Road Allowance Era (A Girl Called Echo, Vol. 4)

Written by Katherena Vermette

Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson

Colour by Donovan Yaciuk

HighWater Press

978-1-55379-930-6

48 pp.

Ages 10-14

April 2021

 

In the aftermath of the Northwest Resistance, the focus of the third book in Katherena Vermette's A Girl Called Echo graphic novel series, the accidental time traveller Echo returns to 1855 to join her ancestors and other Métis and witness the execution of Louis Riel and the sustained persecution and discrimination of her people.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Though Louis Riel had advocated for the Métis' rights to land granted to them, most scrips entitling them to land in the Red River area have not been honoured. So Echo joins them in returning to Manitoba, hopeful that the agents now set up would ensure that land deeds would be issued to them.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

But the discrimination that they have faced all along continues, with their scrips only exchanged for a few dollars and provisions. So the Métis head to Ste. Madeleine where they hope they might rebuild their community.

Time slipping back to the present, Echo's teacher speaks of the unsettling of the Métis and their need to squat on unused Crown lands called road allowance land. Later, though they'd lived there for decades, they are often driven off with violence. Echo's anger at the injustice is palpable though her friend Micah sees the fortitude of their people who were able to withstand so much and still survive.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Still she witnesses much destruction and sadness as the Métis are displaced and then refused the opportunity to buy the land on which they had built lives. 

We are the free people, mon amie. We built this place and we will always be here. No matter what they have done to us, we're still here. We know we will survive. (pg. 38)

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Her existence reminds them of that survival, with her ancestors pointing out that they are always within her as there is "blood memory, bone memory" (pg. 29) of their sorrows and their strengths. "Go home and be the future" (pg. 40) is what she is told.

The story of the Métis is heartbreaking, as Echo has learned from her time slips into the past. History class and homework rile her, as they should for anyone with a sense of justice. But Katherena Vermette doesn't just let Echo wallow in anger or distress. She helps her accept that anger as valid but see the strength of her people and the change that has happened for each generation. 

 

Scott B. Henderson's illustrations take us smoothly between past and present, clearly depicting a contemporary Echo and her immediate family and friends versus her ancestors in their settings of prairie scenes of wagons and tipis, and dismal government buildings like courts and land offices. There is an authenticity in his characters that acknowledge the hardships but allude to the joys and colour of Métis culture. Coloured by Donovan Yaciuk, there is a sense of brightness at the edges of the past and the present that lay bare much about what was and is.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

This is the way to learn history, from those who lived it and those who came from them. Though the horrors of the past might offer extraordinary teachable moments, they also point forward, to a future that offers more hope with each generation. The present may still be troubled with discrimination as land claims continue to be challenged but, as Scott B. Henderson's final illustrations shows us, Echo has her family, past and present, behind her.

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The whole series A Girl Called Echo offers unique opportunities to teach and learn about Métis history. I encourage teachers to examine the whole series.

Pemmican Wars (2017)

Red River Resistance (2018)

Northwest Resistance (2020)

Road Allowance Era (2021)