During the opening round of Canada Reads 2020, George Canyon, defending From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle and Kaniehtiio Horn, defending Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson, got into a discussion about empathy and Indigenous representation in literature.

Kaniehtiio Horn: "From the Ashes was interesting for me to read. It actually helped me a lot in my defence for Son of a Trickster because… I didn't enjoy the content. I found it really hard to get through.

"I found it really depressing as an Indigenous person. It's a story that I've heard many, many, many times. I felt like it was something that could be referred to as 'trauma porn'..."

George Canyon: "It's not trauma porn. Trauma porn is completely the wrong [phrase] to use. Trauma porn is overwhelmingly, explicit content. This book, if you if you read this book and really dig in — and I mean no disrespect to you — it's really about love and redemption.

"Nor is it bootstrap. Jesse's character kept trying and kept falling back. And Jesse commented the other day he said it took him a long time to even understand the power of women.

"Women in this book, the power that that they gave him — they surrounded him and supported him — and he started listing off all the characters that he came across in his life because he kept failing, kept failing, kept failing. This book is about love. It's about redemption. It's about people coming to this support.

"And it creates empathy because it's real life….that's why everyone needs to read it."

Kaniehtiio Horn: "For me it's a story that I've heard before. I'm not taking away from his experience and I think it's a well-written book. I think it's a beautiful book and I think people definitely should read it.

"But in terms of a book that's to bring Canada into focus — this year, right now — I don't think it's going to do us any favours the way that Indigenous people are viewed in the eyes of all Canadians."

The Canada Reads 2020 contenders and their chosen books are: