Non-Fiction

David Neel was an infant when his father, a Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw artist, died, triggering a series of events that would separate him from his homeland and its rich cultural traditions for twenty-five years. When he saw a Potlatch mask carved by his great-great-grandfather in a museum in Fort Worth, Texas, the encounter caused the aspiring photographer to wonder if he could return to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Drawing on memory, legend, and his own art and photographs, Neel tells the story of his struggle to reconnect with his culture after decades of separation and a childhood marred by trauma and abuse. David returned to the Pacific Coast, where he apprenticed with master carvers from his father’s village on Vancouver Island, and his career as an author and artist took him to the United States and to Mexico, to Europe and back again to British Columbia. Along the way, he met and photographed some of the most talented artists and Indigenous people of his generation. His travels helped him grow as a man and become an accomplished and prolific artist, but they also reconfirmed the healing power of returning home.

The Way Home is a testament to the strength of the human spirit to overcome great obstacles and to the power and endurance of Indigenous culture and art.

Educator Information
This memoir is a must-read for anyone interested in Canadian art and artists, particularly Indigenous art, as well as those learning about or active in cultural revitalization in Indigenous communities.

Subjects / Themes: Indigenous Art, Canadian Art, Memoir.

This resource is recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 list for grades 9 to 12 for Art Education, English Language Arts, and Social Studies.

Caution: includes memories of domestic violence.

Additional Information
192 pages | 8.00" x 10.00"

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.

Additional Information
320 pages | 6.75" x 9.75" | 2nd Edition

Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.

Watch for new stories and familiar characters:

• Métis businesswoman Annie Bannatyne and Louis Riel
• Oka Crisis, Meech Lake Accord, and Kelowna Accord
• the Berger Inquiry into the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline
• Jack Fiddler, an Anishinaabe shaman charged as a serial killer
• Rosie, an Inuk girl coming of age during WWII
• wâpanacâhkos, an Indigenous woman sent back from the future to the early 2000s
• fishing raids and salmon wars in Listuguj, Quebec
• Francis Pegahmagabow, WWI sniper and veterans’ rights activist
• the impact of the Sixties Scoop and the child welfare system
• Chief Billy Assu and the potlatch bans in British Columbia

Reviews
Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, one of the contributors to this work, says the book is, an “opportunity to shine a light on the stories most Canadians haven’t heard, to learn from Indigenous communities from 1867 to present day—whether these stories are influenced by the creation of Canada or not." 

"…breathtaking comics anthology…this mix of powerful storytelling and memorable illustrations is a place to begin a dialogue with Indigenous peoples in Canada." —The Globe and Mail

"The anthology is visually gorgeous. Each story is powerfully conveyed, reflecting a time and moment in the Indigenous history of Canada…great read for any age." —Quill & Quire, starred review

"This Place is the graphic novel I’ve waited my whole life for, and the graphic novel Canada has needed for 150 years. The stories contained within its pages are both beautifully rendered and vitally necessary. They represent a history not only largely untold and unknown, but one obscured, hidden from sight, so that other stories may occupy a privileged place in the defining a national story. Their importance is exquisitely captured on these pages, told by some the leading artists working today. This is an essential book, for comic fans, teachers and anyone who wants to learn the stories of this place we now share." —Jesse Wente, broadcaster and film critic

"A landmark collection of Indigenous comics that redraws how we understand the past, present, and future of Indigenous communities and cultures since Confederation. Each chapter immerses us in a gripping story about real people brought to life through vivid and affecting artwork. This collection proves the power of comics storytelling to create fresh pathways to knowledge and new ways of envisioning Indigenous experiences." —Candida Rifkind, University of Winnipeg

"This is the power of storytelling. It’s going deeper and truer than the history books and the newspaper accounts. It’s bringing the stories to the people for the people and doing it for the right reasons: to teach and to illuminate. This Place: 150 Years Retold is the dawn to a new storytelling tradition that doesn’t need to be held back. It should be shouted forward from now on." —Helen Kubiw, CanLit for LittleCanadians

Educator Information
This graphic novel is recommended for ages 15+.

