Métis
Synopsis:
Childhood Thoughts and Water is a collection of Beat Poetry, Spoken Word, Performance Art and Lyrical Verse. This is a work which journeys into the memories and events of an Urban Indigenous warrior's struggles to reconnect with a language and culture that is seemingly always almost out of reach. The common theme of reconnecting with nature and with water is interspersed with the imagery of childhood recollections and anecdotes about life and love, aspirations and defeats, and the desire to achieve greatness in spite of the obstacles and barriers inherent in a life lived on the fringes, in the shadows and on the streets, in the spotlight and behind the backstage curtain.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Modern Indigenous Voices series.
Additional Information
80 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
For fans of true crime, an unsolved mystery of missing persons, police conspiracies, and private investigations in an Indigenous community in northern Canada.
Métis leader James Brady was one of the most famous Indigenous activists in Canada. A communist, strategist, and bibliophile, he led Métis and First Nations to rebel against government and church oppression. Brady’s success made politicians and clergy fear him, and he had enemies everywhere.
In 1967, while prospecting in Saskatchewan with Cree Band Councillor and fellow activist Absolom Halkett, both men vanished without a trace from their remote lakeside camp. For 50 years rumours swirled of secret mining interests, political intrigue, assassination, and murder. Cold Case North is the story of how a small team, with the help of a local Indigenous community, exposed police failure in the original investigation, discovered new clues and testimony, and gathered the pieces of the North’s most enduring missing persons puzzle.
Reviews
“This engrossing account charts the efforts of three dedicated people to determine the fate of two missing Indigenous men in the north of Canada. [...] Meticulously researched, this smoothly written tale of injustice showcases the authors’ tenacity and arouses the reader’s indignation. This is a scathing rebuke of the RCMP’s failure to take the case of missing Indigenous people seriously.” —Publisher's Weekly
“Like too many cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people, authorities failed to ensure that Brady and Halkett’s deaths were properly investigated. This book helps get to the bottom of the fate of these two men, and demonstrates why investigators should never dismiss the knowledge of Indigenous peoples.” —Darren Prefontaine, author of Gabriel Dumont
“Cold Case North is part true crime thriller, part gripping mystery about the disappearance of Métis legend James Brady and Absolom Halkett in northern Saskatchewan. It is also about Indigenous knowledge, investigative incompetence, and the stuff of legend.” —Paul Seesequasis, author of Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun
“A fascinating search for the truth, Cold Case North unravels the layers of a decades’ old mystery. It is about how communities hold knowledge for generations, and how missing loved ones are never forgotten.” —Katherena Vermette, author of River Woman and The Break
Additional Information
272 pages | 5.00" x 7.00"
Synopsis:
From the author of the YA-crossover hit The Marrow Thieves, a propulsive, stunning and sensuous novel inspired by the traditional Métis story of the Rogarou--a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of Métis communities. A messed-up, grown-up, Little Red Riding Hood.
Broken-hearted Joan has been searching for her husband, Victor, for almost a year--ever since he went missing on the night they had their first serious argument. One terrible, hungover morning in a Walmart parking lot in a little town near Georgian Bay, she is drawn to a revival tent where the local Métis have been flocking to hear a charismatic preacher named Eugene Wolff. By the time she staggers into the tent, the service is over. But as she is about to leave, she hears an unmistakable voice.
She turns, and there Victor is. The same face, the same eyes, the same hands. But his hair is short and he's wearing a suit and he doesn't recognize her at all. No, he insists, she's the one suffering a delusion: he's the Reverend Wolff and his only mission is to bring his people to Jesus. Except that, as Joan soon discovers, that's not all the enigmatic Wolff is doing.
With only the help of Ajean, a foul-mouthed euchre shark with a knowledge of the old ways, and her odd, Johnny-Cash-loving, 12-year-old nephew Zeus, Joan has to find a way to remind the Reverend Wolff of who he really is. If he really is Victor. Her life, and the life of everyone she loves, depends upon it.
