'Original violence' lingers: Nisga'a poet Jordan Abel explores the intergenerational trauma of residential schools

Memoir offers honest and devastating look at legacy of Canada's residential school system Jordan Abel tells his story of living under the weight of intergenerational trauma in his new book, 'Nishga'.

TORONTO — In his new memoir, poet Jordan Abel details how the trauma of residential schools didn't stop with its survivors, but was passed down to subsequent generations, including himself.

"It filtered into all of the subsequent generations and in my case that meant my parents generation and ultimately my generation," Abel said in an interview with CTV's Your Morning on Wednesday. "The original violence of residential schools continues to linger with us today."

The award-winning Nisga’a poet from British Columbia says his new memoir, called "Nishga," is a mutli-genre work to match the intergenerational residential school trauma passed down in his family.

Abel said the book includes photos, art, transcriptions of talks, documents and poetry to provide an in depth-picture of what it truly looks like to live with intergenerational trauma.

"The reason why they all come together in this way is because intergenerational trauma is really complicated difficult subject matter, and in order to talk about all of those nuances and all of that depth, as a writer, I really needed to dig deep and find other genres to bring in," Abel explained.

Both of Abel's grandparents were survivors of residential schools. He says they passed down the effects of abuse they experienced in residential schools to his father's generation, and the chain continued.

Despite it being difficult to share his story, Abel says he has received feedback from readers who can see their own experiences reflected in his writing.

"It's really incredible to see other people connect to these stories even though their experiences may be different," Abel said.

"I think it's ultimately really helpful to know that there are other people out there who have really difficult, intense experiences," he added.

For Abel, those experiences include being dispossessed of his Indigenous culture, territory and language.

Abel said being dispossessed from his Indigenous language is reflected in the book's title.

"One of the early entry points into the book is unravelling the full complexity of the difference between Nisga’a and Nishga," Abel said. He explained that the first is the traditional, Indigenous spelling of the territory while the second is the adopted English translation.

Abel says it would have been an "incredible blessing" had his memoir been written years ago, by someone else.

"Had that been the case, I wouldn't have had to write this book and that would also be incredible I think," he said, suggesting he might have been spare some trauma along the way.

Abel said he would have benefited from a book like this "at any moment" in his life to help him understand his own identity, and hopes his memoir can do so for others.