Introduction
All books here are part of a single-copy library for teacher preview and use.
Fiction
The Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws, Vol. 2: The Voyageurs by
The Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws is a graphic novel series for the young and the young at heart. The stories are set in colonized North America during the 1750s and feature the comical adventures of two brothers, Rabbit and Bear Paws, with traditional native teachings sprinkled throughout. In Volume 2: The Voyageurs, Rabbit and Bear Paws join the voyageurs to take furs from Lake of the Woods to Montreal, and along the way they experience all the trials and tribulations of the voyageur life.
ISBN: 9780973990621Publication Date: 2008-05-15
Arctic Stories by
Ten-year-old Agatha, an Inuit girl, is the reluctant heroine in this tapestry of Arctic tales set in the 1950s. Each tale has its origins in Kusugak's own childhood experiences.
ISBN: 9781550374520Publication Date: 1998-09-01
The Beavers' Big House = Lii kastorr leu groos maenzoon by
A full-colour illustrated children's book that tells the story of a forest fire and how two beavers - Baptiste and Betsy - rally the other forest animals to fight it. The book teaches children valuable lessons such as the need for cooperation and preparedness.
ISBN: 9780920915714Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Catching Spring by
The year is 1957, and Bobby lives on the Tsartlip First Nation reserve on Vancouver Island where his family has lived for generations and generations. Bobby loves his weekend job at the nearby marina. He loves to play marbles with his friends. And he loves being able to give half his weekly earnings to his mother to eke out the grocery money, but he longs to enter the up-coming fishing derby. With the help of his uncle and Dan from the marina his wish just might come true.
ISBN: 9781551432984Publication Date: 2004-04-01
The Colour of Dried Bones by
A beautifully written collection of interconnected short stories told primarily through the eyes of a young Anishinaabe woman struggling with her relationships with lovers, friends, family, children, community and culture. As some relationships dissolve or are wrenched apart, others endure and gain strength. An intimate glimpse into the reality faced by many young First Nations women, The Colour of Dried Bones is by turns dark and brooding, sensual and filled with intense longing , infused with anger and brutality and, ultimately, uplifting in its portrayal of one woman's winding path to reclaim her culture and sense of self.
ISBN: 9780978499808Publication Date: 2008-05-01
Coyote Sings to the Moon by
Wales's comical illustrations and King's skillful storytelling make this an ideal tale to be read aloud. Together, they ensure that ""Coyote Sings to the Moon"" will be a favorite with parents and children alike.
ISBN: 9781558686427Publication Date: 2002-06-01
Deadly Loyalties by
Blaise is a fairly average Native girl growing up in Winnipeg and dealing with the normal triggers of teenage angst--parents, school, friends. Then her best friend is murdered by the Reds, a local gang, and she is the only witness. For protection, she turns to a rival gang called the West Bloods and her life changes forever. She must quickly learn to navigate the violent and often volatile world of street gangs to survive or succumb to the same fate as her friend. An engrossing and compelling coming of age story depicting the gritty and often gruesome realities of life on the streets, Deadly Loyaltiesis an open and honest look at the violence and pressures teenagers face when trying to belong.
ISBN: 9781894778398Publication Date: 2007-11-01
Dog Tracks by
Abby is having trouble fitting in at Bear Creek Reserve. After having lived most of her life with her grandparents in town, it's definitely a transition moving back to the reserve. When Choom, her grandfather, falls ill, Abby must leave her best friends at school, her supportive grandparents, and her perfect pink bedroom, and adjust to living with her mom. But it's not only being back with Mom that is hard - there's a new father, John, a pesky half-brother, Blink, a schoolroom full of kids who don't know her (and don't seem to want to, either), not to mention a completely different way of life that seems so traditional, so puzzling and complicated. But, with the help of the reserve's chief, Paulie, a puppy named Ki-Moot, and her parents' vision of a sled-dog tourist venture, Abby slowly begins to find her rhythm at Bear Creek. All she has to do is follow the dog tracks. In Dog Tracks, Ruby Slipperjack writes the story of those who return to the reserve and rediscover their culture. The book is both a celebration of Abby's youthful determination and a series of teachings about Anishinawbe traditions, history, and culture. Woven into Abby's narrative of self-discovery, and perhaps integral to it, are the teachings of Elders and parents, knowledge of hunting, fishing, berry-picking, and living on and with the land - all drawn from Slipperjack's own knowledge of the land and her people. Dog Tracks is a book that crosses genres: it is a tender story of an uprooted girl who finds home and self, and it is also a subtle text that gives readers a glimpse of traditional and non-traditional life on a northern Ontario reserve.
ISBN: 9781897252291Publication Date: 2008-09-24
DreadfulWater Shows Up by
Thumps DreadfulWater is a Cherokee ex-Los Angeles cop trying to make a new life as a photographer in the small town of Chinook. When one of his photos reveals a dead body, he is drawn back to his former career. First of a series, authored by Thomas King.
ISBN: 9780006391791Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Dream Catcher by
When nightmares start troubling her, young Marin goes to her grandmother's home to see an Elder. After visiting with the Elder Maskwa, Marin better understands her dreams and the importance of ritual, respect and connection to the Great Spirit, Kici Manitow. With the help of her family, Marin makes a dream catcher. It helps her appreciate herself and her connection to the land and the creatures around her.
ISBN: 9781894778923Publication Date: 2009-09-01
Dream Wheels: A Novel by
Joe Willie, a rodeo cowboy since he was a child, smolders in angry silence over a deformed left arm and a limp that make it impossible for him to compete. Claire, a victim of numerous bad relationships, withdraws from men and swears a bitter celibacy. Aiden gains notoriety among his criminal peers and slips into a self-destructive spiral of drugs and violence. Eager to find a place for her son to channel his explosive energies, Claire brings Aiden to a rodeo camp run by the Wolfchild family, where he is drawn to bull riding and proves to be a stunning natural. But Joe Willie refuses to have anything to do with the camp, remaining an aloof, mysterious presence to Claire and the boy. Birch Wolfchild, Joe Willie’s father, sees the potential for Aiden to become a champion and for his son to heal himself, if they can move beyond anger to forge a partnership. Claire’s and Joe Willie’s wounds bring them together in a surprising romance, and beneath it all is Birch Wolfchild’s tale of the changing of the life of the Indian cowboy. Dream Wheels is a story about change. Moving from the Wild West Shows of the late 1880s to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas to a lush valley in the mountains, it tells the story of a people’s journey, a family’s vision, a man’s reawakening, a woman’s recovery, and a boy’s emergence to manhood.
ISBN: 9780385661997Publication Date: 2006-01-01
Fearless Warriors (1998) by
Dramatic, chilling, tragic, shocking, tender and affirmative stories of Native people caught between two cultures.
ISBN: 9780889223950Publication Date: 1998-01-01
Fearless Warriors (2009) by
Internationally acclaimed as a playwright, screen-writer, comic and sardonic commentator on the endless gaffs, absurdities and the profound and painful misunderstandings that continue to characterize social interactions between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples, Taylor's stories in Fearless Warriors are a full frontal assault on stereotypes of all kinds and an edifying affirmation of humanity unlike anything else in fiction. Each of these stories is as remarkably different in terms of its unique narrative tone, origin and direction, as are the characters of his plays, making Taylor's singular collection of fictions quite intentionally much more than the sum of their parts. By degrees dramatic, shocking, tender, chilling, affirmative and tragic, each story takes on a different cliché or "common sense understanding" of inter-racial and inter-cultural relations, all of them suffused with the incomparable wit, gentle and generous humour, mercilessly critical edge and profound emotional empathy of a master story-teller. No quarter is given, nor is it taken--Native stereotypes of White culture are as fair a species of game for this writer as any other. Ultimately, each of these narratives becomes a bridge of understanding between cultures, giving its readers access to the seemingly inexplicable actions of characters at the distant edges of our imaginations--even just one of these stories, "The Boy in the Ditch," does more to illuminate the tragedy of the pre-teen gasoline sniffing culture of Davis Inlet than any number of Royal Commissions will ever do. Carefully re-edited, with its concluding story replaced, we are proud to release this new edition of unforgettable stories Talonbooks first published in 1998.
ISBN: 9780889225978Publication Date: 2009-07-21
Flour Sack Flora by
Flora wants more than anything to be able to go to town, but she doesn't have a pretty dress to wear. With the help of her grandmother Flora finds that anything is possible.
