Indigenous Peoples

Mother, Can I Say it Now? is a compelling collection of poems that delve into the beauty and depth of Indigenous poetry. It reflects the essence of everyday life and captures the spirit of belonging. The poems in this collection explore themes of identity, culture, and connection to the land. They offer a unique perspective that resonates with readers from all walks of life. From The Next Pretend-Indian to Things Abandoned in the Night, each poem tells a story that is both compelling and thought-provoking. These captivating verses are a tribute to the resilience and creativity of Indigenous voices.

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Modern Indigenous Voices series.

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

Lights. Cameras. Hockey!

The school year is finally over and Eloise and Leon are back in Matimekush for the summer. But this school break will not be like any other, thanks to a hockey movie being filmed in the community! Is it possible that Leon will be in the movie? Will Eloise, who is interested in directing, participate in the project? Summer will be busy with twists and turns of all kinds for Leon, Eloise and their friends. It's the summer of possibilities!

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 10 to 14.

Translated by Kateria Aubin Dubois, a freelance translator and a prolific beadworker. Her beadwork can be found under her Indigenous name, Nisnipawset. Kateri is from the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation. She lives with her husband, two children and a fluffy cat in Terrebonne, Quebec.

This is the third book in the Nish series.

Additional Information
240 pages | 5.00" x 7.75" | Paperback

Part of the inaugural Kanata Classics list, with a new introduction by David Chariandy, NISHGA is a groundbreaking, deeply personal, and devastating autobiographical meditation that attempts to address the complicated legacies of Canada’s residential school system and contemporary Indigenous existence.

As a Nisga'a writer, Jordan Abel often finds himself in a position where he is asked to explain his relationship to Nisga'a language, Nisga'a community, and Nisga'a cultural knowledge. However, as an intergenerational survivor of residential school--both of his grandparents attended the same residential school--his relationship to his own Indigenous identity is complicated to say the least.

NISHGA explores those complications and is invested in understanding how the colonial violence originating at the Coqualeetza Indian Residential School impacted his grandparents' generation, then his father's generation, and ultimately his own. The project is rooted in a desire to illuminate the realities of intergenerational survivors of residential school, but sheds light on Indigenous experiences that may not seem to be immediately (or inherently) Indigenous.

Drawing on autobiography and a series of interconnected documents (including pieces of memoir, transcriptions of talks, and photography), NISHGA is a book about confronting difficult truths and it is about how both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples engage with a history of colonial violence that is quite often rendered invisible.

Reviews
“With NISHGA, Jordan Abel has reinvented the memoir, incorporating personal anecdotes, archival footage, legal documentation, photos and concrete poetry to create an unforgettable portrait of an Indigenous artist trying to find his place in a world that insists Indigeneity can only ever be the things that he is not. Abel deftly shows us the devastating impact this gate-keeping has had on those who, through no decisions of their own, have been ripped from our communities and forced to claw their way back home, or to a semblance of home, often unassisted. This is a brave, vulnerable, brilliant work that will change the face of nonfiction, as well as the conversations around what constitutes Indigenous identity. It's a work I will return to again and again.” —Alicia Elliott, author of A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“In NISHGA, Jordan Abel puts to use the documentary impulse that has already established him as an artist of inimitable methodological flair. By way of a mixture of testimonial vignettes, recordings of academic talks, found text/art, and visual art/concrete poetry, Abel sculpts a narrative of dislocation and self-examination that pressurizes received notions of “Canada” and “history” and “art” and “literature” and “belonging” and “forgiveness.” Yes, it is a book of that magnitude, of that enormity and power. By its Afterword, NISHGA adds up to a work of personal and national reckoning that is by turns heartbreaking and scathing.” —Billy-Ray Belcourt, author of NDN Coping Mechanisms and A History of My Brief Body

"This is a heart-shattering read, and will also be a blanket for others looking for home. NISHGA is a work of absolute courage and vulnerability. I am in complete awe of the sorrow here and the bravery. Mahsi cho, Jordan.” —Richard Van Camp, author of Moccasin Square Gardens

“Jordan Abel digs deeply into the questions we should all be asking. Questions that need no explanation but ones that require us to crawl back into our bones, back into the marrow of our understanding. NISHGA is a ceremony where we need to be silent. Where we need to listen.” —Gregory Scofield, author of Witness, I Am

Educator & Series Information
This edition of Nishga is part of the Kanata Classics series, which celebrates timeless books that reflect the rich and diverse range of voices in Canadian literature. 

