Tracking the Caribou Queen: Memoir of a Settler Girlhood

by Margaret Macpherson

In this challenging memoir about her formative years in Yellowknife in the ’60s and ’70s, author Margaret Macpherson lays bare her own white privilege, her multitude of unexamined microaggressions, and how her childhood was shaped by the colonialism and systemic racism that continues today. Macpherson’s father, first a principal and later a federal government administrator, oversaw education in the NWT, including the high school Margaret attended with its attached hostel: a residential facility mostly housing Indigenous children. Ringing with damning and painful truths, this bittersweet telling invites white readers to examine their own personal histories in order to begin to right relations with the Indigenous Peoples on whose land they live. Tracking the Caribou Queen is beautifully crafted to a purpose: poetic language and narrative threads dissect the trope that persisted through her girlhood, that of the Caribou Queen, a woman who seemed to embody extreme and contradictory stereotypes of Indigeneity. Here, Macpherson is not striving for a tidy ideal of “reconciliation”; what she is working towards is much messier, more complex and ambivalent and, ultimately, more equitable.

Genres: Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2022

Reviews

[Marilyn Letts · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the uniqueness of the story. Yes, the guilt is palpable, but the author's honesty and experience makes this a story you will not hear anywhere else.

"In this challenging memoir about her formative years in Yellowknife in the ’60s and ’70s, author Margaret Macpherson lays bare her own white privilege, her multitude of unexamined microaggressions, and how her childhood was shaped by the colonialism and systemic racism that continues today."

[Jan Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful in identifying how insidious white settler views become in every day life - and from a fresh perspective of a white child/youth/teen.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique story of a childhood in a time and place very few of us southerners can imagine.

[Carmel Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a powerful story of experienced white supremacy and systemic racism, through the eyes of settler, child. The story is so simple, as it’s in the eyes of child, yet it feels that much more scary and powerful for the same reason. The author writes with such honesty, speaking truthfully of her feelings in her upbringing. A remarkable novel.

[Gail Amendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very thoughtful memoir of the author's childhood in Yellowknife. Her family moved to Yellowknife when she was very young for her father to work first as a school principal, and later as an education superintendent for the federal government. His job involved overseeing residential schools. The author reflects on her sometimes awkward friendships and interactions with her indigenous neighbors and classmates. As she grew older she had a growing awareness that her family didn't really belong there, and their presence was doing more harm than good, while at the same time feeling that Yellowknife was her beloved home. Her stories caused me to reflect, sometimes with shame, on my own childhood in a community near a reservation, and the experiences I had, attitudes I encountered and mistakes I made.

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though Margaret grew up in Yellowknife with indigenous friends and classmates. And even though she was in awe of who they were and how they did life, and how she seemed to want to be one of them, it was never going to be that way. As she grew older, she knew she would leave these people she so admired because “that’s just the way it was”.

A bit of a hard read full of idealistic thoughts but artfully written.

[Lester · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to 'give' the 5 stars when someone writes an open story of their own life.
We grow from a child to adult..our thoughts, bodies, circumstances and pretty much everything..changes. We grow. If..if we are fortunate..we grow well.
Thank you Margaret Macpherson.
Have a most wonderful visit in the YT on your book tour..especially..in Tagish!!

[Anne Smith-Nochasak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noteworthy for its compelling narrative and vivid description, Macpherson’s memoir is a moving and thought-provoking read, one that challenges us to evaluate our own presumptions and step forward with true humility.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remembrances of an unusual childhood and adolescence in the NWT of Canada. Well-written memoir reflecting on race, ethnicity and privilege. Read first chapters at Vancouver Public Library and finished with a book from George Mason University.

[Lori Emilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting memoir. I appreciated the author’s honestly recounted stories of growing in NWT, a white child with a dad who was the director of the residential school system in the north.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An insightful perspective of life in Yellowknife in the 60s and 70s.

[Rivanel55 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past and dedicate myself to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.