ISBN: 9781894717052Publication Date: 2015-09-24- For Someone Special by Although it is a common Carrier belief that preparations not be made for a baby's birth, the 'Uma in this story does not heed 'Atsoo's warning and proceeds to start a yazk'i. Indeed, after she leaves Nazko Village to enter hospital in the nearby city of Quesnel, 'Atsoo herself completes the basket. The consequences are paid when 'Uma returns with twins!ISBN: 0969363807Publication Date: 1990-01-01
God and the Indian by
While panhandling outside a coffee shop, Johnny, a Cree woman who lives on the streets, is shocked to recognize a face from her childhood, which was spent in a First Nations residential school. Desperate to hear the man acknowledge the terrible abuse he inflicted on her and other children at the school, Johnny follows Anglican bishop George King to his office to confront him. Inside King's office, Johnny's memories are fluid, shifting, and her voice cracks with raw emotion. Is the bishop actually guilty of what she claims, or has her ability to recollect been altered by poverty, abuse, and starvation experienced on the streets? Can her memories be trusted? Who is responsible for what? At its core, God and the Indian, by celebrated Aboriginal playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, explores the complex process of healing through dialogue. Loosely based on Death and the Maiden by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman, the play identifies the ambiguities that frame past traumatic events. Against the backdrop of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has facilitated the recent outpouring of stories from First Nations residential school survivors across the country, the play explores what is possible when the abused meets the abuser and is given a free forum for expression. Cast of 1 woman and 1 man.
ISBN: 9780889228443Publication Date: 2014-07-01
Harpoon of the Hunter by
Based on an Inuit legend, Harpoon of the Hunter is a story of life in the old days, not as it appeared to southerners, but as it has survived in the memory of the Inuit themselves. Emerging from a largely oral tradition, it is the first novel by an Inuit written in English. Markoosie has the rare ability to capture the richness and imagery of the Inuit language in English.
ISBN: 9780773502321Publication Date: 1974-05-01
Honour the Sun by
After years away, a young woman returns to the railroad community in northern Ontario where she was raised, only to find life there has turned for the worse. As trouble reaches her mother and her friends, will she, too, succumb to despair?
ISBN: 9780919143449Publication Date: 2015-09-24
I Can't Have Bannock but the Beaver Has a Dam by
A boy patiently listens to his mother's reasons for not making bannock--all the result of a beaver's need to make a dam. Includes a bannock recipe!
ISBN: 1553790022Publication Date: 1993-01-01
Keeper'n Me by
When Garnet Raven was three years old, he was taken from his home on an Ojibway Indian reserve and placed in a series of foster homes. Having reached his mid-teens, he escapes at the first available opportunity, only to find himself cast adrift on the streets of the big city. Having skirted the urban underbelly once too often by age 20, he finds himself thrown in jail. While there, he gets a surprise letter from his long-forgotten native family. The sudden communication from his past spurs him to return to the reserve following his release from jail. Deciding to stay awhile, his life is changed completely as he comes to discover his sense of place, and of self. While on the reserve, Garnet is initiated into the ways of the Ojibway -- both ancient and modern -- by Keeper, a friend of his grandfather, and last fount of history about his people's ways. By turns funny, poignant and mystical, Keeper'n Me reflects a positive view of Native life and philosophy -- as well as casting fresh light on the redemptive power of one's community and traditions.
ISBN: 9780385662833Publication Date: 2006-07-25
Kiss of the Fur Queen by
Born into a magical Cree world in snowy northern Manitoba, Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis are all too soon torn from their family and thrust into the hostile world of a Catholic residential school. Their language is forbidden, their names are changed to Jeremiah and Gabriel, and both boys are abused by priests.
As young men, estranged from their own people and alienated from the culture imposed upon them, the Okimasis brothers fight to survive. Wherever they go, the Fur Queen--a wily, shape-shifting trickster--watches over them with a protective eye. For Jeremiah and Gabriel are destined to be artists. Through music and dance they soar.
ISBN: 9780385258807Publication Date: 1998-01-01
Learning to Fly by
Jason is an outsider. A recent immigrant from China, he lives in a close-minded town with his mother and younger brother. Falling in with the wrong crowd, trying to fit in, Jason takes chances and ends up in trouble with the police. Holding on to his friendship with an Indigenous boy, also an outsider, Jason finds he needs to fight to belong and to find a new home.
ISBN: 9781551439532Publication Date: 2008-10-01
The Lesser Blessed by
A fresh, funny look at growing up Native in the North, by award-winning author Richard Van Camp. Larry is a Dogrib Indian growing up in the small northern town of Fort Simmer. His tongue, his hallucinations and his fantasies are hotter than the sun. At sixteen, he loves Iron Maiden, the North and Juliet Hope, the high school "tramp." When Johnny Beck, a Metis from Hay River, moves to town, Larry is ready for almost anything. In this powerful and often very funny first novel, Richard Van Camp gives us one of the most original teenage characters in fiction. Skinny as spaghetti, nervy and self-deprecating, Larry is an appealing mixture of bravado and vulnerability. His past holds many terrors: an abusive father, blackouts from sniffing gasoline, an accident that killed several of his cousins. But through his friendship with Johnny, he's ready now to face his memories--and his future. Marking the debut of an exciting new writer, The Lesser Blessed is an eye-opening depiction of what it is to be a young Native man in the age of AIDS, disillusionment with Catholicism and a growing world consciousness. A coming-of-age story that any fan of The Catcher in the Rye will enjoy.
ISBN: 9781550545258Publication Date: 2004-04-06
The Little Duck = Sikihpsis by
An enchanting children's story about a little mud duck who wanted to be a handsome Plains Cree dancer, and how the Cree helped him be happy with himself as a duck. The little mud duck would fly over the Cree camp and observe the people. One day he decided to dress up like a Cree dancer and walk to the camp. When he is ignored by the dancers, the lonely duck returns to his pond and finds that, with the company of other mud ducks, he can be content with who he is. The Little Duck is a universal story that crosses cultural boundaries and leaves one with a lesson on the importance of self-worth.
ISBN: 9781894778107Publication Date: 2013-06-18
Little Voice by
Eleven-year-old Ray feels like a misfit at school and in her family. Things have been hard for her family since her father's accidental death in a logging accident, and Ray has been unable to express her grief. In school, the green eyes she inherited from her father are unusual for a child from an Ojibway background in a northern Ontario town and get her noticed in ways she doesn't enjoy. At home, Ray believes that her mother, grieving herself and busy with Ray's younger brother and sister, no longer needs her. Ray becomes so withdrawn that at times she hardly speaks. Then Ray gets the chance she's been longing for: to spend a summer in the bush with her beloved grandmother--fishing, camping, and living off the land. During this visit, guided by her grandmother's sure hands, compassionate wisdom, and unfailing sense of humour, Ray begins a marvellous journey. Her grandmother, Agnes, a skilled healer respected in her small community, is the mentor and teacher Ray needs. She sees Ray's need to find her own identity and voice and begins to help her learn traditional skills. At the end of this beautiful and empowering story, which begins in 1978, the withdrawn green-eyed girl has found her voice and is not afraid to use it. Ruby Slipperjackhas three novels to her credit: Weesquachak and the Lost Ones, Silent Words, and Honour the Sun. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous Learning at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.
ISBN: 9781550501827Publication Date: 2001-09-01
Little White Cabin by
A touching story of befriending a local Elder and learning from him.
ISBN: 0921827261Publication Date: 1992-01-01
Monkey Beach by
Eden Robinson's first book, a collection of stories titled Traplines, earned high praise from critics: "Expertly rendered" (New York Times Book Review), and "Captured my attention and permeated my subconscious" (Toronto Globe and Mail). The book was named a New York Times Notable and won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize from the Royal Society of Literature. Robinson's mastery is confirmed in Monkey Beach, the first full-length work of fiction by a Haisla writer and an unforgettable story set in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest. This powerful novel reminds us that places, as much as people, have stories to tell. Five hundred miles north of Vancouver is Kitamaat, an Indian reservation in the homeland of the Haisla people. Growing up a tough, wild tomboy, swimming, fighting, and fishing in a remote village where the land slips into the green ocean on the edge of the world, Lisamarie has always been different. Visited by ghosts and shapeshifters, tormented by premonitions, she can't escape the sense that something terrible is waiting for her. She recounts her enchanted yet scarred life as she journeys in her speedboat up the frigid waters of the Douglas Channel. She is searching for her brother, dead by drowning, and in her own way running as fast as she can toward danger. Circling her brother's tragic death are the remarkable characters that make up her family: Lisamarie's parents, struggling to join their Haisla heritage with Western ways; Uncle Mick, a Native rights activist and devoted Elvis fan; and the headstrong Ma-ma-oo (Haisla for "grandmother"), a guardian of tradition. Haunting, funny, and vividly poignant, Monkey Beach gives full scope to Robinson's startling ability to make bedfellows of comedy and the dark underside of life. Informed as much by its lush living wilderness as by the humanity of its colorful characters, Monkey Beach is a profoundly moving story about childhood and the pain of growing older--a multilayered tale of family grief and redemption.
ISBN: 9780618219056Publication Date: 2002-04-09
Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by
A story of magic, family, a mysterious stranger . . . and a band of marauding raccoons. nbsp; Otter Lake is a sleepy Anishnawbe community where little happens. Until the day a handsome stranger pulls up astride a 1953 Indian Chief motorcycle - and turns Otter Lake completely upside down. Maggie, the Reserve's chief, is swept off her feet, but Virgil, her teenage son, is less than enchanted. Suspicious of the stranger's intentions, he teams up with his uncle Wayne - a master of aboriginal martial arts - to drive the stranger from the Reserve. And it turns out that the raccoons are willing to lend a hand.