Additional Information
304 pages | 5.54" x 8.26" | Paperback

With evidence of human habitation dating back to the last ice age, British Columbia boasts a fascinating array of archaeological sites. In this thoroughly up-to-date survey, professional archaeologist Robert Muckle takes readers to some exciting locations to explain what archaeology is (and isn’t), how research is undertaken in BC, and what it contributes to our broader understanding of human history.

Once upon This Land introduces readers to some of the most notable archaeological investigations in the province, including footprints left in mud on Calvert Island 13,000 years ago, the remains of a First Nations village near Lillooet, and the body of a man frozen in ice for centuries in the Tatshenshini region. He also explores more recent phenomena, such as a First World War internment camp near Fernie, a Japanese logging camp in North Vancouver, shipwrecks, airplane crashes, and even the remnants of COVID-19 left behind in urban landfills.

This unique book will appeal to readers who want to understand how and where archaeology happens in British Columbia, including those interested in a career in the field. It is also for those who would like to explore and know more about the province’s archaeological sites and history.

Reviews
"May this book offer all who read it a glimmer of understanding of the fourteen thousand years of documented relationships between Indigenous peoples and the land which has sustained us."— From the foreword by archaeologist Karen Rose Thomas

"Bob Muckle’s beginner’s guide to archaeology in what is now British Columbia requires no experience with the discipline to grasp vocabulary and ideas currently used by archaeologists. His clear, plain-language narrative peels back the layers of earth to reveal a story contained in the soil of this province." — Eldon Yellowhorn, Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University

"I have always wished for an archaeology of BC book like this that I could use in teaching my own classes. While the writing style is accessible and never condescending, Once upon This Land will help inquisitive readers appreciate just how complex and vast the archaeological history of the northwest part of North America really is." — Brian Pegg, Department of Anthropology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Educator Information
Table of Contents

Foreword: An Indigenous Archaeologist’s Perspective / Karen Rose Thomas

Introduction

1 Archaeology as Storytelling and a Profession

2 The Distant Past: The Ice Age to 5,000 Years Ago

3 The Human Story: 5,000 to 200 Years Ago

4 Recent Times: The 1800s and 1900s

5 Archaeology in Contemporary Times

Epilogue: Ten Important Things to Remember

Glossary; Further Reading; Index

Additional Information
222 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 14 colour photos, 15 b&w photos, 2 colour illus., 2 b&w illus., 1 map | Paperback 

Secwépemc elder, matriarch and knowledge-keeper Cecilia DeRose presents her powerful, heartfelt and inspiring memoir of overcoming racism and adversity—One Arrow Left is a celebration of Secwépemc culture, language and the importance of passing on this knowledge to future generations.

Born in 1935 in the village of Esket, Cecilia DeRose was welcomed into a loving, supportive Secwepemc family. Growing up in an isolated meadow, Cecilia was the fourth of ten children, spending much of her early years caring for younger siblings. Ranch life was in their blood; Cecilia’s mother, Amelia Joe, was the progeny of a white ranch hand, Joe Smith, and her Secwepemc mother, Martha Williams; her father, Matthew Dick, was well-known in the Williams Lake rodeo circuit and played for the famous Alkali Braves hockey team. Navigating the complexities of being a mixed-race family, both within and outside of the Secwepemc community, would be a lifelong source of tension, which Cecilia handles with grace, tenacity and humour.

Like their parents before them, Cecilia and her siblings were sent to St. Joseph’s Mission residential school near Williams Lake. At seven years old she eagerly awaited her turn to join her older sister and brother at the mission, where she could escape the drudgery of washing diapers and caring for her younger siblings at home. Nothing could have prepared her for the cruelty of institutionalized life. Dreams of an education that might lead to a career as a teacher, lawyer, or journalist were dashed. Residential school was hell, and Cecilia was left with the scars to prove it.

In 1956, Cecilia married non-Indigenous ranch hand Lenny DeRose and lost her Indigenous status. Nevertheless, on the insistence of her father Matthew Dick, Cecilia remained true to her Secwepemc roots and traditions. She eventually regained her status and became an ambassador of Secwepemc language and cultural practices. As she raised her own six children, she took great care to bestow in them the cultural teachings of the Secwepemc identity. She eventually taught the Secwepemcstin language in the public-school system, fulfilling her dream of teaching and reinforcing her belief that “we have one arrow left in our quiver and that’s education—we must use it wisely.”

