John Roy Twaddell

John Twaddell: “Ye’es”, is of the Tsimshian First Nations, Gitando Tribe. John is of the Gisbudwada Clan literally translated as Black Fish commonly known as Killer Whale. He was raised by his Tsimshian Ge’es (grandmother) in British Columbia Canada at a time when the then infamous Canadian Federal “Indian Act” was still enforced resulting in tens of thousands of First Nations children being torn from their cultural and family units and placed within the infamous Canadian Residential School system. His mother, Grandmother, and Great grandmother were all surviving alumni of the Coqualeetza Residential School in Sardis, British Columbia. It was his Grandmother who kept John and his brother hidden within the public schools of the lower Fraser Delta communities that kept him from that same fate. John maintains cultural identification and oral traditions through association with the California Indians Story Teller Association and the San Francisco Tlingit & Haida Community Council which he actively supports and participates as guest story teller. He has participated in Cultural Events held at Northwest Indian College, Bellingham and Tlingit & Haida Cultural celebration in the San Francisco Bay Area. John favours writing short stories and poetry and is published in several anthologies. He is currently working to publish his mother’s biography Hidden Whispers based on her personal accounts as a Residential school survivor. His favourite quote “Go Forward With Courage. When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. So long as mists envelope you, be still; be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists — as it surely will. Then act with courage.” (Ponca Chief White Eagle 1800’s to 1914).