Basil H. Johnston
| Basil Johnston | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 13, 1929 Parry Island Indian Reserve |
| Died | September 8, 2015 (aged 86) Wiarton, Ontario |
| Notable awards | Order of Ontario, Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour |
Basil H. Johnston OOnt (13 July 1929 – 8 September 2015) was a Canadian writer, storyteller, language teacher and scholar.
Johnston was born July 13, 1929 on the Parry Island Indian Reserve to Rufus and Mary (née Lafrenière) Johnston. He was a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, formerly Cape Croker (Neyaashiinigmiing), in the Bruce Peninsula.
Johnston was educated in reserve schools in Cape Croker and later sent, along with his sister Marilyn, to residential school in Spanish, Ontario. He wrote about his experience as a student at St. Peter Claver School for Boys in his 1988 book Indian School Day. After graduating high school as class valedictorian, he earned his B.A. with Honors from Loyola College (1954) and a high school teaching certificate from the Ontario College of Education (1962). In 1959, Johnston married Lucie Desroches, with whom he had three children - Miriam, Tibby and Geoffery.
Johnston died in 2015 at Wiarton, Ontario. Before his death he donated his papers, including photographs, correspondence and manuscripts to the McMaster University Library for use by researchers in the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections.
Johnston taught high school at Earl Haig Secondary School in North York, Ontario, from 1962 to 1969, before taking a position in the Ethnology Department of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Part of his focus during his 25 years with the museum was the regeneration of the language, values and beliefs of Anishinaabe heritage. He developed an extensive series of Ojibwa language courses on tape and in print, believing that traditional language education was essential to understanding Indigenous culture. In the 1990 essay "One Generation From Extinction" he examined the essential role Indigenous language and literature play in restoring lost "Indianness". Of the impacts of lost language he explains:
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