This project paper discusses the Cree mythology present in Tomson Highways <i>Kiss of the Fur Queen</i>. I contend that Highways conflation of the two mythological characters, Weesageechak and Weetigo, in the figure of the Fur Queen allows the dramatization of the interaction and confrontation between the aboriginal culture and colonizing culture. Through careful attention to imagistic references to the Cree Weetigo tradition, I contend that the Fur Queen is a complex metaphorical representation of the complicated reality faced by Highways characters. Through the Fur Queen, Weesageechak, the trickster, acts as a positive figure overseeing the success of her Aboriginal charges, while the cannibal Weetigo aspects of the Fur Queen represent the negative impacts and dangers faced by her charges within and from the colonizing Euro-Canadian culture.

This project paper discusses the Cree mythology present in Tomson Highways <i>Kiss of the Fur Queen</i>. I contend that Highways conflation of the two mythological characters, Weesageechak and Weetigo, in the figure of the Fur Queen allows the dramatization of the interaction and confrontation between the aboriginal culture and colonizing culture. Through careful attention to imagistic references to the Cree Weetigo tradition, I contend that the Fur Queen is a complex metaphorical representation of the complicated reality faced by Highways characters. Through the Fur Queen, Weesageechak, the trickster, acts as a positive figure overseeing the success of her Aboriginal charges, while the cannibal Weetigo aspects of the Fur Queen represent the negative impacts and dangers faced by her charges within and from the colonizing Euro-Canadian culture.

The devastation wrought by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Aboriginal communities is both physical and metaphorical, as the stigmas associated with the virus mediate the way it is both understood and experienced. This thesis examines the role of HIV in Canadian Aboriginal literature, with an eye to the specific ways that these narratives about HIV relate back to real-world understandings of the epidemic. The works of Tomson Highway, Jordan Wheeler, Beth Brandt, and Gregory Scofield demonstrate how HIV/AIDS is frequently tied to colonial histories and personal experiences of disconnect, alienation, and abuse. HIV operates at the boundaries of these texts, drawing connections between otherwise disparate narratives, highlighting stigmas within communities, and focussing on differently marginalized communities of Aboriginal people in Canada. These authors draw from traditional understandings of storytelling, using narrative to incite important discussions about HIV/AIDS, and to work towards greater acceptance and inclusion of HIV-positive people in Aboriginal communities.