North Wind Man

North Wind Man is a co-authored biography in which Clarence Cachagee courageously shares his lifelong healing journey and path to becoming a helper. After being raised in foster care by a Mennonite family, and having struggled with addictions and homelessness, Cachagee embarks on a new path by reconnecting with his Indigenous culture and accepting the support of his community. The book includes interviews with family members, social workers, and community leaders, and integrates local history of the Waterloo Region and Chapleau Cree First Nation. It also includes the voice of his late father, also named Clarence Cachagee, recorded during an interview in 1991 about his experience in Canada's Residential School System. The book is co-written with Seth Ratzlaff, an emerging Mennonite writer and friend of Cachagee. The co-authorship is guided by a spirit of friendship, equality, and respect.

As a memoir, North Wind Man traces the stages and cycles of intergenerational trauma and resurgence in the life of Clarence Cachagee, a Cree man born into the Sixties Scoop in colonial Canadian society. It recounts a healing journey that began with the unloading of the "negative bundle" he received as a foster child raised in a caring Mennonite home and it leads to the reloading of a "positive bundle" - a sacred one - that now empowers him in the role of helper and visionary in his community.

Clarence's journey, which includes joy-filled anecdotes alongside hard knocks, was burdened by disorientation and so many "whys": about the loss of his identity and spiritual heritage, the loss of his childhood connection to his birth parents, shame from experiences of abuse, the character of the Mennonite-settler community and its uncritical support of Canada's oppressive colonial policies of First Nations. Another "why" was the absence of Indigenous spiritual practices which could have strengthened him earlier on that healing journey. It was a constant process of "running to" the unknown answers to the "whys" he faced while running from his life. This led to alcoholism, drug addiction, violent acts, repeated imprisonment, homelessness and broken relationships with those closest to him. Through the reunion with his birth parents as an adult, the multiple attempts to overcome substance addictions and finally, his introduction to his own Indigenous identity and community, he began to see how he had a "living problem" that led to his "drinking/drug problem". 

Finally, through Indigenous spiritual teachings he could grasp the connection of his spiritual quest for identity and the addictions, traumas, and broken relationships. And he gained the conviction: it's never too late. Clarence's vision and purpose now propel the process of building allyship with local Mennonites and other settlers, moving toward gaining spiritual strength and mutual recognition. The north wind brings change when oriented to the Creator.