The Woman in the Tree

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

Spallumcheen band member Gerry William’s The Woman in the Trees is a
collection of stories that artfully blend reality and fantasy. At times,
the stories refer to the sha-mas (whites) and their violence; to the
Blue Coats, “who slaughter women and children”; and to the Red
Coats, who lay claim to the land to the north. Black Robes the priest
(Father Kennedy) engages in doublespeak, forcing Native children to
forget their syilx language, learn anglaise, and fear the Lord before he
leads white soldiers to claim the syilx land for settlers who descend
like grasshoppers and spread the dreaded pox like wildfire. Walking
Grizzly Bear, the heroic Inquala, tries to negotiate peace while the old
ways slip away, Indian lands are lost, and the buffalo disappear.
Wolverine, who “can see a Class M star in the Andromeda galaxy,”
falls under the influence of Black Robes and learns to fear “the
worlds that are covered in flames.”

Other stories get told, too. There is the tale of Coyote (Sn-klip), the
self-professed King of All Creation, who makes his legs longer to chase
after the Sun only to be told by Sun, “I work for and obey no one.”
There are the neighbouring ranchers quarrelling over the rights to a
stream. There are the Old People and the story of the Stone, passed from
generation to generation. There is the terrible vengeance that Walking
Grizzly Bear and his warriors exact on the Lillooets for their murder of
his father, Pelkamulox. And there is a lively discourse between Mourning
Dove and the author about stories and storytelling.

Told with integrity and humour, The Woman in the Trees is a valuable
addition to the canon of Canadian Aboriginal literature. A book to be
enjoyed both by readers already familiar with British Columbia First
Nations history and legends and by those wishing to learn about them.