As a child, Askik Mercredi, a Métis, attends the French-Canadian Catholic school in St. Boniface—an education that conflicts with the Native ways and beliefs that shape his home life. Later, in the world of colonial Montreal, where he hopes to fulfill his dream of becoming “a great man,” he finds he is not welcomed by the white society he wishes to embrace. Out of place on the prairies and in the city, treated as an alien in both Native and francophone communities, severed from his own Métis culture—Askik seems destined to lead a solitary, meandering life, unattached to any community. But events on the prairies are leading to the Riel “Rebellion,” and a series of coincidences result in a parallel upheaval in Askik’s private history. “Tchipayuk” is a Cree word meaning “a soul condemned to wander the earth until its memory is honoured.”

Ronald Lavallée's profile page

Patricia Claxton is one of Canada’s most respected French-to-English translators, who has translated more than 20 books and countless articles, essays, short stories and poems. She is perhaps most well known for her connection with Gabrielle Roy. In 1987, Patricia was presented with the Governor General’s Award for her translation of Roy’s posthumous autobiography and in 1999, she was honoured with a second Governor General’s Award for her translation of Gabrielle Roy, a Life, by François Ricard. Her translation of Ronald Lavallée’s Tchipayuk: Or, The Way of the Wolf is available from Talonbooks.

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• Short-listed, Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation