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The Knowing: •How the Oppression of Indigenous Peoples Continues to Echo Today
“A masterwork by one of our most essential storytellers.”—Jesse Wente, author of
Unreconciled
From award-winning and bestselling Anishinaabe author Tanya Talaga comes a riveting exploration of the dark history of residential schools, “Indian hospitals” and asylums
For generations, Indigenous People have known that their family members disappeared, many of them after being consigned to a coordinated system devised to destroy who the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are. This is an open secret, an unhealed wound that until recently lay hidden by shame and abandonment.
The Knowing is the unfolding of history unlike anything we have ever seen before. Tanya Talaga retells her story as only she can—through an Indigenous lens, beginning with the life of her great-great-grandmother Annie Carpenter and her family as they experienced decades of government- and Church-sanctioned enfranchisement and genocide.
Deeply personal and meticulously researched, The Knowing is a seminal unraveling of the centuries-long oppression of Indigenous People that continues to reverberate in these communities today.
“Harrowing, illuminating and necessary reading.”—Carol Off, author of At a Loss for Words
From award-winning and bestselling Anishinaabe author Tanya Talaga comes a riveting exploration of the dark history of residential schools, “Indian hospitals” and asylums
For generations, Indigenous People have known that their family members disappeared, many of them after being consigned to a coordinated system devised to destroy who the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are. This is an open secret, an unhealed wound that until recently lay hidden by shame and abandonment.
The Knowing is the unfolding of history unlike anything we have ever seen before. Tanya Talaga retells her story as only she can—through an Indigenous lens, beginning with the life of her great-great-grandmother Annie Carpenter and her family as they experienced decades of government- and Church-sanctioned enfranchisement and genocide.
Deeply personal and meticulously researched, The Knowing is a seminal unraveling of the centuries-long oppression of Indigenous People that continues to reverberate in these communities today.
“Harrowing, illuminating and necessary reading.”—Carol Off, author of At a Loss for Words
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First published February 15, 2024
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About the author
Tanya Talaga
5 books486 followersTanya Talaga is an Anishinaabe Canadian journalist and author.
Her 2017 book, Seven Fallen Feathers, won the RBC Taylor Prize, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult. The book was also a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize and the BC National Award for Nonfiction, and it was CBC’s Nonfiction Book of the Year, a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book, and a national bestseller. For more than twenty years she has been a journalist at the Toronto Star, and has been nominated five times for the Michener Award in public service journalism. She was also named the 2017–2018 Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy.
Talaga is of Polish and Indigenous descent. Her great-grandmother, Liz Gauthier, was a residential school survivor. Her great-grandfather, Russell Bowen, was an Ojibwe trapper and labourer. Her grandmother is a member of Fort William First Nation. Her mother was raised in Raith and Graham, Ontario. She lives in Toronto with her two teenage children.
Her 2017 book, Seven Fallen Feathers, won the RBC Taylor Prize, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult. The book was also a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize and the BC National Award for Nonfiction, and it was CBC’s Nonfiction Book of the Year, a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book, and a national bestseller. For more than twenty years she has been a journalist at the Toronto Star, and has been nominated five times for the Michener Award in public service journalism. She was also named the 2017–2018 Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy.
Talaga is of Polish and Indigenous descent. Her great-grandmother, Liz Gauthier, was a residential school survivor. Her great-grandfather, Russell Bowen, was an Ojibwe trapper and labourer. Her grandmother is a member of Fort William First Nation. Her mother was raised in Raith and Graham, Ontario. She lives in Toronto with her two teenage children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
April 29, 2025
There is a lot going on in Tanya Talaga's The Knowing. Unfortunately, I think there is too much going on. This book follows multiple stories but is somewhat centered on the author's search for more information on her great-great grandmother Annie. There is some memoir, some history, and some journalism all mixed together which is where the problems start.
I should take a moment to point out that I am a stickler for genres and some overarching rules about them which are not globally agreed upon. For example, when I am reading a story by a journalist or historian, I expect the author to be able to back everything up with facts and viewpoints from solid primary sources. The author's perception of events should be minimized as much as possible. To use an old adage, "just the facts." On the other hand, for a memoir, I am much more open to interpretation, faulty memories, and the unleashing of feelings with colorful and sometimes over the top language. For the rest of this review, please keep this in mind. If you aren't bothered by some genre blending, then you may wholeheartedly disagree with me.
The mixing of the genres is my problem with the overall narrative. Talaga the journalist/historian presents some enraging and heartbreaking statistics. When she is in journalism/historian mode, the sheer injustice of what was done to the Indigenous people of the text. Talaga doesn't even need to explain many of these numbers, such as the percent of children in the foster care system who are Indigenous. Admittedly, some historical sections seem misplaced, but if the book was just this then I'd have enjoyed it much more.
Unfortunately, dropping memoir sections in here causes a myriad of problems. First, Talaga the memoirist will make sweeping pronouncements which are not based in facts and are pure conjecture or even excessive exaggeration. Second, the tonal whiplash means you never know what style you are getting from page to page. Again, if the book were entirely memoir, I could have gotten on board. She has a visceral and righteous anger that she vents in these sections, and they would hit home much better the narrative didn't quickly switch to a history of Canada with far flung and tenuous connections to her family.
There is a tremendous amount of important information and excellent work by Talaga within this book. The mixture of too many ideas ultimately sinks the overall narrative, though.
(This book was provided an an advance reader copy by NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing.)
I should take a moment to point out that I am a stickler for genres and some overarching rules about them which are not globally agreed upon. For example, when I am reading a story by a journalist or historian, I expect the author to be able to back everything up with facts and viewpoints from solid primary sources. The author's perception of events should be minimized as much as possible. To use an old adage, "just the facts." On the other hand, for a memoir, I am much more open to interpretation, faulty memories, and the unleashing of feelings with colorful and sometimes over the top language. For the rest of this review, please keep this in mind. If you aren't bothered by some genre blending, then you may wholeheartedly disagree with me.
The mixing of the genres is my problem with the overall narrative. Talaga the journalist/historian presents some enraging and heartbreaking statistics. When she is in journalism/historian mode, the sheer injustice of what was done to the Indigenous people of the text. Talaga doesn't even need to explain many of these numbers, such as the percent of children in the foster care system who are Indigenous. Admittedly, some historical sections seem misplaced, but if the book was just this then I'd have enjoyed it much more.
