Shirley: An Indian Residential School Story
Written and illustrated by Joanne Robertson with Shirley (Fletcher) Horn
The background: grim, grey Shingwauk Hall, once an Indian residential school, now a historic site, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
In the foreground, against the grimness: an illustration of a bright-faced young girl. Despite the horrors of life in such schools, this is not a girl who will let her personality be stifled. From her face, you can see her exasperation and stubbornness. And you can tell—
She’s going to survive.
You’ve just met the protagonist of Shirley: An Indian Residential School Story. As with its cover, described above, Joanne Robertson’s illustrated biography of young Shirley (Fletcher) Horn is both disturbing and inspiring.
Now 84, Shirley recalls her early, happy memories with her family, first on an island on Moose River, near James Bay, where tides roared in over “big, disappearing sandbars.” Later the family lived by the Missinaibi River, in the southern part of the Treaty 9, known today as the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve.
Together, the family hunted, fished, trapped, and gathered food. They grew potatoes, turnips, carrots in their garden. When not helping, Shirley played with her brothers and sisters in the bush and by the river. And admired the lovely, flowery pillowcases her older sister Florence made of grain sacks. Of these early days, Shirley says, “I was happy.”
Then came a government agent, depicted against the pretty pillowcases as an ominous silhouette visible through a keyhole. As the children’s mother had long left, their home situation wasn’t suitable, the agent said. And so, along with 150,000 other children for 150 years (source: National Truth and Reconciliation Commission), off Shirley and her siblings were forcibly borne.
She recalls departing by canoe, past the lush green forest they’d loved. “Reaching over the side, I touched lily pads and plants as we quietly glided by. Dragging my fingers through the water, I created a tiny wake that would soon disappear from the river.” As did she.
Writer/illustrator Robertson’s eloquent rendering makes Shirley’s story all the more hard- and heart-hitting. Forbidden to communicate with her siblings at Shingwauk Hall, she and the other children were “All the time, all together, all lonely.” Too young at first to attend the Shingwauk school, Shirley spent afternoons playing on her bed with a small stuffed grey mouse. And no getting up to wander around: one of her ankles was tied to the bed. Brother Billy was similarly imprisoned, in his case, in a chicken coop.
But, always, there’s that wilful young face of Shirley’s shining off the pages. She may have been trapped, but she was defiantly can’t-catch-me. For example, one day at choir practice, Shirley faked fainting: “I waited till we were singing away, then I went down, my hymn book flying through the air!” Allowed to walk back on her own to the dorm, Shirley savoured the fresh air, the sunshine, the chirp-chatter of birds and squirrels.
Inevitably there were disappointments, often cruel ones. With a supervisor’s help, Shirley made a white confirmation dress, attaching flower designs to the collar and hem. How she loved that dress! But, after the confirmation ceremony, the dress disappeared. Nice things, it seemed, weren’t for residential children.
At long last, aged 15, Shirley left Shingwauk. She attended university, followed by a successful career that included being the first chancellor of Algoma University.
What a story—the girl who not only survived, but thrived.
About the Author/Illustrator
Joanne Robertson is also the author and illustrator of The Water Walker / Nibi Emosaawdang, Nibi is Water. Joanne is Anishinaabekwe and a member of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. A graduate of Algoma University, she lives north of Sault Ste. Marie.
Shirley (Fletcher) Horn, the former chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation, helped create the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and the Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall exhibit. Shirley lives in Sault Ste. Marie.
About the Reviewer
A Vancouver writer/editor, Melanie Jackson is the award-winning author of middle-grade/YA suspensers, including Orca Books’ Dinah Galloway Mystery Series, and several chillers set in amusement parks.
Book Details
Publisher: Second Story Press
February 10, 2026
Language: English
Paperback: 70 pages
ISBN: 978-1772604542