Books

When a TV producer asks Thumps to assist with an episode about a local woman from a wealthy family whose death was ruled “misadventure,” he is reluctant to get involved. Then the producer dies in the exact same manner, and Thumps finds himself solving two cases.

Can a reality TV show solve a cold case?

The crew of a true-crime reality TV show, Malice Aforethought, shows up in Chinook to do an episode about the death of Trudy Samuels. Trudy’s death had originally been ruled accidental, but with ratings in mind, one of the producers, Nina Maslow, wants to prove it was murder. And she wants Thumps to help. Thumps is reluctant to get involved until Nina dies in the exact same place and in the exact same way as Trudy. Are the two deaths related? Or are there two murderers on the loose in Chinook? Thumps uses Nina’s Malice Aforethought files to try to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, and in the process discovers that she had already started work on another case close to Thumps' heart: the Obsidian murders.

Series Information
This novel is part of the DreadfulWater Mystery series from Thomas King. Books in this series include:
- Dreadful Water
- The Red Power Murders
- Cold Skies
- A Matter of Malice
- The Obsidian Murders
- Deep House 
- Double Eagle
- Black Ice

Additional Information

A bold and profound work by Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is a personal and critical meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression and racism in North America. 

In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about the treatment of Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight and understanding to the ongoing legacy of colonialism. What are the links between depression, colonialism and loss of language--both figurative and literal? How does white privilege operate in different contexts? How do we navigate the painful contours of mental illness in loved ones without turning them into their sickness? How does colonialism operate on the level of literary criticism?

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is Alicia Elliott's attempt to answer these questions and more. In the process, she engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, writing and representation. Elliott makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political--from overcoming a years-long history with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft dinner to how systematic oppression is linked to depression in Native communities. With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott extends far beyond her own experiences to provide a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future.

Reviews
"This book is hard, vital medicine. It is a dance of survival and cultural resurgence. Above all, it is breathtakingly contemporary Indigenous philosophy, in which the street is also part of the land, and the very act of thinking is conditioned by struggles for justice and well-being." —Warren Cariou, author of Lake of the Prairies

"These essays are of fiercest intelligence and courageous revelation. Here, colonialism and poverty are not only social urgencies, but violence felt and fought in the raw of the everyday, in embodied life and intimate relations. This is a stunning, vital triumph of writing." —David Chariandy, author of Brother

"Wildly brave and wholly original, Alicia Elliot is the voice that rouses us from the mundane, speaks political poetry and brings us to the ceremony of everyday survival. Her words remind us to carry both our weapons and our medicines, to hold both our strength and our open, weeping hearts. A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is what happens when you come in a good way to offer prayer, and instead, end up telling the entire damn truth of it all." —Cherie Dimaline, author of The Marrow Thieves

"A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is a new lens on Indigenous Canadian literature." —Terese Marie Mailhot, author of Heart Berries

"We need to clone Alicia Elliott because the world needs more of this badass writer. A Mind Spread Out on the Ground showcases her peculiar alchemy, lighting the darkest corners of racism, classism, sexism with her laser-focused intellect and kind-hearted soul-searching. A fresh and revolutionary cultural critic alternately witty, vulnerable and piercing." —Eden Robinson, author of Son of a Trickster and Trickster Drift

"The future of CanLit is female, is Indigenous—is Alicia Elliott. I anticipate this book to be featured on every 'best of' and award list in 2019, and revered for years to come." —Vivek Shraya, author of I’m Afraid of Men and even this page is white

"In A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, Elliott invites readers into her unceded mind and heart, taking us on a beautiful, incisive and punk rock tour of Tuscarora brilliance. Elliott's voice is fire with warmth, light, rage and endless transformation." —Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of This Accident of Being Lost

"Alicia Elliott has gifted us with an Indigenous woman's coming of age story, told through engagingly thoughtful, painfully poignant and enraging essays on race, love and belonging. With poetic prose and searing honesty, she lays bare what it is like to grow up Indigenous and exist in a country proud of its tolerance, but one that has proven to be anything but. She opens eyes and captures hearts, leading you by the hand to see our fractured world through her eyes. Alicia is exactly the voice we need to hear now." —Tanya Talaga, author of Seven Fallen Feathers

