Author Stephanie Tootoosis, right, at her book pre-release reading at North Battleford Library on Wednesday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Reading at NB library

Author Tootoosis relates impact of MMIW in her book

Jun 16, 2022 | 10:00 AM

A Battlefords area author describes her book as a memoir that also deals with the tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), since the topic has touched her on a personal level.

Stephanie Tootoosis’s story, Namoya Tepipayin, Kahkkīkê Tepiayin, or Never Enough, Always Enough, will be released July 15. She gave a reading of an excerpt from her book at North Battleford Library’s Lecture Theatre on Wednesday.

“I’m really excited; I feel blessed,” Tootoosis said on the imminent release.

Nervous to tell her story for the first time, she had some help from her husband, Tanner, during the reading.

Tootoosis, who grew up in Cochin, spent about a year and half writing her story that focuses on how she coped and overcame loss, addiction and trauma in her life.

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She said her story started as a personal journal that eventually morphed into a full story accepted for publication.

Tootoosis is also a first cousin of missing North Battleford woman Ashley Morin of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, who disappeared July 10, 2018.

While she doesn’t name Morin specifically in her story to offer the family privacy, Tootoosis talks about how the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women has impacted her.

“I do address it because that is a big part of my life, [Morin] still being missing,” she said. “Our family is still at a great loss. I believe that if I can be a voice for her and talk to the community, any [discussion] about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women will help bring awareness.”

Tootoosis hopes her story also helps others struggling with personal challenges to find peace. As a First Nations-Métis woman, she said getting more in touch with her culture and faith helped her become more self-aware of what she needed to heal.

“I grew up as First Nations-Métis, so there is nothing I want more than to bring back my culture,” she said.

Tootoosis will next read from her book at an upcoming event in Saskatoon focused on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Her mother, Glenda Bird-martin, from the Battlefords, who attended the North Battleford reading is Ashley Morin’s aunt. Bird-martin’s brother is Morin’s father Lynden Bird. With four years now past and still no word of Morin’s whereabouts, Bird-martin said it continues to be a painful time for the family.

“It’s very difficult,” she said. “You just keep waiting to hear something.”

Bird-martin said hopefully Tootoosis’ book will encourage more people to talk about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, as well as Morin’s disappearance.

“Maybe someone will not be afraid to speak up and tell what they know,” she said. “Because obviously people out there know something. They are just not talking.”

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW