Influential Indigenous novel In Search of April Raintree commemorates 40 years with anniversary edition
Beatrice Mosionier's story of resilience, sisterly love and identity paved the way for Indigenous storytellers
Beatrice Mosionier's novel, In Search of April Raintree, has resonated with readers since 1983. In honour of its 40th anniversary, a new edition will be published on Sept. 12.
The novel follows Métis sisters April and Cheryl Raintree as they are taken from their families and raised in separate foster homes. As they grow up, they stay close despite developing different feelings towards their Métis heritage and separate goals for their futures.
Based on Mosionier's own experiences in foster care, In Search of April Raintree is a story about the importance of family, reckoning with identity and life as an Indigenous person in the child welfare system and beyond.
Mosionier started writing the book after losing two of her sisters to suicide, Vivian in 1964 and Kathy in 1980. "When I found about [Kathy's] suicide, all these questions came to me, and the only way I could answer them is by writing a book," she said in an interview with Rosanna Deerchild on Unreserved in a 2016 interview.
Initially, she was surprised by the response people had to the book. In fact, she didn't even think it would get published in the first place.
"For me, it was just about two Métis sisters. They're not heroes, they didn't do anything fantastically recognizable, so it's just about their lives, essentially."
But their stories resonated with generations of Canadians — and In Search of April Raintree was published in subsequent editions for high school and university students.
When writing the novel, Mosionier wanted to provide a truthful portrait of Indigenous people in the hopes of breaking free from racism and stereotypes that stem from years of continued misrepresentation.
"[The public] didn't know [Indigenous people] and they learned what they thought they knew from media accounts and governments and people like that who had a stake in making sure that people did not know the real us," she told CBC Books in a recent interview.
Even Mosionier herself learned more about Métis traditions when writing In Search of April Raintree. She grew up in white foster families and would see her parents at family visits, but since her mother was a residential school survivor, she wasn't able to pass along traditional Métis teachings.
"When I was doing all this writing, it was like learning about who I really was. So when I found out that I had tapped into other people's experiences, it was all new to me," she said.
When I was doing all this writing, it was like learning about who I really was. So when I found out that I had tapped into other people's experiences, it was all new to me.- Beatrice Mosionier
The new edition features a foreword from Red River Métis author katherena vermette, who won the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry for North End Love Songs. vermette is also known for her novel, The Break, that was defended by Candy Palmater on Canada Reads 2017.
In the foreword, vermette credits In Search of April Raintree with being the first story she read about someone like her. The response to Mosionier's story also showed her that people wanted to hear from Indigenous voices.
And she's not the only Indigenous author who has had this experience.
"I am endlessly indebted to Beatrice Mosionier and April Raintree for lighting the way to my own stories," said Métis writer Cherie Dimaline in a press release. She won the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature and was featured on Canada Reads 2018 The Marrow Thieves, a novel set in a dystopian future where Indigenous people are hunted for their bone marrow.
"In Search of April Raintree was the first book I read that spoke to the Indigenous experience, and it changed me for the better," said David A. Robertson in a press statement. A member of the Norway House Cree Nation, he won the Governor General's Literary Award for When We Were Alone, a picture book illustrated by Julie Flett that explores a grandmother's experiences in residential school.
While Moisonier is glad to have shown vermette, Dimaline, Robertson and other Indigenous writers that there is an appetite for their stories, she is disappointed that April didn't make the tangible difference she had hoped. "She didn't help much in making changes to the child welfare system and other systems that really need changing," Mosionier said.
The 40th edition of In Search of April Raintree also includes an afterword by Ôtiskewâpit professor Dr. Raven Sinclair, an expert on Indigenous child welfare and a Sixties Scoop survivor.
With this edition, Mosionier wants to reach the next generation.
"I hope younger generations will take action, and figure out the things that they should be doing to support Indigenous peoples," Mosionier said.
"We have a lot of structures in place that promote racism. And when you have those things, it's pretty hard to get rid of racism. So there's always hope that the younger people will be open to change."
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