Former Wesmen Kevin Chief chronicles life and lessons in debut book

His surname was not always a point of pride. As a teenager growing up at a time when — by his own words — it “was a lot easier to not remind people you’re Indigenous,” Kevin Chief (Class of 1998) felt the weight of the last name that identified him. Instead of it lifting his head up, a name that preceded his arrival in a room invariably coerced him to shy away. It is a theme that is woven through Chief’s forthcoming autobiography With a Name Like Chief: Reflections on Recovery and Identity Through the Seven Sacred Teachings , which…