Join the Selwyn House community in reading Valley of the Birdtail: an Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation, co-authored by Andrew Stobo Sniderman, Class of 2001, and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii).
As part of the school’s commitment to Indigenization, we invite all parents, staff, alumni, former staff, past parents and friends of the school to join us in discovering more about Canada’s history through this award-winning and bestselling book.
In recognition of National Indigenous History Month, Andrew and Douglas will culminate the book club in June with a live Q & A and discussion on the main themes of the book and address how we can all take action towards reconciliation.
This Book Club event will be held at Selwyn House School - June 4, 2024 at 7 p.m. Click here to join!
If you are local (living in Montreal), you may pick up a copy of the book at reception for $20 cash during school hours.
Synopsis:
A heart-rending true story about racism and reconciliation Divided by a beautiful valley and 150 years of racism, the town of Rossburn and the Waywayseecappo Indian reserve have been neighbours nearly as long as Canada has been a country. Their story reflects much of what has gone wrong in relations between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians. It also offers, in the end, an uncommon measure of hope. Valley of the Birdtail is about how two communities became separate and unequal—and what it means for the rest of us. In Rossburn, once settled by Ukrainian immigrants who fled poverty and persecution, family income is near the national average and more than a third of adults have graduated from university. In Waywayseecappo, the average family lives below the national poverty line and less than a third of adults have graduated from high school, with many haunted by their time in residential schools. This book follows multiple generations of two families, one white and one Indigenous, and weaves their lives into the larger story of Canada. It is a story of villains and heroes, irony and idealism, racism and reconciliation. Valley of the Birdtail has the ambition to change the way we think about our past and show a path to a better future.
https://www.harpercollins.ca/9781443466301/valley-of-the-birdtail/
A heart-rending true story about racism and reconciliation Divided by a beautiful valley and 150 years of racism, the town of Rossburn and the Waywayseecappo Indian reserve have been neighbours nearly as long as Canada has been a country. Their story reflects much of what has gone wrong in relations between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians. It also offers, in the end, an uncommon measure of hope. Valley of the Birdtail is about how two communities became separate and unequal—and what it means for the rest of us. In Rossburn, once settled by Ukrainian immigrants who fled poverty and persecution, family income is near the national average and more than a third of adults have graduated from university. In Waywayseecappo, the average family lives below the national poverty line and less than a third of adults have graduated from high school, with many haunted by their time in residential schools. This book follows multiple generations of two families, one white and one Indigenous, and weaves their lives into the larger story of Canada. It is a story of villains and heroes, irony and idealism, racism and reconciliation. Valley of the Birdtail has the ambition to change the way we think about our past and show a path to a better future.
https://www.harpercollins.ca/
