Russell and Yvonne Willier: Some Wounds Are Slow To Heal

Abstract

Russell and Yvonne Willier and their two young children live on the Sucker Creek Reserve, a few miles south of High Prairie in northern Alberta. Using traditional techniques, Yvonne creates beautiful clothing and other articles, and teaches this art to others in continuing education classes. Russell is a medicine man and has been the subject of a bestselling book, Cry of the Eagle: Encounters with a Cree Healer, written by anthropologists David Young, Grant Ingram, and Lise Swartz from the University of Alberta. Cry of the Eagle provides a rare glimpse into the beliefs and practices of a Native healer, rare because such healers have been reluctant to share these practices with outsiders, and even more reluctant to see them committed to paper. Russell, however, is a visionary, who hopes that by having his work written down he will help open the minds of both Native young people and outsiders to the power that learning to live in balance and harmony with all the spirits around them can bring to their lives.