Unfortunately, dropping memoir sections in here causes a myriad of problems. First, Talaga the memoirist will make sweeping pronouncements which are not based in facts and are pure conjecture or even excessive exaggeration. Second, the tonal whiplash means you never know what style you are getting from page to page. Again, if the book were entirely memoir, I could have gotten on board. She has a visceral and righteous anger that she vents in these sections, and they would hit home much better the narrative didn't quickly switch to a history of Canada with far flung and tenuous connections to her family.
There is a tremendous amount of important information and excellent work by Talaga within this book. The mixture of too many ideas ultimately sinks the overall narrative, though.
(This book was provided an an advance reader copy by NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing.)
September 14, 2024
Meticulously researched. Heartbreakingly told. There were more than a few times where I set the book down and just sat in silence. Talaga's anger forcefully comes through her writing and rightfully so. An important book for Canadians and really, for everyone, to read.
September 13, 2024
If you're just starting out trying to understand the history and impact of residential schools, this would be a great book to begin with.
Talaga recounts a journey of discovering her great-great-grandmother and along the way incorporates the history and legacy of Canada's Residential Schools. As she details the history of her family, she provides background information through a very personal lens. Reading this book emphasizes very clearly just how personal this matter is to the survivors of Residential schools and colonization.
Talaga is eloquent. As she goes through her journey, one cannot help but walk alongside her. It is a book full of poignant moments, sad moments, horrifying moments, and angry moments. These are all emotions that we as settler society must feel ourselves if we really want to see reconciliation.
Especially moving were the chapters on the two apology statements by Pope Francis. Talaga was in Rome for the first and also present when Francis went to Alberta to address First Nations, Inuit, and Métis survivors. I could not help but share in Talaga's moments of frustration and disappointment in the Pontiff's apologies.
To understand the impact of Residential schools, we must hear Indigenous voices. We cannot adequately understand the matter by feasting upon ill-informed on-line news sources, or worse, opinions from people outside of Canada who don't entirely understand. Talaga's voice is one I find valuable.
Talaga recounts a journey of discovering her great-great-grandmother and along the way incorporates the history and legacy of Canada's Residential Schools. As she details the history of her family, she provides background information through a very personal lens. Reading this book emphasizes very clearly just how personal this matter is to the survivors of Residential schools and colonization.
Talaga is eloquent. As she goes through her journey, one cannot help but walk alongside her. It is a book full of poignant moments, sad moments, horrifying moments, and angry moments. These are all emotions that we as settler society must feel ourselves if we really want to see reconciliation.
Especially moving were the chapters on the two apology statements by Pope Francis. Talaga was in Rome for the first and also present when Francis went to Alberta to address First Nations, Inuit, and Métis survivors. I could not help but share in Talaga's moments of frustration and disappointment in the Pontiff's apologies.
To understand the impact of Residential schools, we must hear Indigenous voices. We cannot adequately understand the matter by feasting upon ill-informed on-line news sources, or worse, opinions from people outside of Canada who don't entirely understand. Talaga's voice is one I find valuable.
August 10, 2025
I won’t mince words: The Knowing is essential reading for all non-Indigenous Canadians, and it should be required reading for teachers like myself. Tanya Talaga has written a history that is at times painful, at times healing, yet always powerful and true. After her impressive work in
Seven Fallen Feathers
and
All Our Relations
, her latest takes a far more personal approach to the story of Canada, reminding us that residential schools are not “in the past.” For a history book, The Knowing is remarkably grounded in the present. It is a book that should put to rest for all time the question of why we cannot just “move on” from the legacy created by colonization.
Content warning in this book, and therefore my review, for discussions of residential schools and colonization in Canada. Please take care while reading.
Put simply, The Knowing is an account of Talaga’s research into her great-great-grandmother, Annie Carpenter. Talaga was picking up where her Uncle Hank left off, attempting to learn more about Annie and her descendants. She enlists historians and knowledge keepers from communities across northern Ontario. She and others trawl through endless records from the government. She traces Annie’s movements across Ontario, and then she follows Annie’s descendants—many of them going into the residential school system. At the same time, she chronicles the discovery of unmarked graves in Kamloops (and then across Canada) on the sites of former residential schools, discussing it from her perspective as a journalist who was present for several key events.
I’ve read a lot about residential schools. That’s not a boast, just a fact I wanted to establish to underscore what I say next: this is the hardest book about residential schools that I have read. It is not the most explicit in terms of discussing the abuses that happened or the experiences of Survivors. It is not the most complete in its chronology of the system or its architecting by Macdonald, Scott, and others. But it is the hardest. In her retracing of Annie and her descendants, Talaga manages to portray the chaotic destructiveness of the various systems the federal and provincial governments created to dispossess and assimilate Indigenous peoples.
Here are two important takeaways: it’s all about the records. First, how hard they are to find. The government does not make it easy to access their records. Some records are in the hands of various churches or Churches, and again, they are not always forthcoming. So historians, journalists, and everyday people looking for answers must navigate a byzantine bureaucratic system. This is, in part, what stymied Uncle Hank for all those years (his residence in an “Indian hospital”—another way of institutionalizing Indigenous people—didn’t help either). Second, what the records, once you find them, reveal.
The disdain that drips from the letters between Indian agents responsible for various reserves. The irritation they feel that Indigenous people dared to move, to migrate and roam as their ancestors did, instead of staying on the reserve of their birth as allocated to them by the government. The way this inconveniences their administration of the government’s Treaty payment largesse—a whole $4 a year. It’s tempting to point to these artifacts and say, “See how these bureaucrats didn’t see Indigenous people as human, as equals?” as if this is an attitude of the past. Yet Talaga reminds us this attitude is still present today, whether we’re talking about social or housing workers or just everyday members of the public who question genocide and unmarked graves.
The Knowing is a complex story because the truth is a complex story. History is a complex story. When you try to sweep it all aside, to say, “That’s in the past. Move on,” you ignore the river cut into the rock by the flow of the past. The water moving down that river is coming at you now, in the present, and if you aren’t careful, you are the one who will be swept away.
I’m going to keep this review short. I don’t think I can do this book justice by diving deep on everything Talaga discusses. I don’t think I need to convince most people to read this book—I only hope that if you’re on the fence, maybe my review sways you. At times uncomfortable, at times unbearable, this is a story that must be borne so that we can carry it into the future and make something better from it.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
Content warning in this book, and therefore my review, for discussions of residential schools and colonization in Canada. Please take care while reading.
