YMMV / Dear Canada

• Fridge Horror: Violet’s description of her mother returning home from the residential schools she was forced to stay at with Violet in tow gives the implications that Violet may be a Child by Rape due to her father being unknown and the abuse in the schools being well known in Real Life.
• Funny Moments: The epilogue of the book focusing on the RMS Titanic ends with the now-elderly Dorothy refusing to see James Cameron's movie based on the disaster because of "that weedy little actor". The final line states that her great-granddaughter went to see it without her, and that she didn't find Leonardo DiCaprio weedy at all.
• Improved Second Attempt: These Are My Words is vastly this for its Dear America counterpart, Ann Rinaldi's My Heart Is On the Ground. My Heart Is On the Ground was harshly criticized by actual Native Americans for being exploitative and inaccurate; it got off on the wrong foot from the start in its inability to even reflect Native American culture with even reasonable accuracy, but the worst part by far was the whitewashing of the residential schools, including the major Historical Villain Downgrade given to the school's staff. These Are My Words — which, unlike My Heart Is On the Ground, is actually written by a Native author, Ruby Slipperjack — does a much better job of conveying what this experience was really like for the students who were forced into it, namely a miserable and traumatic experience that completely lacked the upside that Rinaldi tried to force into the story in her version (as well as just getting the basics of Native life and culture right in a way Rinaldi was seemingly unable to).
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • In No Safe Harbour, Charlotte stumbles back to what's left of her home after the explosion to find that it's on fire with Charlotte's still-alive mother trapped in the rubble and unable to get free. Thankfully Charlotte is dragged away before she can actually witness her mother's death, but given all the relevant circumstances, her mother most likely suffered the terrifying, agonizing fate of being burned alive.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The death of Hélène's sister Catherine especially since this is after both their parents have died and they were forced to sell their childhood home. There was an event where multiple birds flew onto the ship and died and the poor girl has a nightmare of her sister crying over the dead birds, mentioning her pillow was wet with tears. On All Soul's Day she sadly writes about how last year her and Catherine were going to pray for their parents' souls but now she prays for her entire family an ocean away.