A Girl Called Echo: Pemmican Wars (Vol. 1)

While Pemmican Wars doesn't directly discuss residential schools, it is an excellent depiction of the intergenerational damage harmful policies— such as the Indian Act and the subsequent creation of Indian Residential Shcools—have afflicted Indigenous families with. Each of the graphic novels selected for this text set show how abusing one generation (or seven generations) of children and taking them away from their families made it difficult for them to know how to parent. In Sugar Falls, Betty is abandoned by her mother at the age of five. While that was difficult for Betty she is able, in a way, to forgive her mother when she learned later in life that "she was a survivor of a residential school and its unimaginable abuses.... She wasn't cared for, and she didn't know how to care for me" (Robertson, 2021, p. 6). Sugar Falls (2021) shows how four generations were affected by residential schools and how the healing process takes generations. Nimkii (2019) tells the story of a woman who was taken from her mother and put into foster care during the Sixties Scoop, but it also touches on the story of her parents, who were residential school survivors, as well as the action Nimkii takes to ensure her own daughter can stay with her in the 1990s. 7 Generations (2012) "follows one Indigenous family over three centuries and seven generations," with the third installment of the series, Ends/Begins, delving into "the story of Edwin's father, and his experiences in a residential school," traumas which "follow him into adulthood" and cause his life to "[spiral] out of control" in the fourth installment, The Pact (CBC Books, 2021).

A Girl Called Echo follows the story of Echo, who is in the foster care system. When her history class starts learning about Métis history, Echo begins having vivid daydreams about her heritage and seems to have a difficult time coming to terms with this part of her identity. Her teacher approaches her about her daydreaming, saying, "I know this is hard material, but these are your people. The Métis have many things to be proud of." Echo slouches with shame and responds, "I don't know anything about being Métis." Her teacher validates her concerns and assures her she's "not any less Metis just because you don't know your history," and that she still has plenty of opportunity to learn about her history (Vermette, 2017, p. 37).

Already, Echo has been doing work outside of class to connect with her heritage. We see her going to the library and checking out books by Indigenous authors, among them 7 Generations (2012), which will help her learn about her culture from an Indigenous perspective (rather than hearing about her culture from her teacher, who is White).

Echo's lack of knowledge surrounding her own culture can easily be traced to her mother. Their relationship is obviously rather strained, as we can see from their postures during their visiting time, but there's also evidence on Echo's phone that she is also emotionally connected to her mother—her playlist is titled "Mom's Old CDs" (Vermette, 2017, p. 13).

When Echo tells her mother they're "learning about Métis history" at school, she also verifies her identity with her mother, asking, "We're Métis, right?" (Vermette, 2017, p. 42). Her mother says that they are but admits that she doesn't "really know much about it" (Vermette, 2017, p. 43). The book ends with Echo leaning forward and engaging with her mother by animatedly telling the story of the Pemmican Wars, which she'd just learned about in school.

Interestingly, Echo's present-day storyline is coloured in dusty, brown hues, while her daydreams about history are very vibrantly coloured. Often flashbacks are in more muted tones, while the present-day is illustrated in full saturation, so this is an interesting flip. It possibly shows Echo's daily struggles with depression and identity. I'm interested to see if and how Echo's present-day colouration will change as she continues on her journey of exploration and quest to connect with her heritage.

Works Cited:

CBC Books. (2021, June 7). 7 Generations. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/books/7-generations-1.6057388