Roxanne Martin

I was raised in Port Credit, ON and spent my teenage years in Blind River, ON. I'm Cecil Youngfox's god daughter and I take great pride in knowing that my Uncle Cecil was a famous painter in Canada. He painted mainly anishnaabe related themes and spent most of his life in the studio. I'm also on a great journey towards greater education for all anishnaabe people/children and I want to teach my students the meaning of knowing who we are and the path we need to take! I'm currently in the process of creating children's books in Ojibwa moo win for children ages birth to five years for now until I can better my company and expand for all ages!

we will never be able to get our language back at full strength. Which is why I am so excited to graduate and finally put all my time and effort into my books. I've had so many good responses and positive feedback about my books and all of the ideas I want to create with them. The books range from birth to age five and consist of basic Ojibway language, example; doopawin(table), pabiwin(chair), and range in all different categories that include house hold items,numbers,clothing, and so on. I would also like to do these books in different types of materials that range from soft felts, cotton, and material thats safe for babies to chew on. I named my company and books "Baby WayNa" because I believe we are all wayNa boozhus(Creator's) children and all children reading these books will grow up trying to learn the anishinabe language and have a better understanding of their own cultural identity. This logo means that all children are faced in the path towards the future, and the road to knowledge is eternal, the path is never ending. Hopefully if these books start the process of being published within a few years, they will raise awareness about the lack of education when it comes to First Nations languages. The children benefit from the books but also do the parents when they are reading to their children and it becomes a double healing process that better educates ourselves in our own culture and not to be ashamed of who we are as anishinaabe people. I try to speak the language to my son everyday even if it only consists of a few words here and there but the fact that he can understand some words in Ojibwa already at aged 3 from reading my books makes me feel proud and it truly amazes me on how well he picks up the Ojibway words more than he does English. This is the only way we are going to heal as first nations p