Reviews
“Empire of Wild will not let you go. Mix werewolves unlike you’ve ever read before with the mythos-expanding struggles of American Gods and blend with Cherie Dimaline’s newest heroine, the complex and wonderful Joan of Arcand, and the result is inventive, engrossing, poetic and thrilling. Empire is Dimaline’s most accomplished book yet.” —Eden Robinson, author of Monkey Beach and the Trickster trilogy
“Cherie Dimaline has written a wondrous and deeply felt novel about hypocrisy, power imbalance and the strange, dangerous space between reality and belief. Dimaline is one of the most honest and fearless writers of her generation, and Empire of Wild is an honest and fearless book.” —Omar El Akkad, author of American War
“A magical, electric novel that merges our modern urban world with the mythology of an uncolonized landscape. Dimaline’s descriptions are vivid and sordid and so, so alive. She creates a whole world of hope and hatred in the figure of a hot man in a ’79 Impala, and then takes you into the woods where a wolf dressed in a fine suit threatens to swallow you whole in disturbingly erudite language. The wonders of Indigenous values and their struggle to survive against insidious Western ideology and culture are framed in a wild adventure that cements Dimaline’s talents as a magical realist provocatrice.” —Heather O’Neill, author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel
“Empire of Wild is doing everything I love in a contemporary novel and more. It is tough, funny, beautiful, honest and propulsive—all the while telling a story that needs to be told by a person who needs to be telling it. The book feels like now, and we need more stories from Native communities to feel that way. She knows this community and this community will know she knows it when they read her, but it will resonate with so many more. Cherie Dimaline is a voice that feels both inevitable and necessary.” —Tommy Orange, author of There There
Educator Information
This book is available in French: Rougarou
Additional Information
320 pages | 5.14" x 7.99" | Paperback
Synopsis:
In myriad ways, each narrator's life has been shaped by loss, injustice, and resilience--and by the struggle of how to share space with settler nations whose essential aim is to take all that is Indigenous.
Hear from Jasilyn Charger, one of the first five people to set up camp at Standing Rock, which kickstarted a movement of Water Protectors that roused the world; Gladys Radek, a survivor of sexual violence whose niece disappeared along Canada's Highway of Tears, who became a family advocate for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls; and Marian Naranjo, herself the subject of a secret radiation test while in high school, who went on to drive Santa Clara Pueblo toward compiling an environmental impact statement on the consequences of living next to Los Alamos National Laboratory. Theirs are stories among many of the ongoing contemporary struggles to preserve Indigenous lands and lives--and of how we go home.
Reviews
“How We Go Home is a testament to modern-day Indigenous revitalization, often in the face of the direst of circumstances. Told as firsthand accounts on the frontlines of resistance and resurgence, these life stories inspire and remind that Indigenous life is all about building a community through the gifts we offer and the stories we tell.”— Niigaan Sinclair, associate professor, Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba and columnist, Winnipeg Free Press
“The voices of How We Go Home are singing a chorus of love and belonging alongside the heat of resistance, and the sound of Indigenous life joyfully dances off these pages.”—Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of As We Have Always Done
“How We Go Home confirms that we all have stories. These stories teach us history, morality, identity, connection, empathy, understanding, and self-awareness. We hear the stories of our ancestors and they tell us who we are. We hear the stories of our heroes and they tell us what we can be." —Honourable Senator Murray Sinclair
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Editor’s Notes
Introduction (Sara Sinclair)
Executive Director’s Note (Mimi Lok)
Map
Gladys Radek, Terrace, Gitxsan / Wet’suwet’en First Nations—“When Tamara went missing, it took the breath out of me.”
Jasilyn Charger, Cheyenne River Sioux—“My son’s buried by the river. . . . I vowed to him that he’s gonna be safe, that no oil was gonna touch him.”
