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"How to Talk about Indigenous people", by Ossie Michelin.
Guiding Question:   What is the difference between the words, "indigenous" and "First Nations" and "aboriginal"?
Before this project gets underway,  let's clarify the vocabulary.

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"What does it take to break stereotypes about First Nations?", by Tamara Ainscow
Guiding Question:   In our society, what are the most common stereotypes about indigenous people"?

Taken from the Feb 15 edition of The Montreal Gazette, this Sixties Scoop survivor writes about how 3 stereotypes about First Nations people still persist today.

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As a Sixties Scoop survivor, I can attest to how latent and blatant discrimination can be toward First Nations people in Canada.

With an overwhelming sense of injustice being felt across the country in the wake of the verdict in Saskatchewan, Quebec's inquiry into relations between First Nations and six public services could not have come to Montreal at a better time.

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As a Sixties Scoop survivor, I can attest to how latent and blatant discrimination can be toward First Nations people in Canada. Adopted by a non-native family, I grew up on the West Island of Montreal. Because of the racism and stereotypes I was subjected to, my formative years were spent wishing I was a little white boy like my three older brothers and denying my First Nations heritage.

My First Nations' identity was, and continues to be at times, projected as three main stereotypes.

The first is that all First Nations people are stupid, drunk and lazy. Those who hold this stereotype talk to me like I'm "special," but not in a good way. Some can't hide their surprise when I can do basic math, and their eyes bug out upon hearing I have two BAs. At a job interview once, a woman peered down her nose, gave me a sniff and said "well, at least you dress nicely" in a tone dripping with disgust and condescension.

The second stereotype is that natives are spiritual beings, at one with nature. People who believe this tend to look at me with adoration, talk of how they love the First Nations and ask about ceremonies. They seem to think the First Nations have all the answers and can go do no wrong. These people cannot hide their disappointment when they learn I grew up in a homogeneously white suburb and don't practise any ceremonies or do traditional arts.

The third stereotype is that First Nations are primitive savages. People who believe this aren't comfortable being alone with me, keeping one eye on the door. And, it must be said that there are those who focus on the lewd aspect of this stereotype, imagining what First Nations women are like in the bedroom. They tend to look at me with a different kind of disrespect, salaciously, like I'm a sexual object.

Having lived in Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, I haven't met any First Nations person who embodies these stereotypes.

So, how many people does it take to create a stereotype?

Last year I engaged in dialogue with a Twitter user who commented that all government payout money would go toward drugs and alcohol. He revealed that he noticed a few First Nations people regularly drinking on a corner in Toronto and that's why he propagated the stereotype. It didn't matter that he probably regularly passed seven others who were on their way to school or work who neither drank nor did drugs.

Which raises the next question: What does it take to break a stereotype?

People constantly call on the First Nations to "get over it," yet the same people can't "get over" the stereotypes that underlie their racism. They forget that the First Nations narrative was written by those who hold the power, who used negative stereotypes to justify their actions. The idea that there was an "Indian problem" came of this. That the idea persists is evident by the comments of some social media users who lament that the early colonizers didn't kill off all the First Nations, as it would have solved the problem. But I don't believe the majority of Canadians support genocide, my experience is that the majority want the injustices against Indigenous people to end.

I see this inquiry as a concrete step toward reconciliation. At a time when many First Nations have lost hope it will happen in their lifetime, I empathize and hope being part of the dialogue will help effect positive change for the future.
Tamara Ainscow is a Montreal writer.

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Opinion: What does it take to break stereotypes about First Nations?

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As a Sixties Scoop survivor, I can attest to how latent and blatant discrimination can be toward First Nations people in Canada.

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"Stereotypes about Natives in Canada", by Wab Kinew
Guiding Question:   In our society, what are the most common stereotypes about indigenous people"?
Taken from the CBC show, The Strombo Show, Wab Kinew quickly debunks 5 common stereotypes.

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Wab Kinew on the Stereotypes about Natives in Canada

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"I'm Not the Indian You Had in Mind", by Thomas King
Guiding Question:  What is Thomas King's main message (theme) about modern Indigenous culture?

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National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

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A video exploration offering insight as to how First Nations people today are changing old ideas and empowering themselves in the greater community.

