On the evening of Oct. 22, the Children's Department of the Red Deer Public Library's downtown branch will fill with the sound of a drum, the rhythm of a hoop dance, and the Plains Cree words for the birds a child might meet on a spring walk. Sandra Lamouche — Nehiyaw Iskwew, champion hoop dancer, award-winning educator and picture-book author — will read from her books and share teachings from her culture between 6 and 7 p.m. Admission is free and no registration is required, which means a family can simply walk in off 49 Street and sit down.
The program is part of the Olson Memorial Celebration of Books, a library initiative that brings readers face to face with authors and works to encourage a love of reading. It also lands squarely inside Canadian Library Month, observed every October, when libraries across the country make a point of showing off the range of what they hold — in this case, a living tradition as much as a shelf of books.
The event is aimed at elementary school-aged children, though the library notes that people of all ages are welcome. That fits the shape of Lamouche's work, which moves easily between the picture-book crowd and grown-up audiences. She is the author of two picture books: pêyak little duck, a counting book in Plains Cree and English illustrated by Mando Littlechild, and We Belong to the Drum / mistikwaskihk kitipêyimikonaw, illustrated by Azby Whitecalf and published by Orca Book Publishers in a dual-language English and Cree edition.
The two books carry very different moods. pêyak little duck follows a young child on a nature walk, spotting birds and counting from one to ten in Plains Cree, with rhyming clues in English and pronunciation guides on every page — a friendly first introduction to the language, set against the springtime of the Prairies and Plains. We Belong to the Drum tells the story of Nikosis, a boy who grows up going to powwows with his family, happily immersed in music, dance and the sound of the drum, and who then struggles to feel he belongs when he starts daycare. Its refrain is a simple one: we all belong to the earth and we all belong to the drum.
That theme of belonging is not incidental to Lamouche's biography. She is a member of Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta — her mother's community — while her father is from Kapawe'no First Nation. She now lives on the land of the Nitsitapi, the Blackfoot people, in southern Alberta, and is married into the Piikani Nation. She holds a master's degree in Indigenous Studies, for which she researched Indigenous dance and well-being using Indigenous and decolonizing approaches. She has described her work as returning to the holistic ways of life practised by her ancestors — a balance of spiritual, physical, emotional and mental health that builds healthy families and communities, in relationship with the earth.
Dance came first. Lamouche has more than 30 years of experience as a dancer, beginning in childhood and spanning many styles before hoop dance became central. She is a champion women's hoop dancer, and she has said the teachings of the dance — unity, balance, equality and the interconnectedness of creation — guide everything else she does. Those teachings show up in her advocacy on land-based practices, environmental and climate issues, and social justice, including work for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and for Residential School Survivors and their descendants, causes that directly touch her own family and friends. She has also worked as an educator, including as First Nations, Métis and Inuit Success Coordinator for the Livingstone Range School Division, helping teachers, staff and students learn First Nations history, culture and ways of knowing, and she is a two-time TEDx speaker. In 2024 she was a resident at the Santa Fe Art Institute.
For a library audience, the appeal of an hour with Lamouche is that the books and the dance are not separate presentations. A hoop dancer performing with a handful of hoops is, in the tradition she carries, telling a story about how many separate things form one whole; a counting book in Plains Cree is, in its own way, doing the same work — one duck, two, three, up to ten, each word a small act of language kept alive and passed to a child. The Red Deer program promises readings from her picture books alongside chances to learn about her language, her culture and hoop dancing, which is to say the hour will likely move between the page and the floor.
Details are modest and worth repeating for anyone planning an evening: Thursday, Oct. 22, 6 to 7 p.m., in the Children's Department of the Red Deer Public Library's downtown branch at 49 Street. Free. No registration. Geared to elementary-aged kids, open to everyone. More information is available through the Red Deer Public Library.