Wizipan Little Elk, Rosebud Lakota Tribe—“On the reservation, you have the beauty of the culture and our traditional knowledge contrasted with the reality of poverty.”
Geraldine Manson, Snuneymuxw First Nation—The nurse was trying to get me to sign a paper to put our baby, Derrick, up for adoption.”
Robert Ornelas, New York City, Lipan Apache / Ysleta del Sur Pueblo—“A part of the soul sickness for me was being ashamed . . . what we were being taught about Indians was so minimal and so negative.”
Ashley Hemmers, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe—“I didn’t work my ass off to get to Yale to be called a squaw.”
Ervin Chartrand, Selkirk, Métís/Salteaux—“They said I fit the description because I looked like six other kids with leather vests and long hair who looked Indian.”
James Favel, Winnipeg, Peguis First Nation “You’re a stakeholder because you’ve got to walk these streets every day.”
Marian Naranjo, Santa Clara Pueblo—“Indigenous peoples’ reason for being is to be the caretakers of Creator’s gifts—of the air, the water, the land.”
Blaine Wilson, Tsartlip First Nation “When I was twenty-five, thirty, there was more salmon and I was fishing every other day. Now I’m lucky to go once a week.”
Althea Guiboche, Winnipeg, Métis/Ojibwe/Salteaux “I had three babies under three years old and I was homeless.”
Vera Styres, Six Nations of the Grand River, Mohawk/Tuscarora“I was a ‘scabby, dirty little Indian.’”
Glossary
Historical Timeline of Indigenous North America
Essay: 1. The Trail of Broken Promises: US and Canadian Treaties with First Nations
Essay 2: “Indigenous Perspectives on Intergenerational Trauma”: An Interview with Johnna James
Essay 3: Indigenous Resurgence
Ten Things You Can Do
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Additional Information
331 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Privileging Indigenous voices and experiences, Intimate Integration documents the rise and fall of North American transracial adoption projects, including the Adopt Indian and Métis Project and the Indian Adoption Project. Allyson D. Stevenson argues that the integration of adopted Indian and Métis children mirrored the new direction in post-war Indian policy and welfare services. She illustrates how the removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities took on increasing political and social urgency, contributing to what we now call the "Sixties Scoop."
Making profound contributions to the history of settler colonialism in Canada, Intimate Integration sheds light on the complex reasons behind persistent social inequalities in child welfare.
Reviews
"While the process of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada has raised awareness about residential schooling, what remains less known is the equally devastating systemic and ongoing assault on Indigenous children through the child welfare system. Allyson D. Stevenson thoroughly maps out this truth, shedding new light on the role of the state in causing multigenerational trauma to Indigenous families." — Kim Anderson, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Relationships, University of Guelph, author of A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood
"Intimate Integration is politically sharp, carefully researched, and intellectually generous. Allyson D. Stevenson transforms how we see modern Canadian colonialism and the range of ways that Indigenous people have resisted and rebuilt in the face of it." — Adele Perry, Department of History and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Manitoba
"Deftly weaving together academic training in history and lived experience as a Métis adoptee, Allyson D. Stevenson provides a path-breaking, powerful, eye-opening study that is essential reading for Canadians seeking to understand the trauma of child removal on Indigenous families and communities as well as their resistance and resilience." — Sarah Carter, Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Prologue
Introduction
1. The Bleeding Heart of Settler Colonialism
Indigenous Legal Orders and the Indian Act
From wáhkôhtowin to Transracial Adoption
2. Adoptive Kinship and Belonging
Gender and Family Life in Cree Métis Saskatchewan
The Emergence of the Euro-Canadian Adoption Paradigm
Indigenous Adoption and Euro-Canadian Law
3. Rehabilitating the “Subnormal [Métis] Family” in Saskatchewan
4. The Green Lake Children’s Shelter Experiment: From Institutionalization to Integration in Saskatchewan
The Social Work Profession and the Rationalized Logics of Indigenous Child Removal in Saskatchewan
5. Post-War Liberal Citizenship and the Colonization of Indigenous Kinship
The 1951 Indian Act Revisions and the rise of “Jurisdictional Disputes”