Produced with a grant awarded by bravoFACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent), a division of Bell Media Inc.

Creative team

Director/writer: Thomas King
Producer: Laura J. Milliken

Director's statement

Thomas King says:

" I'm Not the Indian You Had in Mind challenges the stereotypical portrayal of First Nations peoples in the media. This spoken word short offers an insight of how First Nations people today are changing old ideas and empowering themselves in the greater community.

The actors, in business suits, jeans, and typical urban attire are juxtaposed against the loincloth-wearing, tomahawk wielding Natives of yesterday's spaghetti westerns.

Through the use of stock footage, language, and common artifacts like a cigar store Indian, the viewer is encouraged to examine the profound role that these one-dimensional media representations have played in shaping their perspectives of an entire group of people. The man living next door, the woman working in the next cubicle, or the stoic wood carving in front of the cigar store - which Indian did you have in mind?

About Thomas King

Thomas was born in Sacramento, CA in 1943. He is of Cherokee, German and Greek descent. King was raised in California, later becoming a photojournalist in Australia.

In 1986, he completed his Ph.D. in English and American studies at the University of Utah. He has taught Native Studies at the University of California, the University of Lethbridge, and at the University of Minnesota, where he was also Chair of American Indian Studies. King is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph, west of Toronto.

King published his first novel Medicine River in 1989. It marked him as an important voice in Canadian literature. His use of humor, well-crafted dialogue (influenced by his interest in traditional oral literature), and an honest portrayal of day-to-day life of Natives marked the book as an important work of fiction. In 1990, King tried to radically redefine how theorists view Native literature.

In the article Godzilla vs. Postcolonial, King challenges the view that all Native literature is a reaction to colonialism, rather than an extension of longer Native tradition. The term postcolonial serves, in King's opinion, to reinforce the legacy of colonization.

In 1992, King published the collection of short stories One Good Story, That One. Again mixing humor, traditional Native mythology and contemporary issues, King creates a collection of memorable stories. One such story that plays with the idea of Christopher Columbus discovering America, A Coyote Columbus Story, was transformed into a children's book that was ultimately nominated for a Governor General's Award.

He was also nominated for a GG Award in 1993 for his second novel, Green Grass, Running Water. Maintaining the same theme and style of his previous works and enhancing them, King combines the lives of a number of Native characters making their way back to their reserve with a continual retelling of the Creation myth. Truth and Bright Water was published in 1999 and focuses more on the oral tradition of the Natives in its form and style.

Thomas King also wrote a series of comic radio scripts for the CBC during the 1990s, The Dead Dog Cafe. He has edited a number of anthologies on Native writers. The Dead Dog Café was also resurrected in 2006 and 13 episodes are currently in production for CBC Radio.

King was chosen to deliver the 2003 Massey Lectures, entitled The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. King was the first Aboriginal Massey Lecturer. In the series, King examined the Native experience in oral stories, literature, history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest in order to make sense of North America's relationship with its Aboriginal peoples.

If you liked this film, you might also like ...

Check out some of the other Indigenous films in the NSI Online Short Film Festival.

How to purchase this film

You can do this through the following website:

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I'm Not the Indian You Had in Mind | National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

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A video exploration offering insight as to how First Nations people today are changing old ideas and empowering themselves in the greater community. Produced with a grant awarded by bravoFACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent), a division of Bell Media Inc. Director/writer: Thomas King Producer: Laura J.

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"I'm Not the Indian you Had in Mind", by Thomas King
Guiding Question:   Same as Doc 4a above

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"A Seat in the Garden", by Thomas King
Guiding Question:   What does the character of Joe tell us about society's attitude towards Indigenous people?    Explain with details from the story.

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"Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report points to 'growing crisis' for indigenous youth", by Susanna Mas of CBC News

Guiding Question:   Explain the Truth and Reconciliation Report ... the one we see in the above editorial cartoon?

Published in December, 2015, this article explains the shocking Truth and Reconciliation Report, as well as the travelling 6-year commission that produced the report.

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​The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will make public on Tuesday its final report documenting the history and legacy of Canada's residential school system, raising serious concerns for current and future generations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children.

