Description
Road Allowance Era is the fourth graphic novel in the A Girl Called Echo series, by Katherena Vermette and illustrated by Scott Henderson and Donovan Yaciuk. Katherena Vermette is a Métis writer of poetry, fiction, and children’s literature. Scott Henderson has worked as an illustrator for comics, portraiture, and advertising art and Donovan Yaciuk has done colouring work on books and comics. In this volume, Road Allowance Era, the Manitoba Act’s promise of land for the Métis has gone unfulfilled, and many Métis flee to the Northwest. As part of the fallout from the Northwest Resistance, their advocate and champion Louis Riel is executed. As new legislation corrodes Métis land rights, and unscrupulous land speculators and swindlers take advantage, many Métis begin to settle on road allowances and railway land, often on the fringes of urban centres. For Echo, the plight of her family is apparent. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine when their land is cleared for pasture, they make their way to Rooster Town, squatting on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final instalment of Echo’s story, she is reminded of the strength and resilience of her people, forged through the loss and pain of the past, as she faces a triumphant future.