Put simply, The Knowing is an account of Talaga’s research into her great-great-grandmother, Annie Carpenter. Talaga was picking up where her Uncle Hank left off, attempting to learn more about Annie and her descendants. She enlists historians and knowledge keepers from communities across northern Ontario. She and others trawl through endless records from the government. She traces Annie’s movements across Ontario, and then she follows Annie’s descendants—many of them going into the residential school system. At the same time, she chronicles the discovery of unmarked graves in Kamloops (and then across Canada) on the sites of former residential schools, discussing it from her perspective as a journalist who was present for several key events.
I’ve read a lot about residential schools. That’s not a boast, just a fact I wanted to establish to underscore what I say next: this is the hardest book about residential schools that I have read. It is not the most explicit in terms of discussing the abuses that happened or the experiences of Survivors. It is not the most complete in its chronology of the system or its architecting by Macdonald, Scott, and others. But it is the hardest. In her retracing of Annie and her descendants, Talaga manages to portray the chaotic destructiveness of the various systems the federal and provincial governments created to dispossess and assimilate Indigenous peoples.
Here are two important takeaways: it’s all about the records. First, how hard they are to find. The government does not make it easy to access their records. Some records are in the hands of various churches or Churches, and again, they are not always forthcoming. So historians, journalists, and everyday people looking for answers must navigate a byzantine bureaucratic system. This is, in part, what stymied Uncle Hank for all those years (his residence in an “Indian hospital”—another way of institutionalizing Indigenous people—didn’t help either). Second, what the records, once you find them, reveal.
The disdain that drips from the letters between Indian agents responsible for various reserves. The irritation they feel that Indigenous people dared to move, to migrate and roam as their ancestors did, instead of staying on the reserve of their birth as allocated to them by the government. The way this inconveniences their administration of the government’s Treaty payment largesse—a whole $4 a year. It’s tempting to point to these artifacts and say, “See how these bureaucrats didn’t see Indigenous people as human, as equals?” as if this is an attitude of the past. Yet Talaga reminds us this attitude is still present today, whether we’re talking about social or housing workers or just everyday members of the public who question genocide and unmarked graves.
The Knowing is a complex story because the truth is a complex story. History is a complex story. When you try to sweep it all aside, to say, “That’s in the past. Move on,” you ignore the river cut into the rock by the flow of the past. The water moving down that river is coming at you now, in the present, and if you aren’t careful, you are the one who will be swept away.
I’m going to keep this review short. I don’t think I can do this book justice by diving deep on everything Talaga discusses. I don’t think I need to convince most people to read this book—I only hope that if you’re on the fence, maybe my review sways you. At times uncomfortable, at times unbearable, this is a story that must be borne so that we can carry it into the future and make something better from it.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
December 9, 2025
The Knowing by Tanya is one of those books that sits heavy on your heart long after you’ve finished the last page. Growing up in Canada, I learned pieces of this history in school, but reading this story, told with such raw honesty and emotional clarity, made the reality of what Indigenous communities endured feel painfully immediate. It’s one thing to study the facts, it’s another to feel them.
Tanya writes with a voice that is both fierce and deeply vulnerable. The way she shares generational trauma, identity, and survival is nothing short of powerful. This book bridges the gap between what many of us were taught and what truly happened. It forces you to sit with the heartbreak, the injustice, and the strength woven through every chapter.
What struck me most was how personal the story feels. You’re not just reading history, you’re witnessing lived experience. The resilience shown in the face of cruelty is both devastating and inspiring. It reminded me how much we were not taught growing up, and how important it is to keep listening, learning, and unlearning.
The Knowing is more than a memoir. It’s a call to awareness, empathy, and truth. I’m grateful I read it, and I hope more Canadians do. This is a story that deserves to be heard, felt, and remembered.
Tanya writes with a voice that is both fierce and deeply vulnerable. The way she shares generational trauma, identity, and survival is nothing short of powerful. This book bridges the gap between what many of us were taught and what truly happened. It forces you to sit with the heartbreak, the injustice, and the strength woven through every chapter.
What struck me most was how personal the story feels. You’re not just reading history, you’re witnessing lived experience. The resilience shown in the face of cruelty is both devastating and inspiring. It reminded me how much we were not taught growing up, and how important it is to keep listening, learning, and unlearning.
The Knowing is more than a memoir. It’s a call to awareness, empathy, and truth. I’m grateful I read it, and I hope more Canadians do. This is a story that deserves to be heard, felt, and remembered.
September 15, 2024
As with all of Talaga’s books, an important read for Canadians. I will say, I found this book had a lot of repetition in it: the same anecdote told several times throughout. I feel like it could have been 70 pages shorter and still told the whole story.
February 2, 2025
Tanya Talaga is an excellent journalist and writer, and you can tell she cares very deeply about the injustices she writes about. This book is an exploration of the residential school system, but the main focus is the complicated webs of her family history and how they intersect with residential schools. I think from the book's description, I expected it to be more about residential schools and less about her family but Talaga expertly weaves in and out the threads of both narratives. It's much more genealogy than you might think. In the journey to learn more about her family she grapples with a lot of issues faced by the systematic discarding and disappreciating of Indigenous archives and records along with the sexism baked into Canadian Indigenous law.
You also learn about funding for residential schools, and how many survivors are not covered by the federal settlement because the province funded them, as well as industrial, day and train schools. I highly recommend this because even if you learned about residential schools in class (which I know many people didn't), it skims the surface. She also doesn't shy away from how Christianity and christian churches harmed indigenous peoples, and how they deserve many more apologies than they've gotten from the Catholic church and the government.
I was very torn between four and five stars, but for now I think I'll leave it at four stars. I found the pacing to be a bit off, and I personally would have preferred a tighter focus on one aspect of the many that she covers. Still, these are not in any ways criticisms of her book, but rather personal preferences. I would highly recommend this - you'll likely learn a lot, and even if you're an expert on this aspect of history I have no doubt you will enjoy the tenderly explored stories of Talaga's maternal great-grandmother all the way to Talaga herself.
You also learn about funding for residential schools, and how many survivors are not covered by the federal settlement because the province funded them, as well as industrial, day and train schools. I highly recommend this because even if you learned about residential schools in class (which I know many people didn't), it skims the surface. She also doesn't shy away from how Christianity and christian churches harmed indigenous peoples, and how they deserve many more apologies than they've gotten from the Catholic church and the government.