The final report, titled Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, is the culmination of thousands of hours of heart-wrenching testimony heard in more than 300 communities over a span of six years, from more than 6,000 indigenous women and men who were abused and lived to tell their stories.

"The survivors showed great courage, conviction, and trust in sharing their stories, which, collected here, are now a part of a permanent historical record, never to be forgotten or ignored," writes Justice Murray Sinclair, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in the final report obtained by CBC News.

A summary report released by the commission in June made 94 recommendations, including changes to policies and programs.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will be present when Sinclair unveils the final report in Ottawa on Tuesday, has committed to implementing all the recommendations, including the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

The government announced last week the first phase in a process that would lead to a much-awaited inquiry.

3,200 recorded deaths

The commission heard testimony of the effects that over 100 years of mistreatment had on 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children. It is a moving and tragic historical account of what happened to indigenous children, many of whom were physically and sexually abused in residential schools.

What's more, the commission found records showing that 3,200 indigenous children died from tuberculosis, malnutrition and other diseases resulting from poor living conditions.

In an exclusive interview with CBC News Network's Power & Politics, Sinclair said he estimates the number of children who died to be much higher because burial records are "so poor."

"I'm absolutely convinced the number is much higher, perhaps as much as five to 10 times as high as that," Sinclair told host Rosemary Barton.

'Staggering' legacy

The final report also paints a grim picture of "the growing crisis" of indigenous youth over-represented in Canada's prisons and child welfare system.

"The legacy of residential schools and government actions towards indigenous people over the years since Confederation is staggering. Every social condition measurable in Canadian society places aboriginal people at the most disadvantaged position of all people in the country," Sinclair told CBC News.

The legacy can be seen in the myths, misunderstandings, and lack of empathy many Canadians openly display about indigenous people, their history, and their place in society. - Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

"They have the highest unemployment rate, the biggest gap in income earnings, the number of aboriginal children in care, the number of aboriginal people who are incarcerated, the health problems and the health illnesses, the life expectancy rates are the lowest in the country, housing is poor, water supplies are poor - just the social living conditions that aboriginal people face are attributable to the way that they've been treated and mistreated by governments over the years and by society."

Sinclair said much of it is directly traced back to the experience of indigenous children in residential schools.

The commission also found:

Fewer than 50 former residential school staff members were convicted for sexually or physically abusing indigenous students - an "insignificant" number, according to the report, given the 37,951 claims filed for compensation from survivors as of Jan. 31, 2015.

The harm done to Métis children who attended residential schools "was substantial," but Métis as a people were excluded from the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Part of the reconciliation process will have to address and rectify "this damage."

"Removed from their families and home communities," Sinclair said in the final report, "seven generations of aboriginal children were denied their identity through a systematic and concerted effort to extinguish their culture, language and spirit."

"It is clear that residential schools were a key component of a Canadian government policy of cultural genocide."

"The legacy can be seen in the myths, misunderstandings, and lack of empathy many Canadians openly display about indigenous people, their history, and their place in society," said Sinclair.

While the final report marks "one of the darkest, most troubling chapters in our nation's history," it also turns the page on a new chapter in the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians.

"Reconciliation will not be easy and it will take time, but to make it happen, we must believe it should happen," said Sinclair.

Reforming child welfare system

The high number of incarcerated indigenous youth and "the even more dramatic overrepresentation" of indigenous children in the care of child-welfare agencies are connected, the report found, and are in part explained by the way indigenous people were treated in residential schools.

There are more than 300 child-welfare agencies in Canada operating under provincial and territorial jurisdiction.

"Proof of the effectiveness of First Nations child and family service agencies is still preliminary," said the commission, "but anecdotal evidence and case studies suggest that First Nation agencies are more effective than non-aboriginal agencies in providing service to First Nation clients."

While indigenous people now have "considerable" control of child-welfare services, according to the commission, funding is still lacking for many aboriginal agencies.

The final report notes that Canada's "child-welfare crisis" has not gone unnoticed by the international community.

In 2012, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed to Canada its concern about the frequent removal of children in Canada from families as a "first resort" in cases of neglect, financial hardship, or disability, the report said.