Today, Cecilia is recognized nationally as an Indigenous knowledge keeper. She has provided cross-cultural training for hospitals, courts, and law enforcement institutions, and shared her knowledge on projects ranging from ethnobotany research to culturally safe elder care. In 2018, she received the Indspire Award for Culture, Heritage and Spirituality. In 2024, she was honoured by Thompson Rivers University with a Doctor of Letter, honoris causa, for her indispensable contributions to language revitalization.

Reviews
"This memoir would make a valuable addition to high school libraries, offering students insight into historical and contemporary perspectives on Indigenous people, places, events, and their lasting impacts. The knowledge Dick DeRose gained through her lived experiences became a foundation for her work as a respected language and cultural teacher." - Debra H., Elementary School Teacher, Indigenous Books for Schools

Educator Information
This book is included in the Indigenous Books for Schools database from the Association of Book Publishers of BC. It is recommended for Grade 12 Social Studies.

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

Hoping to snag their perfect home in a red-hot housing market, an African Canadian man, a Chinese Canadian man, and a Jewish/Indigenous lesbian couple show up to an open house run by a white settler real estate agent. Each potential buyer feels most deserving of the prize. When a police incident outside traps them together in the house, debate erupts over which of their cultures has faced the most discrimination and exclusion. Passions run high and opinions clash. With wry humour, Open House deftly navigates current conversations about oppression, colonization, and middle-class aspirations.

Reviews
"This play connects well with Social Studies curriculum, as it allows us to understand the impact of negative comments, actions, and perceptions that continue to occur in society today. Open House encourages discussions about gender, identity, race, and colonization, allowing students to gain perspective and awareness." - Shaniah H., K-12 Teacher, Indigenous Books for Schools

Educator Information
This book is included in the Indigenous Books for Schools database from the Association of Book Publishers of BC. It is recommended for 11 and 12 for Drama and Social Studies.

Additional Information
5.82" x 8.26" | Paperback 

A wide-ranging anthology that shines a light on untold Indigenous stories as chronicled by Indigenous creators, compiled by the acclaimed team behind What the Eagle Sees and Sky Wolf’s Call.

For too long, stories and artistic expressions from Indigenous people have been written and recorded by others, not by the individuals who have experienced the events.

In Ours to Tell, sixteen Indigenous creators relate traditions, accounts of historical events, and their own lived experiences. Novelists, poets, graphic artists, historians, craftspeople, and mapmakers chronicle stories on the struggles and triumphs lived by Indigenous people, and the impact these stories have had on their culture and history. Some of the profiles included are:

• Indigenous poet E. Pauline Johnson
• acclaimed novelist Tommy Orange
• brave warrior Standing Bear
• poet and activist Rita Joe

With each profile accompanied by rich visuals, from archival photos to contemporary art, Ours to Tell brilliantly spotlights Indigenous life, past and present, through an Indigenous lens. Because each profile gives an historical and cultural context, what emerges is a history of Indigenous people.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12+.

Table of Contents

A Note about Language and Terms 
Introduction: Ours to Tell 

Part One: We Tell Our Story in Images and Symbols

Part Two: We Report the Story

Part Three: Our History Is in Our Poems, Songs, and Written Stories

Part Four: Our Stories Bear Witness

Part Five: Our Hands Tell Our Story

Afterword: Our Stories Go On

Sources
Index 

Additional Information

136 pages | 7.50" x 9.25" | Paperback

This guide:

• Highlights 70-plus edible species including seaweeds, beach vegetables, shellfish, mushrooms, berries, trees, ferns, and wild and weedy greens
• Includes more than 60 recipes, plus tips for enjoying this natural abundance
• Includes key sections describe sustainable harvesting practices

Pacific Harvest, written by expert forager and guide Jennifer Hahn, introduces both novice and more experienced foragers to the Pacific Coast’s ample and diverse edible species. Recognizing your local edible berries, flowers, greens, roots, tree parts, mushrooms, seaweeds, beach vegetables, and shellfish is a passport to a comforting sense of place. Hahn shares immersive descriptions of her foraging adventures as well as full-color photos to make identifying these species easy and enjoyable. Each featured food listing includes common names, taxonomy, primary location, description, harvesting details, and culinary tips for transition from the wild to the kitchen table. Select listings call out notable nutrition and wellness benefits, along with contemporary research on conservation status.

This coastal foraging guide highlights authentic Indigenous harvesting practices including profiles of Indigenous leaders in the traditional foods movement. Hahn emphasizes a sustainable approach to foraging, reminding readers what other beings also depend on these plants and animals as food and shelter sources.

