I Lost My Talk You Took Away Summary

It’s an accepted fact that there have been countless injustices against the FNMI peoples of Canada, which has resulted in a substantial loss of culture and identity within many communities, which is often considered a particularly heartbreaking moment in Canada’s history. The cultural erasure inflicted upon FNMI communities by colonial forces represents an unforgiving time in our past that demands immediate recognition and redress for reconciliation between Canada and the FNMI peoples. This deliberate attempt to annihilate Indigenous languages, traditions, and culture inflicted lasting and devastating effects on FNMI communities which are still present to this day. It is essential for Canadians to acknowledge this painful history and work toward

Rita Joe’s poem employs various literary elements to highlight the cultural genocide experienced by Indigenous people, particularly through the forced attendance at residential schools. A major loss was their language. The speaker bluntly states, “I lost my talk / The talk you took away” (Joe 1-2), implying that FNMI children were stripped of their native languages from a young age which ultimately ended in cultural erasure and preventing many Indigenous individuals from ever having the chance to feel what it truly means to be Indigenous. There is no ambiguity about who is responsible as even the Canadian government themselves have acknowledged it, as they had enforced assimilation within Indigenous children to a more western European culture throughout the time it has existed and took many years before any change was considered. Additionally, Rita Joe used a strong example of allusion when referring to “Shubenacadie school” (Joe 4), a residential school located in Nova Scotia which was a major institution in regard to the amount of Indigenous children taken