Biographies

In this poignant display of the resilience of language, culture, and community in the face of the profound changes brought by settlers, Kluane First Nation Elders share stories from their lives, knowledge of their traditional territory (A si Keyi, "my grandfather's country"), and insights on the building of their self-governing First Nation.

With generosity, diligence and deep commitment to their community, Elders from Lhu'aan Man Keyi (Kluane First Nation) recorded oral histories about their lives in the southwest Yukon. They shared wisdom, stories and songs passed down from grandparents, aunties and uncles, in Dan k'e (Southern Tutchone, Kluane dialect) and English. This years-long project arose from the Elders' desire for their children and future generations to know the foundations of language, culture, skills and beliefs that will keep them proud, healthy and strong. The Elders speak of life before the Alaska Highway, when their grandparents drew on thousands of years of traditional knowledge to live on the land through seasonal rounds of hunting and gathering; the dark years after the building of the Alaska Highway, when children were taken away to residential schools and hunting grounds were removed to form the Kluane Game Preserve and National Park; and the decades since, when the community worked through the Yukon land claims process to establish today's self-governing First Nation.

Inclusivity is a key community value. The Elders' stories are accompanied by the voices of youth and citizens of all ages, along with a history of the Kluane region. The book is beautifully illustrated with Elders' photographs, historical images and art work, and photos showing breathtaking views of Kluane mountains, lakes, sites, trails, and activities in the community today. With passionate and deeply informed voices, this is a stirring portrait created by a community that has shown resilience through massive changes and remains dedicated to preserving their culture, language and lands for the generations to come.

Awards

• 2024 Indigenous History Book Prize 

Educator Information
Some of the wisdom, stories, and songs are in Dan k'e (Southern Tutchone, Kluane dialect).

Additional Information
384 pages | 11.25" x 9.00"| 150 colour and b&w photos | Hardcover 

Following the bestselling success of the inspiring All the Way, pioneering Inuit NHLer Jordin Tootoo begins the process of healing in the wake of the suicide and violence that marks his family, only to discover the source of all that trauma in his father's secret past.

For some hockey players, retirement marks the moment when it’s all over. But Jordin Tootoo is not most hockey players.

Having inspired millions when he first broke into the league, Tootoo continued to influence people throughout his career—not only through his very public triumph over alcoholism, but also his natural charisma. And now, years after hanging up his skates, he is more committed to doing things the right way and speaking about it to others, whether it’s corporate executives or Indigenous youth.

But the news of unmarked graves on the grounds of residential schools brought back to life many of the demons that had haunted his family. In a moment of realization that left him rattled and saddened, Tootoo fit the pieces together. The years that were never spoken of. The heavy drinking. The all too predictable violence. His father was a survivor, marked by what he had survived.

As he travels back to Nunavut to try to speak with his father about what haunts him, he encounters the ghosts of the entire community. Still, as Tootoo says, we are continuously learning and rewriting our story at every step. He has learned from his mistakes and his victories. He has learned from examples of great courage and humility. He has learned from being a father and a husband. And he has learned from his own Inuk traditions, of perseverance and discipline in the face of hardship.

Weaving together life’s biggest themes with observations and experiences, Jordin shares the kind of wisdom he has had to specialize in—the hard-won kind.

Additional Information
208 pages | 6.20" x 9.37" | Hardcover

Drawing upon oral and documentary evidence, this volume explores the lives of noteworthy Mi’kmaw individuals whose thoughts, actions, and aspirations impacted the history of the Northeast but whose activities were too often relegated to the shadows of history.

The book highlights Mi’kmaw leaders who played major roles in guiding the history of the region between 1680 and 1980. It sheds light on their community and emigration policies, organizational and negotiating skills, diplomatic endeavours, and stewardship of land and resources. Contributors to the volume range from seasoned scholars with years of research in the field to Mi’kmaw students whose interest in their history will prove inspirational. Offering important new insights, the book re-centres Indigenous nationhood to alter the way we understand the field itself. The book also provides a lengthy index so that information may be retrieved and used in future research.

Muiwlanej kikamaqki – Honouring Our Ancestors will engage the interest of Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers alike, engender pride in Mi’kmaw leadership legacies, and encourage Mi’kmaw youth and others to probe more deeply into the history of the Northeast.

