"Stolen from Our Embrace"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the basic story told in "Stolen from Our Embrace" by Suzanne Fournier and Ernie Crey is the story of a paternalistic government that believes it can do a better job of raising the children and how, in this case, it is the Canadian government that has pursued a policy of the removal of children from First Nations tribes. It looks at how, in the book, Fournier, a journalist, and Ernie Crey, one-time vice-president of the United Native Nations, recount the stories of many of these children, in some cases telling their own story (as does Ernie Crey), in other cases, acting as journalists and telling the stories of others. The effect is moving and informative at the same time and is clearly intended to ensure that such an injustice is not perpetrated again.

From the Paper:

"The Crey family story is told first and offers a compendium of the ills that can be visited by the federal policy on one family and its community. As Ernie notes, "My family would never again live in the same home or even be in the same room together" (30). Ernie also details his won political awakening and the steps he took to investigate this policy and its effects, conducting a public struggle that ultimately added to the problems facing his family by the tool taken on him."

More papers on "Stolen from Our Embrace":

• Essay # 1471 : "How and Why Christianity Has Disappeared From Our Society"
• Essay # 7247 : "Fractures from our Childhood"
• Article Review # 32375 : "Brainwashing and Abuse in Residential Schools"

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