NO ESCAPE

A survivor of an Indian Residential School in Canada shares his story in this debut memoir.

While the story of Canada’s “hellish system of religious schooling” has made international headlines (and even provoked a historic apology from Pope Francis), Gosbee asserts that there is more to the story that still needs to be told. Living in Northern Ontario in the 1950s, Gosbee and his sisters were among the few white children who attended the now infamous St. Anne’s Indian Residential School. While the institution operated under a basic assumption of white cultural supremacy that presumed “the right to dominate and eliminate” Indigenous culture, the author was not spared from the psychological damage inflicted by the school. Punishments witnessed by the young Gosbee included striking children on the head with shoes. The author’s recollections are supplemented by memories shared by his sisters as well as dormmate Tony Tourville, who speaks bluntly about sexual abuse and additional experiences of Indigenous children the author was not privy to. While Gosbee acknowledges the presence of “good priests, good nuns, and good teachers,” he emphasizes how the institution’s management systematically worked to push out empathetic figures and promote “mean, controlling teachers” in their stead. The book’s harrowing narrative is conveyed in a conversational, no-nonsense style in prose that pays close attention to vocabulary; influenced by Tourville’s reflections, Gosbee notes how even the words “school” or “dorm supervisor” sanitize a more sordid environment (he suggests “prison” and “prison guard” as more accurate descriptors). The text is accompanied by a wealth of black-and-white photographs that contributes to the book’s haunting tone. In addition to chronicling his childhood experiences, Gosbee surveys the school’s lasting impact in the present day and includes a foreword written by Charlie Angus, a member of the Canadian House of Commons who has been an outspoken advocate on behalf of Indian Residential School victims.

A powerful, firsthand indictment of the Canadian government’s mistreatment of Indigenous children.