ISBN: 9780307398062Publication Date: 2010-12-07
Neekna and Chemai by
Neekna and Chemai first published by Theytus Books in 1984 was reprinted for the third time in 2018. Written by renowned Okanagan author and scholar Jeannette Armstrong with illustrations by Okanagan artist Barbara Marchand this book is designed to appeal to elementary level readers. Part story and picture book this title contains factual information about the Okanagan Nation prior to the contact period. Told from the perspective of two friends, Neekna and Chemai recount the seasonal rounds of their families living on the land in the British Columbia interior. Readers learn about the girls as they spend time with Great-Grandmother, who tells them about important ceremonies, and gather plants with Neekna's grandmother. The friends gather bitterroot, pick Saskatoon berries, blackberries and soap berries with their families and learn about the importance and origin of these harvesting activities. In the Fall the families move to fishing camps as they prepare salmon for the winter months. Each food source is accompanied by traditional stories and origin accounts. The two friends learn important lessons from their female relatives and Elders.
ISBN: 9781894778565Publication Date: 2008-01-01
The Night Wanderer by
A mesmerizing blend of Gothic thriller and modern coming-of-age novel, The Night Wanderer is unlike any other vampire story. Nothing ever happens on the Otter Lake reservation. But when 16-year-old Tiffany discovers her father is renting out her room, she's deeply upset. Sure, their guest is polite and keeps to himself, but he's also a little creepy. Little do Tiffany, her father, or even her astute Granny Ruth suspect the truth. The mysterious Pierre L'Errant is actually a vampire, returning to his tribal home after centuries spent in Europe. But Tiffany has other things on her mind: her new boyfriend is acting weird, disputes with her father are escalating, and her estranged mother is starting a new life with somebody else. Fed up and heartsick, Tiffany threatens drastic measures and flees into the bush. There, in the midnight woods, a chilling encounter with L'Errant changes everything . . . for both of them.
ISBN: 9781554510993Publication Date: 2007-09-01
No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kuper Island Residential School by
No Time to Say Goodbyeis a fictional account of five children sent to aboriginal boarding school, based on the recollections of a number of Tsartlip First Nations people. These unforgettable children are taken by government agents from Tsartlip Day School to live at Kuper Island Residential School. The five are isolated on the small island and life becomes regimented by the strict school routine. They experience the pain of homesickness and confusion while trying to adjust to a world completely different from their own. Their lives are no longer organized by fishing, hunting and family, but by bells, line-ups and chores. In spite of the harsh realities of the residential school, the children find adventure in escape, challenge in competition, and camaraderie with their fellow students. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, always engrossing, No Time to Say Goodbyeis a story that readers of all ages won't soon forget.
ISBN: 9781550391213Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Our Story: Aboriginal Voices on Canada's Past by
Inspired by history, Our Story is a beautifully illustrated collection of original stories from some of Canada’s most celebrated Aboriginal writers.
Asked to explore seminal moments in Canadian history from an Aboriginal perspective, these ten acclaimed authors have travelled through our country’s past to discover the moments that shaped our nation and its people.
Drawing on their skills as gifted storytellers and the unique perspectives their heritage affords, the contributors to this collection offer wonderfully imaginative accounts of what it’s like to participate in history. From a tale of Viking raiders to a story set during the Oka crisis, the authors tackle a wide range of issues and events, taking us into the unknown, while also bringing the familiar into sharper focus.
Our Story brings together an impressive array of voices—Inuk, Cherokee, Ojibway, Cree, and Salish to name just a few—from across the country and across the spectrum of First Nations. These are the novelists, playwrights, journalists, activists, and artists whose work is both Aboriginal and uniquely Canadian.
Brought together to explore and articulate their peoples’ experience of our country’s shared history, these authors’ grace, insight, and humour help all Canadians understand the forces and experiences that have made us who we are.
ISBN: 9780385660761Publication Date: 2005-01-01
A Quality of Light by
My life as a Kane was lit in the Indigos, Aquamarines and Magentas of a home built on quiet faith and prayer.nbsp;nbsp;But Johnny changed all that.nbsp;nbsp;Where I had stood transfixed by the gloss on the surface of living, he called me forward from the pages of the books, away from the blinders that faith can surreptitiously place upon your eyes and out into a world populated by those who live their lives in the shadow of necessary fictions.
ISBN: 9780385256063Publication Date: 1997-03-17
Ravensong by
"... [a] leading figure in Native literature." -Vancouver Sun. Set in an urban Native community on the Pacific Northwest coast in the early 1950s, Ravensong is by turns damning, humourous, inspirational, and prophetic.
ISBN: 9780889740440Publication Date: 2002-05-08
Red: A Haida Manga by
Referencing a classic Haida oral narrative, this spectacular full-color graphic novel blends traditional Haida imagery with Japanese manga to tell the powerful story of Red, an orphaned leader so blinded by revenge that he leads his community to the brink of war and destruction. When raiders attack his village, young Red escapes dramatically. But his sister Jaada is whisked away. The loss of Jaada breeds a seething anger, and Red sets out to find his sister and exact revenge on her captors. Tragic and timeless, Red's story is reminiscent of such classic tales as Oedipus Rex, Macbeth, and King Lear. Not only an affecting story, Red is an innovation in contemporary storytelling from the creator of Haida Manga and the author of Flight of the Hummingbird; it consists of 108 pages of hand-painted illustrations, and when arranged the panels create a Haida formline image 13 feet long. A miniature version of the panel in full-color is on the inside jacket.
ISBN: 9781553653530Publication Date: 2010-02-23
Slash by
Slashis Jeannette Armstrong's first novel. It poignantly traces the struggles, pain and alienation of a young Okanagan man who searches for truth and meaning in his life. Recognized as an important work of literature, Slashis used in high schools, colleges and universities.
ISBN: 9781894778459Publication Date: 1995-05-01
Stories of Our People = Lii zistwayr di la naasyoon di Michif : A Métis Graphic Novel Anthology by
This groundbreaking book--the first graphic novel produced in Saskatchewan and the first Métis stories graphic novel--is part of the Gabriel Dumont Institute's mandate to produce innovative and culturally-affirming Métis resources. Stories of Our People is a graphic novel anthology which includes the storytellers' original transcripts, prose renditions of the transcripts, and five illustrated stories. This community-based book is steeped in the Michif-Cree language and culture.Métis stories seamlessly blend characters and motifs from Cree, Ojibway and French-Canadian traditions into an exciting, unique synthesis. Métis stories are an invaluable treasure because they tell familiar stories in interesting ways while preserving elements of storytelling that have become rare to the Métis' ancestral cultures. Stories of Our People includes stories about the three Métis tricksters (Wiisakaychak, Nanabush, and Chi-Jean), werewolves (Roogaroos), cannibal spirits (Whiitigos), flying skeletons (Paakuks), and the Devil (li Jiyaab).
ISBN: 9780920915868Publication Date: 2008-01-01
The Story of the Rabbit Dance = Li Nistwaar di la daãns di liyév by
The Story of the Rabbit Dance is a picture book about the origin of the Métis dance known as the rabbit dance. In the book, Jeanne Pelletier tells about a Michif hunter by the name of Jacques. One night when returning from checking his traps, Jacques sees dogs and rabbits dancing together. Jacques then joins a Métis dance gathering and teaches his companions the new rabbit dance.
The text for the story is presented in both English and Michif-Cree, with the Michif-Cree translation provided by Rita Flamand. The book features an accompanying CD recording of the story in both languages. The CD also contains three fiddle music recordings.
ISBN: 9780920915776Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resistance by
Tilly has always known she's part Lakota on her dad's side. She's grown up with the traditional teachings of her grandma, relishing the life lessons of her beloved mentor. But it isn't until an angry man shouts something on the street that Tilly realizes her mom is Aboriginal too--a Cree woman taken from her own parents as a baby. Tilly feels her mother's pain deeply. She's always had trouble fitting in at school, and when her grandma dies unexpectedly, her anchor is gone. Then Abby, a grade-seven classmate, invites her home for lunch and offers her "something special" to drink. Nothing has prepared Tilly for the tingling in her legs, the buzz in her head and the awesome feeling that she can do anything. From then on, partying seems to offer an escape from her insecurities. But after one dangerously drunken evening, Tilly knows she has to change. Summoning her courage, she begins the long journey to finding pride in herself and her heritage. Just when she needs it most, a mysterious stranger offers some wise counsel: "Never question who you are or who your people are. It's in your eyes. I know it's in your heart." Loosely based on author Monique Gray Smith's own life, this revealing, important work of creative nonfiction tells the story of a young indigenous woman coming of age in the 1980s. In a spirit of hope, this unique story captures the irrepressible resilience of Tilly and of indigenous peoples everywhere.
