Concentration Camps of Canada
In late 19th-century Canada, residential schools were created for the sole purpose of removing indigenous children from their homes in order to teach them how to assimilate to Canadian culture—thus stripping them of their own cultures, religions, beliefs, and languages—through physical, emotional, and sometimes, sexual abuse.
The Deschauers’ novel follows the life of Migizi, a Native American boy who has just entered a residential school and is immediately given the Anglicized name David as the first step in removing his culture from him. Through Migizi’s story, which is an amalgamation of the true stories of many indigenous peoples in Canadian history, the reader is taken through the assimilation process alongside him in all its heartbreaking detail. We witness the abuses inflicted upon Migizi, his life in the school and on the reserve, and later on during his time in the service during the Second World War.
While labeled as a young adult novel, the material on these pages may be too vivid and disturbing for many younger readers. Not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination, it is, however, an important small novel for the light it sheds on a time in Canadian history that many people are unaware of.
In this slim novel, the plot and action move quickly, often highlighting very specific points in Migizi’s history in an effort to make a point about the tragedy inflicted on the lives of indigenous peoples. At times, this feels forced and too intentional in order to manipulate the readers’ emotions. The truths behind these stories are heartbreaking enough on their own, and I wonder if this book would have had a greater impact if it was written as a history of these schools rather than a fictional account.
