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From childhood through adolescence Tomson Highway attended a traditional Roman Catholic residential school for which he calls boarding school.
After highschool Tomson attended post-secondary to study Music and English Literature at the Universities of Manitoba and Western Ontario. He earned his Bachelors of Music Honours(piano performance major, 1975) and the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts (English major, 1976)
(Native mythological trickster)
Carlton University (Ottawa)
Thornloe University (Sudbury)
Brandon University (London)
University of Winnipeg (London)
University of Western Ontario (London)
University of Windsor (Sudbury)
Laurention University (Sudbury)
Lakehead University (Thunder Bay)
l'Universite de Montreal
University of Toronto
The Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto)
The National Theatre School (Montreal)
PLAYS:
“The Rez Sisters” (1986)
“Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing” (1989)
“Rose” (2003)
“Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout” (2005)
BEST-SELLING NOVEL:
“Kiss of the Fur Queen.” (1998)
CHILDREN'S STORYBOOKS:
Caribou Song (2001)
Dragonfly Kites (2002)
Fox on the Ice (2003)
For seven years Highway worked in the field of native social work with other Native social workers and acitivists, with Native visual artists, writers, healers, Elders, politicians, women, 2-spirts etc.
He worked on native reserves and in urban centres across Ontario and later on, Canada, though he was based almost always at head offices in Toronto.
At 30, he decided to put his artistic training and native social work together and started writing music, plays and books.
The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, and Kiss of the Fur Queen realistically attempt to depict the identities and culture of Native Canadian men and women respectively as they parallel each other in the negative and damaging depictions of the Native Canadian identity and experience within Canadian identity and experience within the Canadian landscape. Highway's works faithfully highlight the issues that have only recently come to light. Depicting these true stories or encounters in a fictional way (to an extent) allow for the Aboriginal or "victim's" voice to be heard and not ignored like it has been over the history of the Canadian landscape. The sexuality that is present portrays and exposes the oppression that has been placed on Native Canadian people, as well as their culture and spirituality that they so highly regard.
"The dream world of North American Indian mythology is inhabited by the most fantastic creatures, beings, and events. Foremost among these beings is the "Trickster," as pivotal and important a figure in the Native world as Christ is in the realm of Christian mythology. "Weesageechack" in Cree, "Nanabush" in Ojibway," "Raven," in others, "Coyote" in still others, this Trickster goes by many names and many guises. In fact, he can assume any guise he chooses. Essentially a comic, clownish sort of character, he teaches us about the nature and the meaning of existence on the planet Earth; he straddles the consciousness of man and that of God, the Great Spirit.
"Some say that "Nanabush" left this continent when the whiteman came. We believe he is still here among us - albeit a little the worse for wear and tear - having assumed other guises. Without him - and without the spiritual health of this figure - the core of Indian culture would be gone forever" (The Rez Sisters, Fifth House Publishers, 1998, xxi).