6. Child Welfare as System and Lived Experience
Adopting a Solution to the Indian Problem
7. Saskatchewan’s Indigenous Resurgence and the Restoration of Indigenous Kinship and Caring
8. Confronting Cultural Genocide in the 1980s
Conclusion: Intimate Indigenization
Epilogue: Coming Home
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Interviews
Newspapers
Government Documents
Statues, Regulations, and Court Cases
Statutes of Canada
Saskatchewan Statues
Statutes of the United States
Archival Series
Printed Government Documents
Canada. Department of Citizenship and Immigration. Indian Affairs Branch. Annual Reports, 1950–1965
Printed Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Websites
Additional Information
352 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 47 illustrations | Paperback
Synopsis:
In 1867, Canada’s federal government became responsible for the education of Indigenous peoples: Status Indians and some Métis would attend schools on reserves; non-Status Indians and some Métis would attend provincial schools. The chapters in this collection – some reflective, some piercing, all of them insightful – show that this system set the stage for decades of broken promises and misguided experiments that are only now being rectified in the spirit of truth and reconciliation. The contributors individually explore what must change in order to work toward reconciliation; collectively, they reveal the possibilities and challenges associated with incorporating Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous teaching and healing practices into school courses and programs.
Reviews
"This book provides innovative reflections on long-standing issues in Indigenous education in Canada and suggests possible pathways to address the educational debt that Canada owes Indigenous peoples. I recommend it to educators, students, and administrators, to anyone interested in learning about the history of residential schools, and to all readers who are interested in reconciliation and decolonisation." — Valentina de Riso, Nottingham Trent University, British Journal of Canadian Studies
"There is no doubting the importance of the subject tackled by this edited collection... In eleven highly diverse chapters, plus a substantial introduction by editor Sheila Carr-Stewart, this collection seeks to shed light on the mechanisms of educational exclusion and sound out the prospects for a different kind of education in the future." — Mark Fettes, Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto Quarterly
"Readers who are new to the topic, such as practicing teachers who wish to enhance their responsiveness to Indigenous students or undergraduate history majors, will gain accessible historical and policy context, alongside complex and nuanced representations of the challenges that pervade Indigenous education today." — Heather E. McGregor, Historical Studies in Education
"Knowing the Past, Facing the Future is critical reading for those invested in Indigenous education, as all Canadians ought to be. By confronting colonialism and racism as they intersect with reconciliation, the contributors of this collected work address the role and responsibility of education in decolonizing a society. I recommend this book be read by all educators."— Margaret Kovach, author of Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts
"New and seasoned readers to Indigenous education in Canada will value how the authors tackle old issues in new ways, uncover challenges that have been ignored, and present innovative possibilities that learn from the past for a much better future."— Jo-ann Archibald (Q’um Q’um Xiiem), co-editor of Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology
"This must-read collection of essays provides needed historic reflections on treaties and Indigenous peoples’ aspirations for education, and much needed insight, support, and research to address the reconciliation agenda and correct the longstanding educational debt owed Indigenous peoples."— Marie Battiste, author of Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit
Educator Information
Contributors: Jonathan Anuik, Michael Cottrell, Karlee D. Fellner, Rosalind Hardie, Darryl Hunter, Harry Lafond, Solange Lalonde, Brooke Madden, Yvonne Poitras Pratt, Jane P. Preston, Larry Prochner, Noella Steinhauer
Additional Information
