Spoken Word Saturday is a showcase of the amazing Spoken Word Poetry talent that can be found from coast to coast. This June, the League is proud to showcase Indigenous and LGBTQI2S+ poets in celebration of Pride Month and Indigenous History Month!

“I Hold the Sun” by Janelle “ecoaborijanelle” Pewapsconias

Janelle “ecoaborijanelle” Pewapsconias (she/they) is a nehīyaw Spoken Word Poet and rez-based artist, a social entrepreneur, and a Coordinator in many capacities, operating her home community of Little Pine First Nation in Treaty 6 Territory. 

As a strong, single mother, Janelle worked and studied at the University of Saskatchewan for Indigenous Peoples Lands Management and Renewable Resource Management and at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies for Business Administration. The educational journey has allowed Janelle to come full circle back to the land and healing, strengthening her commitment to speaking with young people and learners about anti-racism, equity, and social justice. She recognizes the nehiyaw cultural upbringing raised her with the practice of minding how to step in community.

As a Game Designer by experience, she harnessed her unique talent and educational background, placing in four business plan and pitch competitions with her Indigenous art and board game projects, “Neeched Up Games” and “Neechimoose Novelties.” Her talent for creating stories with poetry and games was included in “A Mile In Our Moccasins,” a TEDx talk in Calgary in 2017.

As a slam poet and storyteller, ecoaborijanelle has competed in three national poetry slam competitions and has had several of her poems published in Canadian and American academic publications. She participated in the 2019 Saskatoon Poetic Arts Festival Ensemble and the 2020 ‘Indigenous Storytellers and Spoken Word’ Residency at the Banff Centre for Art and Creativity. ecoaborijanelle has worked on several province-wide projects, including publishing two produced lessons for grades 1-8 with LIVE Arts Saskatchewan, a weeklong teen writing camp experience with Sage Hill in 2019, 2020, and again in 2022. Expanding her live performance practice, ecoaborijanelle created a spoken word vignette in The Trespassers Waltz in the Fall of 2020. Her more recent collaboration ‘Dandelion Roots’ was presented at the 2021 Nuit Blanche Live and has supported the development of a curriculum on anti-gentrification. ecoaborijanelle is a multidimensional Indigenous Artist continuing the storytelling customs in her spoken word, board games, and creative anti-oppression projects. Professional Janelle is an anti-racism practitioner and community-engaged research coordinator.

As a reserve-based artist, she practices, organizes, and builds her spoken word practice to continue the oral tradition and celebrate narratives of Indigenous survivance and strength*. She believes in ahkamemowin (“ahh-gkaa-mey-moo-win” 5 syllables) – having resilience and never giving up. Impassioned and determined, Janelle “ecoaborijanelle” Pewapsconias brings the message: “Your words are alive, your words matter, let us tell our stories with care.” 

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