Reclaiming Identity

One of the results of colonization is loss of culture. In Swift Fox All Along by Rebecca Thomas and Maya McKibbon, Swift Fox experiences her first taste of being Mi’kmaq. Her father takes her to visit aunties and uncles and tells her she is Mi’kmaq through and through but she doesn’t feel it. Filled with anxiety she doesn’t know what to do and how to act when she arrives. When another cousin, Sully, arrives and he also doesn’t know what it is to be Mi’kmaq she realizes that she is there to learn and to teach.

Based on the author’s own experience, Swift Fox All Along is a powerful story of tradition and reclamation. Her father knows she needs to be immersed in her culture, the traditions and history to discover herself as a strong Mi’kmaq woman. 

This story doesn’t focus on the trauma narrative of colonization, rather the reclamation of culture, language and traditions and finding strength in the history of your family.

The illustrations by Maya McKibbon are warm and inviting just like the aunties and the uncles in the story. Striking in the space they occupy, filling each page with colour and life. The illustrations really bring Swift Fox’s emotions into focus.