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 7 to 12 for Art Education, English Language Arts, Law, and Social Studies.

These stories refer to real incidents and include graphic violence, abuse, and death.

A teacher's guide is available: This Place: 150 Years Retold Teacher Guide

Additional Information
250 Pages

The follow up to the award-winning debut novel Those Who Run in the Sky.

Haunted by the vicious creatures of his recent past, Pitu tries to go back to a normal life at home after the other-worldly travels and near-death encounters of his recent disappearance into the world of the spirits. But Pitu knows that there is more work to be done, and more that he must learn in his new role as a shaman.

When word of a starving village nearby reaches Pitu, he must go help its people appease the angry spirits. It soon becomes clear that Pitu must travel to the bottom of the ocean to meet Nuliajuk, the vengeful woman below, one of the most powerful beings in Inuit mythology.

There he learns about his role in saving the starving community and that all in his home camp may not be as it seems . . .

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12+

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 9 to 12 for English Language Arts and Social Studies. 

Caution: Indirect references to sexual physical abuse and trauma.

Useful as a Social Studies resource as this fictional story provides a glimpse into traditional Inuit ways of life, systems of governance, kinship ties, culture, and story.

Additional Information
208 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 14 b&w line drawings.

As beautiful as it is useful, Understanding Northwest Coast Indigenous Jewelry is an invaluable tool for anyone interested in learning about or deepening their understanding of a fascinating craft.

Indigenous hand-engraved jewelry from the Pacific Northwest Coast is among the most distinctive, innovative, and highly sought-after art being produced in North America today. But these artworks are more than just stunning—every bracelet, ring, and pendant is also the product of a fascinating backstory, a specialized set of techniques, and a talented artist.

With a clearly written text, a foreword by award-winning First Nations artist Corrine Hunt, and more than one hundred striking color photographs and sidebars, Understanding Northwest Coast Indigenous Jewelry offers an illuminating look at an exquisite craft and the context in which it is practiced.

Providing a step-by-step overview of various techniques, the book also introduces the specifics of formline design, highlights the traits of the most common animal symbols used, offers tips for identification, and features biographies and works from over fifty of the Coast’s best-known jewelers. Finally, it delves into the history of the art form, from the earliest horn and copper cuff bracelets to cutting-edge contemporary works and everything in between.

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 9 to 12 for Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Social Studies.

Additional Information
192 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

The Skeena, second longest river in the province, remains an icon of British Columbia’s northwest. Called Xsien (“water of the clouds”) by the Tsimshian and Gitksan, it has always played a vital role in the lives of Indigenous people of the region. Since the 1800s, it has also become home to gold seekers, traders, salmon fishers and other settlers who were drawn by the area’s beauty and abundant natural resources.

Voices from the Skeena takes readers on a journey inspired directly by the people who lived there. Combining forty illustrations with text selected from the pioneer interviews CBC radio producer Imbert Orchard recorded in the 1960s, the book follows the arrival of the Europeans and the introduction of the fur trade to the Omineca gold rush and the building of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad.

Open the pages to meet Robert Cunningham, an Anglican missionary who would later become the founder of the thriving Port Essington. Here too is a man called Cataline, a packer for whom no settlement was too remote to reach, and the indominable Sarah Glassey, the first woman to pre-empt land in British Columbia. At the heart of these stories is the river, weaving together a narrative of a people and their culture. Pairing the stories with Roy Henry Vicker’s vibrant art creates a unique and captivating portrait of British Columbia that will appeal to art lovers and history readers alike.

Additional Information
112 pages | 11.00" x 8.00" | 40 colour illustrations

This work has received the Authentic Indigenous Text label because of the interviews/contributions with Indigenous people like Vicky Sims and Chief Jeffrey H. Johnson. It is up to readers to determine if this work is authentic for their purposes.

