“The truth about stories is, that’s all we are.” – Thomas King, author
THUNDER BAY -- Meegwun Fairbrother belongs to his story like he’s dreaming it out loud.
The Grassy Narrows First Nation actor with a penchant for science fiction has an uncanny command of his cultural history and he has renewed confidence to project his story on the future.
“You have to be a bit crazy to be in the arts, I think -- a bit wild and a bit of a dreamer,” Fairbrother said.
“I’m definitely a dreamer. I dream of the world in a different way and the way I dream of it is through acting and storytelling.”
Dreaming stories into reality began at a young age for Fairbrother. His father committed suicide only months after the baby was born. His Scottish/English mother committed to raising her son on reserve, teaching in First Nations across Northwestern Ontario from to Kichenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) to Pic Mobert.
Fairbrother balanced his recreation between film and the outdoors, recreating scenes from Star Wars and other science fiction movies in the woods with his friends.
His classmates challenged his natural introversion, pointing him out as different for genetics out of his control.
“Sometimes I was the white teacher’s son even though I’m Native just like them but that’s okay. Those things just stem from fear and negativity and you just have to fight to break that down,” he said.
“I was angry at myself for a long time because I’m Native and I’m non-Native. I was angry at my non-Native side like somehow that part of me has hurt my people but I’ve had to come to terms with that since then. You have to move through the anger first. That’s where I think a lot of my friends are still.”
By the time Fairbrother was picking courses at a Kenora high school, he was seeking a mainstream rationale to legitimize his identity.
“I was interested in forensic science because of blood quantum and those issues in our First Nations communities because everybody’s, ‘how native are you? Are you 15 per cent or 50 per cent?’ like that means anything. It doesn’t mean anything,” he said.
“What the culture is, it’s in your heart and in your spirit and the way you act and the way you think. That’s your culture.”
Fairbrother embraced the cultural renaissance his generation was leading in Treaty 3, mentoring at the youth centre and breaking down racism between cultures.
While his drama classes exposed him to the intoxication of the stage that would become his life’s passion, he began to connect his social activism with the history of Anishinaabe people and the promise of treaty relationships he was learning outside the classroom.
“It’s not Native versus non-Native. It’s all of our history. We have to share this place and we have to learn how to do it better. It all started percolating there.”
When Fairbrother decided on the theatre program at York University in Toronto, he also decided to leave his feathers and drum behind. Although he’d return to Northwestern Ontario, it would be years before he’d truly get back to his story.
Reclaiming his story
The actor struggled to be cast in the years that followed. He even sold air conditioners door-to-door in a role he would reprise years later as character Freddy Seven Horses in Magnus Theatre’s production of Dreary and Izzy, which finished its run on Saturday.
The work picked up and Fairbrother found himself touring First Nations in Ontario’s remote north to perform and lead workshops for students. He enjoyed being a role model and the seeds of his stage acting had begun bearing fruit in science fiction film and television.
He was teaching children to live their identity through the stories of their names but not having sung or drummed since he left for Toronto, his acting began to betray the authenticity of his own identity.
Fairbrother was playing Jackson Water on Time Traveler, Butterhead in Mohawk Girls and Daniel in Helix but off stage, he came to see drugs and alcohol were misguiding his real character and derailing his own story.
“It was too much to maintain. I was hiding from everyone. I would show up to work and hopefully I wasn’t as hungover as -- I was acting during the day, not even in the scene. I was acting all day. I had to reevaluate what my story was. I wanted to be in control of my own canoe.”
Seven months ago, Fairbrother took up the drum he was gifted as he quit drugs and drinking for culture. He intends to return to the pow wow circuit this summer and for the first time in a long time, he's found direction for his story and identity in his dream.
“I think just by being a storyteller and relearning what my story is, and then having control of my own ship and leading it to where I want to lead it to, there’s real power there,” he said.
“That’s the power inside of the story and that’s what I’m after now: finding the power in my own story so I can inspire other people to find the power inside their own story.”
Fairbrother's next television appearance will air Mar. 7 on a Murdoch Mysteries episode called House of Industry.