I was very torn between four and five stars, but for now I think I'll leave it at four stars. I found the pacing to be a bit off, and I personally would have preferred a tighter focus on one aspect of the many that she covers. Still, these are not in any ways criticisms of her book, but rather personal preferences. I would highly recommend this - you'll likely learn a lot, and even if you're an expert on this aspect of history I have no doubt you will enjoy the tenderly explored stories of Talaga's maternal great-grandmother all the way to Talaga herself.
Read
May 22, 2025Due simply to the number of times it left my jaw on the floor, this book should be mandatory reading.
The Knowing perfectly blends a personal quest for locating one’s missing relatives with a historical accounting of and reckoning with the evils of the residential school system in Canada, the colonialism that paved the way for it, and the religious zealotry that kept it running for decades. Highly recommended.
The Knowing perfectly blends a personal quest for locating one’s missing relatives with a historical accounting of and reckoning with the evils of the residential school system in Canada, the colonialism that paved the way for it, and the religious zealotry that kept it running for decades. Highly recommended.
January 10, 2025
I'm almost speechless. This book is AMAZING! I've been impressed with Tanya Talaga since reading Seven Fallen Feathers, but this is at a whole new level. I know when I read Thomas King's "An Inconvenient Indian," I said that the book should be considered required reading for all Canadians in schools and beyond, and this book is right there with it.
This book gives a extremely detailed, meticulously researched account of Canada's beginnings and how it's creation lead to the deplorable treatment of Indigenous people through government- and church-sanctioned enfranchisement and genocide - beginning with Tanya Talaga's own great-great-grandmother, Annie Carpenter and her family.
If anyone wants a brutally honest, eye-opening account of the horrible abuse that indigenous people had to face at the hands of the church and the Canadian government to really open your eyes as to how bad things were - and frankly in many ways still are - this is one that you definitely have to read. I was told none of this during my schooling, which is appalling considering that I live grew up 20 minutes outside of the city where the Mohawk institute was built. We were never told about the horror stories that took place in that building and so many like it, and I feel ashamed for having been sheltered from the real story for so long.
For Tanya to be able to weave the horrible history of Canada along with her own family history, shows s real bravery and determination to not only reveal the truth, but also at the same time give her family some closure regarding many of the family members that sadly are part of the missing and murdered indigenous women statistic.
It's early in 2025, but this is without a doubt probably going to be the most powerful book I've read all year. Wow.
This book gives a extremely detailed, meticulously researched account of Canada's beginnings and how it's creation lead to the deplorable treatment of Indigenous people through government- and church-sanctioned enfranchisement and genocide - beginning with Tanya Talaga's own great-great-grandmother, Annie Carpenter and her family.
If anyone wants a brutally honest, eye-opening account of the horrible abuse that indigenous people had to face at the hands of the church and the Canadian government to really open your eyes as to how bad things were - and frankly in many ways still are - this is one that you definitely have to read. I was told none of this during my schooling, which is appalling considering that I live grew up 20 minutes outside of the city where the Mohawk institute was built. We were never told about the horror stories that took place in that building and so many like it, and I feel ashamed for having been sheltered from the real story for so long.
For Tanya to be able to weave the horrible history of Canada along with her own family history, shows s real bravery and determination to not only reveal the truth, but also at the same time give her family some closure regarding many of the family members that sadly are part of the missing and murdered indigenous women statistic.
It's early in 2025, but this is without a doubt probably going to be the most powerful book I've read all year. Wow.
July 6, 2025
“We all know people that never came home from residential schools.” Sadly this is a story of many first nations peoples. Records were destroyed, histories rewritten, memories lost.
The words are lyrical and flow beautifully. The relationship the author writes about with the lands is just amazing. It’s so easy to fall into this story and feel all the moments as this author struggled to find her family and the history around them. This history is horrible, ugly, sickening and heartbreaking but we must know so that it is never repeated. The way it’s written makes it very readable, with beautiful words calming the burn inflicted on our fellow humans and land.
I recommend this book to all, the lessons learned in her search are ones we all need to learn and understand.
Historical and very emotional
The words are lyrical and flow beautifully. The relationship the author writes about with the lands is just amazing. It’s so easy to fall into this story and feel all the moments as this author struggled to find her family and the history around them. This history is horrible, ugly, sickening and heartbreaking but we must know so that it is never repeated. The way it’s written makes it very readable, with beautiful words calming the burn inflicted on our fellow humans and land.
I recommend this book to all, the lessons learned in her search are ones we all need to learn and understand.
Historical and very emotional
February 11, 2025
Tanya Talaga is one of Canada’s preeminent writers - no one conveys such passion, knowledge, and righteous anger in her prose as her. This is an astonishingly researched genealogy of her maternal family and their displacement by the policies of the Canadian government and residential schooling. You can really feel the love and care she has across generations of her family in this text. Such a privilege to read.
September 25, 2025
the knowing by tanya talaga is an essential and heart wrenching book - it is at once a moving investigation into talaga’s own family ancestry and history within the residential school system in canada and a detailed historical narrative of the system and genocide itself. to say reading this was difficult is an understatement, but is one that I think is important to read and that everyone should read. so much has come to the surface about the atrocities committed by the canadian govt and the church in the name of christianity to indigenous people - the reverberations and ripple effects of which are still being felt by indigenous generations and communities in our modern era - but also so much has been lost and accounts such as talaga’s are extremely vital for us as a society to reckon with and to know the truth of history. it’s a history we all should never stop educating ourselves about and our work is never done. being in canada now and living in toronto where some of the author’s accounts take place, really had an impact as i made my way through the book. my only regret being i wasnt able to hear her speak at my library just a few months ago. just an incredible work of historical nonfiction, a must read. mostly read on audio, highly recommend bc talaga narrates it herself.
September 22, 2024
“The Knowing is a story of reclamation and outlasting. Yes, outlasting. We do not disappear in the legacy of brutalism, genocidal policies and faulty records, written by angry men, left in a forgotten box in some bureaucratic office, only to be digitized later…
…All of our peoples, our children, did not die in the schools. They scrape through life – torn and battered, but they made it. And they keep going, not for themselves, but for the ones they carried inside, for the next seven generations.”
…All of our peoples, our children, did not die in the schools. They scrape through life – torn and battered, but they made it. And they keep going, not for themselves, but for the ones they carried inside, for the next seven generations.”
April 20, 2025
I'm not sure what else can be said about this chronicle of residential school genocide through the lens of personal family connections, except...that it's utterly devastating. We human beings can be such wretched creatures, and this is the type of book that will hopefully make those who's head are still stuck in the sand to pop out and face the consequences of history. I can but hope.
