By Adam Ovenell-Carter

Born and raised in Montréal, associate English professor Sophie McCall recalls one of her first lessons in Canadian Aboriginal history. It was in grade school, where her teacher told her that her hometown was once called Hochelaga.

“But that was it,” says McCall.

“There was never any explanation as to why it became Montréal. It was presented almost as a natural process—things moving from Aboriginal land to non-Aboriginal land.”

“There’s so much silence associated with native history in this country.”

And McCall is out to change that. Her latest book, First Person Plural: Aboriginal Storytelling and the Ethics of Collaborative Authorship, aims to relate some of the country’s Aboriginal heritage and explore the history of Aboriginal story telling and the ethics of collaborative authorship.

“It focuses on the relationship between Aboriginal storytellers and authors who, in transmitting a story, create these layers of mediation,” says McCall.

 “The question is, since the history of that relationship, has there been a way of establishing an ethics of collaboration that could guide that relationship and create a different type of interaction?”

She cites land claims cases, where Aboriginals are presenting oral traditions that are translated by court transcribers and reinterpreted by lawyers and judges.

 “This allows me to create a larger story for the struggle for Aboriginal rights in Canada, through the 1970s to present day,” she says.

McCall’s work was named a finalist for the Gabrielle Roy prize for best English-language work of Canadian criticism.

 “It’s nice to know people are reading your work,” she laughs. “It’s great to have a sense that the book is reaching an audience. I worked on that book for a decade.

 “As a Canadian, I feel this is a part of our history that remains very unresolved, and I feel compelled to tell the story, and I’m happy to know people are willing to listen.”