Puget Sound is a magnificent and intricate estuary, the very core of life in Western Washington. Yet it’s also a place of broader significance: rivers rush from the Cascade and Olympic mountains and Canada’s coastal ranges through varied watersheds to feed the Sound, which forms the southern portion of a complex, international ecosystem known as the Salish Sea.

A rich, life-sustaining home shared by two countries, as well as 50-plus Native American Tribes and First Nations, the Salish Sea is also a huge economic engine, with outdoor recreation and commercial shellfish harvesting alone worth $10.2 billion. But this spectacular inland sea is suffering. Pollution and habitat loss, human population growth, ocean acidification, climate change, and toxins from wastewater and storm runoff present formidable challenges.

We Are Puget Sound amplifies the voices and ideas behind saving Puget Sound, and it will help engage and inspire citizens around the region to join together to preserve its ecosystem and the livelihoods that depend on it.

Additional Information
224 pages | 10.00" x 9.00" | 125 colour photographs

For nearly 100 years, Indian boarding schools in Canada and the US produced newspapers read by white settlers, government officials, and Indigenous parents. These newspapers were used as a settler colonial tool, yet within these tightly controlled narratives there also existed sites of resistance. This book traces colonial narratives of language, time, and place from the nineteenth-century to the present day, post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Educator Information
1. Bury the Lede: Introduction
2. Printer’s Devil: The Trade of Newspapers
3. Indigenous Languages Did Not Disappear: English Language Instruction
4. "Getting Indian Words": Representations of Indigenous Languages
5. Ahead by a Century: Time on Paper
6. Anachronism: Reading the Nineteenth Century Today
7. Layout: Space, Place, and Land
8. Concluding Thoughts

Additional Information
256 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Unleash the potential of your yard by transforming it into a beautiful and vibrant space offering a continuous supply of food

Journey into the good food movement by unleashing the potential of your yard, transforming it into a beautiful and vibrant space that offers a continuous supply of food.

Using dozens of beautiful color photographs and watercolor planting charts, infographics, and landscaping designs, Your Edible Yard is the comprehensive how-to guide you need to turn your yard into a bountiful feast.

It features:

• Practical gardening methods and maintenance from weeding to wintering, including foodscaping, container gardening, and saving seeds
• Permaculture principles including soil building techniques, garden preparation, raised beds, and natural/non-toxic DIY pesticide alternatives
• How to integrate culinary and medicinal herbs, edible flowers, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, and wild edibles
• Gardening resources: where to go for help, buy seeds, and source supplies on a budget
• Instructions on preserving, fermenting, freezing, drying, and making simple medicines
• General tips, such as how to find loopholes in laws preventing edible front yards.

Whether you're a beginner or experienced gardener in the city, the suburbs, or the country, this manual is the A-Z guide for how to make use of the space you have, highlighting the colorful and abundant array that edible landscapes promise.

Additional Information
208 pages | 7.50" x 9.00"

This book highlights the achievements of Canadian women sports stars — the role models of today's young female athletes. They fought for the right to compete in sports traditionally dominated by men and proved that women's sports are just as competitive and exciting to watch as men's. Spanning decades, Breaking Through focuses on seven sports and the women who made them their own, including well-known legends such as soccer player Christine Sinclair, who brought women's soccer in Canada into the limelight, and hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser, the longest-serving member of Canada's National team and five-time Olympic medalist. Readers will also see basketball, bobsleigh and rugby represented and learn the stories of less well-known athletes such as Indigenous Cross-country skiers Sharon Anne and Shirley Firth, who faced down prejudice, and Carol Hunyh, who brought home Canada's first Olympic gold medal in women's wrestling.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended Ages: 12-18.

Some, but limited, Indigenous content.

This work is part of the Recordbooks series, which includes sports biographies that highlight key social issues for reluctant readers.

