Publication Date: September 19, 2017 by Orca Book Publishers

I was fortunate to be able to read a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. (I had to find a hard copy to read as the ebook just doesn't work with all the text features.)

Monique Gray Smith explores Reconciliation in four main sections. In the first she looks at why a reconciliation journey is necessary. In the second, she analyzes Canadian history with respect to Indigenous peoples. In the third section she examines where we are at now. The fourth component queries just what reconciliation might mean and what it entails.

I appreciate the layout of this book. it's full of different nonfiction text features. There are plenty of captioned photographs. Different coloured sidebars are filled with different kinds of information. Indigo inserts provide additional information. Green inserts explain vocabulary. A map shows the location of all the residential schools in Canada. Reflection pieces, composed of text within orange circles, asks readers to contemplate what they have just read. Each section is highlighted with titles and subtitles. Words in bold print can be found in the glossary at the end of the book. The back matter also includes acknowledgements, online resources, a reading list, a list of residential schools, an index and information about the author.

Even though this is book for intermediate and teen age children, don't assume it's an easy read. While it doesn't reveal the graphic details of the abuse suffered by so many children, I was still forced to put the book down at times and take a break. Granted, I have listened to the first hand accounts of survivors and survivors of survivors. Perhaps it's this background knowledge that made reading it difficult, but I suspect that if you are human, you would be troubled. It's not a comfortable topic.

While I thought I knew a lot about residential schools, I was still suprised by information in this book. Given todays attitudes around accumulation as wealth, I found this sentence particularly profound, "Wealth was often determined by how much a person or family could give away and share with other families and community members." If only we determined wealth like this today. I knew that these schools had been around for a long time, but hadn't put put the 165 years into the context of seven generations of children being taken away from their parents. Sherman Alexie, in his book, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, claims that if you wanted to create as dysfunctional a society as possible, you would take the children away from their families, subject them to all kinds of abuse, return them home again, and repeat for generation after generation. Monique Gray Smith shows us what this looks like in reality.

In the last section when the author speaks to what reconciliation means, I had a hard time. I agree that love and mutual respect have to be in the solution, but it seems simplified. I want direct action. I especially appreciated the words of Carey Newman, "When you read the definition of reconciliation, it is one of coming back, the reinstatement of the relationship. I have a problem with that because there wasn't really good relationships to begin with, so let's call it conciliation." As I think about reconciliation in the context of living in Canada today, I’m certain that doing nothing about lack of safe drinking water on reserves, underfunding indigenous education compared to that of other children, ignoring indigenous rights and land claims, (as with the Site C Dam and oil pipelines,) is not only NOT reconciliation, it’s a continuation of the system that brought it in. We have a long way to go before we really come to a place where the human rights of indigenous peoples in this country are respected. Until we get there, we aren't close to conciliation.

When I teach Joseph Bruchac's Code Talker to my sixth graders they are always shocked by the way the children were treated at the so-called Indian Schools. I have gathered a collection of resources for students who want to learn more about the topic and this book--though about Canada and not the US--will be a welcome addition to that shelf in my classroom library as it deals with the repercussions of these actions today.

Unfortunately, the digital download only allowed me to move pages from left to right, not up and down, so I could not expand the pages to read smaller print. This prevented me from being able to properly review the title. I do plan on reading it in the future. I'm so sorry. Thank you for the opportunity.

The nonfiction book Speaking Our Truth by Monique Gray Smith takes an in-depth look at the residential school system in Canada, but its interest spreads to the United States since similar schools and problems occurred here. Interest in this book extends to anyone concerned with fair treatment of Indigenous people wherever they occur. The author, with Cree, Lakota, and Scottish heritage, infuses her account with personal passion.

Her book cites the report “The Survivors Speak: A Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada” as background and looks to bring action to the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the initial chapter, she gives the names used to describe these first people – Indian, Native, First Nation, Aboriginal, and Indigenous – explaining that she will use the one that was the norm of the time as she tells the story beginning with Indian for the 1800s and coming to Indigenous for the present day.

Scattered throughout the book are personal accounts of those she calls Survivors who lived through experiences in the residential schools, sometimes with one generation repeating the last. Separated from parents and unable to practice their culture or speak their own language, indigenous children also suffered abuse, deprivation, and hunger in the schools. Frequently, discipline patterns learned at the school were passed along to children of these Survivors. The reader is left wondering who thought this would be a good idea.

Balancing the negative picture comes the efforts now being made to bring reconciliation and hope with projects such as Orange Shirt Day, the Blanket Exercise, and Project of the Heart. Discussion questions leading to empathy thread through the narrative. Back matter includes opportunities for further study in Online Resources, Reading List, Glossary, List of Residential Schools, and an Index.

As a coincidence, the next book I read and will not be discussing or recommending had a girl “whooping like an Indian on the warpath.” I would have been offended by the negative stereotype, but coming immediately after Speaking Our Truth the phrase touched a newly exposed nerve.

In a second coincidence, I need to get this posted quickly so I can leave for the Native
American Mounds Tour in and around Natchez with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Maybe I’ll find another accurate and empathetic story today.

An important book that should be taught in schools from coast to coast.

It is a very informative book about the history of residential school system in Canada.

The horror that was the residential schools is explored in this book that talks about what happened and what can be done to reconcile all that has gone before, for previous generations, and existing generations, by talking to survivors of the residential school system, as well as with youths of today who are only now learning about this horrid history.

For thos who don't know, the residential schools are schools where the Canadian government took children of First Nations' people, by force, and put them in to schools where they had their hair cut, had their clothes taken away, as well as their language, which they were punished if the spoke. They were not allowed home, except the summer, and sometimes not even then. this went on for generations. This distoryed families, for many generations, as well as obliterated the structure of the First Nations peoples.

Good book for those who want a thorough overview of what can be done, and what has been done, and what needs to be done.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This book was a revelation! Every Canadian needs to read this and put reconciliation into practice! It provides insightful history and recommendations towards a more equitable future for all, and I hope fellow settlers pay attention to how we can be better allies together.