Brandi Morin and her Voice of Fire

                                                                 Brandi Morin in New York 

 Yesterday Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin was in New York City on what is recognized as Columbus Day for some and Indigenous Peoples Day, as of 2021. Morin received the prestigious  Edward R. Murrow award for her reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 

I've been intrigued by Brandi's passionate and incisive reports on a number of subjects during the past year or more. She has been on the front lines of Indigenous protests against pipeline construction in British Columbia and she accompanied Indigenous leaders to the Vatican earlier this year. She was present when Pope Francis offered his unexpected apology which set the stage for his trip to Canada in July for the same purpose. 

I've just finished Morin's  memoir called Our Voice of Fire which recounts her shattered upbringing by a grandmother who survived a residential school and parents who were loving yet were deeply affected by alcohol. Brandi was in and out of foster and group homes, sexually abused, pregnant as a teen, dealing with her own demons of alcohol and drug abuse. She could easily have died on many occasions. Despite her struggles and "imposter syndrome" she has found an effective voice on behalf of other Indigenous people. 

I was somewhat surprised by the many references to the faith in God which has sustained her through the years and the ongoing importance of prayer in her life. That faith includes both Indigenous spirituality and the Christianity which was vital to her grandmother and mother, even though it contributed to their trauma. 

Brandi is only 42 yet seems to have lived an entire life already. There is a growing confidence in who she is as a beloved child of God and the witness of her work in journalism. I hope that in the second half of life she moves from strength to strength.