As a fiction writer, of course, you need to take some leeway with certain aspects of history to make the story work.

The history needs to serve the story, not the story the history. But at the same time you can't stray too far.

People will say that Canada, unlike America, was not birthed from violence. But I want to say, "What are you talking about?" It's just not true.

There's the concept that dreams are as important - if not more important - than reality. The attention that one pays to those things in the shadows is very much a part of the Indian experience.

America seems to celebrate its more violent past, but Canada doesn't like to recognize those things. The willingness to accept the existence of violence separates our two countries.

Sometimes, it's not getting what we want that offers us the most important Lessons

I never want to play down to the reader. I think readers are willing to go along if they're intrigued.

The beliefs of Native people are no less powerful or important just because they focus on a different "form of magic."

We aren't the masters of the earth. We're the servants.

I'm fascinated by the magic realism used by many writers. I think it goes hand-in-hand with the Indian experience. It's a very different way of viewing the world.

I believe truly that Canada is a living history and we're going through some of the most important time in this country's short 150 years.

Without roots a tree, no matter how tall, cannot stand.

When I rise uplet me rise up joyfullike a bird.When I falllet me fall without regretlike a leaf.

Anger is a ghost.Human is the host.

I was a brownie for a day. My mom made me stop. She didn't want me to conform.

A big 'thank you' to George Demetrion for helping readers see that the center does hold. A wise and winsome work.

My favorite thing of all time is a New York City when there's a blizzard. Everything gets really quiet, and everyone goes to the movies and the park.

Not even the most devastating truth can be told; it must be evoked.

My job is to bring to life the character, not to put the words on the paper.

The object of our lives is to look at, listen to, touch, taste things. Without them, - these sticks, stones, feathers, shells, - there is no Deity.

The important thing is to keep playing, to play against weak opponents and to play for big stakes.