Elder Jean Wassegijig is Odawa First Nation, from the Wikwemikoong Reserve in northern Ontario. Her traditional name is “Good Medicine Woman” a name that was given to her at a sun dance ceremony in Montana. Elder Jean participates in ceremonies and cultural traditions and continues her counselling work in the community.
Jean is a mother and grandmother, a VCC on-campus Elder, the Indigenous Perspective teacher, a facilitator of cultural and Indigenous history workshops and medicine wheel teachings, a writer and artist.
Jean is also a published poet. Her latest book,
My Voice, brings forward a deeply personal journey through memory, loss, love, and healing. Rooted in Indigenous worldview, guided by Creator, and shaped by decades of lived experience supporting others on their own healing paths,
My Voice is both witness and offering. It is for anyone who has carried pain.
"I believe in balance, harmony, and healing for our people and this is what I focus on in my work. We are all part of a circle, the circle of life, where there is no beginning and no end, where we all are equal in the eyes of the creator. From my Odawa grandmother and the Elders generosity, I received priceless traditional teaching."
The poems in
My Voice are for anyone still searching for balance. For anyone ready to listen, not just with their ears, but with their spirit.
