'Indian Horse' in the Context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Injustice and the Road to Healing Anonymous College

Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse illustrates the dark Canadian history of residential schools and demonstrates the lasting effects that forced enrollment had on its protagonist, Saul Indian Horse. Indian Horse emphasizes the psychological trauma, discrimination, and physical abuse that one endured as a direct result of attending the school. The discrimination Saul faces goes beyond the school and translates into his hockey and adult life experiences, implying that there are greater societal forces that enable racism, which made it possible and created an environment for residential schools to exist.

In 2015 the first phase of the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” (TRC) was completed, which recounted the real-life experiences and operations of the residential school system. It also contains 94 calls to action to try to advance reconciliation between Canadians and its Indigenous peoples, as well as place further ownness and responsibility on the government to improve Indigenous affairs. In examining the two works, TRC and Indian Horse, it is evident that the representation in Indian Horse is quite accurate in expressing experiences Indigenous people had in the Canadian residential school system. By examining the use of imagery...