Reviews
"This book is an invaluable and original offering. Muiwlanej kikamaqki – Honouring Our Ancestors makes a significant contribution to Mi’kmaq history by successfully bringing little-known individuals into the light and by placing them in a historical context that is uniquely informed by both written and oral narratives. For Mi’kmaq wanting to know more about their history, this book will be a wonderful source." - Natasha Simon, Nihkanatpat (Director) of the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre, University of New Brunswick

"This book is deeply researched, both in written sources and in integrating the invaluable evidence of Indigenous knowledge. The detailed individual and family histories are uniquely effective in bringing out both changes and continuities in Mi’kmaw history and in the texture of Mi’kmaw interactions with non-Indigenous sojourners and settlers. With a remarkable and outstanding depth of scholarship, the book meticulously pursues biography as an approach that can be extended to people whose lives have too often been deemed to be insufficiently documented for conventional purposes, in order to take our historical understanding in innovative and productive directions."- John Reid, Professor of History, Saint Mary’s University

Additional Information
1004 pages | 8.00" x 10.00"| 62 b&w illustrations | Hardcover 

With a story spanning over seventy years of the life of respected Elder Calvin White, One Man’s Journey weaves personal history with White’s account of the Mi’kmaw movement and his role in the reclamation and restoration of pride in Mi’kmaw culture in Newfoundland.

Elder White’s journey began in the forests surrounding his home of Flat Bay, where he learned to fish, hunt, and gather from a group of respected mentors who influenced and inspired him. His story recounts how the lessons learned from these valuable moments fueled his later work to spearhead the Mi’kmaw movement throughout the island of Newfoundland, amid the fight for recognition by the provincial and federal governments. His words do not shy away from the prejudice and discrimination faced by his people, and they provide a personal account of the history, responsibilities, philosophy, and worldview of his community.

One Man’s Journey is a personal and critical look at the processes that have led to the recognition of Mi’kmaw people in Newfoundland. The book shares knowledge and history with a new generation so they can continue the movement to which Elder White has been so instrumental.

Additional Information
194 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

An urgent, informed, intimate condemnation of the Canadian state and its failure to deliver justice to Indigenous people by national bestselling author and former Crown prosecutor Harold R. Johnson. Now with a brand new foreward.

"The night of the decision in the Gerald Stanley trial for the murder of Colten Boushie, I received a text message from a retired provincial court judge. He was feeling ashamed for his time in a system that was so badly tilted. I too feel this way about my time as both defence counsel and as a Crown prosecutor; that I didn't have the courage to stand up in the courtroom and shout 'Enough is enough.' This book is my act of taking responsibility for what I did, for my actions and inactions." -- Harold R. Johnson

In early 2018, the failures of Canada's justice system were sharply and painfully revealed in the verdicts issued in the deaths of Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine. The outrage and confusion that followed those verdicts inspired former Crown prosecutor and bestselling author Harold R. Johnson to make the case against Canada for its failure to fulfill its duty under Treaty to effectively deliver justice to Indigenous people, worsening the situation and ensuring long-term damage to Indigenous communities.

In this direct, concise, and essential volume, Harold R. Johnson examines the justice system's failures to deliver "peace and good order" to Indigenous people. He explores the part that he understands himself to have played in that mismanagement, drawing on insights he has gained from the experience; insights into the roots and immediate effects of how the justice system has failed Indigenous people, in all the communities in which they live; and insights into the struggle for peace and good order for Indigenous people now.

Additional Information
272 pages | 5.00" x 7.51" | B&W photo spread in text | Paperback

Realizing a good life is almost always defined in material terms, typified by individuals (usually men) who have considerable wealth. But classed, gendered, and racialized social supports enable the “self-made man.” Instead, this book turns to Indigenous knowledge about realizing a good life to explore how marginalized men endeavour to overcome systemic inequalities in their efforts to achieve wholeness, balance, connection, harmony, and healing.

Twenty-three men, most of whom are Indigenous, share their stories of this journey. For most, the pathway started in challenging circumstances — intergenerational trauma, disrupted families and child welfare interventions, racism and bullying, and physical and sexual abuse. Most coped with the pain through drugging and drinking or joining a street gang, setting many on a trajectory to jail. Caught in the criminal justice net, realizing a good life was even more daunting as their identities and life chances became barriers.

Some of the men, however, have made great strides to realize a good life. They tell us how they got out of “the problem,” with insights on how to maintain sobriety, navigate systemic barriers, and forge connections and circles of support. Ultimately, it comes down to social supports — and caring. As one man put it, change happened when he “had to care for somebody else” in a way he wanted to be cared for.

