Why do I write romance starring Canada’s Indigenous People?  One, I’m Ojibway and grew up on the reserve.  Two, having worked for an aboriginal organization for over fifteen years that took me all over the Treaty Area, which allowed me to engage with twenty-four First Nations communities, numerous aboriginal organizations, and Indigenous people on an individual basis, I wanted to write stories that focus on issues the Indigenous people face today with a good dose of romance.

The Matawapit Family Series came to be when I started a short story for the two male leads in Blessed, book one.  It centers on the impact the Canadian Indian Residential Schools left on the next generation of people at a fictitious Ojibway community called Ottertail Lake.  The patriarch of the family, Deacon Matawapit, attended such a school from the ages of five to sixteen.  The novels revolve around his children:  Jude, Bridget, and Emery.

My father attended two of these schools.  During a family trip in my youth, we stopped in a small town called Spanish, and he showed us the second school he’d attended.  Of course, my young mind had no idea of what my father had endured.  To me, the big brick building was simply a part of my dad’s past, a strange place where he’d spent two years of his life when he was a teenager.

It wasn’t until I was older that my father began sharing his story with me (many never spoke about these schools until the late 90s/early 2000s).  So my father proved to be a great resource and inspiration for the Matawapit Family Series.

In future novels, I plan on addressing the “sixties scoop,” the “fur trade,” the “loss of Indian Status,” “devastation and/or removal from land,” and many more subjects, because they’re too numerous to list.  I’m looking forward to writing about the impact these issues have on the heroes and heroines in my stories.

THE MATWAPIT FAMILY SERIES

In the wilds of Northwestern Ontario, the adult children of a domineering Ojibway church deacon find their faiths crumbling and their beliefs faltering when a vengeful former lover, an ex-fiancé out on parole, and a seductive family enemy challenge Emery, Bridget, and Jude in a duel of love, loyalty, and values that threatens to destroy their perfect Catholic lives and family.

SANCTIFIED In the midst of a battle for leadership at their Ojibway community, two enemies of opposing families fall in love…​

After suffering a humiliating divorce, infuriated Catholic Jude Matawapit bolts to his family’s Ojibway community to begin a new job—but finds himself thrown into a battle for chief as his brother-in-law’s campaign manager. The radical Kabatay clan, with their extreme ideas about traditional Ojibway life, will stop at nothing to claim the leadership position and rid the reserve of Western culture and its religion once and for all, which threatens not only the non-traditional people of the community, but Jude’s chance at a brand-new life he’s creating for his children.

Recovering addict Raven Kabatay will do anything to win the respect and trust of her older siblings and mother after falling deep into drug addiction that brought shame and anger to her family. Not only does she have the opportunity to redeem herself by becoming her brother’s campaign manager for chief—if he wins, she’ll have the reserve’s backing to purchase the gold-mine diner where she works, finally making something of herself. But falling in love with the family’s sworn enemy—the deacon’s eldest son, Jude—will not just betray the Kabatay clan. It could destroy everything Raven believes in and has worked so hard for.

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About the Author:   An Ojibway from Northwestern Ontario, Maggie resides in the country with her husband and their fur babies, two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes.  When she’s not writing, she can be found pulling weeds in the flower beds, mowing the huge lawn, walking the Mals deep in the bush, teeing up a ball at the golf course, fishing in the boat for walleye, or sitting on the deck at her sister’s house, making more wonderful memories with the people she loves most.

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