Wagamese strategically highlights just a few horrific examples of abuse and trauma, leaving it to his readers to multiply them by the number of children forced into these institutions the rising tally of graves now being acknowledged (‘discovered’ seems like the wrong word as so many knew they were there but were ignored) makes that grim math anything but theoretical. Germ’s, as the children call it) is graphic, upsetting, and memorable. It is painfully topical, and its portrayal of Saul’s time at Saint Jerome’s (St. I’m not sure it’s old enough yet to count as a “classic,” but Indian Horse is an award-winning, highly regarded, widely read (and, I’ve learned, frequently assigned) novel, and a ‘Canada Reads’ contender: on these grounds, reading it at last is a way of catching up with a book that has more than proven its significance. In many ways it proved to be a good choice. With that in mind, I chose Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse as my Canada Day reading. One part of that work is listening, and one way to hear more Indigenous voices and stories is to read Indigenous authors. I have remarked here before on the shock of realizing my own ignorance about residential schools the recent heartbreaking stories of unmarked graves has (finally, belatedly) prompted a wider recognition of the need for non-Indigenous Canadians to learn more and do better. Like many Canadians, I decided that the best way to mark Canada Day this year was to reflect rather than celebrate.
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