The commission urged on all levels of government - federal, provincial, territorial, and aboriginal - to work together to reform Canada's justice and child welfare systems.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said in a speech to First Nations gathered in Gatineau., Que., last week that the government has begun working on and seeking support for an "overhaul" of the country's child welfare system.

Bennett reiterated her government's commitment after her first formal meeting with the families of missing and murdered indigenous women in Ottawa on Friday.

"There is a real problem of ripping children from their families, from their communities, and that we need to look at this system very seriously," she said.

"We have to start with the children - protect the children - that's what child welfare is supposed to be."

"These children need protection ... and we will try to get this system fixed."

"We hope to get to work on that early in the new year," Bennett said.

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Truth and Reconciliation final report points to 'growing crisis' for indigenous youth | CBC News

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​The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will make public on Tuesday its final report documenting the history and legacy of Canada's residential school system, raising serious concerns for current and future generations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children.

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"Aboriginal Issues in Canada"
Guiding Question:   Explain (with supporting statistics) the crippling social problems facing Indigenous people in Canada, as well as how these problems fit into a "Cycle of Disadvantage" (you might need to Google the term "cycle of disadvantage")
Taken from YouTube, this video project by students at Western University provides a summary of the main social problems facing indigenous communities today.  Most of the statistics are well-referenced and credible.

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Document 6c:  An interview and video clip

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Document 6c:  An interview and video clip

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“Seven generations of healing” Conversation with Christy Jordan-Fenton about the lasting effects of the residential school system,   A blog post by Jacjie Hansen of Amnesty International

Guiding Question:  According to activist Christy Jordan-Fenton, how did the residential school system cause the deep social problems within Indigenous communities today?

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Document 7b:  A blog post (video and article)

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Document 7b:  A blog post (video and article)

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"8 Key Issues for Aboriginal People in Canada", by Bob Joseph
Guiding Question:   Explain (with supporting details) the most serious social problems facing Indigenous people in Canada.
Taken from the blog called "Working Effectively with Indigenous People", this article/video gives an effective statistical summary of the main problems facing indigenous communities.

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Eight of the key issues of most significant concern for Indigenous Peoples in Canada are complex and inexorably intertwined - so much so that government, researchers, policymakers and Indigenous leaders seem hamstrung by the enormity. It is hard to isolate one issue as being the worst. The roots of these issues lie in the Indian Act and colonialism.
Watch our video of this blog article:
1) Poorer health

The World Health Organization's investigation into health determinants now recognizes European colonization as a common and fundamental underlying determinant of Indigenous health. There have been strides made on the part of many Indigenous communities to improve education around health issues. Still, despite these improvements, Indigenous people remain at higher risk for illness and earlier death non-Indigenous people. Chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are on the increase. There are definite links between income, social factors, and health. There is a higher rate of respiratory problems and other infectious diseases among Indigenous children than among non-Indigenous children - inadequate housing and crowded living conditions are contributing factors.

2) Lower levels of education

While Canada has one of the highest levels of educational attainment in the world, the rate of graduation for Indigenous students remains far lower than that of non-Indigenous students. For Indigenous students living on reserve, the gap is vast. According to a C.D. Howe Institute study, only 48 percent of students living on reserve have completed high school, while 75 percent living off-reserve have completed high school.

3) Inadequate housing and crowded living conditions

Almost one in six Indigenous people (16.4%) lived in a dwelling needing major repairs in 2021, a rate nearly three times higher than the non-Indigenous population (5.7%). In 2021, 17.1% of Indigenous people lived in crowded housing-housing not considered suitable for the number of people living there, according to the National Occupancy Standard.

4) Lower income levels

The 2021 Census marked the first time low-income data were made available for all geographic regions in Canada, including reserves and northern areas. Of the 1.8 million Indigenous people in Canada in 2021, 18.8% lived in a low-income household, as defined using the low-income measure, after tax, compared with 10.7% of the non-Indigenous population. Among the three Indigenous groups, the low-income rate was highest among First Nations people (22.7%). It was exceptionally high among status First Nations people living on reserve, almost one in three (31.4%) of whom lived in a low-income household.