ISBN: 9781550392098Publication Date: 2014-02-01
Time of the Thunderbird by
Kaya and Tala, the adventurous twins, are back from their exploits in Spirit Queston a new mission to discover why children are disappearing from one of their tribe's villages. Earth dwarves are being blamed for the missing children, but the twins are sure they're not at fault. Something very sinister is happening, so once again the sister and brother set out with Yahet (Y for short), their friend and companion, to rescue the kidnapped children. Along the way they meet a mysterious owl, a cedar ogre, demons galore, Aixos, the most ferocious of all sea serpents, and the Thunderbird himself!
ISBN: 9781550027921Publication Date: 2008-07-28
Truth and Bright Water by
With a plethora of superb reviews and upcoming publication in the US, Thomas King's latest work affirms him as one of our wittiest and wisest writers. Truth & Bright Water is the tale of two young cousins and one long summer. Tecumseh and Lum live in Truth, a small American town, and Bright Water, the reserve across the border and over the river. Family is the only reason most of the people stay in the towns, and yet old secrets and new mysteries keep pulling the more nomadic residents back to the fold. Monroe Swimmer, famous Indian artist, returns to live in the old church with the hope of painting it into the prairie landscape and re-establishing the buffalo population. Tecumseh's Aunt Cassie has come back too, already arguing with his mother. Why has his mother given Cassie a suitcase full of baby clothes? And why is Lum interested only in winning the Indian Days race? Tecumseh has more questions than anyone will answer, until the Indian Days festival arrives and the mysteries of the summer collide in love, betrayal and reconciliation. Equally plainspoken and poetic, comic and poignant, Truth & Bright Water is a crackling good story that resonates with universal truths.
ISBN: 9780006481966Publication Date: 1999-01-01
Whispering in Shadows by
The second novel by renowned Okanagan author Jeannette Armstrong traces the life of a young Native woman on a reserve who is exposed to pesticides while working as a fruit picker in the Okanagan Valley.Whispering in Shadows provides a glimpse into the complexities of the contemporary life and psyche of Aboriginal peoples. The novel conveys an important environmental theme and insights into the future as well.
ISBN: 9780919441996Publication Date: 2000-04-10
Will's Garden by
Will's Garden is Maracle's first novel that crosses over into Young Adult Fiction. This coming of age story of a young Sto: loh man is set in Sto: loh territory. Will takes the time to re-look at the women in his life, consider his future as a Sto: loh caretaker of the land in the modern world, while dealing with common issues of a teenager, problems with bullying, sexuality, love and illness. Will's Garden explores and describes the ceremonial traditions of Sto: loh boys who are becoming men.
ISBN: 9781894778596Publication Date: 2008-05-23
The Woman in the Trees by
Often, the way a story is told is as important as the story itself. This is true of the most recent novel by Gerry William, The Woman in the Trees. Set during the time of first contact, The Woman in the Trees takes place around what is now Vernon, BC. The novel moves effortlessly from myth to dream time to narrative real time. Spanning the historical period from 1780 to 1860, The Woman in the Trees addresses a time of massive upheaval for the Okanagan people (the syilx). The coming of the horse, relations with early Europeans, and the smallpox epidemic dramatically changed the lives of the syilx. Using traditional oral storytelling techniques, Gerry William crafts a compelling story that weaves together First Nations and Western narrative traditions. The dominating presence of Coyote chronicles the dreams and poetry of Wolverine, Blue Dreams, and Horse. Early settlers, ranchers and orchardists also tell their stories of arrival. Part historical novel, part myth for our times, The Woman in the Trees will inspire and ultimately satisfy. For as the narrator says, "there are fifty ways to tell the beginning of everything, but there is only one ending."
ISBN: 9781554200139Publication Date: 2004-09-04
Nonfiction
The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book by
A powerful and historically accurate graphic portrayal of indigenous resistance to the European colonisation of the Americas, beginning with the Spanish invasion under Christopher Columbus and ending with the Six Nations land reclamation in Ontario in 2006. Gord Hill spent two years unearthing images and researching historical information to create the 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, which presents the story of Aboriginal resistance in a far-reaching format.
ISBN: 9781551523606Publication Date: 2010-10-26
AlterNatives by
A very liberal contemporary couple--Angel, an urban Native science fiction writer, and Colleen, a "non-practising" Jewish intellectual who teaches Native literature--hosts a dinner party. The guests at this little "sitcom" soirée are couples that represent what by now have become the clichéd extremes of both societies: Angel's former radical Native activist buddies and Colleen's environmentally concerned vegetarian / veterinarian friends. The menu is, of course, the hosts' respectful attempt at shorthand for the irreconcilable cultural differences about to come to a head during the evening: moose roast and vegetarian lasagna. Like all of Drew Hayden Taylor's work, alterNatives manages to say things about "Whites and Indians" that one is not supposed to talk about--it digs up the carefully buried, raw and pulsing nerve-endings of the unspeakable and exposes them to the hot bright lights of the stage. That he does so with a humour that the politically correct among his audiences continue to miss entirely beneath the sound and fury of their own self-righteous indignation is a measure of his immense talent as a dramatist. In the end, the play is not about cultural differences at all, but instead constitutes a full frontal attack on the personal qualities the sitcom holds most dear and pushes hardest at its audiences: Taylor actually has the temerity to suggest that neither "attitude" nor "sincerity" are enough to address basic human issues, no matter which side of the cultural fence the characters are on. And that's hard for the pushers of what is considered a globally enlightened culture to take. Cast of 3 women and 3 men.
ISBN: 9780889224285Publication Date: 2000-10-31
Amongst God's Own: The Enduring Legacy of St. Mary's Mission by
For over 100 years, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate operated St. Mary's Mission, a residential school near Mission, BC. Now the stories of its former students are told for the first time. In Amongst God's Own, acclaimed writer Terry Glavin has woven the accounts of 35 native elders into a bold, uncompromising narrative of life at St. Mary's. Sitting with the Oblates' arrival and their establishment of the Mission on the Fraser River, Glavin tracks the chronology of St. Mary's through the 20th century, revealing the Order's religious, political, and social underpinnings. Native voices recount the realities of day'to'day life at the school. Moving beyond the prevalent discourse of oppression and victimhood, the result is a ground'breaking portrait of this place and time that illuminates 200 years of Native'white interaction in BC. Enhancing the stories are 60 photos culled from personal and archival collections. Amongst God's Own is a unique record of a people at a crossroads, caught in a clash between government and religious authority whose consequences reverberate to this day.
ISBN: 9780968604618Publication Date: 2002-01-01
An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English by
This volume is a wide-ranging survey of writing in English by Canadian Native authors. Beginning with traditional songs and works by early Native writers such as Joseph Brant and John Brant-Sero, George Copway and Pauline Johnson, the anthology turns to a selection of short stories, plays, poems, and essays by contemporary writers drawn from a wide range of peoples and nations across Canada. The editors have also attempted to showcase a diversity of opinions, voices, and styles.
ISBN: 9780195420784Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Before Canada: First Nations & First Contacts: Prehistory - 1523 by
Discusses the geographic regions of Canada and the cultures of the First Nations who lived there and explores some of the theories about how people first came to North America, as well as theories about early European visitors to Canada.
ISBN: 9781422200018Publication Date: 2007-09-01
Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School by
Behind Closed Doors features written testimonials from thirty-two individuals who attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School. The school was one of many infamous residential schools that operated from 1893 to 1979. The storytellers remember and share with us their stolen time at the school; many stories are told through courageous tears.
ISBN: 9781894778411Publication Date: 2006-11-01
The Boy in the Treehouse / the Girl Who Loved Her Horses by
In this collection of two plays about the process of children becoming adults, Drew Hayden Taylor works his delightfully comic and bitter-sweet magic on the denials, misunderstandings and preconceptions which persist between Native and Colonial culture in North America. In "The Boy in the Treehouse," Simon, the son of an Ojibway mother and a British father, climbs into his half-finished tree house on the vision-quest his books say is necessary for him to reclaim his mother's culture. "It's a Native thing," he informs his incredulous father (who tells him he'd never heard of such a thing from his wife): "Only boys do it. It's part of becoming a man." Of course, what with the threats of the police, the temptation of the barbeque next door, and the distractions of a persistent neighbourhood girl, Simon probably wouldn't recognize a vision if he fell over it. "Girl Who Loved Her Horses" is the Native name for the strange and quiet Danielle from the non-status community across the tracks, imbued with the mysterious power to draw the horse "every human being on the planet wanted but could never have." She is and remains an enigma to the people of the reservation, but the power of her spirit remains strong. Years later, a huge image of her horse reappears, covering an entire side of a building in a blighted urban landscape of beggars and broken dreams. The eyes of her stallion, which once gleamed exhilaration and freedom, now glare with defiance and anger. Danielle has clearly been forced to grow up. With these two plays, Taylor rediscovers an issue long forgotten in our "post-historical" age: the nature of, and the necessity for, these rites of passage in all cultures.
