Hello everyone!
It took a great deal of self-talk to convince myself that writing this blog is not going to turn me into an ice cube since I’m somewhat cautious at trying out new things. I already feel my hands shivering as I’m writing this, so I hope I will be able to finish writing before I find out the answer, brr… 🙂
I can’t wait to get in touch with all of you and start collaborating and sharing ideas on various topics in Canadian literature!
My first language is Russian, I’m majoring in German at UBC. I moved to Canada in 2013 with my family. My introduction with Canada started from Sechelt, or shishalh in the language of the First Nations people, for whom this beautiful place is a homeland for thousands of years. shishalh is located on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, and means “the land between two waters”.
The first book I read in English was Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, in the course of my English 10 class. It was a shock for me to get to know some of the quite recent facts about Indian residential schools, which were operating in Canada up until 1996. Besides, two residential school survivors attended our class to share their experiences with us. I was deeply moved by what I had read in the book and heard from people who were put in Sechelt’s residential school 50 years ago. I can’t even imagine the level of abuse and inhumanity they had to deal with, and what painful memories they had to carry since then.
Through this ENGL 372 99C Canadian Studies course, I’d like to get a greater understanding of the varied history of Canada, which is my new home. Just as in my English 10 class, I’ll try to broaden my horizons through various sources – both the assigned readings and the exposure to stories and artifacts in my immediate living environment.
I’m curious to learn more about the First Nation’s oral traditions, which transmitted both educational and cultural knowledge for many generations. So let’s become part of the chain of that accumulated knowledge and learn from it together!
Works Cited:
British Columbia Ministry of Education. “B.C. First Nations Studies.” http://media.openschool.bc.ca/osbcmedia/fns12/etext/BCFN12Text_Part4.pdf
Canadian Geographic. “History of Residential Schools.” Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, Canadian Geographic, 15 June 2018, https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article /history-of-residential-schools/
Wagamese, Richard. Indian Horse. Milkweed Editions, 2018.