5) Higher rates of unemployment

Indigenous people have historically faced higher unemployment rates than non-Indigenous people. The higher rate of unemployment is connected to lower levels of education. Literacy and numeracy skills are the foundations for skills training and meeting the demands of an increasingly digital workforce. Other barriers include cultural differences, racism, discrimination/stereotypes, self-esteem, poverty and poor housing, no driving license, no transportation, and no child care.

6) Higher levels of incarceration

32% of federal inmates identify as Indigenous, despite only making up around 5% of the total population in Canada. Indigenous women now account for almost half of the female inmate population in federally run prisons: "On April 28, 2022, the number of incarcerated Indigenous women reached 50% for the first time (298 Indigenous and 298 non-Indigenous women in federal custody) . . . this over-representation is largely the result of systemic bias and racism, including discriminatory risk assessment tools, ineffective case management, and bureaucratic delay and inertia." [3]

7) Higher rates of unintentional injuries and early deaths among children and youth

Unintentional injuries (accidents) are events in which there is no intent to harm. Accidents occur at disproportionately higher rates for Indigenous children and youth than for non-Indigenous youth and at a higher rate on reserves than in urban settings. Also, injured Indigenous children on remote reserves are much less likely to receive rehabilitation or other resources after being released from the hospital due to a shortage of healthcare resources in remote communities.

8) Higher rates of suicide

Indigenous people in Canada have some of the highest suicide rates in the world. Suicide and self-inflicted injuries are the leading causes of death for First Nations youth and adults up to 44 years of age. For Inuit, the suicide rate is nine times the national rate; for First Nations, the suicide rate is three times the national average; and for Métis, the suicide rate is twice the national average. [4]
This article was originally posted on April 26, 2019.
[1] The Daily, Wednesday, September 21, 2022

[2] The Daily, Wednesday, September 21, 2022

[3] Office of the Correctional Investigator Annual Report 2021-2022

[4] Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016

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8 Key Issues for Indigenous Peoples in Canada

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Eight of the key issues of most significant concern for Indigenous Peoples in Canada are complex and inexorably intertwined - so much so that government, researchers, policymakers and Indigenous leaders seem hamstrung by the enormity. It is hard to isolate one issue as being the worst.

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"The Canada most people don’t see" by Scott Gilmore, June 2017

Guiding Question:   While you read, try to locate Scott Gilmore's thesis (his message to us readers). Restate (in your own words) the main idea that he delivers in this disturbing and passionate editorial.

From Maclean's magazine, a "pull-no-punches" editorial that contrasts our Canada versus "the other Canada" in which indigenous Canadians live.
WARNING:   for mature readers only

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It has an unemployment rate worse than Sudan. The infant mortality rate is worse than Russia. And the injustice is appalling.

Imagine your daughter, 15 years old, sneaks some booze and gets drunk for the first time. She is found by the police, who arrest and handcuff her. A male cop body searches her in public. When she asks for a female officer, he grabs your daughter by the hair and slams her head against the police car so hard it dents the hood. She is then taken to a holding cell where other officers mock her while she cries.

Imagine your spouse is kidnapped by a violent criminal. He ties her up with electrical cords, sexually assaults her, and then stabs her. She manages to struggle free, but can't open the door because her hands are too slippery with her own blood. Against all odds, she survives, and a year later, at the trial, the prosecutor and the judge decide to lock up your wife because they want to ensure she is available to testify. She is put in the same remand centre as the man who raped and stabbed her. They share the same van to the courthouse.

Imagine the incandescent rage you would feel if this happened to your family. It's hard to, because these scenarios are so implausible they are almost impossible to conjure. If you're white, that is. If you're Indigenous, these are not hypothetical horror stories-they are simply descriptions of life in their Canada.

The first incident occurred in Thunder Bay; it is taken from the testimony of an Indigenous girl named Skye Kakegamic speaking at a coroner's inquiry into the deaths of several First Nations teens. The mayor, Keith Hobbs, has downplayed the extent of the racism problem in Thunder Bay, arguing racism exists in all cities but what's important is to street proof kids.

The second took place in Edmonton. Angela Cardinal (the name used by the CBC due to a court publication ban) was remanded by provincial court Judge Raymond Bodnarek at the request of Crown prosecutor Patricia Innes. They were both simply concerned about the victims' mental and physical state as she testified in court, and sent her to jail for her own good.