ISBN: 9780889224414Publication Date: 2000-10-31
Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools by
Now an approved curriculum resource for grade 9-12 students in British Columbia and Manitoba. Theodore (Ted) Fontaine lost his family and freedom just after his seventh birthday, when his parents were forced to leave him at an Indian residential school by order of the Roman Catholic Church and the Government of Canada. Twelve years later, he left school frozen at the emotional age of seven. He was confused, angry and conflicted, on a path of self-destruction. At age 29, he emerged from this blackness. By age 32, he had graduated from the Civil Engineering Program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and begun a journey of self-exploration and healing. In this powerful and poignant memoir, Ted examines the impact of his psychological, emotional and sexual abuse, the loss of his language and culture, and, most important, the loss of his family and community. He goes beyond details of the abuses of Native children to relate a unique understanding of why most residential school survivors have post-traumatic stress disorders and why succeeding generations of First Nations children suffer from this dark chapter in history. Told as remembrances described with insights that have evolved through his healing, his story resonates with his resolve to help himself and other residential school survivors and to share his enduring belief that one can pick up the shattered pieces and use them for good.
ISBN: 9781926613666Publication Date: 2010-09-01The Canoe He Called Loo Taas by Loo Taas is the amazing 50-foot canoe designed by legendary artist Bill Reid, and carved by members of the Haida community. Her name means "Wave Eater." This is the story of how she came to be through the eyes of the designer's daughter. This is the story of Loo Taas.
ISBN: 9780991678204Publication Date: 2010-04-01
The Carrier of Long Ago by
An overview of Dakelh cultural practices, dialects, seasonal focuses, and ways of knowing from a historical perspective. Published by School District No. 57 in 1992 with contributions from various district departments and Elders, as well as the Yinka Dene Language Institute, The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, and the community.
ISBN: 0921087012Publication Date: 1992-01-01
Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast by
Contemporary First Nations artists of the Northwest Coast have long been among the most dynamic, important artists working in North America. Their art is a visible manifestation of the extraordinary cultural explosion that has transformed First Nations life up and down the B.C. coast.
Through their own words and artwork, Ian Thom examines the career, working methods and philosophy of forty active artists, all of whom he has interviewed. Featured in Challenging Traditions are their works, often combining new materials and old traditions, as well as extensive passages from conversations with these established and up-and-coming artists from the Pacific Northwest Coast, including:
the painting and sculpture of Robert Davidson (Haida)
glass sculpture by Alano Edzerza (Tahltan) and Preston Singletary (Tlingit)
carvings by elders Dempsey Bob (Tahltan-Tlingit) and Beau Dick (Kwakwaka’wakw)
paintings by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (Coast Salish)
the “Haida manga” of Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
jewellery by young artists Shawn Hunt (Heiltsuk) and Jay Simeon (Haida)
ISBN: 9781553654148Publication Date: 2009-01-01
The Chilcotin War by
This colourful account of the Chilcotin War is an insightful and absorbing examination of an event that helped to shape the course of British Columbia history. In the spring of 1864, 14 men building a road along the Homathko River in British Columbia were killed by a Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) war party. Other violent deaths followed in the conflict that became known as the Chilcotin War. In this true tale of clashing cultures, greed, revenge and betrayal, Rich Mole explores the causes and deadly consequences of a troubling episode in British Columbia history that is still subject to debate almost 150 years later. Using contemporary sources, Mole brings to life the principal players in this tragic drama: Alfred Waddington, the Victoria businessman who decided to build the ill-fated toll road across the territory of the independent Tsilhqot'in, attempting to connect Bute Inlet to the Cariboo goldfields of the interior, and Klatsassin, the fierce Tsilhqot'in war chief whose people had already endured the devastation of smallpox.
ISBN: 9781894974967Publication Date: 2010-03-01
Comparing Mythologies by
Tomson Highway is one of Canada's foremost playwrights and novelists. In Comparing Mythologies he addresses a theme that is central to much of his work: the ways that Canadian culture today is shaped by the mixture of Aboriginal and Western mythologies. What interests him is not merely the differences between these cultures, but the ways that inherited beliefs enable Native communities to cope with the cultural and social challenges facing them today.
ISBN: 9780776605678Publication Date: 2003-06-11
The Elders Are Watching by
Presents a critique of modern man's influence on and disregard for nature by looking at the latter through the eyes of Indigenous elders. Book contains the art of Roy Henry Vickers, a well-known Tsimshian artist, and the poetry of David Bouchard. The message of respecting our environment is captured in both the beautiful, bold paintings of Vickers and the simple, rhythmical language of Bouchard.
ISBN: 0969348533Publication Date: 1990-01-01
The Enchanted Caribou by
Illustrated entirely with black-and-white shadow puppets, this tale recounts the enchantment of an Inuit maiden who is transformed into a white caribou and then back into a woman. When Elizabeth Cleaver discovered this old Inuit tale, she thought how well it was suited to shadow puppets since the shadow theatre is ideal for showing dreams, visions, and magical happenings like a human turning into an animal. She decided to retell the story and to create shadow puppets to illustrate each episode. This engaging book is the result In addition to a charming story and striking illustrations, the book includes instructions for making a shadow-puppet theatre to animate this and other stories.
ISBN: 9780195410747Publication Date: 1985-01-01
The Face Pullers: Photographing Native Canadians 1871-1939 by
The Face Pullers documents a particularly rich period in the history of Canadian photography. These photographs of First nations people- spanning the period 1871 to 1939 - provide not only a fascinating glimpse of a vanished world, but also illuminate the ways in which myths and misunderstandings about Native people have influenced, from the earliest days, the images produced by non-Native photographers. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many Canadian photographers- both amateur and professional- took pictures of Native people for documentary and commercial purposes. The Indians initially regarded photographic equipment with curiosity, suspicion, and fear, and upon viewing the final product, labeled the camera "the face puller." The photographs were in great demand among the white population, and while they often presented idealized views of First Nations people, they nevertheless managed to portray some authentic aspects of the Native experience. The evocative images in this collection provide a perspective of these individuals and their lives impossible to convey with mere words, and bear witness to the strength and resilience of what many believed at the time to be a dying race. The Face Pullers provides an unusual record of the myth-making surrounding Native people, and valuable insights into the history of Indian/white relations in Canada.
ISBN: 9781895618426Publication Date: 1995-02-15
Fatty Legs by
Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of residential schools. At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, a black-cloaked nun with a hooked nose and bony fingers that resemble claws. She immediately dislikes the strong-willed young Margaret. Intending to humiliate her, the heartless Raven gives gray stockings to all the girls -- all except Margaret, who gets red ones. In an instant Margaret is the laughingstock of the entire school. In the face of such cruelty, Margaret refuses to be intimidated and bravely gets rid of the stockings. Although a sympathetic nun stands up for Margaret, in the end it is this brave young girl who gives the Raven a lesson in the power of human dignity. Complemented by archival photos from Margaret Pokiak-Fenton's collection and striking artworks from Liz Amini-Holmes, this inspiring first-person account of a plucky girl's determination to confront her tormentor will linger with young readers.
ISBN: 9781554512461Publication Date: 2010-09-01
Finding My Talk: How Fourteen Native Women Reclaimed Their Lives After Residential School by
When residential schools opened in the 1830s, First Nations envisioned their own teachers, ministers, and interpreters. Instead, students were regularly forced to renounce their cultures and languages and some were subjected to degradations and abuses that left severe emotional scars for generations. In Finding My Talk, fourteen aboriginal women who attended residential schools, or were affected by them, reflect on their experiences. They describe their years in residential schools across Canada and how they overcame tremendous obstacles to become strong and independent members of aboriginal cultures and valuable members of Canadian society. Biographies include: Eleanor Brass, Journalist, Plains Cree, Saskatchewan, Rita Joe, Poet/Writer, Mi'kmaq, Nova Scotia, Alice French, Writer, Inuit, Northwest Territories Shirley Sterling, School Administrator/Storyteller, Nlakapmux, British Columbia, Doris Pratt, Education Administrator/Language Specialist, Dakota, Manitoba, Edith Dalla Costa, School Counsellor, Woodland Cree, Alberta, Sara Sabourin, Community Worker, Ojibway, Ontario.
ISBN: 9781894856577Publication Date: 2004-09-22
First Nations 101 by
Overview of the diverse and complex lives of First Nations people with subjects including veterans, youth, urbanization, child welfare, appropriate questions to ask a First Nations person, feminism, the medicine wheel, Two-spirit (LGBTQ), residential schools, the land bridge theory, and language preservation. Author Lynda Gray endeavours to leave readers with a better understanding of the shared history of First Nations and non-First Nations people, and ultimately calls upon all of us - individuals, communities, and governments - to play active roles in bringing about true reconciliation between First Nations and non-First Nations people.