"Incisive. That's the word I keep coming back to. A Mind Spread out on the Ground is incredibly incisive. Alicia Elliot slices through the sometimes complicated, often avoided issues affecting so many of us in this place now called Canada. She is at once political, personal, smart, funny, global and, best of all, divinely human. Necessary. That's the other word I keep thinking about. In every chapter, she manages to find the perfect word and the precise argument needed—I found myself saying 'yes, yes, that is exactly it' more than once. I am so grateful for her work." —Katherena Vermette, author of The Break

"A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is an astonishing book of insightful and affecting essays that will stay with you long after the final page." —Zoe Whittall, author of The Best Kind of People

Additional Information
240 pages | 5.75" x 8.50"

The current framework for reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state is based on the Supreme Court of Canada’s acceptance of the Crown’s assertion of sovereignty, legislative power, and underlying title. The basis of this assertion is a long-standing interpretation of Section 91(24) of Canada’s Constitution, which reads it as a plenary grant of power over Indigenous communities and their lands, leading the courts to simply bypass the question of the inherent right of self-government.

In A Reconciliation without Recollection, Joshua Ben David Nichols argues that if we are to find a meaningful path toward reconciliation, we will need to address the history of sovereignty without assuming its foundations. Exposing the limitations of the current model, Nichols carefully examines the lines of descent and association that underlie the legal conceptualization of the Aboriginal right to govern.

Blending legal analysis with insights drawn from political theory and philosophy, A Reconciliation without Recollection is an ambitious and timely intervention into one of the most pressing concerns in Canada.

Educator Information
This work would be useful for the following subjects or courses: History, Canadian History, Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Politics, Indigenous Law, Law and Society, Philosophy, Political Science.

Includes forwards by John Borrows (Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Victoria Law School) and James Tully (emeritus distinguished professor of Political Science, Law, Indigenous Governance, and Philosophy at the University of Victoria).

Table of Contents
Part 1 Reconciliation without Recollection
1.1 Reconciliation in Canadian Jurisprudence
1.2 Reconciliation as Picture Thinking
 A) Historicism
 B) The Ship of State
1.3 History, Law and Legitimacy
1.4 Problem of Reconciliation as Problem of Foundations
1.5 A Genealogy of the Indian Act
   
Part 2 A Genealogy of Reconciliation: Civilizing, Extinction and Culturalism as the Discursive Foundations of the Indian Act
2.1 Liberty and Legitimate Despotism: The Liberal-Imperialism of J. S. Mill
2.2 The Science of Savage Character: The Uncivilized and Mill’s Philosophy of History
 A) Governing the Uncivilized: The Role of the Intermediate Body
 B) Peace, Order and Good Government: Mill and the Indian Question
2.3 Reading the Right of History: Universal History and the Extinction Thesis
2.4 From Enfranchisement to Reconciliation: Culturalism and Indirect Rule

Part 3 A Despotism for Dealing with Barbarians: A Survey of the Foundations of Indian Policy in Canada
3.1 Pre-Confederation to the Indian Act of 1876
 A) Imperial Federalism
 B) Imperial Civilizing
 C) Assimilation and Indirect Rule
 D) Striation or Continuity?
3.2 The Indian Question and the Dominion
3.3 The Six Nations Status Case
 A) The Six Nations of the Grand River
 B) The League of Nations and the Mandate System
 C) The Documents
3.4 A Building Crisis of Legitimacy

Part 4 A Law Without Measure for a Land Without Citizens: The Indian Act in Canadian Jurisprudence
4.1 The Authority of s. 91(24)
 A) St. Catherine’s Milling, s. 91(24) and the Division of Powers
 B) Interjurisdictional Immunity and s. 91(24)
 C) The Theory of Enclaves
 D) The Uncertain Measure of Indianness
 E) Section 88 and Provincial Law
4.2 The Definition of Indians and the Authority of Bands                                         
 A) Legislative Origins
 B) The Judicial Definition of Indians
 C) The Judicial Definition of Bands
 D) Custom Band Councils and the Question of Jurisdiction
4.3 Tsilhqot'in Nation and the Meaning of s. 91(24)

Part 5 An Era of Reconciliation, An Era of Indirect Rule: From the White Paper to the Full Box of Rights
5.1 The Hidden Player: Policy from Calder to the Indian Act, 1985
 A) Line One: Legislative Renovation
 B) Line Two: Land Claim Agreements
 C) Line Three: Constitutional Change
 D) The Penner Report                                                                                                  
 E) The Problem of Implementing the New Relationship
 F) The Era of Indirect Rule and the Mechanism of Deferral
5.2 Reconciliation and Implementation
 A) Unsettling the Ship of State
 B) Recollection without Historicism
 C) Implementing Reconciliation-with-Recollection
Bibliography

Additional Information
408 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

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.

