Indigenous Peoples

In this intimate collection of writing and art, Brian J. Francis invites us to explore the sacred space within. Through vision, prayer, and dream work, Francis channels messages from the ancestors to help us contemplate themes of nature, mortality, truth, and reconciliation. Eclipsing space and time, Francis words and art resonate with deep texture, hope, colour, and mastery. The result is a shimmering testament to his Mi'kmaq ancestors, and a pledge to the next generation. Guiding us beyond spirit and nation boundaries, this eloquent read is ideal for anyone seeking sanctuary, sacred space, and a comfortable seat at their own altar.

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88 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Hardcover 

Discover the profound wisdom of the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe people in The Seven Generations and The Seven Grandfather Teachings. In this captivating journey, you will immerse yourself in timeless teachings that illuminate the way to interconnectedness and interdependence. As the spiritual translation of the sacred laws, the Seven Grandfather teachings guide us towards Mino-bimaadiziwin, 'the good life' - a life of harmony, free from contradiction or conflict. Prepare to embark on a transformative path of peace and balance, where ancestral knowledge offers invaluable lessons for a fulfilling existence.

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90 pages | 5.00" x 8.00" | Paperback

For over two centuries, the Métis have fought for recognition as an Indigenous people and as a Nation. This struggle has played out on the battlefield, in the courts, and at the negotiating table, often over issues of governance, land rights, and resources. It wasn’t until 1982, when the government patriated the Constitution, that Métis rights were officially recognized by Canada. The True Canadians chronicles Métis challenges and achievements over those 40 years and well before. Focused on Alberta, the book traces the growth of the Métis Nation of Alberta, which in 2022 ratified its own Constitution, the same year as the 40th anniversary of Canada’s Constitution Act. The title refers to the fact the Métis are the people born of this land.

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11.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover

Grocery-store clerk Beth has had a hell of a week. A hell of a life, actually, full of people squashing her soul. And after pushing back at life—stabbing a steak to her boss’s desk and lighting a magazine rack on fire, for instance—freshly unemployed Beth regroups at her mom’s suburban home. Just when Beth starts to think she’s to blame for systemic limits, the gift of a bird feeder sparks a relationship with a talking Crow who reconnects her with her true power.

This sly chamber piece from new voice Caleigh Crow turns post-capitalism ennui on its head with a righteous fury. It unearths the subtle (and not so subtle) ways we gaslight the marginalized, especially Indigenous women, people living with mental-health afflictions, and anyone struggling to make ends meet in low-income service jobs. There Is Violence captures the vivacity and humour of one truly remarkable woman not meant for this earth, and brings her to her own glorious transcendence.

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80 pages | 5.10" x 7.60" | Paperback

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by The Millions

A vibrant new voice blends Native folklore and the search for identity in a fierce debut work of personal history.

Leah Myers may be the last member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in her family line, due to her tribe’s strict blood quantum laws. In this unflinching and intimate memoir, Myers excavates the stories of four generations of women in order to leave a record of her family. Beginning with her great-grandmother, the last full-blooded Native member in their lineage, she connects each woman with her totem to construct her family’s totem pole: protective Bear, defiant Salmon, compassionate Hummingbird, and perched on top, Raven.

As she pieces together their stories, Myers weaves in tribal folktales, the history of the Native genocide, and Native mythology. Throughout, she tells the larger story of how, as she puts it, her “culture is being bleached out,” offering sharp vignettes of her own life between White and Native worlds: her naive childhood love for Pocahontas, her struggles with the Klallam language, the violence she faced at the hands of a close White friend as a teenager.

Crisp and powerful, Thinning Blood is at once a bold reclamation of one woman’s identity and a searingly honest meditation on heritage, family, and what it means to belong.