October 1, 2024
Many Canadian book-lovers will be aware of this latest release: The Knowing by Tanya Talaga hit store shelves at the end of August, is currently on the bestseller list, and will likely remain there for the next few months. A documentary by the same name (trailer below) was released at the same time as the book. September 30 is Truth and Reconciliation Day here in Canada, which I’ve written about in the past, but to honour that day this year I wanted to post my review of Talaga’s latest work of non-fiction which is dedicated to unspooling the horrific threads of the residential school system in Canada.
Book Summary
Talaga is an Indigenous journalist with a few books under her belt (see my review of one of them here), and is also widely known for her well-researched columns in our country’s major newspapers. Her latest book is an extensive history of residential schools, and how they came about in Canada, starting with the development of relations between European settlers and the Indigenous folks they invaded. She also details the signing of the treaties across Canada, and the subsequent Indian Act, which continues to this day, albeit having a few adjustments made to it since then. Shockingly, it was only in 1985 that the Indian Act was updated to ensure Indigenous women were given the same rights as Indigenous men; like so many other gestures, the attempts to right the wrongs done to the Indigenous population in Canada are all fairly recent. In addition to the valuable history lessons, Talaga dives into a mystery within her own family: the journey and final whereabouts of her great-great grandmother Annie, a woman born in North Ontario, but buried in an unmarked grave by the side of a major highway thousands of kilometers away.
My Thoughts
Research is something Talaga excels at, and the pages and pages of references she cites at the end of this book attest to the work she has put into this project. Unfortunately, many documents that detail the lives of Indigenous people are withheld from them, still locked away in the churches that governed their lives once the residential school system was established. I will remind people that the last residential school closed in 1996, and the first opened in the 1800s, so it is multiple generations of Indigenous folks that have lost access to their loved ones’ information, and are still in search of it today. Talaga’s story is one of hundreds of thousands like hers, many kids disappearing from the residential school systems, many of them without even a death certificate. She includes pictures of some of these documents and correspondence that she was able to find, but much of what was kept in residential schools has been purposely destroyed to cover up wrong-doing. Heartbreakingly, she finds a few letters from school administrators informing parents of their children’s death. In many cases, families weren’t allowed at their children’s burial, only informed of it weeks later. But as the grisly discovery in Kamloops suggests, many parents didn’t even get a letter, their children just never came home.
Because of the overwhelming number of statistics, research and history presented here, readers who are new to learning about the residential school system would likely find this book too detailed, not to mention the awful stories of medical experiments and torture enacted on children in these horrible places. However, for those of us who have read both fiction and non-fiction regarding the disgusting legacy of the residential school system, this is a sobering but valuable resource to continue your learning. Talaga furthers the work on this topic by providing helpful context in which to situate the history. She begins as far back as existing research will allow, but she also includes her experience of joining the Indigenous delegation trip to Rome in 2022 and then the subsequent papal apology tour. Later on in the book she visits a recently closed residential school with a survivor and previous pupil who comes face to face with the caretaker of the property who worked there while Talaga’s friend was still a student. This caretaker is friendly, happy to see a familiar face, but expresses dismay at the questions regarding the abuse he ignored. Even in the present day there are still deniers, those unwilling to face the horror they did not stop or question.
It goes without saying this is a challenging read. At just over 450 pages it’s a long book that covers a very dark time, but sometimes we need to force ourselves to bear witness to the difficult past. Reading about it and educating ourselves is the best way to start.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
Book Summary
Talaga is an Indigenous journalist with a few books under her belt (see my review of one of them here), and is also widely known for her well-researched columns in our country’s major newspapers. Her latest book is an extensive history of residential schools, and how they came about in Canada, starting with the development of relations between European settlers and the Indigenous folks they invaded. She also details the signing of the treaties across Canada, and the subsequent Indian Act, which continues to this day, albeit having a few adjustments made to it since then. Shockingly, it was only in 1985 that the Indian Act was updated to ensure Indigenous women were given the same rights as Indigenous men; like so many other gestures, the attempts to right the wrongs done to the Indigenous population in Canada are all fairly recent. In addition to the valuable history lessons, Talaga dives into a mystery within her own family: the journey and final whereabouts of her great-great grandmother Annie, a woman born in North Ontario, but buried in an unmarked grave by the side of a major highway thousands of kilometers away.
My Thoughts
Research is something Talaga excels at, and the pages and pages of references she cites at the end of this book attest to the work she has put into this project. Unfortunately, many documents that detail the lives of Indigenous people are withheld from them, still locked away in the churches that governed their lives once the residential school system was established. I will remind people that the last residential school closed in 1996, and the first opened in the 1800s, so it is multiple generations of Indigenous folks that have lost access to their loved ones’ information, and are still in search of it today. Talaga’s story is one of hundreds of thousands like hers, many kids disappearing from the residential school systems, many of them without even a death certificate. She includes pictures of some of these documents and correspondence that she was able to find, but much of what was kept in residential schools has been purposely destroyed to cover up wrong-doing. Heartbreakingly, she finds a few letters from school administrators informing parents of their children’s death. In many cases, families weren’t allowed at their children’s burial, only informed of it weeks later. But as the grisly discovery in Kamloops suggests, many parents didn’t even get a letter, their children just never came home.
Because of the overwhelming number of statistics, research and history presented here, readers who are new to learning about the residential school system would likely find this book too detailed, not to mention the awful stories of medical experiments and torture enacted on children in these horrible places. However, for those of us who have read both fiction and non-fiction regarding the disgusting legacy of the residential school system, this is a sobering but valuable resource to continue your learning. Talaga furthers the work on this topic by providing helpful context in which to situate the history. She begins as far back as existing research will allow, but she also includes her experience of joining the Indigenous delegation trip to Rome in 2022 and then the subsequent papal apology tour. Later on in the book she visits a recently closed residential school with a survivor and previous pupil who comes face to face with the caretaker of the property who worked there while Talaga’s friend was still a student. This caretaker is friendly, happy to see a familiar face, but expresses dismay at the questions regarding the abuse he ignored. Even in the present day there are still deniers, those unwilling to face the horror they did not stop or question.
