rose (Payette) and Bobby Fortin for kindly loaning me the Richard Brownlee Papers which provide such meaningful insights into the early history of Chapleau. 

Incidentally, Mr. Brownlee became my first real friend before I was five years old. My mother Muriel E. (Hunt) Morris and I were living with Mom's sister Elsie and her husband B.W. 'Bubs' Zufelt on Beech Street. 

I would wander over to Main Street and Mr. Brownlee's barber shop to visit. He would take me for drives in his car. When my grandmother Edythe Hunt came home in 1944 after serving as a nurse in England during World War II, she arrived with her arm in a sling. I couldn't wait to go and tell Mr. Brownlee that "Hitler had wounded her." She had sprained her wrist!

Thanks to all who have been in touch with comment, ideas, suggestions. Yes, we do have our "whole lives in common." 

Thomas Wolfe told us that you, and me, "can't go home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting all the time -- back home to the escapes of Time and Memory." Sorry Mr. Wolfe but I disagree.

Every blessing!  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Liz Howard from Chapleau becomes youngest winner of Griffin Poetry Prize

By Michael J Morris
Liz Howard became the youngest person to win the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize of $65,000 for her book 'Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent'.

Not only is Liz the youngest winner, but the first to do so with her debut collection of poems. In 2015, Liz was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for poetry.

Born in Timmins, but raised in Chapleau, Liz is the daughter of Tamara (nee Turcotte) and Sylvain Rousseau. Her birth father was Russell Howard.

After graduating from Chapleau High School at the top of  her class in 2003, Liz attended the University of Toronto, graduating with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree with distinction in 2007.

In deciding the prize winners, the Griffin committee looked at 633 books of poetry from more than 40 countries, according to news reports.

At the awards ceremony, Liz said she has  several different projects in mind, and "it's hard to focus. All I want to do is write. All I want to do is this one thing."

She also paid particular attention to youth: "I know a lot of our youth today are struggling, especially our First Nations youth. And I guess I just wanted to say that it can get better. And for me, poetry made life possible for me. It made life tolerable for me - both reading it and writing it.

In an earlier interview Liz commented that ""My childhood in Chapleau, especially the significant amount of time I spent in the woods and lakes, are foundational to my writing. I am also very proud of my Anishinaabe (Ojibway) heritage and write about many First Nations issues."

Armand Ruffo and Liz Howard both from Chapleau nominated for 2015 Governor General Literary Awards in different categories

Armand Ruffo and Liz Howard, both from Chapleau, have been selected  as finalists in different categories in the 2015 Governor General's Literary Awards, to be announced on October 28.

Armand has been nominated in the non fiction category for his book Norval Morisseau: Man Changing into Thunderbird while Liz is a finalist in the poetry section for  Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent.

My first WOW came when I received an email from Armand recently advising that his book had been nominated, and the second came  when Liz posted on Facebook that her work had been selected. Just imagine! We kind of expect that two, even more on occasion, are nominated for prestigious awards or honours from large cities.. 

Armand and Liz are from a small rural community and have both been nominated in the same year for a very prestigious literary award. Before going any further, a huge "WOW" to both of you, and congratulations.

The Canada Council for the Arts  explains that the Governor General’s Literary Awards are given annually to the best English-language and the best French-language book in each of the seven categories of Fiction, Literary Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Children’s Literature (text), Children’s Literature (illustrated books) and Translation (from French to English).

ARMAND RUFFO

Armand Garnet Ruffo was born in Chapleau with roots to the Biscotasing branch of the Sagamok First Nation and the Chapleau Fox Lake Cree First Nation. He is a graduate of Chapleau High School, and as I have noted when writing about Armand's work on other occasions, he played on my 1970-71 Midget hockey team. I still have the plaque the team gave me.

Andrew Carroll, editor of the Queen's Gazette wrote that Armand, the Queen’s National Scholar in Indigenous Languages and Literatures, is in the running for a Governor General's Literary Award in the non-fiction category for his work Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing into Thunderbird, a biography of the innovative and controversial Ojibway painter.

Mr. Carroll noted that Armand, who teaches in the Department of English Language and Literature and Department of Drama, was surprised by the nomination and considers it an honour to be included among “such fine writers.”

“Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing Into Thunderbird took numerous years to write because of the huge amount of primary research that I had to do, and the way that I wanted to integrate this material into a compelling narrative, and so it is wonderful to hear that the book may not simply fall into the proverbial ‘big black hole’ and disappear quickly from sight,” he says. “Ultimately, it’s the writing that matters, and I think the nomination should help the book come to the attention of potential readers, and for a writer – at least for me – this is the best thing about the nomination.”