Additional Information
144 pages | 4.25" x 7.00"

Based on a viral article, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act is the essential guide to understanding the legal document and its repercussion on generations of Indigenous Peoples, written by a leading cultural sensitivity trainer.

Since its creation in 1876, the Indian Act has shaped, controlled, and constrained the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Peoples, and is at the root of many enduring stereotypes. Bob Joseph’s book comes at a key time in the reconciliation process, when awareness from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities is at a crescendo. Joseph explains how Indigenous Peoples can step out from under the Indian Act and return to self-government, self-determination, and self-reliance—and why doing so would result in a better country for every Canadian. He dissects the complex issues around truth and reconciliation, and clearly demonstrates why learning about the Indian Act’s cruel, enduring legacy is essential for the country to move toward true reconciliation.

Reviews
"Increasing Canadians' knowledge about the terrible foundation this country has been built on is a critical part of reconciliation. Bob Joseph has highlighted some of the unbelievable provisions of the Indian Act and how they have impacted First Nations in Canada and gives a brief overview of what we may replace it with going forward. His book provides helpful context to the dialogue that needs to take place in Canada." — Kim Baird, O.C., O. B. C.; Owner, Kim Baird Strategic Consulting; Member of the Tsawwassen First Nation; Negotiator of the Tsawwassen First Nation Treaty

"From declaring cultural ceremonies illegal, to prohibiting pool hall owners from granting Indigenous people entrance, from forbidding the speaking of Indigenous languages, to the devastating policy that created residential schools, Bob Joseph reveals the hold this paternalistic act, with its roots in the 1800s, still has on the lives of Indigenous people in Canada in the 21st century. This straightforward book is an invaluable resource. There is much for non-Indigenous people to learn and to do. But equally important, there is much to unlearn and to undo. The time is right for this book. Thank you, Bob Joseph. Gilakasla." — Shelagh Rogers, O.C.; Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Honourary Witness

"Bob’s ability to navigate the complex history of the Indian Act is a wonder to behold. He provides depth and knowledge for Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars alike. Whether you are an Indigenous scholar or a neophyte, his articulate, insightful and comprehensive analysis on the history of the Indian Act provides a sound understanding on the present narrative of Indigenous peoples in Canada. By way of the Indian Act, this book provides an excellent analysis of the ongoing relationship and predicament between provincial and federal governments and Indigenous peoples in the 21st century." — JP Gladu, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grades 4-12 and as a teacher resource in these subject areas: English Language Arts and Social Studies.

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.22" x 8.05"

Insects are all around us, from the butterflies in our gardens to the mosquitoes in the woods. About 80 percent of the 1.5 million named species of animals on earth are insects. Without flower-loving bees, wasps, flies and beetles, most crops and wild plants would not be pollinated and would disappear.

But insect diversity is largely invisible because most insects are small and difficult to recognize and identify. They are often easy to ignore.

A Field Guide to Insects of the Pacific Northwest is a durable, water-resistant eight-fold field guide that describes more than sixty of the most common species that are likely to be encountered in the many habitats of the Pacific Northwest. Full-colour macro photos of specimens in their natural habitats accompany handy descriptions with information on specific species’ anatomy, identification and importance in the ecosystem. Readers will be fascinated by interesting (and occasionally gruesome) facts about the insect inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest—for instance that the robber fly injects its insect prey with a fluid that dissolves muscles and organs before sucking their prey dry like a milkshake.

The species in A Field Guide to Insects of the Pacific Northwest have been expertly chosen to introduce the diversity of insect life while also being accessible to novice bug enthusiasts. Most species shown are common but not necessarily familiar. The selection represents nineteen major groups, or orders. The largest are Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (true flies), Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and relatives) and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). These groups are broken down into smaller families, such as scarab beetles or sphinx moths.

A Field Guide to Insects of the Pacific Northwest showcases the amazing diversity of insects that the region holds, and will encourage curious readers to learn a little about the main groups of insects and the intriguing details about their lives.