ISBN: 9780986964008Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message (Reading Rainbow Book) (Reading Rainbow Books) by
Reading Rainbow Selection - PBS Kids A traditional Iroquois celebration of the beauty and spirit of Mother Earth, as told by a contemporary Mohawk chief. For as long as anyone can remember, Mohawk parents have taught their children to start each day by giving thanks to Mother Earth. Also known as the Thanksgiving Address, this good morning message is based on the belief that the natural world is a precious and rare gift. The whole universe - from the highest stars to the tiniest blade of grass - is addressed as one great family. Now readers of all ages can share in this tribute to the environment, adapted especially for children by Chief Jake Swamp, whose efforts to share this vision of thanksgiving take him all over the world. Chief Swamp's inspirational message, along with Erwin Printup, Jr.'s unforgettable landscapes, make Giving Thanks a timeless celebration of the spirit of nature.
ISBN: 9781880000540Publication Date: 1995-09-01
Goodbye Buffalo Bay by
Drama and humour combine in Goodbye Buffalo Bayby award-winning Cree author Larry Loyie. The sequel to the award-winning book As Long as the Rivers Flowand the award-finalist When the Spirits Dance, Goodbye Buffalo Bayis set during the author's teenaged years. In his last year in residential school, Lawrence learns the power of friendship and finds the courage to stand up for his beliefs. He returns home to find the traditional First Nations life he loved is over. He feels like a stranger to his family until his grandfather's gentle guidance helps him find his way. New adventures arise; Lawrence fights a terrifying forest fire, makes his first non-Native friends, stands up for himself in the harsh conditions of a sawmill, meets his first sweetheart and fulfills his dream of living in the mountains. Wearing new ice skates bought with his hard-won wages, Lawrence discovers a sense of freedom and self-esteem. Goodbye Buffalo Bayexplores the themes of self-discovery, the importance of friendship, the difference between anger and assertiveness and the realization of youthful dreams.
ISBN: 9781894778626Publication Date: 2012-05-01
Good Intentions Gone Awry: Emma Crosby and the Methodist Mission on the Northwest Coast by
Unlike most missionary scholarship that focuses on male missionaries, Good Intentions Gone Awry chronicles the experiences of a missionary wife. It presents the letters of Emma Crosby, wife of the well-known Methodist missionary Thomas Crosby, who came to Fort Simpson, near present-day Prince Rupert, in 1874 to set up a mission among the Tsimshian people. Emma Crosby's letters to family and friends in Ontario shed light on a critical era and bear witness to the contribution of missionary wives. They mirror the hardships and isolation she faced as well as her assumptions about the supremacy of Euro-Canadian society and of Christianity. They speak to her "good intentions" and to the factors that caused them to "go awry." The authors critically represent Emma's sincere convictions towards mission work and the running of the Crosby Girls' Home (later to become a residential school), while at the same time exposing them as a product of the times in which she lived. They also examine the roles of Native and mixed-race intermediaries who made possible the feats attributed to Thomas Crosby as a heroic male missionary persevering on his own against tremendous odds. This book is a valuable contribution to Canadian history and will appeal to readers in women's, Canadian, Native, and religious studies, as well as those interested in missiology in the Canadian West.
ISBN: 9780774812719Publication Date: 2006-11-01
I Have Lived Here Since the World Began: An Illustrated History of Canada's Native People by
The Native people of Canada have been here since the Ice Age and were already accomplished traders, artisans, farmers, and marine hunters when Europeans first reached their shores. Contact initially presented an unprecedented period of growth and opportunity. But soon, the two vastly different worlds clashed. From first contact to current Native land claims, Arthur Ray charts the history of Canada's Native peoples. The result is a fascinating chronicle that spans 12,000 years and culminates in the headlines of today.
ISBN: 9781552636336Publication Date: 2005-01-01
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by
Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, The Inconvenient Indian distills the insights gleaned from Thomas King's critical and personal meditation on what it means to be "Indian" in North America, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other. In the process, King refashions old stories about historical events and figures, takes a sideways look at film and pop culture, relates his own complex experiences with activism, and articulates a deep and revolutionary understanding of the cumulative effects of ever-shifting laws and treaties on Native peoples and lands.
This is a book both timeless and timely, burnished with anger but tempered by wit, and ultimately a hard-won offering of hope—a sometimes inconvenient but nonetheless indispensable account for all of us, Indian and non-Indian alike, seeking to understand how we might tell a new story for the future.
ISBN: 9780385664226Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Indivisible: Indigenous Human Rights by
Indigenous rights are generally conceptualized and advocated separately from the human rights framework. The contributors to Indivisible: Indigenous Human Rights, however, deftly and powerfully argue that Indigenous rights are in fact human rights and that the fundamental human rights of Indigenous people cannot be protected without the inclusion of their Indigenous rights, which are suppressed and oppressed by the forces of racism and colonialism. Drawing on a wealth of experience and blending critical theoretical frameworks and a close knowledge of domestic and international law on human rights, the authors in this collection show that settler states such as Canada persist in violating and failing to acknowledge Indigenous human rights. Furthermore, settler states are obligated to respect and animate these rights, despite the evident tensions in political and economic interests between elite capitalists, settler citizens and Indigenous peoples.
ISBN: 9781552666838Publication Date: 2014-10-01
In This Together: Fifteen Stories of Truth & Reconciliation by
The release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) findings and recommendations in the spring of 2015 was an immensely important day for the people of Canada. It marked the hopeful beginning of change--a change of thinking, a change of opinion, a change in understanding. But how do we begin? Chief Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the TRC, says that the most common statement the commission heard from the public was: "I didn't know any of this, and I acknowledge that things are not where they should be, and that we can do better. But what can we do? What should we do?" This collection of fifteen true stories of real reconciliation by both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadians is in response to that question. Written by journalists, writers, academics, visual artists, filmmakers, a city planner, and a lawyer, each of these writers expound on their 'light bulb moments' regarding Canada's colonial past and present. They look at their own experiences and assumptions about race and racial divides in Canada under a microscope in hopes that the rest of the population will do the same. With an afterword that is essentially a candid conversation by renowned CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers and Chief Justice Sinclair about their time working with the TRC, this collection is one of the many ways to begin the work of reconciliation in Canada. Metcalfe-Chenail hopes that these voices will inspire other Canadians who want an open dialogue and to maintain the conversation long after the buzz of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report has faded.
ISBN: 9781927366448Publication Date: 2016-04-19
Kamloopa by
TIME: All. SPACE: The Multiverse. Come along for the ride to Kamloopa, the largest Powwow on the West Coast. This high-energy Indigenous matriarchal story follows two urban Indigenous sisters and a lawless Trickster who face our world head-on as they come to terms with what it means to honour who they are and where they come from. But how to go about discovering yourself when Christopher Columbus allegedly already did that? Bear witness to the courage of these women as they turn to their Ancestors for help in reclaiming their power in this ultimate transformation story. In developing matriarchal relationships and shared Indigenous values, Kamloopa explores the fearless love and passion of two Indigenous women reconnecting with their homelands, Ancestors, and stories. Kim Senklip Harvey's play is a boundary-blurring adventure that will remind you to always dance like the Ancestors are watching. Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story is the work of Kim Senklip Harvey, a proud Indigenous woman from the Syilx, Tsilhqot'in, Ktunaxa, and Dakelh First Nations, listed for the Gina Wilkinson Prize for her work as an emerging director and widely considered to be one of this land's most original voices among the next generation of Indigenous artists.
ISBN: 9781772012422Publication Date: 2020-02-18- Lheidli T’enneh Hubughunek = Fort George Carrier Lexicon by Third edition, Carrier Linguistic Committee Writing System version. This draft lexicon represent the Dakelh language as it is spoken by Lheidli T’enneh (Prince George) people. This dialect belongs to the Fraser-Nechako subgroup of the Southern group of Dakelh dialects; its closest relative is Saik’uz (Stoney Creek) dialect. 4507 entries in the Carrier-to-English section and 4960 entries in the English-to-Carrier section. Compiled by William John Poser, with help from local Elders and language speakers.Publication Date: 2001-05-01
- Life at Lejac: The Story of Mary John by Mary John is a mother of 12 and an Elder of the Stoney Creek band near Vanderhoof in north central B.C. This story was taken from three chapters of Mary's story as told in the book Stoney Creek Woman, by Bridget Moran.ISBN: 1895665019Publication Date: 1992-01-01
Making Space for Indigenous Feminism by
The majority of scholarly and activist opinion by and about Aboriginal women claims that feminism is irrelevant for them. Yet, there is also an articulate, theoretically informed and activist constituency that identifies as feminist. By and about Aboriginal feminists, this book provides a powerful and original intellectual and political contribution demonstrating that feminism has much to offer Aboriginal women in their struggles against oppression. The contributors are from Canada, the USA, Sami (Samiland) and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The chapters include theoretical contributions, stories of political activism and deeply personal accounts of developing political consciousness.