It goes without saying this is a challenging read. At just over 450 pages it’s a long book that covers a very dark time, but sometimes we need to force ourselves to bear witness to the difficult past. Reading about it and educating ourselves is the best way to start.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
December 20, 2024
The foundations of Canada's and America's class and race-based policies of domination--which gave permission to kill both Indian and buffalo, to steal children away from their parents, their language, families and everything they knew--constructed a society that was built to keep us consistently as second-class citizens, governed by a different set of rules and served by a different set of schools and services. The burgeoning caste system in Canada was clearly illustrated by how Annie was treated throughout her life as an Inniw woman, scraping to survive in a growing country that considered hers a life without value.
***Tanya Talaga tells the story of her years of research into the disappearance of her grandmother Annie Carpenter - a gruelling story beautifully written - along with a true history of colonial grabbing, meddling and destruction. I started reading it on the day yet more Indigenous children's graves were identified at the former Lejac Indian Residential School just west of Prince Rupert, BC. The cover art - graphic and not easy to look at but certainly merits a close look - is from a work by Kent Monkman who's quite well known here in Canada for his brash, entertaining and upsetting work.
Kamloops was once the largest residential school in the area. The surviving children from Kamloops tell stories of being woken up in the middle of the night to dig graves iln the apple orchard. They remember their friends that disappeared. For years they told the stories, but few listened, and certainly no lawmakers or governments. They call this knowledge "the Knowing."
Highly recommended - not easy reading but certainly deserves to be read. 5 stars
November 23, 2024
Well researched, and I was misty-eyed more than once reading this book. I also think the premise is intelligent — the residential school system has impacted all Indig families, including my own. Tanya knows this, and in writing part of her family’s history, she relates to the rest of us.
However. I will say this book is good for Canadians who are only now coming to grips with residential schools. Of course, there’s still value in that. For me, I know most of what’s in this book, though. I did learn new things about Cree communities in the Hudson Bay lowlands. For that I’m appreciative.
As for the writing, it’s repetitive. Sometimes to the degree it detracts from the flow of the book — worse, the message, which is absolutely crucial. I do think the writing could be strengthened in areas. Tanya has a formula she likes to use. A series of pondering questions, which she follows up with her own musings. I liked it the first time. She over uses it throughout the book.
Overall, context rich, full of perspectives — well done. And I’m happy it’s out there in the world for everyone to understand what we’ve been talking about all along.
However. I will say this book is good for Canadians who are only now coming to grips with residential schools. Of course, there’s still value in that. For me, I know most of what’s in this book, though. I did learn new things about Cree communities in the Hudson Bay lowlands. For that I’m appreciative.
As for the writing, it’s repetitive. Sometimes to the degree it detracts from the flow of the book — worse, the message, which is absolutely crucial. I do think the writing could be strengthened in areas. Tanya has a formula she likes to use. A series of pondering questions, which she follows up with her own musings. I liked it the first time. She over uses it throughout the book.
Overall, context rich, full of perspectives — well done. And I’m happy it’s out there in the world for everyone to understand what we’ve been talking about all along.
January 18, 2025
An emotional and eye-opening follow-up to Seven Fallen Feathers. I could not stop reading - often revisiting sections one, two, three times over just so I could be sure that the words sunk in. Read this book and then read it again. I am consistently in awe of Tanya Talaga’s capacity to storytell, weaving words together beautifully, even when the stories are horrifying or deeply personal (often both). I am eager to seek out more of her work as it has been the most complete and honest recollection of Canada’s sickening history, as well as the crimes the county has continued to perpetuate.
March 17, 2025
A true feat of research. This book doesn't pull any punches and there were definitely times where I was just kind of stunned and had to put it down. I really liked the structure of alternating between the author's family story and the process and events around the writing and research of the book. A must read.
November 3, 2024
A book of epic proportions.
I love Tanya Talaga’s writing. One of the first books I read this year was Seven Fallen Feathers and it profoundly affected me.
The Knowing is a tough read that took me some time to get through only because I had to put the book down many times to take a minute and fully grasp the failure of Canada towards Indigenous communities on so many horrible levels.
This is a must read. For all.
Highly recommend.
I love Tanya Talaga’s writing. One of the first books I read this year was Seven Fallen Feathers and it profoundly affected me.
The Knowing is a tough read that took me some time to get through only because I had to put the book down many times to take a minute and fully grasp the failure of Canada towards Indigenous communities on so many horrible levels.
This is a must read. For all.
Highly recommend.
September 30, 2025
Tears.
Any history written will be rewritten. It is my hope that the rewriting of Canada's history will be as clear of sight and sound as compassionate as this work. Miigwetch, Tanya Talaga, for sharing this history and your relations with us.
Any history written will be rewritten. It is my hope that the rewriting of Canada's history will be as clear of sight and sound as compassionate as this work. Miigwetch, Tanya Talaga, for sharing this history and your relations with us.
December 4, 2024
This book should be standard reading for all students in Canada. We must reckon with our countries dark & shameful history. And it is only through acknowledgment and learning that we can begin to heal and move forward. Thank you Tanya for sharing your families story with us and for teaching us the true history of this nation.
January 20, 2025
Being honest here, I was quite disappointed with this read and I had to basically skim the last 100 pages or so.
Seven Fallen Feathers is my number 1 non-fiction book recommendation for any of my friends or family. For me it's one of the most important books I have ever read and I always try to have extra copies to give out to someone looking for a book to read. I was so excited when I saw Tanya Talaga had written another book! Unfortunately, this book did not have the same effect on me as Seven Fallen Feathers.
There's a lot of information in this book and I enjoyed parts for sure. However, I just found the book so repetitive and really difficult to follow. There are SO many names to try and remember in this book. Not only that, but then it's extremely difficult to remember all the relations between the people mentioned in this book. I found it so difficult to follow as a result of all this.
The constant naming people and then naming their family and then going back to them and then back to their family made me not as invested as I didn't really know whose story we were talking about from time to time.
Maybe if I had read this before Seven Fallen Feathers, my expectations wouldn't have been so high, which could be partly to blame for my low score.
Seven Fallen Feathers is my number 1 non-fiction book recommendation for any of my friends or family. For me it's one of the most important books I have ever read and I always try to have extra copies to give out to someone looking for a book to read. I was so excited when I saw Tanya Talaga had written another book! Unfortunately, this book did not have the same effect on me as Seven Fallen Feathers.
There's a lot of information in this book and I enjoyed parts for sure. However, I just found the book so repetitive and really difficult to follow. There are SO many names to try and remember in this book. Not only that, but then it's extremely difficult to remember all the relations between the people mentioned in this book. I found it so difficult to follow as a result of all this.
