The Reason You Walk

Writer, broadcaster, musician and mover and shaker Wab Kinew recently spoke to Maclean’s magazine about his new memoir, The Reason You Walk.

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The book is the story of Kinew and his father’s difficult relationship, and the journey towards reconciliation the writer had to take, as well as his father’s reconciliation with pain inflicted on him by the country we live in. Kinew’s dad had been taken from his home at the age of five, and sent to residential school.

While only 33 years old, Kinew has many plans for himself and how he wants to make Canada a better place, from the federal level as an MP. He told Maclean’s that one day — not quite yet, but when he’s ready — he’ll certainly run for office.

And along his path, he’s recognized how the legacy of residential school is part of his life, as well as part of so many Indigenous people’s lives in this country.

“It’s preventing us from being the fullest embodiment of the values that we aspire to: love, kindness and respect,” he said. “So for my dad, you showed weakness and you were beaten; or, you spoke the only language you knew, and you were beaten. In order to survive, he had to bottle up his emotions.”

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"So when he was a parent to me, it was: ‘Real men don’t cry.’ I’m sick with a virus and it’s: ‘Real men don’t vomit.’ Every time we’re working outside, it was, ‘Harder, faster, stronger,'" Kinew continued. "A lot of that was positive. We were cultivated with a strong work ethic. But that negative attitude unleashed an anger in me. It’s something that I’m still trying to deal with to this day.”

Read the full interview here and check out an excerpt from the book here.