In the face of cultural genocide, the Gwich'in people showed their strength and resolution.

Gwichya Gwich'in author Dr. Crystal Fraser details the struggle of the Gwich'in people under the residential school system, particularly at Stringer and Grollier halls, in her new book 'By Strength, We are Still Here.' She launched the book in Tsiigehtchic on Dec. 15 and in Inuvik and Yellowknife the following days.

"What was really obvious from the beginning is that our people are strong and our parents cared," she said. "They were tireless advocates for trying to get their children out of residential school, even in the early Aklavik days in the 1920s and 1930s.

"If their kids were institutionalized, they were able to draw on certain kinds of strength to make it through."

A fully Gwichya Gwich'in perspective of history in the North, the novel details work Fraser completed as part of her PhD thesis, drawing on interviews with survivors from 1959 to 1982 to show how people were able to keep their culture alive when the government was determined to extinguish it. The book features updated research and more interviews than her initial work.

She wrote the book to be more accessible to readers so that Northerners can read their history by their own account. In total, her work details 75 interviews conducted over 15 years.

She also draws on her own family's experience SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” the granddaughter of Richard and Marta Bullock, Fraser said her grandmother was institutionalized at Immaculate Conception Hall in Aklavik and her mother at Grollier Hall in Inuvik. But Fraser only learned about residential schools when she went to college in her 20s. So, in many ways, the book is just the latest step in her life's work in making sure survivors are heard.

Fraser said what struck her the most was how much the Gwich'in spirit was able to preserve itself, particularly through the land.

Unable to speak their own language and often separated from their families, the land provided refuge from the horrors inside residential school halls. Fraser said getting out on the land for physical activities, particularly cross-country skiing, enabled youth to build friendships and connections that helped them cope.

"I theorize three different forms of Gwich'in strength in the book," she said. "Even though not all the children who went to Stringer and Grollier were Gwich'in, they had their own Indigenous forms of strength. A part of the book looks at the kids creating their own little communities and support networks. They played sports to get out on the land. They used creativity in other areas, like Girl Guides.

"They were little leaders, using student councils and book clubs and such."

Fraser said she isn't done yet. Now that the book is published, she wants to expand her work to tell the story of survivors in Aklavik, which has not been documented as much as institutions in Inuvik.

She also wants to focus more on Treaty 11 and the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, and the importance of those documents, as the Gwich'in people move forward in reclaiming their self-governance.

'By Strength, We are Still Here' will be available in Inuvik at Mo's Stationary and will be available online through University of Manitoba press and Amazon.