Armand previously taught at Carleton University in Ottawa. He has  Master's degree in literature and creative writing from the University of Windsor and an Honours degree in English from the University of Ottawa.

LIZ HOWARD

In a Facebook and email exchange with Liz, she advised " I'm so pleased to be in Chapleau Express. The Express was the first place that ever published me, when I was 8 years old!"

Regarding her background and family Liz said she was born in Timmins in 1985 and grew up in Chapleau on Monk Street and Highway 129. 

"I am the daughter of Tamara (nee Turcotte) and Sylvain Rousseau. My birth father was Russell Howard, son of William (Bill) Howard who is a former Chapleau Reeve. 

"I graduated from Chapleau High School in 2003 at the top of my class and left immediately to study psychological science in Toronto. I graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science with High Distinction in 2007 and became employed by the Hasher Aging and Cognition Laboratory as a research officer. 

"After graduation I began an intensive period of writing and performing my poetry. I enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing through the University of Guelph and secured a book contract before my thesis was submitted. 

"My childhood in Chapleau, especially the significant amount of time I spent in the woods and lakes, are foundational to my writing. I am also very proud of my Anishinaabe (Ojibway) heritage and write about many First Nations issues."

ABOUT THE BOOKS

From Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing into Thunderbird by Armand Garnet Ruffo ©2015. Published by Douglas&McIntyre:

"This compelling biography delves into the life of Norval Morrisseau, a self-taught Ojibway artist who rose to prominence to become one of the most innovative and important Canadian painters of the 20th century.He was a charismatic - and troubled - figure who first started drawing sketches and age six in the sand on the shores of Lake Nipigon. He became a great internationally-known success, but struggled with alcoholism, often trading his art for booze, and landing in jail while his wife and children lived in poverty."

An Excerpt from the book by Armand: "The more I thought about Morrisseau and his life, the more I realized that his experiences, while extraordinary in their own right because of his unique gifts, were fundamentally connected to something larger than himself. I realized that Morrisseau's life was representative of the profound upheaval that had taken place in the lives of native people across the country. With their traditional economies and support systems in ruins, they were thrown into abject poverty, families literally starving to death, and it was into this milieu that Morrisseau, like my mother, was born in 1932 (which is the birth year that he acknowledged in a Department of Indian Affairs cultural development application). A period that coincided with the unparalleled movement by Native peoples to cities and one-industry towns across the country to find work-shell shocked as they were by a history of missionaries, decades of residential schooling that taught them to hate everything Indian, hate even themselves, the overt racism that made them stand at the back of the line, the total disregard and denigration of their cultures, the stereotypes that 
continually projected Hollywood versions of them whooping and hollering on the screen."

From Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent by Liz Howard ©2015. Published by McClelland & Stewart.

 "In Liz Howard's wild, scintillating debut, the mechanisms we use to make sense of our worlds - even our direct intimate experiences of it - come under constant scrutiny and a pressure that feels like love. What Howard can accomplish with language strikes us as electric, a kind of alchemy of perception and catastrophe, fidelity and apocalypse. The waters of Northern Ontario shield country are the toxic origin and an image of potential."

A poem from the book by Liz Howard:

STANDARD TIME

The total psychic economy shimmers
a little mouthpiece out in the field
anthropologically, her voice in its hollow

All night the blood moon measures the dilation
of each pupil, pin-prick or dinner plate
in this poem where our attention fails to die

A positive outcome would be music in the unfinished
basement, a purple curfew for causation, the reply
a sinuous window of dried moths over the harbour

An exercise in temperament pitched back over
the clouded bathroom mirror transiting near to silver
being female, some Velcro, afterbirth and gravel

In our settler dreams Plexiglas teeth stuck in the hide
of the ravine, a freeway of copper wire and blackstrap
molasses, Copernican limbs, mercury in the water

Little silver pills tracing a path through the lakebed
of submerged logs to a trap of currents under rock
our odd love and petrochemicals not otherwise specified

The finalists in the Non-fiction category are: Bee Time by Mark L. Winston; Dispatches from the Front by David Halton; Norval Morrisseau by Armand Garnet Ruffo; Party of One by Michael Harris; The Social Life of Ink by Ted Bishop

The finalists in the Poetry category are: Crossover by M. Travis Lane;; For Your Safety Please Hold On by Kayla Czaga; Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent by Liz Howard; My Shoes are Killing Me by Robyn Sarah; Washita by Patrick Lane

Again, my sincere congratulations to Armand and Liz. My email is mj.morris@live.ca