312 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Joan a le cœur brisé. Voilà plus d’un an qu’elle s’épuise à chercher son mari, Victor, qui a disparu dans la nuit dès leur première dispute, le soir où il a suggéré de vendre à des promoteurs la terre ancestrale qu’elle a héritée de son père. Depuis, elle sillonne les routes de la baie Géorgienne, bien décidée à savoir si Victor est mort ou s’il l’a simplement laissé tomber, comme le pensent sa famille et tout le village métis d’Arcand. Elle croit d’ailleurs l’avoir retrouvé quand, après une soirée trop arrosée, une voix familière l’attire dans une tente d’évangélisation dressée au milieu d’un stationnement, mais l’homme qui apparaît devant elle n’a de Victor que les traits. Pourquoi ne la reconnaît-il pas? Et qui est ce révérend Eugene Wolff dont il dit porter le nom?Aidée de ses deux complices, un adolescent accro à Johnny Cash et une vieille femme aux remarques aussi sages qu’inconvenantes, Joan se mettra alors en quête de rappeler à cet inconnu qui il est vraiment. En chemin, elle découvrira que les histoires de peur de son enfance sont tout sauf des légendes et que, derrière les paroles bienveillantes de la congrégation du révérend Wolff, se cache un projet d’expropriation qui menace une fois encore sa communauté.S’inspirant de la figure du rougarou, cette créature mi-homme mi-loup qui hante l’imaginaire métis, Cherie Dimaline nous offre un roman palpitant, porté par le chagrin et la fureur d’une femme qui refuse d’accepter la perte de ses terres, de ses racines et des siens.« Follement divertissant, profond, essentiel. »Tommy Orange, The New York Times « Un thriller littéraire à lire absolument. »Publishers Weekly
Educator Information
This book is available in English: Empire of Wild
Additional Information
Paperback
Synopsis:
Within this volume Métis stories of strength, courage and resistance are shared. Each of the chapters describe a need to re-examine how social policy is formulated and have impacted our relatives and continue to impact our children. Today we are faced with particular challenges on the planet and in our communities. We have stretched Mother Earth to the limits of her capacity and she is fighting back. As someone said, ‘we need the Earth, but the Earth does not need us’. One of the invitations of this time is to reduce our footprint, our consumption and to restore balance and harmony between mankind and the environment.
Reviews
"This powerful collection revitalizes Métis teachings, history and perspectives and will inform social policy and public understandings of Métis identities, pedagogies, health, governance, and spirituality." - Sarah Wright Cardinal
"This book represents a remarkable collection of writing that reflects profound Métis knowledge and wisdom drawing on the insights of both historical and contemporary knowledge keepers. The result is a much needed and valuable resource to understanding Métis culture ranging from values to identity, land relationships, law and political acuity. It is an insightful and powerful tribute to Métis peoples and is certain to enhance your knowledge and understanding." - Gwendolyn Gosek
"This important book, with its exclusive focus on the work of women and two-spirit people, celebrates the unique wisdom and perspective of Métis scholars and communities. Its blend of personal narratives and culturally-connected research shows clearly why Métis voices must be amplified in academia and beyond." - Lindsay Morcom
Additional Information
168 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Synopsis:
Louis Riel (1844-1885) was an iconic figure in Canadian history best known for his roles in the Red River Resistance of 1869 and the Northwest Resistance of 1885. A political leader of the Métis people of the Canadian Prairies, Riel is often portrayed as a rebel. Reconstructing his experiences in the Northwest, Quebec, and the worlds in between, Max Hamon revisits Riel's life through his own eyes, illuminating how he and the Métis were much more involved in state-making than historians have previously acknowledged. Questioning the drama of resistance, The Audacity of His Enterprise highlights Riel's part in the negotiations, petition claims, and legal battles that led to the formation of the state from the bottom up. Hamon examines Riel's early successes and his participation in the crafting of a new political environment in the Northwest and Canada. Arguing that Riel viewed the Métis as a distinct people, not caught between worlds, the book demonstrates Riel's attempts to integrate multiple perspectives - Indigenous, French-Canadian, American, and British - into a new political environment. Choosing to end the book in 1875, at the pinnacle of Riel's successful career as a political leader, rather than at his death in 1885, Hamon sets out to recover Riel's agency, intentions, and imagination, all of which have until now been displaced by colonial narratives and the shadow of his execution. Revisiting the Red River Resistance on its 150th anniversary, The Audacity of His Enterprise offers a new view of Riel's life and a rethinking of the history of colonialism.
