Awards

• Short-listed for Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Awards, Graphic Novel 2023 (Canada)

Overview

In Road Allowance Era, Echo’s story picks up again when she travels back in time to 1885. The government has not fulfilled its promise of land for the Métis, and many flee to the Northwest. As part of the fallout from the Northwest Resistance, their advocate and champion Louis Riel is executed. As new legislation corrodes Métis land rights, and unscrupulous land speculators and swindlers take advantage, many Métis settle on road allowances and railway land, often on the fringes of urban centres. For Echo, the plight of her family is apparent. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine, they make their way to Rooster Town, a shanty community on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final instalment of her story, Echo is reminded of the strength and resilience of her people, forged through the loss and pain of the past, as she faces a triumphant future.

Full Product Details

9781553799306

Table of Contents

Reviews

This fourth volume in the A Girl Called Echo series rounds out the history of Metis dispossession from their land and subsequent social marginalization brilliantly. While dealing with the hard issues of colonialism, Vermette sensitively points to the resilience, determination, and power of Metis people. In Road Allowance Era, the stories of Ste. Madeleine and Rooster Town take their place alongside the more prominent stories of Metis nationalism situating the power of Metis family as the source of their survival. --Brenda Macdougall, University of Ottawa Is enthralled the correct word when describing such a dark chapter in Metis dispossession, along the road allowances in the western prairies? Or is enraging more apt? Or maybe brilliant blinding beauty? Because that's what Vermette has achieved here. Even as the graphic novel closed, I was reflecting on this staggering and respectful work. A swell in my chest, a pride in my spirit; you'll feel the strength of our people, the Free People, the Otipemisiwak, against the injustice of Canadian imperialism in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. --Jesse Thistle

Is enthralled the correct word when describing such a dark chapter in Metis dispossession, along the road allowances in the western prairies? Or is enraging more apt? Or maybe brilliant blinding beauty? Because that's what Vermette has achieved here. Even as the graphic novel closed, I was reflecting on this staggering and respectful work. A swell in my chest, a pride in my spirit; you'll feel the strength of our people, the Free People, the Otipemisiwak, against the injustice of Canadian imperialism in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. --Jesse Thistle (11/28/2020 12:00:00 AM)

Author Information

katherena vermette (she/her/hers) is a Red River Métis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Métis Nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 2013, her first book, North End Love Songs (The Muses’ Company) won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. Since then, her work has garnered awards and critical accolades across genres. Her novels The Break (House of Anansi) and The Strangers (Hamish Hamilton) were both national best sellers and won multiple literary awards. She is the author of numerous other bestselling titles, including the A Girl Called Echo series (HighWater Press) and the Seven Teachings Stories series (HighWater Press). Scott B. Henderson (he/him) is a freelance illustrator, whose reputation for cultural sensitivity and an openness to listen and learn has garnered a large body of work in collaboration with Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ communities. His work spans several critically acclaimed graphic novels, including 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga (Indigenous history & Residential Schools); A Girl Called Echo series (Métis history); A Blanket of Butterflies (2016 Eisner Nomination); a short story in Marvel Voices: Pride #1 (2022); and the post-apocalypse graphic novel, Last Breeds (fall 2024). Scott is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. He resides in Winnipeg with his partner. Since 1998, Donovan Yaciuk (he/him/his) has coloured books published by Marvel, DC, Dark Horse comics, and HighWater Press including the A Girl Called Echo and The Reckoner Rises series, as well as select stories in This Place: 150 Years Retold. Donovan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the University of Manitoba and began his career as a part of the legendary, now-defunct Digital Chameleon colouring studio. He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with his wife and two daughters.

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