Educator Information
Chapter 1. Realizing a Good Life
Chapter 2. Getting into The Problem
Chapter 3. Being in The Problem
Chapter 4. Getting Out of The Problem
Chapter 5. Bringing It to a Close

The Indigenous Text label is applied because of the Indigenous contributions to this work. Its up to readers to determine if this works as an authentic text for their purposes.

Additional Information
256 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

An Indigenous artist blends the aesthetics of punk rock with the traditional spiritual practices of the women in her lineage in this bold, contemporary journey to reclaim her heritage and unleash her power and voice while searching for a permanent home.

Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe has always longed for a sense of home. When she was a child, her family moved around frequently, often staying in barely habitable church attics and trailers, dangerous places for young Sasha.

With little more to guide her than a passion for the thriving punk scene of the Pacific Northwest and a desire to live up to the responsibility of being the namesake of her beloved great-grandmother—a linguist who helped preserve her Indigenous language of Lushootseed—Sasha throws herself headlong into the world, determined to build a better future for herself and her people.

Set against a backdrop of the breathtaking beauty of Coast Salish ancestral land and imbued with the universal spirit of punk, Red Paint is ultimately a story of the ways we learn to find our true selves while fighting for our right to claim a place of our own.

Examining what it means to be vulnerable in love and in art, Sasha offers up an unblinking reckoning with personal traumas amplified by the collective historical traumas of colonialism and genocide that continue to haunt native peoples. Red Paint is an intersectional autobiography of lineage, resilience, and, above all, the ability to heal.

Awards

• Winner of the 2023 Pacific Northwest Book Award 

Reviews
"Red Paint is a miraculous book. Sasha LaPointe walks us through the sites of her evisceration while rebuilding a home within her body using sturdy materials: rose quartz, cedar bark, red clay, and the words of her ancestors. With each potent sentence, she shows us what access to power looks like. She shows us how to become whole.” —Elissa Washuta, author of White Magic

"As luminous as the morning sun over the fir forests, Red Paint is a story of where strength takes us. Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe goes looking to the past to help heal from terrible traumas, finding inspiration in her ancestors, the Salish people. This is a book destined to be a classic. Read it." —Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder

Additional Information
240 pages | 5.01" x 8.00" | Paperback

A revolutionary collaboration about the world we're living in now, between two of our most important contemporary thinkers, writers and activists.

When the world entered pandemic lockdown in spring 2020, Robyn Maynard, influential author of Policing Black Lives, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, renowned artist, musician, and author of Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, began writing each other letters—a gesture sparked by a desire for kinship and connection in a world shattering under the intersecting crises of pandemic, police killings, and climate catastrophe. These letters soon grew into a powerful exchange about where we go from here.
 
Rehearsals for Living is a captivating and visionary work—part debate, part dialogue, part lively and detailed familial correspondence between two razor-sharp writers. By articulating to each other Black and Indigenous perspectives on our unprecedented here and now, and reiterating the long-disavowed histories of slavery and colonization that have brought us to this moment, Maynard and Simpson create something new: an urgent demand for a different way forward, and a poetic call to dream up other ways of ordering earthly life.

Reviews
“This book must be read for its future vocabularies, its political intimacies, its careful assemblage of the materials of our activisms, and its generous and fulsome thinking.”—Dionne Brand, poet, novelist, and essayist

“Using the age-old practice of letter writing and the land itself as a palimpsest, Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson find common ground to challenge the moral legitimacy of the settler nation state, and reinscribe new ways of what it means to be beings who are human in the forensic landscapes of Canada. In Rehearsals for Living, two women, one Indigenous, the other Black and African-descended confront their shared yet different experiences of colonialism, provide new and subversive meanings to the colonial trope of being landed, the mechanism by which the land was (un)settled. Unflinchingly, and in long-overdue and profoundly-needed “reasonings” that reverberate with shared breath, Simpson and Maynard weave their ideas, thoughts and reflections and their deep caring for community and society through the network of issues that impact us today—the pandemic and the differentials in treatment for Black and Indigenous people, the role of BLM, abolition, the necessity of Nibi and homespace for the Nishnaabeg, the joys of living on the land, and parenting in the face of ecological and racial disasters are but a few of the challenges they grapple with. Rehearsals for Living is fundamental to understanding the interlocking, founding crimes of the Americas; necessary for remembering the many erased histories of the on-going struggle for justice, and altogether indispensable to those wanting to create possible solutions.”—M. NourbeSe Philip, author of Zong!