A freshly designed, new edition of a funny weekly chronicle that offers a year-long, intimate view of the flora and fauna populating the West Coast.

A Year on the Wild Side is a witty commentary on the social and natural history of Vancouver Island. Composed of short, readable essays arranged into 12 monthly chapters, this engaging book reveals the magic and humour of the natural world and reminds us of our place within it.

As the weeks and seasons unfold with the turning of the pages, you’ll be in sync with the living world that surrounds you. Discover what berries are ripe and the best time to pick them. Learn why the termites swarm, where the herring spawn, and when the maple leaves fall. Get up close and personal with fascinating creatures like the snowy owl, the giant Pacific octopus, the river otter, and more.

The West Coast is abundantly alive, and A Year on the Wild Side invites you to indulge in unforgettable experiences, week by week, all year long.

Reviews
"Salt Spring Island naturalist, artist and author Briony Penn has spent decades studying the flora and fauna of the West Coast. In her new book, A Year on the Wild Side, she shares her unique perspectives — and enchanting illustrations — on the social and natural history of more than 98 plant and animal species found on the coast." - Times Colonist 

Additional Information
400 pages | 6.50" x 8.00" | 2nd edition

Adam's Tree is a fictional account of life on the Cowesses First Nation in Saskatchewan during the 1940's and 50's. This period in history finds forces like regulatory policy, World War II, systemic racism, and the long reach of the depression defining reserve life and rural relationships. These short stories are told from the perspective of various characters on the reserve: an Indigenous teenage girl named Sophie, men who return to Cowesses after the war, struggling with untreated and unacknowledged PTSD, settlers like the local school teacher and the "Indian agent".

This book contributes to the dialogue on reconciliation, freeing Indigenous voices during a period of time that is rarely written about. It encourages readers to examine the sources and meaning of today's inheritance of complex relations.

Additional Information
220 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

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.

Educator Information
This book is entirely in Inuktitut.

Additional Information

A groundbreaking Dakota author and activist chronicles her refusal to assimilate into nineteenth-century white society and her mission to preserve her culture—with an introduction by Layli Long Soldier, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for Whereas.

Bright and carefree, Zitkála-Šá grows up on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota with her mother until Quaker missionaries arrive, offering the reservation’s children a free education. The catch: They must leave their parents behind and travel to Indiana. Curious about the world beyond the reservation, Zitkála-Šá begs her mother to let her go—and her mother, aware of the advantages that an education offers, reluctantly agrees.

But the missionary school is not the adventure that Zitkála-Šá expected: The school is a strict one, her long hair is cut short, and only English is spoken. She encounters racism and ridicule. Slowly, Zitkála-Šá adapts to her environment—excelling at her studies, winning prizes for essay-writing and oration. But the price of success is estrangement from her cultural roots—and is it one she is willing to pay?

Combining Zitkála-Šá’s childhood memories, her short stories, and her poetry, American Indian Stories is the origin story of an activist in the making, a remarkable woman whose extraordinary career deserves wider recognition.

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.18" x 8.00"

A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land.

In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo returns to her family’s lands and opens a dialogue with history. In An American Sunrise, Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where her people, and other indigenous families, essentially disappeared. From her memory of her mother’s death, to her beginnings in the native rights movement, to the fresh road with her beloved, Harjo’s personal life intertwines with tribal histories to create a space for renewed beginnings. Her poems sing of beauty and survival, illuminating a spirituality that connects her to her ancestors and thrums with the quiet anger of living in the ruins of injustice. A descendent of storytellers and “one of our finest—and most complicated—poets” (Los Angeles Review of Books), Joy Harjo continues her legacy with this latest powerful collection.