Reviews
"The Audacity of His Enterprise is a sophisticated and humanizing biography of an iconic figure in Canadian history set within the context of his times." Jean Barman, University of British Columbia and author of Iroquois in the West
Additional Information
478 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 12 Photos
Synopsis:
David Bouchard is a bestselling author, speaker and educator. He is Canada’s most sought after public speaker. We Learn from the Sun is an Indigenous rhyming poem based on his best selling book Seven Sacred Teachings.
This is a Teacher Lesson Plan and Resource Guild to accompany We Learn from the Sun, a richly illustrated book by Métis writer David Bouchard and Métis illustrator Kristy Cameron that weaves together Woodland style paintings with a rhythmic poem about the spiritual lessons that we can learn from the Sun and the seven sacred teachings.
Educator Information
This lesson plan and resource guide is approved by David Bouchard. License allows the use of this lesson plan within a single school.
The English lesson plans for We Learn From The Sun, includes:
– Fill in the Blanks Activity
– Word Search
– Colouring
– Write Your Own Poetry
– Matching Activity
Additional Information
15 pages | 8.50" x 11.00"
Synopsis:
Did Louis Riel have a fair trial?
The trial and conviction of Louis Riel for treason in the summer of 1885 and his execution on November 16, 1885, have been the subject of historical comment and criticism for over one hundred years. A Rush to Judgment challenges the view held by some historians that Riel received a fair trial.
Roger E. Salhany argues that the judge allowed the prosecutors to control the proceedings, was biased in his charge to the jury, and failed to properly explain to the jury how they were to consider the evidence of legal insanity. He also argues that the government was anxious to ensure the execution of Riel, notwithstanding the recommendation of the jury for clemency, because of concerns that if Riel was sent to a mental hospital or prison, he would eventually be released and cause further trouble.
Additional Information
352 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 13 b&w illustrations, index, bibliography, notes.
Synopsis:
In 2015, writer and journalist Paul Seesequasis found himself grappling with the devastating findings of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on the residential school system. He sought understanding and inspiration in the stories of his mother, herself a residential school survivor. Gradually, Paul realized that another, mostly untold history existed alongside the official one: that of how Indigenous peoples and communities had held together during even the most difficult times. He embarked on a social media project to collect archival photos capturing everyday life in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities from the 1920s through the 1970s. As he scoured archives and libraries, Paul uncovered a trove of candid images and began to post these on social media, where they sparked an extraordinary reaction. Friends and relatives of the individuals in the photographs commented online, and through this dialogue, rich histories came to light for the first time.
Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun collects some of the most arresting images and stories from Paul's project. While many of the photographs live in public archives, most have never been shown to the people in the communities they represent. As such, Blanket Toss is not only an invaluable historical record, it is a meaningful act of reclamation, showing the ongoing resilience of Indigenous communities, past, present--and future.
“A revelatory work of astonishing grace, Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun encapsulates an invisible generation brought to glorious life. So many times, the subject could have been my auntie, cousin or grandmother. When people ask why I live on the rez, I’ll point them to this book, this stunning reclamation of narrative, which so movingly shows the love of place, community and self.” —Eden Robinson
“Paul Seesequasis's Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun is a wonderful collection of found photographs and recovered histories that link us to a past as old as the land and as precious as breath.” —Thomas King, author of The Inconvenient Indian
Additional Information
192 pages | 7.08" x 9.03" | Colour photos throughout
Synopsis:
In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is.
If I can just make it to the next minute... then I might have a chance to live; I might have a chance to be something more than just a struggling crackhead.
From the Ashes is a remarkable memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up.
Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, but their tough-love attitudes meant conflicts became commonplace. And the ghost of Jesse’s drug-addicted father haunted the halls of the house and the memories of every family member. Struggling, Jesse succumbed to a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, spending more than a decade on and off the streets, often homeless. One day, he finally realized he would die unless he turned his life around.
In this heartwarming and heartbreaking memoir, Jesse Thistle writes honestly and fearlessly about his painful experiences with abuse, uncovering the truth about his parents, and how he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family through education.
An eloquent exploration of what it means to live in a world surrounded by prejudice and racism and to be cast adrift, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help one find happiness despite the odds.
Awards
- 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards Winner for Published Prose in English
Reviews
“From the Ashes hits you like a punch in the gut. It’s an unflinching, heartrending and beautifully written story of survival against seemingly impossible odds. But it’s also a book that should make you furious. Thistle paints a vivid portrait of a country seemingly incapable of doing right by Indigenous youth or by those struggling with homelessness, addiction and intergenerational trauma. That he survived to tell this story is truly a miracle. Still, one question haunts me after finishing this powerful and devastating book: How do we ensure that the next generation isn’t forced to navigate a broken system that takes their lives for granted and fails them at every turn? My greatest hope, then, is that From the Ashes will be the wakeup call Canada needs.” — IAN MOSBY, historian and author of Food Will Win the War
Educator Information
Caution: Deals with mature subject matter.
Additional Information
368 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Synopsis:
A new, fully restored edition of the essential Canadian classic.
An unflinchingly honest memoir of her experience as a Métis woman in Canada, Maria Campbell's Halfbreed depicts the realities that she endured and, above all, overcame. Maria was born in Northern Saskatchewan, her father the grandson of a Scottish businessman and Métis woman--a niece of Gabriel Dumont whose family fought alongside Riel and Dumont in the 1885 Rebellion; her mother the daughter of a Cree woman and French-American man. This extraordinary account, originally published in 1973, bravely explores the poverty, oppression, alcoholism, addiction, and tragedy Maria endured throughout her childhood and into her early adult life, underscored by living in the margins of a country pervaded by hatred, discrimination, and mistrust. Laced with spare moments of love and joy, this is a memoir of family ties and finding an identity in a heritage that is neither wholly Indigenous or Anglo; of strength and resilience; of indominatable spirit.
This edition of Halfbreed includes a new introduction written by Indigenous (Métis) scholar Dr. Kim Anderson detailing the extraordinary work that Maria has been doing since its original publication 46 years ago, and an afterword by the author looking at what has changed, and also what has not, for Indigenous people in Canada today. Restored are the recently discovered missing pages from the original text of this groundbreaking and significant work.
Additional Information
224 pages | 5.21" x 7.99"
Synopsis:
Indigenous Relations: Your Guide to Working Effectively with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.
A timely sequel to the bestselling 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act - and an invaluable guide for anyone seeking to work more effectively with Indigenous Peoples.
We are all treaty people. But what are the everyday impacts of treaties, and how can we effectively work toward reconciliation if we're worried our words and actions will unintentionally cause harm?
Hereditary chief and leading Indigenous relations trainer Bob Joseph is your guide to respecting cultural differences and improving your personal relationships and business interactions with Indigenous Peoples. Practical and inclusive, Indigenous Relations interprets the difference between hereditary and elected leadership, and why it matters; explains the intricacies of Aboriginal Rights and Title, and the treaty process; and demonstrates the lasting impact of the Indian Act, including the barriers that Indigenous communities face and the truth behind common myths and stereotypes perpetuated since Confederation.
Indigenous Relations equips you with the necessary knowledge to respectfully avoid missteps in your work and daily life, and offers an eight-part process to help business and government work more effectively with Indigenous Peoples - benefitting workplace culture as well as the bottom line. Indigenous Relations is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to improve their cultural competency and undo the legacy of the Indian Act.
Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 11 and 12 in these areas: Social Studies, Law, English Language Arts, and Social Justice.
Additional Information
200 pages | 8.00" x 5.00"