Additional Information
336 pages | 5.17" x 7.99" | Paperback 

Elders and leaders remind us that telling and amplifying histories is key for healing. Remembering Our Relations is an ambitious collaborative oral history project that shares the story of Wood Buffalo National Park and the Dënesųłıné peoples it displaced.

Wood Buffalo National Park is located in the heart of Dënesųłıné homelands, where Dené people have lived from time immemorial. Central to the creation, expansion, and management of this park, Canada’s largest at nearly 45, 000 square kilometers, was the eviction of Dënesųłıné people from their home, the forced separation of Dene families, and restriction of their Treaty rights.

Remembering Our Relations tells the history of Wood Buffalo National Park from a Dene perspective and within the context of Treaty 8. Oral history and testimony from Dene Elders, knowledge-holders, leaders, and community members place Dënesųłıné voices first. With supporting archival research, this book demonstrates how the founding, expansion, and management of Wood Buffalo National Park fits into a wider pattern of promises broken by settler colonial governments managing land use throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

By prioritizing Dënesųłıné histories Remembering Our Relations deliberately challenges how Dene experiences have been erased, and how this erasure has been used to justify violence against Dënesųłıné homelands and people. Amplifying the voices and lives of the past, present, and future, Remembering Our Relations is a crucial step in the journey for healing and justice Dënesųłıné peoples have been pursuing for over a century.

Additional Information
352 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Music historian Craig Harris explores more than five hundred years of Indigenous history, religion, and cultural evolution in Rise Up! Indigenous Music in North America. More than powwow drums and wooden flutes, Indigenous music intersects with rock, blues, jazz, folk music, reggae, hip-hop, classical music, and more. Combining deep research with personal stories by nearly four dozen award-winning Indigenous musicians, Harris offers an eye-opening look at the growth of Indigenous music.

Among a host of North America’s most vital Indigenous musicians, the biographical narratives include new and well-established figures such as Mildred Bailey, Louis W. Ballard, Cody Blackbird, Donna Coane (Spirit of Thunderheart), Theresa “Bear” Fox, Robbie Robertson, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joanne Shenandoah, DJ Shub (Dan General), Maria Tallchief, John Trudell, and Fawn Wood.

Reviews

Additional Information
344 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 40 Photos, Index | Paperback

This teaching memoir by an Indigenous spirit talker includes stories about the author’s reconnection with his Mi’kmaq heritage along with techniques for connecting to Spirit and developing your own intuition and psychic abilities.

In this teaching memoir, Shawn Leonard shares his personal story of developing his abilities as a spirit talker, revealing incredible stories from his childhood to the present. Along the way, he shares experiences he has had with elders from his aboriginal tribe, the Mi’kmaq, and his journey learning more about his heritage.

Shawn incorporates the beautiful spiritual practices of the Mi’kmaq, like talking circles, pipe ceremonies, cleansing herbal medicines, and more. He shares fantastic stories of times when he has communicated with Spirit and when he has been able to connect others to Spirit. Here, he will also reveal how the reader can grow in their own spirituality through prayer and meditation; grow in their connection to Spirit through dreams, spirit guides, totem animals, and loved ones in Spirit; and grow and develop their own intuition and psychic abilities through clairsentience, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and claircognizance.

Additional Information
264 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback

Stephen Kakfwi was born in a bush camp on the edge of the Arctic Circle in 1950. In a family torn apart by tuberculosis, alcohol and the traumas endured by generations in residential school, he emerged as a respected Dene elder and eventually the Premier of the Northwest Territories.

Stephen belongs to a cohort of young northerners who survived the childhood abuses of residential school only to find themselves as teenagers in another residential school where one Oblate father saw them as the next generation of leaders, and gave them the skills they would need to succeed. Kakfwi, schooled on civil rights and 1960s protest songs, dedicated himself to supporting chiefs in their claim to land that had been taken away from them and in their determination to seize control of the colonial political system.

Kakfwi’s life has been a series of diverse endeavours, blending traditional Dene practices with the daily demands of political office—hunting moose one day and negotiating with European diamond merchants the next. Throughout his career, Kakfwi understood that he held the power to make change—sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he did not. But he also embraced the power of story-telling, and has helped change the story of the North.

Kakfwi combines his remarkable memory for detail with his compelling raconteur’s skill in taking us through the incredible story of his life and one of the most transformative times in Canadian history. In his candid description of the loneliness of leadership and his embrace of Dene spirituality, Kakfwi’s Stoneface transforms politics into philosophy and an intensely personal guide to reconciliation.