Reviews"
[A] searing debut…Myers's fierce testimony is both record and reclamation of [family] history, told beautifully and simply. Any family would be lucky to have their story handled with this much care."—Publishers Weekly

"A quietly elegiac memoir that could serve as an enduring historical document."—Kirkus Reviews

"This powerful, memorable debut runs hot with Leah Myers’s fierce intelligence. She admirably interrogates her relationship to identity, her place in her family’s history, and the future of her people—and demands a long-delayed justice."—Matt Bell, author of Appleseed

"Thinning Blood is a powerful testament to the power of storytelling. It is both personal and historical, factual and deeply imaginative. Leah Myers is an honest and passionate witness to the culture and people that produced her. Her essays pay tribute to the complexity of memory, and the tenacity of experience." —Emily Bernard, author of Black Is the Body

"In this powerful debut, Leah Myers reveals with unvarnished honesty something that so often remains unspoken: what it feels like to teeter on the edge of identity, to face down the specter of erasure and a dwindling sense of self. By reconstructing family history and myth, she uncovers old foundations and builds a new home atop them, throwing its doors open, miraculously, to all of us."—Francisco Cantú, author of The Line Becomes a River

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176 pages | 5.71" x 8.54" | Hardcover

A young Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy—and quickly finds herself at odds with the “approved” way of doing things—in the first book of this brilliant new fantasy series.

The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon.

Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raising—and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed.

For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound—both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart, determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects.

Anequs and her dragon may be coming of age, but they’re also coming to power, and that brings an important realization: the world needs changing—and they might just be the ones to do it.

Reviews
“A thorough delight . . . To Shape a Dragon’s Breath reveals a world that is complex and political through deft, thoughtfully drawn characters who, like their world, are complicated and believable. I love Anequs!”—K. Eason, author of How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse

“Imagine a world full of dragons where a newborn chooses you to be its caregiver. Imagine you have to go to a special school to learn how to train it. Imagine that almost no one at the school wants you there. This is how the well-written, compelling tale of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath begins, and once underway it doesn’t let you go.”—New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks

Educator & Series Information
This is the first book in the Nampeshiweisit series.

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528 pages | 5.48" x 8.25" | Paperback

How educators can respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action

Educators have a special role in furthering truth and reconciliation practices in education, but many struggle to understand exactly what that means and how to accomplish it. Reconciliation through education is grounded in the amplification of Indigenous voices as the spark of authentic reconciliatory practices, as well as the understanding that everyone can gain insights through reconciliation practices and relationships.

Springing from a master’s certificate program at the University of Calgary called Indigenous Education: A Call to Action, this book explores stories from alumni, program designers, and instructors who have taken a deliberate and active role in responding to the TRC’s Calls to Action through education. Section I contains useful chapters on program design and concepts, while section II presents a collection of inspirational and thought-provoking personal stories and reflections from Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators.

This is a resource written by educators for educators wishing to embark on their own journeys of truth and reconciliation in their personal and professional lives. Join the reconciliatory education community in courageously teaching, learning, and acting, just as the educators in this collected volume are doing.

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240 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Raised by his grandparents in the tiny village of Metlakatla, Alaska, David A. Boxley left a secure teaching job in his hometown to pursue an uncharted path as a full-time Tsimshian artist, ultimately leading a revival of traditional culture, art, dance, and song. Tsimshian Eagle: A Culture Bearer's Journey chronicles Boxley's life and art through images and interviews. What emerges is a boundlessly creative, restless man who has dedicated his life to keeping Tsimshian culture alive.

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240 pages | 8.25" x 10.25" | Hardcover 

Vital bilingual poetry by Innu Elder Joséphine Bacon

Uiesh / Somewhere consists of short poems that speak directly to the reader, without artifice or pretension. They arise from Joséphine Bacon’s experience as an Innu woman, whose life has taken her from the nomadic ways of her Ancestors in the northern wilderness of Nitassinan, or Innu Territory, to the clamour and bustle of the city. Wherever she is, the poet and Elder is attentive to the smallest details of her environment … from the moon and the stars, the aurorae borealis, the falling snow, the changing seasons, to the sirens of fire engines and ambulances and the noise of a busy bar night. From her quiet centre, she listens to the voices of the Old Ones, whose stories are alive within her, and looks back at the beauty and the pain of her long life.

