Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves

Forcibly removed from her Indigenous family as a child, Andrea Currie journeys back to her Nation and the truth of who she isOtipemisiwak is a Plains Cree word describing the M?tis, meaning "the people who own themselves."Andrea Currie was born into a M?tis family with a strong lineage of warriors, land protectors, writers, artists, and musicians--all of which was lost to her when she was adopted as an infant into a white family with no connection to her people. It was 1960, and the policy of removing children from their Indigenous families was firmly in place. Together with her younger adopted brother, also M?tis, she struggled through her childhood, never feeling like she belonged in that world. When their adoptions fell apart during their teen years, the two siblings found themselves on different paths, yet they stayed connected. Currie takes us through her journey, from the harrowing time of bone-deep disconnection, to the years of searching and self-discovery, into the joys and so