Pacific Harvest includes dozens of recipes featuring foraged foods, ranging from no-fuss delights like Salal Berry Scones and Kelp-Wrapped Salmon to comfort foods like Fiddlehead Quiche and Horse Clam Stir-Fry.

Additional Information
360 pages | 6.00" x 8.50" | 175 Color Photos | Paperback 

 

you are only here

to learn from those who came before

and make space

for those who come after

Procession: a line of people moving in the same direction; a formal ceremony or celebration, as in a wedding, a funeral, a religious parade. Bestseller and Governor General's Award-winner katherena vermette's third collection presents a series of poems reaching into what it means to be at once a descendant and a future ancestor, exploring the connections we have with one another and ourselves, amongst friends, and within families and Nations.

In frank, heartfelt poems that move through body sovereignty and ancestral dreams, and from '80s childhood nostalgia to welcoming one's own babies, vermette unreels the story of a child, a parent, and soon, an elder, living in a prairie place that has always existed, though looks much different to her now. This book is about being one small part of a large genealogy. A lineage is a line, and the procession, whether in celebration or in mourning, is ongoing. procession delves into what it means to make poems and to be an artist, to be born into a body, to carry it all, and, if you're very lucky, age.

be a good ancestor

be a good kid

Reviews
"The poems in procession are remarkable: spare but generous, both grounded and skillfully drawn. With her signature musicality, insight, and wit, vermette reminds us that we - like our bodies and the earth, like our histories and our shared, threatened future - are essentially, impossibly intertwined." -Chimwemwe Undi, Governor General's Award-winning author of Scientific Marvel?

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

A bilingual (English and Inuktitut) traditional Inuit story from the North Baffin region.

In the Arctic, children are warned about the dangers of mysterious beings that lurk under the ice—the qallupilluit. But one child does not heed the warnings. . . .

David heads to the beach to play on the ice. But he quickly realizes he’s not alone. A webbed hand emerges from the water, and soon David finds himself cornered by sea monsters. David uses his wits and agility to escape them. But when he makes it back to his family, he learns that his little brother is missing—and had followed him to the ice. David races back to the ice to look for his brother, but will he be able to find him and escape the menacing qallupilluit a second time?

Based on creatures from traditional Inuit stories, Qallupilluit: The Takers of Children is a chilling cautionary tale.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 13+.

Bilingual (English and Inuktitut) traditional Inuit story from the North Baffin region.

Additional Information
52 pages | 8.00" x 10.00" | Paperback

A Vital Resource to Preserve, Teach, and Live the Bush Cree Language

Reading and Writing Bush Cree is a heartfelt, practical, and approachable guide for fluent speakers and Cree language educators who want to learn to read and write sakâw nîhiyawîwin—Bush Cree, or the Northern Y dialect. Written by Connie Twin, a first-language speaker from Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta, and Tanya Fontaine, a dedicated Cree language learner and educator, this book bridges oral fluency with written literacy to support language preservation and revitalization.

Through personal stories and cultural insight, the authors guide readers into the structure of Cree grammar and the use of Standard Roman Orthography (SRO). With clear examples of both fluent and full written forms, this book also sheds light on how Cree sounds are represented in writing and highlights important differences between Northern and Southern Y dialects.

This is more than a how-to book—it’s a call to keep sakâw nîhiyawîwin alive for future generations.

Features

• A first-language speaker’s perspective on learning to read and write Cree
• Focus onsakâw nîhiyawîwin (Bush Cree / Northern Y dialect)
• A step-by-step introduction to Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) and syllabics
• Need-to-know basics of Cree reading, writing, grammar, and Y dialect variation

Additional Information
116 pages | 6" x 9" | Paperback 

Join the dance of North American Indigenous interpretations of Christian Scripture

In Reading the Bible on Turtle Island, Indigenous scholars Chris Hoklotubbe and Danny Zacharias explore what it means to read the Bible from the lens of Indigenous peoples in North America. Exploring the intersection of Scripture, Cultural Traditions, Hearts and Minds, and Creation, they affirm Creator's presence with Indigenous people since the beginning. By recovering these rich histories, this book offers a fresh reading of Scripture that celebrates the assets, blessings, and insights of Indigenous interpretation.