ISBN: 9781552662205Publication Date: 2007-01-01Mapping My Way Home: A Gitxsan History by Today the adjacent villages of Gitanmaax and Hazelton form one of the most picturesque communities in all of western Canada—a tiny, tourism mecca nestled in Gitxsan territory at the foot of an iconic mountain in the heart of the Skeena watershed. But 150 years ago these neighbouring villages were the economic hub of the north when packers, traders, explorers, miners, surveyors and hundreds of tons of freight passed through from Port Essington on the coast east to the Omineca gold fields, from Quesnel north to Telegraph Creek. Mapping My Way Home traces the journeys of the European explorers and adventurers who came to take advantage of the opportunities that converged at the junction of the Skeena and Bulkley rivers. The author, Gitsxan leader Neil Sterritt, also shares the stories of his people, stories both ancient and recent, to illustrate their resilience when faced with the challenges the newcomers brought. And finally he shares his own journey from the wooden sidewalks of 1940s Hazelton to the world of international mining and back again to the Gitxsan ancestral village of Temlaham where he helped his people fight for what had always been theirs in the ground-breaking Delgamuukw court case. It’s British Columbia history, local history, family history and Gitxsan history. The book also includes a chapter on the history of BC’s land issues and a detailed description of Neil’s involvement in the Delgamuukw court case.
ISBN: 9781928195023Publication Date: 2016-04-15
My Grandma Makes Bannock = Stso' Ghey Bee Sit'e 'Ilhekh by
In English and Dakelh. This story shows a grandmother making bannock with her grandchild.
Published in 1997 by SD91 (Nechako Lakes).
ISBN: 0968247105Publication Date: 1997-01-01
My Heart Shook Like a Drum: What I Learned at the Indian Mission Schools, Northwest Territories by
The Canadian Government made it mandatory for all Indian children to attend religious mission schools away from the influences of Indian parents. Alice was raised in four Residential Schools in compliance with Government Legislation. She stayed at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Mission School in Fort Resolution, Federal Hostels in Breynat Hall in Fort Smith, Lapointe Hall in Fort Simpson and Akaitcho Hall in Yellowknife to get educated in the white man's way while suppressing her Indian language, culture, native spirituality and practices in the process of trying to eradicate the Indian in her. The hurts the Grey Nun supervisors gave Alice lasted a lifetime. Forgiveness came fifty years later in Alice's adulthood when she forgave the Government of Canada and the mean Grey Nun supervisors after so many years of breaking away from the Catholic Church. It was a long process but Alice has relearned Spirituality. "It's time to forget the pain of my childhood which was stolen from me. You can't forget the assaults but can forgive the meanness of certain individuals so life can go on in a better state of mind." This story had to be told so the Canadian public can understand what one Indian child went through in residential schools funded by the Government of Canada
ISBN: 9780888873750Publication Date: 2010-01-01
Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology by
Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthologyis the only collection of its kind. It brings together the poetry of many authors whose work has not previously been published in book form alongside that of critically-acclaimed poets, thus offering a record of Native cultural revival as it emerged through poetry from the 1960s to the present. The poets included here adapt English oratory and, above all, a sense of play. Native Poetryin Canada suggests both a history of struggle to be heard and the wealth of Native cultures in Canada today.
ISBN: 9781551112008Publication Date: 2001-08-30- Niwhts'ide'nï Hibi'it'ën = The Ways of Our Ancestors: Witsuwit'en History & Culture Throughout the Millennia by The ways of our ancestors introduces Witsuwit'en people and their history. It explores the Witsuwit'en clan system in depth and how it relates to traditional Witsuwit'en land use, spirituality and values. Oral histories from various eras in witsuwit'en ancient history are shared, as well as the recent history that formed the Witsuwit'en Nation and the Bulkley Valley, as we know it today.ISBN: 9780987770707Publication Date: 2011-01-01
One Native Life by
One Native Life is a look back down the road Richard Wagamese has traveled -- from childhood abuse to adult alcoholism -- in reclaiming his identity. It's about what he has learned as a human being, a man, and an Ojibway in his 52 years on Earth. Whether he's writing about playing baseball, running away with the circus, making bannock, or attending a sacred bundle ceremony, these are stories told in a healing spirit. Through them, Wagamese shows readers how to appreciate life for the journey it is.
ISBN: 9781553653646Publication Date: 2008-10-01
Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth by
Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth is the emotional story of a woman's struggle to acknowledge her birth family. Grace, a Native girl adopted by a White family, is asked by her birth sister to return to the Reserve for their mother's funeral. Afraid of opening old wounds, Grace must find a place where the culture of her past can feed the truth of her present.
ISBN: 9780889223844Publication Date: 1998-02-17
Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi’kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by
New Extended Edition. “The Residential School experience had serious negative consequences for many of our people who have suffered in silence for too long. It is time to take the first step and let others know they are not alone in their suffering. No matter how painful, the stories of our people must be told and heard. Through sharing our past, we can begin to heal ourselves, our communities, our people as we look to a better tomorrow.” —Phil Fontaine, Grand Chief, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, former Residential School student “Any person interested in understanding the Micmac people must read this book. It chronicles the rebuilding of a nation that was bereft of its children. Years have passed, some have spoken but many remain silent, indicating that their wounds have yet to heal.” Jean C. Knockwood, B.A., Director of Post Secondary Education, Indian Brook Reserve, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia “These long overdue apologies [from the Canadian government and the Oblate order] are necessary, but they can do little to mend the damage caused by the suffering of generations of Native children in the residential schools. We are only now healing ourselves from that suffering. I see this book as part of that beginning.” —Isabelle Knockwood, from her 1992 Introduction.
ISBN: 9781896496290Publication Date: 2001-01-08
People of the Land: Legends of the Four Host First Nations by
The sacred legends of four First Nations--Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh--have been passed down from generation to generation through the Elders and are integral to the teachings and Oral Traditions of First Nations peoples. These stories link people to the land and to each other, passing on Traditional Knowledge and history. For the first time, these sacred teachings are collected in an anthology of stories willingly shared by the respected storytellers of each nation and adorned with spectacular imagery and art. These legends--which range from creation stories to naming stories--add to our knowledge of ourselves and each other.
ISBN: 9781894778770Publication Date: 2009-12-22
The Reason You Walk by
A moving father-son reconciliation told by an Indigenous broadcaster, musician and activist. When his father was given a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Winnipeg broadcaster and musician Wab Kinew decided to spend a year reconnecting with the accomplished but distant Indigenous man who'd raised him. The Reason You Walk spans the year 2012, chronicling painful moments in the past and celebrating renewed hopes and dreams for the future. As Kinew revisits his own childhood in Winnipeg and on a reserve in Northern Ontario, he learns more about his father's traumatic childhood at residential school.
ISBN: 9780670069347Publication Date: 2015-09-29
Rediscovery: Ancient Pathways, New Directions: Outdoor Activities Based on Native Traditions by
For over 25 years, the Rediscovery program has drawn from the timeless wisdom of native American elders to help teach youth, native American and otherwise, to respect the earth and each other. Today dozens of Rediscovery programs have been developed around the world, helping indigenous youth to rediscover their heritage and allowing others the opportunity to learn important lessons about balance and harmony with our environment. This deeply respectful book provides more than 130 activities which schools and youth camps are able to use when they gather to reacquaint themselves with their place in nature. Author Thom Henley is a founder of the Rediscovery program and a tireless campaigner for the preservation of wilderness areas and traditional lands. He has traveled to more than 70 countries, to live with and learn from indigenous peoples. He has lectured in 15 countries and has received numerous international and national conservation and human rights awards, among them the prestigious Sol Feinstone Award from the State University of New York.
ISBN: 9781551050775Publication Date: 1996-05-17
Resistance and Renewal by
One of the first books published to deal with the phenomenon of residential schools in Canada, Resistance and Renewal is a disturbing collection of Native perspectives on the Kamloops Indian Residential School(KIRS) in the British Columbia interior. Interviews with thirteen Natives, all former residents of KIRS, form the nucleus of the book, a frank depiction of school life, and a telling account of the system's oppressive environment which sought to stifle Native culture. Winner of the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize (BC Book Prize) in 1989. Now in its 9th printing.
ISBN: 0889781893Publication Date: 2002-07-01
Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools by
With the growing strength of minority voices in recent decades has come much impassioned discussion of residential schools, the institutions where attendance by Native children was compulsory as recently as the 1960s. Former students have come forward in increasing numbers to describe the psychological and physical abuse they suffered in these schools, and many view the system as an experiment in cultural genocide. In this first comprehensive history of these institutions, J.R. Miller explores the motives of all three agents in the story. He looks at the separate experiences and agendas of the government officials who authorized the schools, the missionaries who taught in them, and the students who attended them. Starting with the foundations of residential schooling in seventeenth-century New France, Miller traces the modern version of the institution that was created in the 1880s, and, finally, describes the phasing-out of the schools in the 1960s. He looks at instruction, work and recreation, care and abuse, and the growing resistance to the system on the part of students and their families. Based on extensive interviews as well as archival research, Miller's history is particularly rich in Native accounts of the school system. This book is an absolute first in its comprehensive treatment of this subject. J.R. Miller has written a new chapter in the history of relations between indigenous and immigrant peoples in Canada. Co-winner of the 1996 Saskatchewan Book Award for nonfiction. Winner of the 1996 John Wesley Dafoe Foundation competition for Distinguished Writing by Canadians Named an 'Outstanding Book on the subject of human rights in North America' by the Gustavus Myer Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America.