Additional Information
240 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Mi’kmaw artists are creating a wide range of imaginative and beautiful work using the skills and traditions of basketry weaving given to them by their elders and ancestors. In this book, nine artists present their work and their stories in their own words. Their unique artistic practices reflect their relationships to the natural world around them and their abilities to create unique and beautiful objects using a mix of traditional and contemporary materials and forms.

Each artist's account of their background and practice is introduced by editor shalan joudry. Their words stand alongside examples of their art, photographed in their studios by Holly Brown Bear.

This book is a milestone in creating awareness of and celebrating a group of important contemporary artists working today in Mi’kma'ki, the traditional territory which embraces Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and portions of Quebec.

Featured artists:

• Peter Clair, Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick.
• Virick Francis, Eskasoni First Nation, Nova Scotia.
• Stephen Jerome, Gesgapegiag, Quebec.
• Della Maguire, Glooscap First Nation, Nova Scotia.
• Frank Meuse, L'sittkuk First Nation (Bear River), Nova Scotia.
• Margaret Peltier, We'koqma'q First Nation, Nova Scotia.
• Sandra Racine, Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick.
• Nora Richard, Lennox Island, Prince Edward Island.
• Ashley Sanipass, Indian Island, New Brunswick.

Additional Information
10.00" x 8.03" | Paperback | 100+ Colour Photographs 

Hailed as a contemporary classic of oral literature, The Days of Augusta is Shuswap elder Augusta Evans’ memories of a lifetime that spanned from 1888 to 1978.

Accompanied by Robert Keziere’s intimate photographs, Augusta’s rhythmic prose reads like poetry. She depicts with strength and eloquence her own story—her days at the Mission School, making baskets and catching salmon, the pain of giving birth and the death of a son—as well as the legends and stories of events told to her—a stagecoach robbery, a woman who was the prisoner of a bear. First printed in 1973, Augusta’s story continues to be a fascinating glimpse into the past, with throughlines to the present.

Additional Information
80 pages | 8.00" x 9.00"| 25 b&w photos | Paperback

“My name is Sam George. In spite of everything that happened to me, by the grace of the Creator, I have lived to be an Elder.”

The crimes carried out at St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver scarred untold numbers of Indigenous children and families across generations. Sam George was one of these children. This candid account follows Sam from his idyllic childhood growing up on the Eslhá7an (Mission) reserve to St. Paul’s, where he weathered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. He spent much of his life navigating the effects of this trauma – prison, addiction, and challenging relationships – until he found the strength to face his past. Now an Elder and educator with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, this is Sam’s harrowing story, in his own words. An ember of Sam’s spirit always burned within him, and even in the darkest of places he retained his humour and dignity.

The Fire Still Burns is an unflinching look at the horrors of a childhood in the Indian Residential School system and the long-term effects on survivors. It illustrates the healing power of one’s culture and the resilience that allows an individual to rebuild a life and a future.

This frank and powerful personal story of trauma and resilience will bring a greater understanding to all readers – Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike – of residential schools and the impact they had on those who were forced to attend them.

Reviews
"I am glad that Sam George has lent his voice to the many voices of survivors now surfacing from residential "schools". I love the way Sam describes his traditional life before he was forced to go to the school and then later goes back to his culture to overcome the trauma he endured. Sam did time in jail for a crime he committed, but the real crime is that our Indigenous way of life was interfered with, and that created the dysfunction in our communities. This book shows that we had it right all along – Indigenous culture is our saviour."— Bev Sellars, author of They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School

"Brutally frank yet disarmingly subtle, sensitive, and funny, The Fire Still Burns by Sam George offers an unflinching look at the human dimensions of Canada’s attempted genocide of Indigenous Peoples through residential schooling." — Sam McKegney, author of Carrying the Burden of Peace: Reimagining Indigenous Masculinities through Story

Educator Information
Table of Contents
Preface / Sam George
Acknowledgments
A Note on the Text
1 Your Name Is T'seatsultux
2 In Them Days
3 Our Lives Signed Away
4 The Strap
5 A Girl Named Pearl, a Boy Named Charlie
6 Runaway
7 I Tried to Be Invisible
8 Finding Ways to Feel Good
9 On Our Own
10 Oakalla
11 Haney Correctional
12 Longshoreman
13 Misery Loves Company
14 Drowning
15 Tsow-Tun Le Lum
16 I’m Still Here
Afterword: On Co-Writing Sam George’s Memoir / Jill Yonit Goldberg
Reader’s Guide
About the Authors

Additional Information
152 pages | 5.00" x 8.00" | Paperback