A Girl Called Echo
with Katherena Vermette
Hosted by David Alexander Robertson Podcast Fiction History Youth
Admission
Free
Is enthralled the correct word when describing such a dark chapter in Métis dispossession, along the road allowances in the western prairies? Or is enraging more apt? Or maybe brilliant blinding beauty? Because that's what Vermette has achieved here.
We celebrate Katherena Vermette’s graphic novel series, A Girl Called Echo, on the occasion of the fourth volume’s publication. The Governor General’s Award winning Métis writer from Treaty 1 territory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, sits down with fellow Winnipeg GG winner David Alexander Robertson, author of the acclaimed Misewa Saga and numerous graphic novels, including Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story.
In Vermette’s Road Allowance Era, Echo’s story picks up again when she travels back in time to 1885. The government has not fulfilled its promise of land for the Métis, and many flee to the Northwest. As part of the fallout from the Northwest Resistance, their advocate and champion Louis Riel is executed. As new legislation corrodes Métis land rights, and unscrupulous land speculators and swindlers take advantage, many Métis settle on road allowances and railway land, often on the fringes of urban centres.
For Echo, the plight of her family is apparent. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine, they make their way to Rooster Town, a shanty community on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final instalment of her story, Echo is reminded of the strength and resilience of her people, forged through the loss and pain of the past, as she faces a triumphant future.
Books are available from our friends at Perfect Books .
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