Mackenzie, the main character in "Bad Cree," is an Algonquin Cree living in a run-down apartment in Vancouver, BC, which is slated for demolition. She experiences dreams that intertwine with reality, sometimes bringing objects back from them. This phenomenon affects her entire family, as they all have bizarre dreams. In Cree culture, dreams are considered messages from the spirit world, explaining why Mackenzie can see and talk to her kokum (grandmother). The novel uses the importance of dreams in Cree culture to explore corporate greed, trauma, and familial grief.
Mackenzie is an auntie, a highly regarded and respected role in Cree culture. She is surrounded by female figures, including her Grandmother, mother Loretta, aunties Verna and Doreen, cousin Kassidy, and twin sisters Sabrina (who is deceased) and Tracey (who holds a grudge against Mackenzie for leaving). The author, Jessica Johns, comes from a matriarchal society, which influenced her to make the main character a woman supported primarily by other women. Despite warnings that writing about dreams could be boring for readers, Johns based the book on a dream she had.
Mackenzie is an unreliable narrator due to her stress, grief, poor mental state, and lack of knowledge. For example, she claims, “I would understand how I could have a pine bough in my hands when the last pine tree I’d seen was hundreds of kilometres away in Alberta” (Johns 3). This statement is questionable since the Lodgepole Pine is common in British Columbia.