Traditional storytelling, yeah for sure, is something as time goes on. As time goes by, the world is just going a bit too fast, especially with people. Certain groups of people, like Native people are trying to deal with that. I think more and more we are going to go back to the stories, or the roots, or to the Elders, because we realize that we are losing something.
So, I think that I didn’t necessarily grow up in a very traditional lifestyle, we were just like everyone else. We were brought up to learn another language, to learn just to survive. I think I grew up in a modern world and I think it’s something that I wanted to go back to. That’s why I have an Elder who talks about the old way of living he had. There was so much philosophy in that and it’s funny because if I would have never left the north, I think I would not have realized that. But, since I took a distance and I saw it from further, I realized, “Wow, there’s so much beauty, there’s so much to be proud of” and not to (waste) time, there’s a lot we are losing. You know that’s when storytelling becomes interesting for me, then personally.
So more and more, I want to go do more research or learn a little bit more on traditional storytelling. Because when I’m here, like in Montreal, there is often White people who ask me, “So tell me a lesson or tell me something,” and I realized, I have not much. I don’t know a lot of legends, I don’t know a lot of storytelling and I see even White people know them more then we do sometimes, not because we are not interested. Something that at a certain time we lost that, I mean, I guess the parents or the Elders sort of realized that they were not so useful anymore. But, I think the responsibility of us is to say, “Hey no, we do need that and we need to keep the stories alive,” and it’s just a matter of time. I think they are there if even you want to go and get them or they are right there. We have to leave a certain something to realize how important they are.