Innes, Bodnarek, Hobbs, me, you-we all live in a country where the police are there to help, the courts are just, and life on the whole is safe and rewarding. But Cardinal and Kakegamic live in a different Canada.

Most of us don't see that Canada. It has an unemployment rate worse than Sudan and the median income is on par with Latvia. There, the infant mortality rate is worse than Russia. The sewage systems often don't work, and there is no fire department. Medical facilities are few and far away. Drug and alcohol addictions are rampant. TB is at epidemic levels, and the rate of HIV infection is higher than Nigeria's. This is a Canada of broken windows in tarpaper shacks.

No, our Canada is a different place. In high school when we sneak some beer the police don't beat us. Our wives don't live in fear of sexual assault, and the justice system treats us with compassion. Life is good. By every measure, our Canada is one of the safest, healthiest and most prosperous places in the world. Sitting on our backyard decks, barbecuing steaks for dinner, we're a very long ways from the other Canada.

And you can be forgiven, I suppose, for not really caring about that other Canada. How can you? You don't see it. You don't know anyone who lives there. You rarely hear about it on the news, and when you do, the Prime Minister or some other politician is always there to reassure us they really care and they're making things better. There will even be a few Hoop Dancers on the Canada Day stage, because we're very inclusive and sensitive in this Canada. So sensitive, in fact, that when someone satirically proposes a cultural appropriation prize, we are collectively incensed. Things like that aren't tolerated in our Canada.

Meanwhile, in the other Canada, Angela Cardinal was shot and killed seven months after her ordeal in the courthouse. In the other Canada there are 89 communities without safe drinking water. A child is more likely to be sexually assaulted than to graduate high school. The murder rate is worse than Somalia's and the incarceration rate is the highest in the world. Imagine if that was your Canada. Imagine your rage if your children lived there.

Imagine if you cared.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that the mayor of Thunder Bay, Keith Hobbs, told media there isn't a racism problem in his city. In fact, Hobbs said that racism exists in Thunder Bay and all cities.

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The Canada most people don't see - Macleans.ca

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It has an unemployment rate worse than Sudan. The infant mortality rate is worse than Russia. And the injustice is appalling. Imagine your daughter, 15 years old, sneaks some booze and gets drunk for the first time. She is found by the police, who arrest and handcuff her.

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"How Chanie Wenjack chose Jospeh Boyden",  by Joseph Boyden
Guiding Question:   Boyden refers to Canada as a haunted house.   Explain the efforts of artists such as Boyden, Jeff Lemire, and Gord Downie to "exorcise demons" so we don't have to live in a haunted house any more.
From Maclean's magazine, an article written by Boyden himself that describes and explains the artistic explosion surrounding last year's  50th anniversary of Chanie Wenjack's death.

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The story has all the hallmarks of great tragedy: an innocent boy lost in the vast wilds of northern Ontario in late October. He's desperately trying to make his way home as the weather begins its brutal turn. Underdressed for these harsh wilds and with nothing but a few matches in his pocket, he's starved and shivering. He's driven by the simple desire to be back home with his parents and sisters and two beloved dogs. But what's most frightening is that the boy is pursued by a dark and sick menace even as his illness-wracked body begins to weaken. What this poor child doesn't understand as he limps along a lonely stretch of railroad tracks, night falling and a hard sleet pelting his wretched form, is that home is an impossible 600 km away.

What makes this story even more tragic is that it's true. The boy's name was Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Ojibwe boy who was found dead beside that lonely stretch of railroad tracks 50 years ago, on Oct. 22, 1966. He'd run away from Cecelia Jeffreys Industrial Indian School a number of days before, on Oct. 16, a Sunday, with two friends who were brothers. None of them had planned this escape on that unseasonably warm autumn afternoon, scrambling over a chain link fence and then following a secret path so many of the schoolchildren had used before to skirt around the town of Kenora and into the bush in their attempts to just get home. All to this point had returned voluntarily or had been caught, but Chanie and the two brothers were especially driven.