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80 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Award-winning author Grand Chief Ron Derrickson tells the story of his personal fight against Ukrainian political and economic forces alongside the larger story of the wider struggle for Ukraine to end the corruption that has plagued the country since the 1990s

Ron Derrickson watched the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country where he had spent much of the past 20 years, with a kind of anguish, knowing the country had been systematically shut out of the EU and left on its own. While doing business there, he had entered the rabbit hole of Ukrainian political and economic life, a land where gangsters controlled not only the heights of the economy but also the police, the courts, and the national parliament. At stake was his $28 million company stolen by a cast of characters that included a former governor and members of the national parliament.

In the end, Derrickson spent a dozen years fighting for justice in the courts, in political and diplomatic spheres, and even with automatic weapon-toting mercenaries. Ukranian Scorpions tells not only the story of his personal battles but the much wider struggle of Ukraine to find its footing and shake off the gangsterism that has plagued it since the 1990s. In the end, Derrickson searches for signs that after the recent cataclysm, a new Ukraine might rise from the ashes.

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232 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Unikkaaqtuat is the Inuktitut word meaning "to tell stories."

This definitive collection of Inuit legends is thoughtfully introduced and carefully annotated to provide the historical and cultural context in which to understand this rich oral tradition. Fascinating and educational, this little-known part of Canada's heritage will captivate readers of all ages. As a work of historical and cultural preservation, this textbook will be invaluable to those studying Inuit.

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320 pages | 8.00" x 10.00" | 100 b&w line drawings | Hardcover | 2nd Edition

Upholding Indigenous Economic Relationships explains settler colonialism through the lens of economic exploitation, using Indigenous methodologies and critical approaches. What is the relationship between economic progress in the land now called Canada and the exploitation of Indigenous peoples? And what gifts embedded within Indigenous world views speak to miyo‐pimâtisiwin ᒥᔪ ᐱᒫᑎᓯᐃᐧᐣ (the good life), and specifically to good economic relations?

Shalene Wuttunee Jobin draws on the knowledge systems of the nehiyawak ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐊᐧᐠ (Cree people) – whose distinctive principles and practices shape their economic behaviour – to make two central arguments. The first is that economic exploitation was the initial and most enduring relationship between newcomers and Indigenous peoples. The second is that Indigenous economic relationships are constitutive: connections to the land, water, and other human and nonhuman beings form who we are as individuals and as peoples. This groundbreaking study employs Cree narratives that draw from the past and move into the present to reveal previously overlooked Indigenous economic theories and relationships, and provides contemporary examples of nehiyawak renewing these relationships in resurgent ways. In the process, Upholding Indigenous Economic Relationships offers tools that enable us to reimagine how we can aspire to the good life with all our relations.

This study will interest not only scholars and students of Indigenous studies, particularly Cree studies, but also Indigenous community members involved in community and economic development, planning, and governance.

Reviews

"Beautifully written, Upholding Indigenous Economic Relationships is crucially important as a comprehensive exploration of Cree economic values told through story and oral history." - Glen Coulthard, author of Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition

"Shalene Jobin’s refreshing perspective on a prairie First Nations community is a desperately needed contribution to Indigenous studies as well as history, anthropology, and Canadian studies." -Priscilla Settee, professor, Indigenous Studies, University of Saskatchewan

Educator Information
Table of Contents
Preface
1 Grounding Methods
2 Grounding Economic Relationships
3 nehiyawak Peoplehood and Relationality
4 Canada’s Genesis Story
5 ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ Warnings of Insatiable Greed
6 Indigenous Women’s Lands and Bodies
7 Theorizing Cree Economic and Governing Relationships
8 Colonial Dissonance
9 Principles Guiding Cree Economic Relationships
10 Renewed Relationships through Resurgent Practices
11 Upholding Relations
Postscript
Glossary of Cree Terms
Notes; References; Index

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272 pages | 6 x 9" | Paperback

