Cody Groat’s (BA ’16) time at Laurier is more than just a chapter in his life. The result of his undergraduate years was, quite literally, an entire book. During his time as an undergrad studying History and Youth and Children’s Studies at Laurier’s Brantford campus, he interviewed more than 30 famous Canadians which were then featured in his book titled, Canadian Stories. This self-published work included interviews with CBC icon Peter Mansbridge, the late Farley Mowat, former Prime Ministers Paul Martin and Kim Campbell, and Michael Stark and Michael Leshner, Canada’s first legally married same-sex couple. 

In August 2016, he printed 500 copies and pledged 40 per cent of profits from book sales to Canadian registered charities to thank his interviewees for their time. With the onset of the pandemic and about 30 books remaining, Groat began selling his remaining copies and donated 100 per cent of sales to organizations that are supporting the COVID relief.   

“It is a bit interesting and surreal, because a lot of them have been in a box in my closet for a long time. And now that I'm about to officially sell out I'm having a debate about [reprinting],” he says.  

In his third year of his PhD at Laurier, Groat’s research focuses on “the federal commemoration of Indigenous History and Indigenous Historic sites through the work of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada which was established in 1919 and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019,” says Groat. “My analysis looks at 100 years of history to see how Indigenous historic sites and Indigenous perspectives of history and culture have been integrated or more commonly not integrated into this program.” 

With the onset of the pandemic, Groat has been fortunate to be able to continue his research. 

“I'm lucky in the sense that I would say about 80 per cent of the archival sources that I am using are digitalized and are available online. So, I've had an advantage. And I've been carrying on pretty much as much as I would, there was one archival collection at Trent University that I hope to access this summer. That's the only difference, but besides that, I'm pretty much carrying on as is.” 

Aside from his PhD research, Groat continues to serve his community as the acting president of a national not-for-profit called the Indigenous Heritage Circle.  

“We work with a lot of regional and national organizations to integrate Indigenous perspectives into the preservation of indigenous cultural heritage, we also work with a lot of communities on the ground to help them fulfill their objectives and work on their initiatives. Just this week, we wrapped up our third national engagement session for Parks Canada, they're reviewing their cultural resource management policies for how they deal with Indigenous History,” he says. 

Groat is also working on an oral history project with Indigenous Order of Canada recipients. With about 100 Indigenous living recipients, he is taking a similar approach to his self-published Canadian Stories by having interviews and conversations with the recipients.  

“I'm Mohawk, and a band member of Six Nations of the Grand River, just outside of Brantford ,” says Groat, “it's been great to do this new project because I can reach out to some exciting, interesting Indigenous, people.” 

For Groat, this is a rewarding experience as he is gets to hear what it means to receive the Order of Canada from an Indigenous person’s perspective. It’s been a slow process, but he has had a chance to interview Maria Campbell, author of the memoir Half-Breed and Alex Janvier, an artist from the collective formerly known as the Indian Group of Seven. 

“Some of the early conversations I’ve had with people like Maria Campbell said she noticed the Order of Canada is a very individual honor given to one person to celebrate the achievements of one person, but most people she knows who are indigenous working within Indigenous communities- it's never a singular effort. All of these achievements are community, collective effort.” 

So, our question for Groat: Could this be a possible sequel to Canadian Stories?