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CanLit150

Celebrate more than 150 years of Canada with 150 books.

Fanny Britt Recommends

Stolen Sisters by Emmanuelle Walter

“The essay Stolen Sisters by Emmanuelle Walter (translated from the French, Soeurs volées) tackles the unsolved disappearance in 2008 of two teenage girls from an Anishinabe community in western Quebec, and addresses many of the fundamental questions that all Canadians need to ask themselves and their representatives.” – Fanny Britt

Stolen Sisters (2015)

(From HarperCollins Canada)

In 2014, the nation was rocked by the brutal violence against young Aboriginal women Loretta Saunders, Tina Fontaine and Rinelle Harper. But tragically, they were not the only Aboriginal women to suffer that year. In fact, an official report revealed that since 1980, 1,200 Canadian Aboriginal women have been murdered or have gone missing. This alarming official figure reveals a national tragedy and the systemic failure of law enforcement and of all levels of government to address the issue.

Journalist Emmanuelle Walter spent two years investigating this crisis and has crafted a moving representative account of the disappearance of two young women, Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander, teenagers from western Quebec, who have been missing since September 2008. Via personal testimonies, interviews, press clippings and official documents, Walter pieces together the disappearance and loss of these two young lives, revealing these young women to us through the voices of family members and witnesses.

Stolen Sisters is a moving and deeply shocking work of investigative journalism that makes the claim that not only is Canada failing its First Nations communities, but that a feminicide is taking place.

Written by:

Emmanuelle Walter

(From HarperCollins Canada)

Emmanuelle Walter is an independent journalist. She has worked for Liberation, Le Nouvel Observateur, ARTE Radio and Terra eco. Originally from France, she lives in Montreal.

Translated by:

Susan Ouriou

(From HarperCollins Canada)

Susan Ouriou is an award-winning writer and literary translator working from French and Spanish into English with over 30 literary translations to her credit. She has won Canada’s Governor General’s Award for Literary Translation and been part of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre since its creation. She has also worked as faculty for The Banff Centre’s Indigenous Writing program and is the editor of the 2010 anthology Beyond Words: Translating the World and the 2014 bilingual anthology Languages of Our Land: Indigenous Poems and Stories from Quebec.

Christella Morelli

(From HarperCollins Canada)

Christelle Morelli is a literary translator and French immersion teacher. She has translated several works of fiction for publication, including Languages of Our Land: Indigenous Poems and Stories from Quebec. Having lived in Quebec and France, she now makes her home with her family in Western Canada.