Episode 3: Diandra Rose Powderhorn: I am the best person for my children

Diandra Rose Powderhorn is a writer whose motto is, "Inhale misery, exhale poetry." She is a survivor of horrific intergenerational trauma, an addict in recovery and an awesome mom. The story of her people, the Sayisi Dene, is one of the worst stories of Indigenous displacement and dispossession in Canada’s history, a trauma that Diandra and others in her family learned to dowse with addictions. In her case, it led to the apprehension of both of her children, a devastating trauma that only pulled her further into the spiral of addiction for a time.

Diandra was one of the first participants in the Indigenous Family Reunification Pilot Project, the predecessor of the Return of the Buffalo Indigenous Family Wellness Initiative. Already an active participant in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), at Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, Diandra connected for the first time with the healing power of Spirit. Through grit and fierce determination, she has since managed to overturn a permanent apprehension order and today has full custody of her two beautiful, fun-loving children.

We were moved by Diandra’s agreeing to share her story with us as an inspiration to other families caught up in the child welfare system, and as a first-hand account of that system’s colonial shadow.