I’d consider them a must read for all ages, and easily accessible and appropriate for most children 8 and older. They are gorgeously illustrated, stock full of real photographs of Margaret and her family, and tell a compelling story of the young Margaret’s true story of her time during and after residential school. The four books that I read with my children (ages 8 and 12) this year on the topic were Fatty Legs and it’s sequel A Stranger at Home both by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton. It made it easier for me to commit to a topic that I knew would be emotionally difficult.

And I wanted to include my children in this reading and this learning so I started with youth fiction. One of the ways I chose to begin the process this year was to read about it. History is important because it allows us as a people to look at the dark aspects of our history to make our way toward a lighter future. This lack of knowledge has serious consequences for First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples and for Canada,” counsels the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in their Final Report. How does one take on such an enormous task of try to make better-or even understand-a system like residential school? It feels like an enormous task but one as an immigrant and as a mother that I want to take seriously. “Too many Canadians know little or nothing about the deep historical roots of these conflicts.

At the ceremony, the judge encouraged all of us new Canadians to make the act of reconciliation personal and spoke about how she was doing that in her life. I was reminded that it is a legacy that continues to shade aspects of Canadian culture and identity for all Canadians this year when I became a citizen. Children as young as four were taken-often against the will of their families or with coercive techniques such as threatening jail time-and it is estimated that over 150,000 Indian, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential school. The indigenous residential schools operated in Canada starting in the 1870s with the last one not closing until1996. that such things were happened and had happened just north of the border. As an immigrant to Canada, I was shocked to learn about the Canadian legacy of residential schools.

These are my words ruby slipperjack