A few years ago now, Mike Downie, the brother of the Tragically Hip's singer Gord Downie, found an article written in this very magazine way back in 1967; he introduced it to Gord, and then Gord to me. The author, Ian Adams, deftly recounts Chanie's escape and sad demise, as well as the ensuing public inquiry into his death, the first that I am aware of in Canada in regards to these schools. The all-white jury came to a number of conclusions, including this: "The Indian education system causes tremendous emotional and adjustment problems." The jury also requested that "a study be made of the present Indian education and philosophy," asking, simply, "Is it right?" I'm not sure who in provincial or federal government ever read any of these findings. I assume it didn't make its way up many chains of command at all. It took 30 years after Chanie's death for the last residential school in this country to close its doors, in 1996.

MORE: Read the story that inspired it all

I don't want to assume much on Gord's behalf, but I think it's safe to say that the image of this little boy just trying to get home haunted him as much as it did me. Mike and Gord and I bandied about a few ideas for a short time, a possible collaboration of some kind-maybe a small book followed by a film-but ultimately we ended up going into our own creative corners to work individually, keeping each other abreast of what we were doing. It was Gord who was first struck by the idea of creating something that could be released on the 50th anniversary of Chanie's passing. Gord, along with powerhouse musicians Kevin Drew, Kevin Hearn and others went into the studio and created Secret Path, a sparse and gorgeous 10-song record encompassing poems Gord had written about Chanie. Gord then asked the acclaimed graphic novelist and artist Jeff Lemire to create a book in images, telling the story on the page that acts as a beautiful new dimension while listening to the record.

In my own corner, I'd been working on a novel called Seven Matches I hoped to finish in time for an October 2016 release date. I got so close, but realized that if I pushed too hard and too fast it wasn't going to work. Once you put a novel into the world, you can't just clear your throat and excuse yourself and ask for it back so you can make it better. After months of rushing to try and finish it, with nights of lost sleep and worrying my fingernails to the quick as my deadline approached, my brilliant friend and publisher, Nicole Winstanley at Penguin, sat down with me and gently urged me to take a breath and a step back. She knows me well. She could feel my stress.

She understood the conundrum: not only were Gord and artistic company putting out Secret Path in the coming October, but I had asked a few amazing Indigenous friends if they'd create their own pieces as well. The Metis filmmaker Terril Calder was hard at work on her haunting stop motion film called Keewaydeh, and the DJ collective and genius music makers A Tribe Called Red had also come on board and included some spoken word tracks on their album We Are The Halluci Nation, dedicated to the young boy. And here I was, lamely about to tell everyone that I just couldn't get that novel done in time.

The idea of a number of artists of different backgrounds releasing their works into the world on the 50th anniversary of that boy's passing, was too important to give up on.

We'd all agreed to release our creations unannounced near Chanie's anniversary, maybe create a ripple effect as we got most Canadians to hear his name from many different quarters and for the first time, a name so familiar and yet so foreign on an English tongue. Wenjack? Wenjack. What does it mean? Who is he? All involved and toiling on our projects want Canadians to feel our gathered breath as each of us, in our own small way, try to breathe back life into a child who died so unnecessarily, so tragically, and almost, almost forgotten.

Nicole suggested I write a long story, a novella, in commemoration instead. Nicole's never steered me wrong. And the act of being channeled by the boy named Chanie Wenjack and by the manitous, the spirits of the forest who follow him and comment upon his plight, made me fall back in love with the act of writing again.

But why this particular boy? Why did we all choose to make Chanie Wenjack our focus when the brutal fact of the matter is that we had literally thousands of Indigenous children who also perished in residential schools we might have morbidly considered? I'm being asked this a lot this last week or so. I can only answer this question for myself. All I can say is this: I believe that Chanie Wenjack chose me, and not me him. Only a single photo of Chanie exists, a photo that his sister Pearl was kind enough and tough enough and giving enough to share. A sepia-toned and worn print of a young Ojibwe boy with black, tussled hair, the boy leaning slightly on a pine wall outside somewhere north, with one skinny leg crossed over the other all casual, his rubber boots too big for him and his hands held together in the slight grip we all sometimes do that betrays a bit of nervousness, possibly, at being photographed. But what's most striking in the photo is his face. Sweetness is the word that comes to me when I stare at it. His eyes are slightly narrowed and his round cheeks highlight a smile that tells you everything you need to know. He's good. He's kind. He's shy. He's going to be something great one day. He already is, and I can just bet that he makes every one of his family feel a tinge of warmth, of happiness, when he walks into a room. Chanie's smile chose me. It dared me to try and decipher him. Chanie Wenjack's cruel and unnecessary death 50 years ago, I realize, isn't a story of innocence lost. It is Canada's story of innocence violently taken.