Indigenous culture has often been dismissed or deemed problematic within Western Christian circles, and historical practices have often communicated that Indigenous worldviews have little to offer the church or its understanding of Scripture. Hoklotubbe and Zacharias challenge this perspective, reasserting the dignity of these cultures that were condemned through colonial practices and showing how Indigenous interpretations bring invaluable insights to all of God’s people.

In Reading the Bible on Turtle Island, Hoklotubbe and Zacharias

• Affirm the dignity and value of Indigenous cultures and their contributions to hermeneutics.
• Explore the intersection of the Bible with Indigenous traditions.
• Delve deeply into the stories of Scripture alongside the complex histories of Indigenous communities in North America.
• Celebrate the unique blessings and insights of Indigenous interpretation.
• Offer a fresh, transformative reading of the Bible that speaks to all of God’s people.

Reading the Bible on Turtle Island is a vital resource for scholars who are interested in the intersection of biblical studies and social location, who are seeking to explore Scripture through an Indigenous hermeneutic, or who desire to learn more about the contributions of Indigenous worldviews to Biblical interpretation. 

Reviews
"We have been waiting for a book like this—one that presents indigenous biblical interpretation. T. Christopher Hoklotubbe and Daniel Zacharias call their approach to biblical interpretation Turtle Island Hermeneutics. I call it groundbreaking, urgent, and necessary at this present moment. Now students studying the Bible in seminary or college will have a text that will help them do what few books on interpretation can do—take the dirt, the water, the air, our animal kin, and of course, indigenous thought and life seriously. We are now in a new day for biblical scholarship." — William James Jennings, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University Divinity School

"Some years ago, I was told that Indigenous contributions to biblical scholarship would, at best, be superficial. The real work, after all, had already been done by European scholars. Reading the Bible on Turtle Island justifies my contention that this was not so. T. Christopher Hoklotubbe and Daniel Zacharias unpack Indigenous understandings of the biblical narrative for us in profoundly earthy and culturally complex ways. For the first time ever, many Indigenous people have read themselves into the biblical story and, together with the authors, have answered Lamin Sanneh's 2003 question, 'Whose religion is Christianity?' 'It's ours,' they have said!"— Terry LeBlanc, director emeritus and elder in residence of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community

"Reading the Bible on Turtle Island introduces us to the riches of Indigenous interpretation of Scripture and invites us to gather around the council fire and learn from the ongoing discussion Indigenous disciples of Jesus are having about how to 'seek Creator in the Good Medicine Way of Jesus.' T. Christopher Hoklotubbe and H. Daniel Zacharias not only create a dialogue between biblical scholarship, Indigenous history and wisdom, and ongoing debates about how to relate the gospel to culture, they do so in a way that is simultaneously accessible, deeply moving, gracious enough to create room for disagreement and ongoing debate, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. Yet the book also offers a challenge, that the path to the healing of the nations and the Western church includes learning from Indigenous disciples who bear witness to the good word of Creator-made-flesh."— Michael J. Rhodes, author of Just Discipleship and lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College

"How we read ourselves into the Bible shapes the theology we develop. This book offers all Christians another reading, a reading that takes our stories seriously and provides an opportunity to develop an Indigenous theology rather than simply reconciling ourselves to a theology rooted in European priorities." — Patty Krawec, author of Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future and Bad Indians Book Club: Reading at the Edge of a Thousand Worlds

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

For thousands of years, Inuit practiced the traditional art of tattooing. Created the ancient way, with bone needles and caribou sinew soaked in seal oil, sod, or soot, these tattoos were an important tradition for many Inuit women, symbols etched on their skin that connected them to their families and communities. But with the rise of missionaries and residential schools in the North, the tradition of tattooing was almost lost. In 2005, when Angela Hovak Johnston heard that the last Inuk woman tattooed in the old way had died, she set out to tattoo herself in tribute to this ancient custom and learn how to tattoo others. What was at first a personal quest became a project to bring the art of traditional tattooing back to Inuit women across Nunavut, starting with Johnston’s home community of Kugluktuk. Collected in this beautiful book are moving photos and stories from more than two dozen women who participated in Johnston’s project. Together, these women have united to bring to life an ancient tradition, reawakening their ancestors’ lines and sharing this knowledge with future generations.

Awards

• 2018 NorthWords Book Prize Winner 

Reviews
"This gorgeous photographic essay on the Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project is a deeply personal and affirming work about learning and preserving traditions-and reclaiming what residential schools tried to destroy."-School Library Journal

Additional Information
72 pages | 10.00" x 10.00" | Paperback 

A powerful anthology uniting the voices of Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members affected by the tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people from across Turtle Island.

