Rita Joe

Rita Joe, (March 15, 1932 – March 20, 2007) was a Mi'kmaw poet and songwriter, often referred to as the Poet Laureate of the Mi'kmaq people. Born Rita Bernard in Whycocomagh, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, she was the youngest surviving daughter of Joseph (Josie) Gould Bernard and Annie (Googoo) Bernard. In 1942, when she was ten years old; she became orphaned. As a result, she was sent to a reservation school the Shubenacadie Residential School. There, she was forbidden to speak her native language and practice her culture. She had to face physical and mental abuse until she turned sixteen and finished school. Rita had to learn her native language again by talking with Mi’kmaq speakers (people from her same tribe). Shortly after she finished school, she worked at different jobs in Nova Scotia, and then, she moved to Boston. There, she met Frank Joe. In 1954, she married Joe, and had eight children and adopted two boys.In 1978, her first book, The Poems of Rita Joe was published. Over her lifetime she published six other books, including the autobiographical Song of Rita Joe,in which the poet outlined some of her experiences at the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. In 1989, Joe was made a Member of the Order of Canada; in 1992, she was called to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada (she is one of the few non-politicians ever appointed); in 1997 she was awarded the National Aboriginal Achievement Award. In the years before her death, Joe suffered from Parkinson's disease.