I learned a lot reading this. I also found the book very sad. I was not familiar with much of the history and the people. It was well written and researched. It is not an easy read but it an important story that needs to be told.

I am not a Canadian but I do believe that everyone should read Seen But Not Seen. Smith does such a great job, with the help of tremendous research and reading, telling the reader about all of the injustices that the Indigenous community have faced in Canada. While reading I couldn’t help but draw so many similar comparisons to what happened to Indigenous communities in the United States. This book was organized in such an accessible way for those who may not know much about Canada or it’s regions, but still provided so much extra knowledge to someone like myself who has done some research on this topic as well.

It feels wrong to give this read anything less than a five stars because I truly learned so much and think that this book would be beneficial to many people outside of North America in general.

Thank you to NetGalley and University of Toronto Press for giving me the ability to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

i always enjoy learning about history that I had never heard of before. this was a wonderfully done history book, and it felt like it was well-researched and engaging read.

Throughout its history, most settlers in Canada have believed that Indigenous culture needs to be replaced by 'superior' European culture. But even in the case of settlers who respected Indigenous peoples, most have felt that that they needed to be assimilated. Even in the rare instances when First Nations were consulted, their views were mostly ignored. In Seen But Not Seen, Donald B Smith, looks at the views of sixteen influential Canadians including John A MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister and artist Emily Carr. He uses a biographical form and contemporaneous as well as secondary sources to explain their views and to show how they have influenced and continue to influence Canadian policies. This is a very well-researched and documented but it is also written in a form that makes it accessible to any reader interested in this very important subject.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and University of Toronto Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>