Additional Information
2 pages | 37.00" x 9.00" | 65 Colour Photographs | Pamphlet 

Activating the Heart is an exploration of storytelling as a tool for knowledge production and sharing to build new connections between people and their histories, environments, and cultural geographies. The collection pays particular attention to the significance of storytelling in Indigenous knowledge frameworks and extends into other ways of knowing in works where scholars have embraced narrative and story as a part of their research approach.

In the first section, Storytelling to Understand, authors draw on both theoretical and empirical work to examine storytelling as a way of knowing. In the second section, Storytelling to Share, authors demonstrate the power of stories to share knowledge and convey significant lessons, as well as to engage different audiences in knowledge exchange. The third section, Storytelling to Create, contains three poems and a short story that engage with storytelling as a means to produce or create knowledge, particularly through explorations of relationship to place.

The result is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural dialogue that yields important insights in terms of qualitative research methods, language and literacy, policy-making, human–environment relationships, and healing. This book is intended for scholars, artists, activists, policymakers, and practitioners who are interested in storytelling as a method for teaching, cross-cultural understanding, community engagement, and knowledge exchange.

Educator Information
This book would be useful for the following subjects: Indigenous Studies, Literary Criticism, Creative Writing, and Social Science.

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grades 11-12 for English Language Arts and Social Studies.

Additional Information
220 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Edited by Julia Christensen, Christopher Cox and Lisa Szabo-Jones.

Authenticity Note: Contributors to this work identify with various First Nations and Metis communities.  Therefore, the Authentic Indigenous Text label has been applied.  It is up to readers to determine if this will work as an authentic resource for their purposes.

Massive, elusive, and always deserving of respect, the walrus is one of the Arctic’s most recognizable animals. For thousands of years, Arctic residents have shared the coastlines and waters of the Arctic with these huge beasts. Often misunderstood by people who have not had first-hand encounters with them, walruses are known to those who share their habitat as somewhat unpredictable creatures, always deserving of caution when encountered. From close encounters with angry walruses, bent on destroying boats and chasing off humans to witnessing the attentive care of a walrus mother with its calf, this book gives readers from outside the Arctic a first-hand look at what life alongside walruses is really like.

Aiviq: Life with Walruses features stunning wildlife photography by acclaimed photographer Paul Souders accompanied by first-hand accounts from people living alongside this enormous sea mammal.

Additional Information
72 pages | 11.00" x 8.00"

Every single year in Canada, one-third of all deaths among Indigenous youth are due to suicide. Studies indicate youth between the ages of ten and nineteen, living on reserve, are five to six times more likely to commit suicide than their peers in the rest of the population. Suicide is a new behaviour for First Nations people. There is no record of any suicide epidemics prior to the establishment of the 130 residential schools across Canada.

Bestselling and award-winning author Tanya Talaga argues that the aftershocks of cultural genocide have resulted in a disturbing rise in youth suicides in Indigenous communities in Canada and beyond. She examinees the tragic reality of children feeling so hopeless they want to die, of kids perishing in clusters, forming suicide pacts, or becoming romanced by the notion of dying — a phenomenon that experts call “suicidal ideation.” She also looks at the rising global crisis, as evidenced by the high suicide rates among the Inuit of Greenland and Aboriginal youth in Australia. Finally, she documents suicide prevention strategies in Nunavut, Seabird Island, and Greenland; Facebook’s development of AI software to actively link kids in crisis with mental health providers; and the push by First Nations leadership in Northern Ontario for a new national health strategy that could ultimately lead communities towards healing from the pain of suicide.

Based on her Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy series, Tanya Talaga’s 2018 Massey Lectures is a powerful call for action and justice for Indigenous communities and youth.

Educator Information
Curriculum Connections: Indigenous Studies, History, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health

Additional Information
320 pages | 5.00" x 8.00"