Book of November / December 2021
By The Amnesty Book Club Committee
Topics covered:
Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention.
Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they endured during their years at the Mission.
Fuelled by rage and furious with God, Clara finds her way into the dangerous, highly charged world of the American Indian Movement. Maisie internalizes her pain and continually places herself in dangerous situations.
Famous for his daring escapes from the school, Kenny can’t stop running and moves restlessly from job to job—through fishing grounds, orchards and logging camps—trying to outrun his memories and his addiction. Lucy finds peace in motherhood and nurtures a secret compulsive disorder as she waits for Kenny to return to the life they once hoped to share together. After almost beating one of his tormentors to death, Howie serves time in prison, then tries once again to re-enter society and begin life anew.
With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward.
Centuries of racism and dispossession have denied Indigenous peoples the opportunity to enjoy their basic human rights right here in Canada. In particular, Residential schools were part of a colonial policy
to eradicate Indigenous cultures, languages and communities. While the last school closed in 1996, intergenerational trauma, ongoing harms and discriminatory practices continue.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, national investigations, the United Nations, and several other international human rights bodies have repeatedly called on Canada to address these human rights violations and ensure justice for survivors and their families. The bulk of these recommendations remain unimplemented. Canada must act on these recommendations now.
Amnesty International urges Canada to act on these recommendations without delay, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ 231 Calls for Justice. Canada must also, without delay, implement the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s decision on providing equal funding for child and family services in First Nations communities.
This year, while news that the remains of children being found buried on the grounds of several former Indian Residential Schools around Canada came as a shock to many settler Canadians, this was already known to Indigenous Nations who have been seeking justice and accountability for years.
Five Little Indians
By Michelle Good
Michelle Good
Cree Author
Michelle Good is of Cree ancestry, a descendent of the Battle River Cree and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation. She has worked with indigenous organizations since she was a teenager and at forty decided to approach that work in a different way obtaining her law degree from UBC at 43. She has practiced law in the public and private sector since then, primarily advocating for Residential School Survivors.
She graduated from UBC with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing MFA in 2014 where her novel Five Little Indians first started taking shape. Her poetry, and short stories have appeared in a number of publications. Her first novel, Five Little Indians won the HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize and her poetry has been included in Best Canadian Poetry in Canada 2016 and Best of the Best Canadian Poetry in Canada 2017. Michelle is currently working on her second novel.
Download the Amnesty Book Club Discussion Guide for Five Little Indians in a low-resolution sharable PDF file.
Vauhini Vara
Discussion Guide coming soon.
Omar El Akkad
Discussion Guide coming soon.
Vinh Nguyen
Discussion Guide coming soon.
The Honourable Murray Sinclair
Discussion Guide coming soon.
Katherena Vermette
Discussion Guide coming soon.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Discussion Guide coming soon.