ISBN: 9780802078582Publication Date: 1996-05-24
They Write Their Dreams on the Rock Forever: Rock Writings in the Stein River Valley of British Columbia by
In They Write Their Dreams on the Rock Forever, 'Nlaka'pamux elder Annie York explains the red-ochre inscriptions written on the rocks and cliffs of the lower Stein Valley in British Columbia. This is perhaps the first time that a Native elder has presented a detailed and comprehensive explanation of rock-art images from her people's culture. As Annie York's narratives unfold, we are taken back to the fresh wonder of childhood, as well as to a time in human society when people and animals lived together in one psychic dimension. This book describes, among many other things, the solitary spiritual meditations of young people in the mountains, once considered essential education. Astrological predictions, herbal medicine, winter spirit dancing, hunting, shamanism, respect for nature, midwifery, birth and death, are some of the topics that emerge from Annie's reading of the trail signs and other cultural symbols painted on the rocks. She firmly believed that this knowledge should be published so that the general public could understand why, as she put it, "The Old People reverenced those sacred places like that Stein." They Write Their Dreams on the Rock Forever opens a discussion of some of the issues in rock-art research that relate to "notating" and "writing" on the landscape, around the world and through the millennia. This landmark publication presents a well-reasoned hypothesis to explain the evolution of symbolic or iconic writing from sign language, trail signs and from the geometric and iconic imagery of the dreams and visions of shamans and neophyte hunters. This book suggests that the resultant images, written or painted on stone, constitute a Protoliteracy which has assisted both the conceptualization and communication of hunting peoples' histories, philosophies, morals and ways life, and prepared the human mind for the economic, sociological and intellectual developments, including alphabetic written language.
ISBN: 0889223319Publication Date: 1993-02-16
The Truth about Stories by
Winner of the 2003 Trillium Book Award "Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares in his 2003 CBC Massey Lectures. "And they are dangerous." Beginning with a traditional Native oral story, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, gracefully elucidating North America's relationship with its Native peoples. Native culture has deep ties to storytelling, and yet no other North American culture has been the subject of more erroneous stories. The Indian of fact, as King says, bears little resemblance to the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the construct so powerfully and often destructively projected by White North America. With keen perception and wit, King illustrates that stories are the key to, and only hope for, human understanding. He compels us to listen well.
ISBN: 9780887846960Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Truth Telling: Seven Conversations About Indigenous Life in Canada by
A bold, provocative collection of essays exploring the historical and contemporary Indigenous experience in Canada. With authority and insight, Truth Telling examines a wide range of Indigenous issues framed by Michelle Good's personal experience and knowledge. From racism, broken treaties, and cultural pillaging, to the value of Indigenous lives and the importance of Indigenous literature, this collection reveals facts about Indigenous life in Canada that are both devastating and enlightening. Truth Telling also demonstrates the myths underlying Canadian history and the human cost of colonialism, showing how it continues to underpin modern social institutions in Canada. Passionate and uncompromising, Michelle Good affirms that meaningful and substantive reconciliation hinges on recognition of Indigenous self-determination, the return of lands, and a just redistribution of the wealth that has been taken from those lands without regard for Indigenous peoples. Truth Telling is essential reading for those looking to acknowledge the past and understand the way forward.
ISBN: 9781443467810Publication Date: 2023-05-30
Two Wolves at the Dawn of Time: Kingcome Inlet Pictographs, 1893-1998 by
In 1998, Dzawada'enuxw artist Marianne Nicholson scaled a vertical rock face in Kingcome Inlet to paint a massive pictograph to mark the continued vitality of her ancestral village of Gwa'yi. Two Wolves at the Dawn of Time is the story of that painting, of earlier politically defiant rock art, and of "coppers," ceremonial shields that are a central motif in these images. Judith Williams tracks the history of a culturally and geographically rich locale at a flashpoint in Native-white relations. She investigates the rock art around Kingcome Inlet, explores the disintegrating Halliday homestead, and plumbs the archives to measure colonialism's legacy. Documenting Nicholson's painting of the new pictograph, Williams describes the symbiosis of old and new that has seen Gwa'yi and the Kwakwaka'wakw prevail despite all attempts to eradicate their culture.
ISBN: 9780921586845Publication Date: 2001-01-01
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by
Unbroken is an extraordinary work of memoir and investigative journalism focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, written by an award-winning Gitxsan journalist who survived life on the streets against all odds. As a Gitxsan teenager navigating life on the streets, Angela Sterritt wrote in her journal to help her survive and find her place in the world. Now an acclaimed journalist, she writes for major news outlets to push for justice and to light a path for Indigenous women, girls, and survivors. In her brilliant debut, Sterritt shares her memoir alongside investigative reporting into cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, showing how colonialism and racism led to a society where Sterritt struggled to survive as a young person, and where the lives of Indigenous women and girls are ignored and devalued. Growing up, Sterritt was steeped in the stories of her ancestors: grandparents who carried bentwood boxes of berries, hunted and trapped, and later fought for rights and title to that land. But as a vulnerable young woman, kicked out of the family home and living on the street, Sterritt inhabited places that, today, are infamous for being communities where women have gone missing or been murdered: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and, later on, Northern BC's Highway of Tears. Sterritt faced darkness: she experienced violence from partners and strangers and saw friends and community members die or go missing. But she navigated the street, group homes, and SROs to finally find her place in journalism and academic excellence at university, relying entirely on her own strength, resilience, and creativity along with the support of her ancestors and community to find her way. "She could have been me," Sterritt acknowledges today, and her empathy for victims, survivors, and families drives her present-day investigations into the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women. In the end, Sterritt steps into a place of power, demanding accountability from the media and the public, exposing racism, and showing that there is much work to do on the path towards understanding the truth. But most importantly, she proves that the strength and brilliance of Indigenous women is unbroken, and that together, they can build lives of joy and abundance.
ISBN: 9781771648165Publication Date: 2023-05-30
Victims of Benevolence: The Dark Legacy of the Williams Lake Residential School by
An unsettling study of two tragic events at an Indian residential school in British Columbia which serve as a microcosm of the profound impact the residential school system had on Aboriginal communities in Canada throughout this century. The book's focal points are the death of a runaway boy and the suicide of another while they were students at the Williams Lake Indian Residential School during the early part of this century. Imbedded in these stories is the complex relationship between the Department of Indian Affairs, the Oblates, and the Aboriginal communities that in turn has influenced relations between government, church, and Aboriginals today.
ISBN: 9781551520155Publication Date: 2002-07-01
Whiskey Bullets: Cowboy and Indian Heritage Poems by
Eloquent, poignant and witty, Garry Gottfriedson's new collection of poetry, Whiskey Bullets, approaches an old genre with a new flare that will challenge your expectations of cowboy poetry. This edgy collection explores themes of duality that exist in the parallel worlds of cowboys and Indians.Often satirical, Whiskey Bullets is a testament to adaptability, turning tragedy into humour and pain into passion. It speaks to the unique experience of growing up aboriginal, on the Tk'emlups Reserve (Secwepemc) near Kamloops, with strong First Nation values and traditions, while at the same time immersed in the cowboy and ranching culture of the interior of BC. Gottfriedson skillfully balances his indigenous vision and contemporary concerns, creating a blend of imagery that stimulates the mind's eye like never before.Shattering the cowboy's code of ethics, Gottfriedson unveils hidden truths, unspoken and often ignored, bringing to the fore inescapable issues of gender, sexuality, race and politics, infused with aboriginal attitude. Form and content are carefully conceived to celebrate the distinctive aboriginal individuality, the "shape-shifting" attitudes that are required when one lives simultaneously in two cultures - Secwepemc and white - and their two languages. Candid and challenging, Whiskey Bullets is thought-provoking and engaging.
ISBN: 9781553800439Publication Date: 2006-09-01
Wisdom of the Elders: Native and Scientific Ways of Knowing About Nature by
First published in 1992, this classic David Suzuki title is now back in print, with a new introduction. A meticulous gathering of both scientific insight and Native knowledge, Wisdom of the Elders offers a way to reconcile our place in nature, by listening to our elders. From the foundations of time, the big bang, and the creation of the cosmos, to the fate of the earth as predicted by leading scientists and the sacred stories and traditions of Native peoples, this acclaimed collection of the world's wisdom shows that the future of the planet lies in listening to both these worldviews.
ISBN: 9781553651932Publication Date: 2006-01-01
