Joseph Dandurand is a member of the Kwantlen First Nation, located on the Fraser River about twenty minutes east of Vancouver, BC. He resides there with his three children. Dandurand is the director of the Kwantlen Cultural Centre and the author of several children’s stories and books of poetry including The East Side of It All (Nightwood Editions 2020), which was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. In 2021, Dandurand received the BC Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence.
“ I hope that I will be able to share with you some of my Stories.”
"Our original story tells us that we, the Kwantlen, came from the sky and we were sky-people. We used to number in the thousands but like all river tribes 80% of our people were wiped out by smallpox and now there is only 200 of us. As a Kwantlen man, father, fisherman, poet and playwright I believe the gift of words was given to me so I can retell all of our stories either upon stage or in in a book of poetry or in our longhouses on a cold winter’s night. As a writer those stories come only occasionally so easily and without much pain. Again, as a simple humble man it is with great pleasure that I share my words with anyone wishing to hear and read and see my work. In the end I hope that I have shared with you a glimpse of who I am and who the Kwantlen People are. I hope that I have made you laugh and that I have created images for you to take home and share with your family. O Siam!”
