His (Waawaate Fobister) new play, Medicine Boy, is all about healing. In particular, healing the cycle of abuse, addiction and self-destruction wrought by Canada’s native residential school system.
Fobister’s parents and grandparents went through the system, and he says the intergenerational trauma continues.
“I carry it. Many people carry it,” says Fobister, who grew up Anishinaabe on the Grassy Narrows First Nations reserve near Kenora, Ontario. “My parents went to residential schools, they all became alcoholics, and the people who were abused start abusing. That garbage just carries on.”