In 2010, Métis artist Jaime Black-Morsette created the REDress Project—an art installation consisting of placing red dresses in public spaces as a call for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). Symbolizing both absence and presence, the red dresses ignite a reclamation of voice and place for MMIWG2S. Fifteen years later, the symbol of the empty red dress endures as families continue to call for action.

In this anthology, Jaime Black-Morsette shares her own intimate stories and memories of the REDress Project along with the voices of Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members affected by this tragedy. Together they use the power of their collective voice to not only call for justice for MMIWG2S, but honour Indigenous women as keepers and protectors of land, culture, and community across Turtle Island.

Reviews
“REDress is a must-read for anyone who seeks to truly understand the hearts of those most impacted by MMIWG2S. For allies and interested citizens, this anthology shows how Canada emboldened and fostered a society to inflict genocide against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirited and transgendered relatives.”—Sheila North, Former Grand Chief, Creator of hashtag #MMIW, Mother and Kookom

“REDress is a love offering to MMIWG2S and those who are intimately impacted by this epidemic.”—Cathy Mattes, curator, writer, and Associate Professor in History of Art at the University of Winnipeg

"This is a moving look at how women in indigenous communities are using art and activism to keep the the issue at the forefront, despite the lack of progress in solving or preventing the crimes.... A content warning signals that the book contains language concerning violence against women. I’d offer this to activist artists or anyone interested in justice for indigenous communities, in high school and up." - Youth Services Book Review - Stephanie Tournas, Retired librarian, Cambridge, MA 

Educator Information
Content Warning: This book's content deals with violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people; genocide; death; intergenerational trauma; suicide; and residential schools. 

Big Ideas: Diverse and Inclusive Representation: Identity; Land-Based or Place-Based Learning; Social-Emotional Learning: Death, Grief, Bereavement; Social-Emotional Learning: Self Expression, Creative Writing, Art; Social Justice: Citizenship and Social Responsibility; Social Justice: Impacts of Colonization and Colonialism; Social Justice: MMIWG2S; Social Justice: Prejudice and Racism.

Edited by: Jaime Black-Morsette

Contributions by: KC Adams, Mackenzie Anderson Linklater, Marjorie Beaucage, Christi Belcourt, Judy Da Silva,  Karine Duhamel, Deantha Edmunds, Cambria Harris, Jaimie Isaac, Casey Koyczan, Crystal Lepscier, Lee-Ann Martin, Diane Maytwayashing, Cathy Merrick, Sherry Farrell Racette, Gladys Radek, Zoey Roy, Jennifer Lee Smith, and Patti Beardy.

Additional Information
168 pages | 7.00" x 10.00" | Paperback

The award-winning Righting Canada's Wrongs series is now available in French for Immersion classrooms.

In a highly visual and appealing format for young readers, this book explores the many forced relocation of Inuit families and communities in the Canadian Arctic from the 1950s to the 1990s. Governments promoted and forced relocation based on misinformation and racist attitudes. These actions changed Inuit lives forever. This book documents the Inuit experience and the resilience and strength they displayed in the face of these measures. Years afterwards, there have been multiple apologies by the Canadian government for its actions, and some measure of restitution for the harms caused.

Included in the book are accounts of a community forced to move to the High Arctic where they found themselves with little food and almost no shelter, of children suddenly taken away from their families and communities to be transported to hospitals for treatment for tuberculosis, and of the notorious slaughter by RCMP officers of hundreds of sled dogs in Arctic settlements.

Though apologies have been made, Inuit in northern Canada still face conditions of inadequate housing, schools that fail to teach their language, and epidemics of infectious diseases like TB. Yet still, the Inuit have achieved a measure of self-government, control over resource development, while they enrich cultural life through music, film, art and literature.

This book enables readers to understand the colonialism and racism that remain embedded in Canadian society today, and the successful resistance of Inuit to assimilation and loss of cultural identity.

Like other volumes in the Righting Canada’s Wrongs series, this book uses a variety of visuals, first-person accounts, short texts and extracts from documents to appeal to a wide range of young readers.

Educator & Series Information
This French book is part of the series Redresser les torts du Canada (Righting Canada's Wrongs series).

Recommended for ages 13 to 18.

This book is available in English: Righting Canada's Wrongs: Inuit Relocations: Colonial Policies and Practices, Inuit Resilience and Resistance.

Additional Information
8.50" x 11.69" | Paperback