The story is told in first person, forcing the reader to experience the atrocities through the protagonist’s eyes. This novel explores the life of Saul Indian Horse, an Ojibway boy who is telling his own story so that he can reclaim it. It is easy to see the news and think that you’re knowledgeable about an issue, but it isn’t until you hear the raw stories from the affected people themselves when you truly begin to put the pieces together.
But fiction has proven to be powerful truth. Our response begins and ends with “oh no, that’s terrible”, and then we go on with our lives because we have the privilege to do so. Reducing these experiences to numbers and headlines has allowed us to distance ourselves from the issues prevalent within First Nations communities because we don’t feel anything for numbers or headlines. I knew of these statistics before, but it wasn’t until I read Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse that it became a visceral reality instead of just statistical fact. The statistics are even higher for Inuit peoples, which are indeed among the highest in the world. The reality is that First Nations youth are dying by their own hands approximately 5 times more often than non-Indigenous youth. However, there is still a crucial aspect to the conversation that has been pushed aside. The progress is fantastic, especially when I look back on my first year at Acadia compared to now. With Bell Let’s Talk day and Acadia Mental Health Week recently passing, campus has been putting forth fantastic effort in addressing mental health stigma and promoting self-care.
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