My friend, Anne Patton, reads from her novel Full Steam to Canada: A Barr Colony Adventure to my grade ten students, sponsored by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. She talks about the writing process, where ideas come from, and the joy of primary research sources.
I'm wishing she would focus on her Fiddle Dancer books, co-authored with Wilfred Burton, which depict the lives of a Metis family because so many of my students are either Metis or have First Nations heritage, but as I remember that we are all treaty people, I am thinking of Anne's immigrant story as a treaty story. Hmmmm. Making me think. What follow-up questions will I ask my students?
Anne talks about the specific details of the Barr Colonists. They were British and did not want to be rubbing shoulders with less worthy immigrants or colonials. They believed they were coming to uninhabited land, wild land, land for the taking. I am wondering what my First Nations students are thinking as Anne describes these colonists' perspectives on the new world. While these colonists were immigrating, First People were being sent to reserves.
After the presentation, I have a side-bar conversation with Anne. She gives me a sneak peak into her sequel in which she has a Metis character, but the main character's mother doesn't want her associating with him, true to the times.
Other books by Anne Patton and Wilfreed Burton
Hi Sheena, I'm interested in what your students thought as I described the attitudes of the British in 1903. Even the lowliest citizen of Britain was steeped in the myth of British superiority. I hope my novel suceeds in exploring some of the roots of racism in Saskatchewan.
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