Additional Information
144 pages | 5.50" x 8.25"

Written in an accessible style and ideal for classroom use, Arrows in a Quiver provides an overview of Indigenous-settler relations, including how land is central to Indigenous identity and how the Canadian state marginalizes Indigenous people. Illustrating the various “arrows in a quiver” that Indigenous people use to fight back, such as grassroots organizing, political engagement, and the courts, Frideres situates “settler colonialism” historically and explains why decolonization requires a fundamental transformation of long-standing government policy for reconciliation to occur. The historical, political, and social context provided by this text offers greater understanding and theorizes what the effective devolution of government power might look like.

Reviews
“A useful introduction to Indigenous issues, especially for post-secondary students in Canada.” —Jonathan Dewar, co-editor of Cultivating Canada: Reconciliation through the Lens of Cultural Diversity

Educator Information
Recommended for students in grade 12 or college/university.

Additional Information
320 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Established narratives portray Indigenous unity as emerging solely in response to the political agenda of the settler state. But unity has long shaped the modern Indigenous political movement. With Indigenous perspectives in the foreground, Assembling Unity explores the relationship between global political ideologies and pan-Indigenous politics in British Columbia through a detailed history of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. Sarah Nickel demonstrates that the articulation of unity was heavily negotiated between UBCIC members, grassroots constituents, and Indigenous women’s organizations. This incisive work unsettles dominant political narratives that cast Indigenous men as reactive and Indigenous women as apolitical.

This book will appeal to scholars and students of history, BC studies, and Indigenous studies, particularly those with an interest in gender and politics. It will also find an audience among Indigenous communities, activists, and political leaders.

Reviews
"Assembling Unity is a much needed resource that should be read by those wanting to learn about the historical issues BC Indigenous communities have faced – the same issues we continue to raise with current Canadian governments with little improvement." - Francyne Joe, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada and member of the Shackan First Nation

Educator Information
Related Topics: BC Studies, Indigenous Studies, Canadian History, Gender & Sexuality Studies, History, Regional Studies, Women's Studies.

Table of Contents

Beginnings

Part 1: Pan-Indigenous Unity
1 Unity: “United we stand, divided we perish”
2 Authority: “Ordinary Indians” and “the private club”
3 Money: “A blessing and a golden noose”

Part 2: A Philosophical Revolution and Competing Nationalisms
4 Refusal: “Empty words and empty promises”
5 Protest: Direct Action through “Militant May”
6 Sovereignty: “If you really believe that you have the right, take it!”

Reflections
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Additional Information
236 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 1 b&w photo, 2 maps, 3 tables 

Every once in a while, an important historical figure makes an appearance, makes a difference, and then disappears from the public record. James Teit (1864–1922) was such a figure. A prolific ethnographer and tireless Indian rights activist, Teit spent four decades helping British Columbia’s Indigenous peoples in their challenge of the settler-colonial assault on their lives and territories. Yet his story is little known.

At the Bridge chronicles Teit’s fascinating story. From his base at Spences Bridge, British Columbia, Teit practised a participant- and place-based anthropology – an anthropology of belonging – that covered much of BC and northern Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Whereas his contemporaries, including famed anthropologist Franz Boas, studied Indigenous peoples as the last survivors of “dying cultures” in need of preservation in metropolitan museums, Teit worked with them as members of living cultures actively asserting jurisdiction over their lives and lands. Whether recording stories and songs, mapping place-names, or participating in the chiefs’ fight for fair treatment, he made their objectives his own. With his allies, he produced copious, meticulous records; an army of anthropologists could not have achieved a fraction of what Teit achieved in his short life.

Wendy Wickwire’s beautifully crafted narrative accords Teit the status he deserves. At the Bridge serves as a long-overdue corrective, consolidating Teit’s place as a leading and innovative anthropologist in his own right.

This book will appeal to those interested in the history of anthropology, settler-Indigenous relations in the Pacific Northwest, and Indigenous political resistance in the early twentieth century. Scholars of law, treaties, and politics in British Columbia will find invaluable information in this book.

