PRELUDE TO RACIAL RECONCILIATION (A. Stobo Sniderman, D. Sanderson (Amo Binashi), «Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation» (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2022))

Readers are presented with a review of the work by A. Stobo Sniderman and D. Sanderson (Amo Binashi) titled “Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation” (2022). The review provides a brief overview of the main historical facts presented in the work. Significant attention has been paid to the history of educational institutions for Indigenous peoples: from residential schools to separate schools on reservations. The collective history of the Anishinaabe people is conveyed through the life of the Twovoice family. The review argues that intergenerational trauma, humiliation, the destruction of Indigenous culture, and the underfunding of schools for Indigenous peoples have caused their material and spiritual crisis.On the other hand, the review gathers and presents material about the first Ukrainian settlements in Manitoba (near the Lake Dauphin area). It documents facts about the discrimination faced by immigrants from Bukovyna and Galychyna: the prejudiced attitude of the Anglo-Saxons as the dominant group, as well as the internment camps during the First World War. The conclusion is drawn that the individual and collective tragedies of each people caused them to become closed off and focused on their misfortunes. Despite the geographical proximity of their settlements, they remained strangers to each other for a long time. Only individual contacts and the initial steps taken by the school principal, who is of Ukrainian descent, towards understanding and immersing in the life experiences of the Other, have made declarations of understanding and reconciliation effective and actionable.