What a moving and important memoir! Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves by Andrea Currie opens with an epigraph from one of my fave authors Billy-Ray Belcourt. I appreciated the author’s note at the beginning to take care of yourself. The author shares her experiences of being taken during the sixties scoop and living with her adoptive family in Winnipeg. She later finds her birth family and begins working with Indigenous communities and connecting with her Red River Métis heritage. In the introduction she hopes that someone will read this book and feel less alone and I’m glad to have read this book too to learn more about her experiences growing up separated from her birth family and culture. The audiobook was really well done read by the author and included her songs.

Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for sending me this book to read and review.

I’ve been trying to read more non fiction Canlit and indigenous stories. Finding Otipemisiwak educated me on what it was like being a child taken during the 60’s scoop. I can’t believe the way these kids were taken and then put in foster care and were abused in that care. Those people were supposed to keep these kids safe. Why would you even be a foster parent but hate the children? Andrea was so brave and she did what she needed to do to survive everything. I didn’t realize all the prejudices being Métis faced trying to get healthcare. I work in healthcare and it broke my heart hearing about her brother and how he was really treated unfairly and ended up passing from his heath conditions. This opened my eyes to how those prejudices affect people. I was just a really interesting story I’m so glad Andrea decided to share it with all of us. I feel like it taught me a lot. I would read more from her and I think everyone needs to read this book to educate themselves.

A gut wrenching and beautiful portrayal of a woman’s journey to find her spiritual and personal home as well as a historical perspective on the Sixties Scoop in Canada and the wider implications of the erasure of Native culture and heritage. The raw and piercing narrative of government sterilization of an entire tapestry of people is seamlessly integrated into the author’s search for meaning after realizing how demeaning her own family’s tortured past truly was for her and her adopted brothers. Soul crushing but ultimately reviving and hopeful, and hearing it in Currie’s voice was such a gift. With the inclusion of her original music and some Indigenous drumming and singing, it was a real experience of cultural exchange.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

As an adopted person, this book resonated with me on a deep level, even though I lack the indigeneity of Currie. Currie's background as a therapist allows her to work through her own issues and those she shares from her community with more sensitivity than many other authors in this category would have been able to do.

I also really appreciated her voice as a narrator. She sounds exactly like the type of person you'd want to be working through heavy things with and I understand why her community has been made better through her presence.

Firstly, this book begins with trigger warnings for child abuse, head that warning!!! I am not usually easily triggered, but this one got to me a bit. Not just that it was sad, but that it mirrored some of my own childhood experiences more than I thought it would.

This is a sad memory that covers some really important topics around abuse, adoption, and indigenous experiences including the trauma of colonialism and atrocities carried out by the Canadian government (though you should assume the US government was just as bad).

I appreciated hearing about her experiences of these things through the lense of healing. Her experience as a therapist also added excellent framing for these topics.

Her prose was excellent and her images were powerful. I have no complaints whatsoever about the writing style or the flow of her telling her story, what I would otherwise consider "plot" in a fiction book. But this book, despite being non-fiction, is storytelling nonetheless.

I recently recommended a different indigenous-focused book to a friend who said after reading it, "all that spiritual stuff isn't for me." And I was a bit surprised. I geuss I grew up in an environment where things like wholistic healing approaches and reverence for nature isn't seen as spiritual per say. But this book bridges that gap even more, I think, and exemplifies how much those things can be spiritual. It's much more obvious in Currie's experiences how spiritual many indigenous ways of living are for those who live them. So I recommend this if you want to read about that more, but suggest you pass if "that stuff isn't for you."

And lastly, listen to this on audio!! Not only is Andrea Currie the narrator, but her voice is lovely! AND there's music! I also loved hearing the poetry in her own voice.

Stunning, lyrical, and deeply moving. Andrea Currie’s Finding Otipemisiwak is more than a memoir—it’s an act of reclamation, resilience, and truth-telling. Through poetry, prose, and unflinching honesty, Currie shares her journey from disconnection and displacement during the Sixties Scoop to rediscovering her identity, culture, and family.

Her story captures the deep wounds inflicted by colonial systems and the slow, painful work of healing and reconnection. I was especially struck by how she navigates the complexities of returning to a culture from which she was taken, while still carrying the imprint of a white-dominated world.

This is essential reading—for understanding the long-term impacts of systemic erasure, for appreciating the strength it takes to come home to oneself, and for honoring the spirit of the Métis people: otipemisiwak—“the people who own themselves.”

*Thank you to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for the ALC! All opinions are my own.*

I really appreciated this book, for several reasons. I won't wax on about how "brave" the author is for writing it, etc. I don't know her and her story is perfectly her own to tell how she likes, as challenging as it may or may not have been. What I will say is that the format in which she chose to tell it was entirely unique and very refreshing. It's not revolutionary to intersperse a memoir with your own poetry, but the audiobook for this one goes above and beyond that, including full performances of the author's songs and indigenous songs at points in the narrative where calls for them. This added such an enrichment to the experience, I highly recommend doing this one audibly if you can!

Additionally, and not that the author owes this to anyone, this book is extremely accessible. As a white American, you could imagine I know next to nothing about the lives of Canadian indigenous groups and even less still about the Sixties Scoop. This memoir approached these topics in a personable that anyone can grasp onto, which again is never a requirement, but is a wonderful feature to have and I think worth mentioning if it gets these stories into the hands of more people.

Currie's writing is phenomenal; her narration is soothing, harrowing, gripping, everything in between. To hear her tell her story and the stories of her family, her people, and the people surrounding her throughout time was such a privilege and I'm so thankful I got to read this book.

Healing through history is the best way I can introduce this memoir. Currie introduces the reader into her devastating childhood experiences of dealing with what it feels like to be adopted. The poetry, prose, and essays lead you through emotions such as heartbreak, but growing up and dealing with childhood trauma. This is a must read for classrooms from high school to university.

Informative, heartbreaking, and hopeful book about the author surviving being adopted away from the culture of her biological Indigenous American family in Canada, and finding it as an adult. It gets really rough at times, but it's a really important read.

Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves

I really enjoyed this book.

I found that the book has a really important message and story. Currie highlights the long-term effects of being separated from her Métis heritage. I found the details on the historical injustices quite triggering. However, I am totally in support with how critical Currie is with systematic oppression. Really powerful read on social justice.

The book was honest, and raw. Currie has a real skill at writing powerfully and with a complex tone.

Finding Otipemisiwak is not just a memoir but also a call for awareness about the long-lasting effects of oppression on Indigenous communities. It celebrates the resilience of those who fight past challenges for their identities.

As a Métis myself, I resonated a lot with the writings.

Check it out if this sounds interesting to you as well!

I recommend it.

3.9/5

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an amazing memoir, super touching and beautiful.

don’t have any words that will compare to Andrea’s own. I can tell you that her story resonated deeply, for several reasons really, it moved me to tears and took my breath away several times, I’m grateful for what I’ve learned in the pages. If you can, listen to the audiobook which is performed by Andrea herself and is speckled throughout with her poetry and songs.

Raw, powerful and beautiful.

Huge thanks to ECW Press Audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

Thank you Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for the free alc. My opinions are being left voluntarily. The more Indigenous stories come out the more I hope the young generations are taught history and world issues with facts and truth and not what I was taught in school. There is soo much we just unlearn and learn fresh. I think this was told in such a beautiful way with such heavy and upsetting points.

This will stay with me.

5/5☆