Reviews
"Wendy Wickwire’s groundbreaking historical investigation places James Teit as a key figure in early North American anthropology, but also as central to historical Indigenous rights activism in British Columbia." - Julie Cruikshank

"Wendy Wickwire’s biography of James Teit is the first comprehensive and authoritative account of this important ethnographer and political activist. This compelling book should become a classic addition to our knowledge of Indigenous-settler relations in early British Columbia." - Ira Jacknis, author of The Storage Box of Tradition: Kwakiutl Art, Anthropologists, and Museums, 1881–1981

Additional Information
368 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 36 b&w photos

Judge John Reilly, now retired, was the youngest judge ever appointed to the Provincial Court of Alberta. For most of his 33 years on the bench he was the circuit judge for the Stoney Indian Reserve at Morley, Alberta.

During his career he became interested in aboriginal justice and saw the failure of the “white” legal system to do justice for aboriginal people, the harm caused to them by Canadian colonialism, and the failure of all levels of government, including tribal government, to alleviate their suffering and deal with the conflicting natures of European-style law and Indigenous tradition and circumstance.

As a result of these realizations, Judge Reilly vowed to improve the delivery of justice to the aboriginal people in his community and used his perceived power as a jurist to make changes to improve the lives of the people in his jurisdiction. Along the way, he came into direct conflict with Canadian judicial administration and various questionable leaders among the echelons of both Canadian and First Nation governments.

John Reilly’s first book, Bad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community, was a Canadian bestseller that sparked controversy and elicited praise nationwide for his honest portrayal of First Nations tribal corruption. Bad Judgment details Reilly’s battle with the Canadian justice system and the difficulties he faced trying to adapt Eurocentric Canadian law for the benefit of First Nations people across the country.

Bawaajigan—an Anishinaabemowin word for dream or vision—is a collection of powerful short fiction (urban-fantasy and high-fantasy; alternative histories, and alternative realities; brushes with the supernatural, the prophetic, the hallucinatory, and the surreal) by Indigenous writers from across Turtle Island. Contributors Richard Van Camp, Autumn Bernhardt, Brittany Johnson, Gord Grisenthwaite, Joanne Arnott, Delani Valin, Cathy Smith, David Geary, Yugcetun Anderson, Gerald Silliker Pisim Maskwa, Karen Lee White, Sara Kathryn General, Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler, Francine Cunningham, Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith, Lee Maracle, Wendy Bone bring you tales about the state of sleep-deprivation where dreams end and reality begins; the tension of television static that conjures a certainty of something terrible about to happen; encounters with spirit guides and spirit enemies; confrontations with ghosts haunting Residential School hallways, and ghosts looking on from the afterlife; and more. These are stories about the strength and power of dream.

Educator Information
This book is number 18 in The Exile Book of Anthology Series.

Additional Information
257 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Land, Water, and Sky from Hands-On Science: An Inquiry Approach completely aligns with the redesigned Science Curriculum for British Columbia. Grounded in the Know-Do-Understand model, First Peoples’ knowledge and perspectives, and student-driven scientific inquiry, this custom-written resource:

- emphasizes Core Competencies, so students engage in deeper and lifelong learning
- develops Curricular Competencies as students explore science through hands-on activities
- fosters a deep understanding of the Big Ideas in science

Using proven Hands-On features, Land, Water, and Sky contains information and materials for both teachers and students including: Curricular Competencies correlation charts; background information on the science topics; complete, easy-to-follow lesson plans; reproducible student materials; and materials lists.

Innovative new elements have been developed specifically for the new curriculum:

- a multi-age approach
- a five-part instructional process—Engage, Explore, Expand, Embed, Enhance
- an emphasis on technology, sustainability, and personalized learning
- a fully developed assessment plan for summative, formative, and student self-assessment
- a focus on real-life Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies
- learning centres that focus on multiple intelligences and universal design for learning (UDL)
- place-based learning activities, Makerspace centres, and Loose Parts

In Land, Water, and Sky students investigate characteristics of the land, water, and sky. Core Competencies and Curricular Competencies will be addressed while students explore the following Big Ideas:

- Daily and seasonal changes affect all living things.
- Observable patterns and cycles occur in the local sky and landscape.
- Water is essential to all living things, and it cycles through the environment.

Educator Information
This book is from the Hands-On Science: An Inquiry Approach (for BC) series. The new Hands-On Science comprehensive resources completely align with the redesigned Science Curriculum for British Columbia.

Recommended for use with children ages 4-8.

Additional Information
150 pages | 8.5 " x 11"