A Just Allotment of Memory: Witnessing First Nations Testimony in Isabelle Knockwood’s Out of the Depths

• Published in: Journal of Canadian Studies
• Main Author: Hulan, Renée
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 2012
• Subjects: History; Cultural Studies; First Nations; Mi’kmaw
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.46.1.53; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.46.1.53

Isabelle Knockwood’s memoir, Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi’kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, documents the testimony of survivors, educates non-Aboriginal readers, and reconnects the Mi’kmaw reader to traditional ways of knowing. This essay reconsiders the reception of Out of the Depths by contrasting scepticism towards historical representation with the objectives of survivors to offer testimony and document First Nations experience. In contrast to the Canadian government’s efforts to put the past behind us, the essay advocates the memoir as a model for understanding the living legacy of residential schools.