The constant naming people and then naming their family and then going back to them and then back to their family made me not as invested as I didn't really know whose story we were talking about from time to time.
Maybe if I had read this before Seven Fallen Feathers, my expectations wouldn't have been so high, which could be partly to blame for my low score.
April 19, 2025
me a few weeks to sit down and write my #bookreview of #TheKnowing by the mighty @TanyaTalaga
I wanted to really sit with the material I had read and to allow myself to feel all the emotions it brought out in me. Shame being one of them.
Shame of my ancestors.
Shame of my Country, and
Shame of the politicians who have continued, and still continue to this day to treat Indigenous Peoples in Canada as second, and third-class citizens. (There are reserves that have not had clean drinking water for over 20 years… and still don’t. Children are still being given to white families to foster rather than keeping the children with those who share their culture. These are just 2 small examples.)
First off, I feel like I should state that I am not #Indigenous and therefore have led a privileged settler life. It has been several years since I began my journey of becoming an #ally to the original inhabitants of what is now known as #Canada and that journey has included visiting several reserves in Ontario, reading every book and article I can get my hands on, as well as talking about many #nonfiction books, articles, podcasts, and documentaries as possible.
The first two Tanya Talaga books I read (and still need to review) were eye-opening. If you haven’t done so yet, I encourage you to purchase a copy of Seven Fallen Feathers and All My Relations.
If you think I am being overly dramatic, I beg you to pick up a copy of The Knowing.
I admit that I am am 100% ashamed of my ancestors and even of my race to this day. I have protested alongside some amazing people, but it is books like The Knowing that are able to reach a much wider audience and that are critically important if our nation is ever to actually achieve Reconciliation. I am not talking about the reconciliation that the government thinks has already been achieved. I am talking about true, transformative reconciliation as defined by those who have been brutalized, bullied, and been denied even the most basic of human rights – the right to their own family.
Tanya Talaga takes readers alongside her as she discovers the horrors endured by her great-great grandmother Annie Carpenter and her family as they were separated, had children ripped from their arms who were then sent to residential schools, many of whom never made it home.
If you can read this book without being emotionally invested in being part of righting the wrongs heaped upon our Indigenous Peoples than you literally must not have a heart at all.
Tanya Talaga’s bravery in exposing the truth of the government’s genocidal plans, which were furthered by mainstream churches, is breathtaking. She refuses to be silenced and by doing so has disseminated these truths far and wide. She is a truth warrior.
If I could rate THE KNOWING as higher than 5 out of 5 Stars I would gladly do so.
Please, if you care about people and about the future of Turtle Island (North America) you MUST read this book
For photos and much more, visit my blog at
https://amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com
I wanted to really sit with the material I had read and to allow myself to feel all the emotions it brought out in me. Shame being one of them.
Shame of my ancestors.
Shame of my Country, and
Shame of the politicians who have continued, and still continue to this day to treat Indigenous Peoples in Canada as second, and third-class citizens. (There are reserves that have not had clean drinking water for over 20 years… and still don’t. Children are still being given to white families to foster rather than keeping the children with those who share their culture. These are just 2 small examples.)
First off, I feel like I should state that I am not #Indigenous and therefore have led a privileged settler life. It has been several years since I began my journey of becoming an #ally to the original inhabitants of what is now known as #Canada and that journey has included visiting several reserves in Ontario, reading every book and article I can get my hands on, as well as talking about many #nonfiction books, articles, podcasts, and documentaries as possible.
The first two Tanya Talaga books I read (and still need to review) were eye-opening. If you haven’t done so yet, I encourage you to purchase a copy of Seven Fallen Feathers and All My Relations.
If you think I am being overly dramatic, I beg you to pick up a copy of The Knowing.
I admit that I am am 100% ashamed of my ancestors and even of my race to this day. I have protested alongside some amazing people, but it is books like The Knowing that are able to reach a much wider audience and that are critically important if our nation is ever to actually achieve Reconciliation. I am not talking about the reconciliation that the government thinks has already been achieved. I am talking about true, transformative reconciliation as defined by those who have been brutalized, bullied, and been denied even the most basic of human rights – the right to their own family.
Tanya Talaga takes readers alongside her as she discovers the horrors endured by her great-great grandmother Annie Carpenter and her family as they were separated, had children ripped from their arms who were then sent to residential schools, many of whom never made it home.
If you can read this book without being emotionally invested in being part of righting the wrongs heaped upon our Indigenous Peoples than you literally must not have a heart at all.
Tanya Talaga’s bravery in exposing the truth of the government’s genocidal plans, which were furthered by mainstream churches, is breathtaking. She refuses to be silenced and by doing so has disseminated these truths far and wide. She is a truth warrior.
If I could rate THE KNOWING as higher than 5 out of 5 Stars I would gladly do so.
Please, if you care about people and about the future of Turtle Island (North America) you MUST read this book
For photos and much more, visit my blog at
https://amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com
January 31, 2025
Several Christmases ago, my dad gifted me the book Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga. I can’t remember when I became interested in learning more about Indigenous history and experiences, but I do remember the fire that ignited in me after reading that book. To this day, it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Talaga’s writing was so powerful and inspired me to keep educating myself.
This past Christmas, my dad gifted me The Knowing and once again, I find myself thoroughly impressed and moved by Talaga’s work.
The Knowing explores the history of the Canadian residential school system and its lasting intergenerational impacts on Indigenous people across Turtle Island through Tanya’s search for her great-great-grandmother, Annie Carpenter. It’s an emotional, meticulously researched story and I love the way Talaga uses the traditional medicine wheel to organize the different sections of her research. As I read this book over the last month, I felt as if I was right there with Talaga as she unraveled her family’s story. I was moved to tears many times.
I agree with many other reviews, that at times this book can feel repetitive, but isn’t that almost the point? Canada has failed Indigenous people over and over again since European contact. For hundreds of years, Indigenous people have been fighting for their right to simply exist and be recognized as humans. Indigenous people have been repeating themselves over and over for centuries, fighting to have their experiences recognized, fighting to have their voices heard, fighting to be respected. To me, the repetition is a reflection of their lived experiences and the constant fight for basic human rights and reconciliation with the very institutions that sought to exterminate them not long ago.
I genuinely loved this book, Tanya Talaga’s writing is powerful and I look forward to reading more of her work. I highly recommend The Knowing to anyone and everyone.
