North of Nowhere: Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner

A few words from Marie: 

“The opportunity to present samples of my writing to fellow cohort members, and their feedback and advice, helped me begin to identify my own voice as the primary character in the story I was trying to tell. This dramatically changed the perspective of my storytelling from third person (documentary) to first person (memoir). I was also able to develop a general structure and approach to the book, two draft chapters, and a summary description. These later proved valuable to attracting several potential publishers, including the one that eventually contracted to work with me, House of Anansi Press.”

Quote from North of Nowhere: 

“We were jus’ little kids. They were supposed to take care of us and look after us really good, but no, they were jus’ ever mean to us and didn’t treat us ever good, or nice, or anything.”  I heard these words in a hot, steamy room as snow evaporated from oversized boots, mukluks, and moccasins, the air thick with the intermingling smoky smells of tanned moosehide, wood stove and tobacco. People and parkas were jammed into a modest hall in a northern Dene community on a cold, subarctic winter day, standing, sitting and crouching along its walls. There were hundreds of them, all reverently hushed to hear the stories of their family and community members. All day and into the early darkness of a northern night, many of them shared their stories for the very first time, stories of heartbroken childhoods like the one I have just remembered as if it were still unfolding…How did I, of all people, find myself in such rooms? And what in my own life prepared me to hold the sacred trust of all that unfolded? As a woman, wife, mother, and grandmother; as a teacher and a journalist; from the narrow confines of a small town in southern Canada to the main stages of redefining our country, this is the song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner.”

Synopsis:

The incomparable first-hand account of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada told by one of the commissioners who led it.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to record the previously hidden history of more than a century of forced residential schooling for Indigenous children. Marie Wilson helped lead that work as one of just three commissioners. With the skills of a journalist, the heart of a mother and grandmother, and the insights of a life as the spouse of a residential school survivor, Commissioner Wilson guides readers through her years witnessing survivor testimony across the country, providing her unique perspective on the personal toll and enduring public value of the commission. In this unparalleled account, she honours the voices of survivors who have called Canada to attention, determined to heal, reclaim, and thrive.

Part vital public documentary, part probing memoir, North of Nowhere breathes fresh air into the possibilities of reconciliation amid the persistent legacy of residential schools. It is a call to everyone to view the important and continuing work of reconciliation not as an obligation but as a gift.