Precious Little, by Camille Fouillard
How white, settler-descended Canadian writers are to write about Indigenous people in fiction (or if we are to at all) is, of course, a bit of a literary hot topic these days, with so much more awareness of cultural appropriation than we had even few decades ago (not that Indigenous people weren’t always aware of appropriation, rather that settler writers generally weren’t listening to them). How a writer like Camille Fouillard, who has extensive experience as a settler-Canadian working among Indigenous people. Fouillard has worked with the Innu in Labrador, particularly in the aftermath of the tragic fire in Davis Inlet in 1992 — the time period in which this novel is set.
Fouillard has chosen to fictionalize these real events and the Innu people of the community — as well as herself, creating the character of Anna whose professional life mirrors the author’s in many ways but whose personal life may not. What’s powerful about this beautifully-crafted novel is that it doesn’t dodge the questions of who has the right to tell an indigenous story, or whether a character like Anna is a “white savior” in Innu Labrador — rather, it foregrounds these questions, analyzes and explores them deliberately. Anna is asked to come to the community and help with developing a community-led (rather than government-led) inquiry and report about the tragedy. At every step, she has to question her place in the community, her right to be there and whether her presence is actually helping, and how what she is learning is affecting her own life. She portrays the Innu in the community in a way that feels very honest — not condescending but also not whitewashing or pretending everyone is perfect. There’s no pretense of an unbiased or unmediated depiction (which inevitably is biased and mediated through the author’s own preconceptions): rather, it’s always clear that this is Anna viewing the Innu, and herself in relation to them. It’s a powerful novel that I also found beautiful and lyrical and, despite the difficult subject matter, a pleasure to read.