This past Christmas, my dad gifted me The Knowing and once again, I find myself thoroughly impressed and moved by Talaga’s work.
The Knowing explores the history of the Canadian residential school system and its lasting intergenerational impacts on Indigenous people across Turtle Island through Tanya’s search for her great-great-grandmother, Annie Carpenter. It’s an emotional, meticulously researched story and I love the way Talaga uses the traditional medicine wheel to organize the different sections of her research. As I read this book over the last month, I felt as if I was right there with Talaga as she unraveled her family’s story. I was moved to tears many times.
I agree with many other reviews, that at times this book can feel repetitive, but isn’t that almost the point? Canada has failed Indigenous people over and over again since European contact. For hundreds of years, Indigenous people have been fighting for their right to simply exist and be recognized as humans. Indigenous people have been repeating themselves over and over for centuries, fighting to have their experiences recognized, fighting to have their voices heard, fighting to be respected. To me, the repetition is a reflection of their lived experiences and the constant fight for basic human rights and reconciliation with the very institutions that sought to exterminate them not long ago.
I genuinely loved this book, Tanya Talaga’s writing is powerful and I look forward to reading more of her work. I highly recommend The Knowing to anyone and everyone.
December 22, 2024
The Knowing is Talaga’s third book and it is another tour de force. It is an absolutely heartbreaking read, but one that all Canadians should read.
Talaga uses finding her lost family as the launching point for telling the story of colonialism and the Indian Act and the devastation they wrought on Indigenous people; and the lasting impact that both policies have had. In looking for Annie Carpenter, her great-great grandmother, Talaga is able to share the story of one family being ripped apart by white settler ideology, to explore the intergenerational trauma inflicted by residential schools and shine a light on how colonial policy made Indigenous women some of the most vulnerable members of Canadian society.
That it happened to Annie and her family would be gut-wrenching enough, but as we know, and as Talaga has shown in The Knowing, this story was repeated hundreds of thousands of times and the horrors of residential schools, day schools and the Indian Act still resonate down today-and in the case of the Indian Act, the horrors are still in effect.
As much as this books is an uncomfortable read, it is an important work of Canadian history as it tells the Indigenous side of the story. As much horror as it unveils, The Knowing also points to a way forward for all of us and the new on a hopeful note. An absolute must read- this should be in high school/university curriculum for sure.
Talaga uses finding her lost family as the launching point for telling the story of colonialism and the Indian Act and the devastation they wrought on Indigenous people; and the lasting impact that both policies have had. In looking for Annie Carpenter, her great-great grandmother, Talaga is able to share the story of one family being ripped apart by white settler ideology, to explore the intergenerational trauma inflicted by residential schools and shine a light on how colonial policy made Indigenous women some of the most vulnerable members of Canadian society.
That it happened to Annie and her family would be gut-wrenching enough, but as we know, and as Talaga has shown in The Knowing, this story was repeated hundreds of thousands of times and the horrors of residential schools, day schools and the Indian Act still resonate down today-and in the case of the Indian Act, the horrors are still in effect.
As much as this books is an uncomfortable read, it is an important work of Canadian history as it tells the Indigenous side of the story. As much horror as it unveils, The Knowing also points to a way forward for all of us and the new on a hopeful note. An absolute must read- this should be in high school/university curriculum for sure.
February 18, 2025
This book hurt my heart. And soul.
I knew of much of the evil done to the Indigenous People of this country, but that's not like Knowing. Generations of people knowing that their lives were rent assunder because of the colonizers' greed.
I was unaware of how far back the system went, long before Canada was a country, and its connections to slavery. I feel ashamed that the residential schools were still operating while I was growing up and I had no idea.
This is the true horrific history of Canada. It needs to be taught in schools. It needs to be part of every citizen's education.
Only when we all realize that what is often referred to as "the greatest country on earth" was founded on the attempted genocide of its first citizens can we begin to empathise and understand the depth of trauma handed down generation by generation.
Thwarted on every front from any attempt to document the abuse, these resilent people are working to move forward to healing within their own communities. Admirable and profoundly moving.
I knew of much of the evil done to the Indigenous People of this country, but that's not like Knowing. Generations of people knowing that their lives were rent assunder because of the colonizers' greed.
I was unaware of how far back the system went, long before Canada was a country, and its connections to slavery. I feel ashamed that the residential schools were still operating while I was growing up and I had no idea.
This is the true horrific history of Canada. It needs to be taught in schools. It needs to be part of every citizen's education.
Only when we all realize that what is often referred to as "the greatest country on earth" was founded on the attempted genocide of its first citizens can we begin to empathise and understand the depth of trauma handed down generation by generation.
Thwarted on every front from any attempt to document the abuse, these resilent people are working to move forward to healing within their own communities. Admirable and profoundly moving.
January 27, 2025
There are now many books that describe the Canadian residential schools fiasco. Most of them describe the personal experiences of the authors. This author did not attend a residential school, however this is book is an intensely personal account of the experiences of her family, going back several generations - mainly discovered through painstaking research by the author, tracking church, school and government records. The family story spans the country, and while the author was able to find her grandmother through a combination of luck and hard work, she uncovered some horrific stories along the way. There are few more moving accounts in any of the literature on the schools than that of two young boys in her family who were sent 700 kilometres to a residential school at the ages of 4 and 6. I will jot forget their stories any time soon.
Read
January 5, 2025This was a very challenging read - it took me longer than most books. Challenging because the content is so important but difficult to get through because of the high emotions and upsetting realities. I often had to take a break to sit with the discomfort, especially having a young child and thinking about all of the stolen children. I recommend everyone read this book because it’s the history many of us were never taught, but I am struggling to give it a rating as I cannot say that I enjoyed it. This isn’t a book to enjoy; it’s a book to learn the (awful) truths about our country’s past (and so much that continues today).
It did read a bit like a history textbook (understandably) and I did get a bit confused with the many names and dates, but the message was powerful and clear.
It did read a bit like a history textbook (understandably) and I did get a bit confused with the many names and dates, but the message was powerful and clear.
May 31, 2025
I found the first 75% of this book a bit hard to follow… lots of names and timelines. I also listened to this on audio so that might be why. The last 25% of the book though, wow. So impactful and important. The resilience of Indigenous peoples in Canada to tell the truth and try to find justice for what happened to them for generations is commendable and should be upheld and supported by all Canadians. The Knowing - the story behind the name of the book and the fact that all Indigenous families have known this truth for many years gave me chills. This book should be required reading in schools.
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