"I should have punched her in the face." With these words, Hazel's back. Having survived a stint as a werewolf's accomplice on a mission of vengeance and redemption, Amiskwaciy's notoriously unknown detective and self-professed asshole Hazel LeSage returns. The aftermath of violence has left Hazel with questions, wounds and unexpected friends including Shanaya Bhattacharya, a most unusual lawyer whose thirst for wrongs to right leads her and Hazel into the claws of a conspiracy. Hazel and Shanaya set out to find Hazel's ex-husband and renegotiate the terms of their divorce, in which Hazel unjustly lost her land. They stumble into a deadly conspiracy entangling the rural lands surrounding their home city of Amiskwaciy. Taking it on will force Hazel to come to terms with her past; surviving will mean accepting some most unexpected allies. Meanwhile, in Amiskwaciy, Hazel's nephew Devin, shaken to the core by the violent death of his childhood friend, has gone to ground in an unlikely lair. To emerge whole, he must get to grips with the primal wildness of his soul and begin to become a man of worth on his own terms. Welcome back to Amiskwaciy, where the mythic has its feet up on your coffee table, and what you see might not be all you get. Urbane is the sequel to Humane, Anna Marie Sewell's best-selling 2020 first novel from Stonehouse Publishing.

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300 pages | 5.00" x 7.75" | Paperback

From the bestselling author of Empire of Wild, a wickedly subversive, deliciously imaginative, deeply feminist novel of contemporary witches on the rise—a book that only the supremely gifted storyteller Cherie Dimaline could write.

Lucky St. James, orphaned daughter of a bad-ass Métis good-times girl, is barely hanging on to her nowhere life when she finds out that she and her grandmother, Stella, are about to be evicted from their apartment. Bad to worse in a heartbeat. Then one night, doing laundry in the building's dank basement, Lucky feels an irresistible something calling to her. Crawling through a hidden hole in the wall, she finds a tarnished silver spoon depicting a story-book hag over letters that spell out S-A-L-E-M.
 
Which alerts Salem-born Meena Good, finder of a matching spoon, to Lucky's existence. One of the most powerful witches in North America, Meena has been called to bring together seven special witches and seven special spoons—infused with magic and scattered to the four directions more than a century ago—to form a magic circle that will restore women to their rightful power. Under the wing of the international headhunting firm VenCo, devoted to placing exceptional women in roles where they can influence business, politics and the arts, Meena has spent years searching out witches hiding in plain sight wherever women gather: suburban book clubs, Mommy & Me groups, temp agencies. Lucky and her spoon are number six.
 
With only one more spoon to find, a very powerful adversary has Meena's coven in his sights—Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself. As the clock ticks toward a now-or-never deadline, Meena sends Lucky and her grandmother on a dangerous, sometimes hilarious, road trip through the United States in search of the seventh spoon. The trail leads them at last to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where Lucky's final showdown with Jay Christos will determine whether the coven will be completed, ushering in a new beginning, or whether witches will be forced to remain forever underground.

Reviews
“Bring magic back into your life with the compulsively readable VenCo, a thundering, fantastical road trip with the wily Lucky St. James, her unpredictable grandmother, the witches they are trying to unite and the man who wants to end them all.” —Eden Robinson

“Once I opened VenCo, I was propelled through an entire night of charmed reading. Cherie Dimaline creates a world utterly fantastical, yet real. VenCo is funny, tense and cracking with a dark, divine energy.” —Louise Erdrich, New York Times bestselling author of The Sentence
 
“Crackling with magic, mystery, adventure, and intrigue, VenCo is a captivating tribute to the bonds of families we are born into and the ones that we create, and a delightful testament to the power of all womankind.” —Nikki Erlick, New York Times bestselling author of The Measure

“Spellbinding and utterly original, VenCo shows the power women can wield when we join forces.”  —Kirsten Miller, author of The Change

"A gripping, witchy romp of a novel. It's impossible not to fall in love with Stella and Lucky." —BuzzFeed

"Fast, fun, full of charms. . . . A propulsive read full of intriguing detail, this novel is well-written, engaging and, more than anything, enjoyable. The reader will feel genuine affection for Dimaline’s irreverent, badass witches as they battle for the future of their family and the future of the world, one and the same in Dimaline’s inclusive vision." —Kirkus Reviews

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400 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover