"As accurate as memory": The Making of Basil H. Johnston's Indian School Days

Abstract:

This article unveils the personal dedication of author Basil H. Johnston, together with the professional commitment of his publisher Anna Porter and agent Beverley Slopen, that led to the production and dissemination of Indian School Days. Published in 1988 by Toronto's Key Porter Books, Indian School Days was the first memoir to focus entirely on the Indian residential school experience in Canada and the first written by an Anishinaabemowin speaker. Drawing on primary material—archival documents held in the Basil H. Johnston fonds at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, as well as my 2022 interview with his daughter, Tibby Johnston—the article argues for the distinctive allyship of Porter and Slopen with Johnston, three figures united in sensibility and purpose. Individually, each valued mutual understanding alongside career success and sought to challenge the prevailing bias against Indigenous writing within mainstream publishing. Collectively, they grasped the corrective significance of Indian School Days—as a work of remembrance, history, and art—and fostered awareness for a book that was central to the rise of Indigenous writing in Canada.