MORE: Chanie Wenjack wasn't the only runaway. Read the stories of two more boys.

Why Chanie Wenjack, you might still ask? Because Canada is a haunted house. A really smart man I know named Stephen Marche dropped that line on me one day awhile back. It felt like he'd pulled the pin from a grenade and casually dropped it in my lap. Canada is a haunted house. He didn't explain anything else or ask me for anything in return, just said this and left it for me to either defuse or let explode. I've been thinking about this a lot the last while.

Another friend, the Kwagiulth artist Carey Newman, challenged me further to explore this. This is what I feel: we Canadians have a lot of bones in our basements. Secrets in our attics. Stains on our bedsheets that we've carelessly flung into the hamper and left to fester. The sepia glimpse of a sullen Cree child's face at her school desk when we walk our own kid to school on a brilliant autumn morning. The flash of an Inuit boy dead by his own hand forcing us to close our closet door too fast. The weeping of a young Sto:lo girl left raped and bleeding by her teacher chasing us up from our darkened laundry room.

Maybe the statement needs to become a question: do we want to live in a haunted house for the rest of our lives?

The time for a national reckoning has arrived. The original peoples of Canada have suffered through a multi-generational cultural genocide. We have experienced genocide as if it's a tsunami in slow motion. We have witnessed a brutal tide rise up for seven generations, destroying homes, swallowing families, drowning our children.

But the Indigenous people of our country are nothing if not resilient. And patient. And tough. This tsunami has reached its high-water mark. It finally recedes. It is up to all of those who are brave enough, resourceful enough, kind enough, tough enough; it is up to the artists, but also the construction workers and doctors and cab drivers and lawyers and the unemployed, the cops and baristas and housewives and fathers-to-be, to become the beachcombers of this nation, to wander the wrecked shorelines and gather the remnants, the glittering detritus of so many destroyed lives and begin to help in patching it back together again. We all know that it won't be as it once was. We can't go home that way again.

Maybe, though, maybe, something like the many retellings of Chanie Wenjack's life, or the gorgeously subversive paintings of Kent Monkman, or Carey Newman's Witness Blanket Project, or Gord Downie's Secret Path, or Katherine Vermette's The Break will show all of us not just what was lost but also what hasn't been lost. Can't be taken away. Perhaps there is such a thing as an exorcism through art.

The great tragedy, the great stain of our country, is that Chanie's story is shared by thousands of Indigenous families across our country. Thousands of children were forcefully ripped from their homes and their parents and their languages and religions and songs and siblings and cultures, only to die while in the custody of strangers sworn to their care. Chanie Wenjack isn't alone. This needs repeating: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has collected the names of thousands of children who perished while in these schools and never returned home. The TRC fears the number may be as high as 30,000.

Please, I ask you, dear reader, don't skip over that number. Please contemplate it. Take the time and effort to count out 1,000 pennies and then toss them onto the floor of your kitchen. Then do it many more times. On the next clear night, sit with your own child under the dizzying array of stars and begin counting till you both become too tired. And do this every clear evening for a whole summer. Pick up where you left off and continue it the next summers again. Perhaps sit down one day soon and begin to read the names of the children the TRC has collected so far. Whisper them, shout them, absorb them. Just don't let them be forgotten. Think of them as your own children. But for Chanie's sake, and the sakes of so many thousands more, let's all decide not to live in a haunted house any longer.
Chanie Wenjack wasn't alone. We've told the tragic and forgotten stories of two more boys escaping residential school. With your help, we can tell more. Find out how, here.

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How Chanie Wenjack chose Joseph Boyden - Macleans.ca

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The story has all the hallmarks of great tragedy: an innocent boy lost in the vast wilds of northern Ontario in late October. He's desperately trying to make his way home as the weather begins its brutal turn. Underdressed for these harsh wilds and with nothing but a few matches in his pocket, he's starved and shivering.