Inside Out: An Autobiography of a Native Canadian

by James Tyman

What causes Native Canadians to be disproportionately represented in the prisons, unemployment lines and welfare lists, in the drunk tanks and the morgues? Inside Out is one story behind the stereotypes - the autobiography of a young Native man, James Tyman, who grew up with racism, turned to crime and self-destruction, and ended up in jail. Repeatedly. At age 24, in prison for a two-year stretch, James Tyman realized he was going nowhere and began to wonder why. In six weeks he wrote Inside Out , a powerful record of his own voyages of self-discovery, and an open letter to the people of Canada telling how his life has been shaped - and almost ended - by troubling aspects of our society. James Tyman's story raises important questions - about adoption of Native children into white families, about the legal and penal systems, about drugs, prostitution, and life on the street in Canada's urban centres. First published in 1989, Inside Out became a national bestseller and earned critical acclaim across Canada.

Genres: Nonfiction

225 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

Reviews

[Kelley Baron]

This book is an essential read for any Canadian, but especially anyone growing up in the Prairie provinces.

James’ childhood memories of how he made sense of his Indigenous identity, family circumstances and sense of belonging paint a clear picture of the confusion that children growing up outside of their culture/community experience.

I’ve bought about 10-15 of these books and give them out to anyone that will take them. If you are looking to understand inequality in Canada/Saskatchewan - read this book. If anyone has any idea where James is today, I’d love to have an update!

[Reading reader :)]

I had every intention to not finish this book if my life depended on it, simply because I was supposed to read it to do a book report on at the end of the month — which isn’t something I knew when I picked up the book and started to read it. At first it was meant to only kill time. But the story of James Tyman caught my attention, not only because I experience racism first hand from being aboriginal, but because I have heard how much worse it had been in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

Coming from his real life events, the story is a great read if you can relate to the author, or even if you like this type of story. Nothing is sugar coated for the reader and is usually told straight as it is.

Although I had the intentions of not finishing the book, I ended up finishing the next half of the book within hours. It’s an easy read (though some parts can make you feel frustrated for James), so with that last note, I recommend it.

[Sara]

Really sad and disturbing to read about all of the racism and discrimination native canadians faced in the 60's, 70's and 80's. Hope that it is better today. Would be really good for an english class with lots of aboriginal students. The main character is sympathetic and engaging, and it is written in a very direct, simple manner. As long as you can stand some bad language and sexual and violent content, this book deals with some of the real issues our aboriginal people will still face today.

[Jaime M]

I finished this book after buying it second hand at a closing out sale. I was surprised to see that it was written in 1978. The year I was born. There are not many autobiographies about Indigenous people in Canada at that time so his story is quite important. His voice in the world at that time includes experiences of adoption, racism, troubles with the law & delinquent behaviour leading to incarceration and a life he never wanted for himself. He does seem to be a bit of a mystery - I couldn’t find any updates about him online.

[Gordon Fiddler]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I too have a similar experience yet I was in both Provincial and Federal sentences with a total a 2 years less a day in 95, 2 years in 97 then 8 years 10 months. All for Arson related charges. I called my unpublished pdf book 'Smothering the Rage. I am both a 60's Scoop Survivor and Day School Survivor. My late Uncle Garry McLean was the one who got the $2.1B McLean Day School Settlement going before dying of cancer in February 2019.

[Hari Singh]

My childhood friend growing up in the Fort. It hurts to see what happened to hi