Spirit of the Grassroots People
Seeking Justice for Indigenous Survivors of Canada's Colonial Education System
A compelling memoir by a survivor of the Indian residential and day school system who fought for justice on behalf of Indigenous people.
Description
Raymond Mason is an Ojibway activist who campaigns for the rights of residential school survivors and a founder of Spirit Wind, an organization that played a key role in the development of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. This memoir offers a firsthand account of the personal and political challenges Mason confronted on this journey. A riveting and at times harrowing read, Spirit of the Grassroots People describes the author's experiences in Indian day and residential schools in Manitoba and his struggles to find meaning in life after trauma and abuse. Mason details the work that he and his colleagues did over many years to gain recognition and compensation for their suffering. Drawing from Indigenous oral traditions as well as Western historiography, the work applies the concept of two-eyed seeing to the histories of colonialism and education in Canada. The memoir is supplemented by a final chapter in which Theodore Michael Christou and Jackson Pind put Mason's story into a historical and educational context. An essential key to understanding the legacy of Indian residential and day schools, this text is both a documentation of history and a deeply personal story of a human experience.
Reviews
“Accounts such as Mason's are vital to help us understand fully the struggle to achieve justice for school abuse survivors. There is a role for smaller groups of advocates in the battle, even if they do not get much attention. As Mason says, "everyone, whatever their efforts were, big or small, had a part in bringing about the Indian Residential School Survivors' Agreement … we all had a part in the success of the bigger victory.” The work of Reconciliation Canada, the National Indian Residential School Survivors Society, and Mi'kmaq groups created pressure that made the federal government and churches more willing to listen. It is useful to have accounts like Spirit of the Grassroots People to make us aware of those contributions.” Canadian Historical Review
"This is an important story for all Canadians. In sharing his story publicly, Raymond Mason is speaking on behalf of countless survivors. The story is one of advocacy as well as personal experience." Tricia Logan, Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, University of British Columbia