Mi'kmaq (Mi'gmaq)

A four-year-old girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that will remain unsolved for nearly fifty years

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes mysteriously. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain deeply affected by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Boston, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

A stunning debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction, The Berry Pickers is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma and the persistence of love across time.

Reviews
“Amanda Peters manages to take you home to the East Coast in the very best ways – through family love and personal grief and the precious accounting of minutes and memories. You cannot help but love these characters from the first chapter. They stay with you long after the last page.” — Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves

“The Berry Pickers is an intimate story about the destruction wreaked on a family when their youngest child goes missing. Peters brilliantly crafts a multi-layered tale about how one irrational act creates irrevocable harm that ripples through multiple lives, including the lives of the perpetrators. This is an emotional novel that is beautifully rendered. An amazing read from a talented new voice.” — Michelle Good, bestselling author of Five Little Indians

“A marvelous debut. The Berry Pickers has all the passion of a first book but also the finely developed skill of a well-practiced storyteller. The Berry Pickers is a triumph.” — Katherena Vermette, bestselling author of The Break

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

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

Additional Information
88 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Hardcover 

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

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

"The Owl Song" by Alan Syliboy & the Thundermakers is now a gorgeously illustrated book for all ages, exploring Mi'kmaw spirituality, life and death.

They say when the Owl calls your name
that the Creator is calling you home.

And when the owl comes to you,
he sits and waits until your final breath.
Then your journey begins.

From bestselling author Alan Syliboy (Mi'kmaw Daily Drum, Wolverine and Little Thunder, The Thundermaker) comes a beautiful new book exploring spirituality, mortality and grieving. An illustrated extended version of his popular song "The Owl Song," it features imagery inspired by his band Alan Syliboy & The Thundermakers' performance material and an author's note on Mi'kmaw tradition and Syliboy's own personal experiences with death. This book for all ages is a poignant depiction of what might happen when the Owl calls your name, and you begin your journey home to the ancestors.

Educator Information
The publisher recommends this picture book for all ages.

Subjects: death, grief, afterlife, spiritual, Mi'kmaw tradition

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Hardcover

 Additional Information
120 pages | 3.94" x 5.44" | 44-Card Deck and Guidebook

The long-awaited collection of talks, presentations, prayers, and ceremonies of renowned Mi'kmaw Elder, human rights activist, and language and culture warrior, Sister Dorothy Moore.

Mi'kmaw Elder Sister Dorothy Moore has spent a lifetime advocating for the rights of her people. As a well-known educator and a survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, she has broken down systemic barriers, leading the Mi'kmaq to access all levels of education, and worked tirelessly to reclaim and promote Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

In A Journey of Love and Hope, Sister Dorothy's words are collected in print, as she originally spoke them, for the first time. Included are speeches, talks, presentations, and ceremonies delivered between 1985 and 2015 to universities, government departments, and Indigenous organizations and gatherings. Thematic sections include Culture and Language, Spirituality, Racism, Education, and Prayers and Ceremonies, framed by Ikantek (introductions) from well-known Mi'kmaw writers and educators, as well as an Associate Sister of the Sisters of St Martha.

Sister Dorothy's talks and presentations will inspire and serve to disrupt the dominant narratives of complex Indigenous issues such as colonialism, oppression, racism, and discrimination. A Journey of Love and Hope gives a voice to Mi'kmaw lived experiences and provides a valuable resource for use in schools, postsecondary education institutions, and communities. Her words are an inspiration to all Treaty people.

Features original illustrations by celebrated Mi'kmaw artist Gerald Gloade and appendices, including a complete list of Sister Moore's talks and presentations and a timeline of life events.

Additional Information
184 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover | Colour photo insert

A timely anthology featuring diverse perspectives – Indigenous and non-Indigenous – on the right to fish in the Atlantic, with the goal of creating dialogue and solutions.

Canadians were shocked in the fall of 2020 by news coverage of non-Indigenous crowds threatening Mi'kmaw fish harvesters and burning boats and plant buildings in southwest Nova Scotia. The crisis began when a few Mi'kmaq Nations began to issue their own licenses to community members to conduct small-scale lobster fishing to earn "moderate livelihoods", a treaty right recognized in the Marshall ruling. Non-Indigenous harvesters reacted, some of them violently, against the idea of a new fishery operating outside DFO-regulated licensing, seasons, and fishing zones. With the major issues still unresolved, numerous flashpoints hold potential for future conflict. The question now looms: where do we go from here?

With contributions from Mi'kmaw leaders, academic researchers, legal experts, non-Indigenous industry leaders, and other knowledgeable observers on all sides of the conflict, Contested Waters: The Struggle for Rights and Reconciliation in the Atlantic Fishery provides a respectful and realistic examination of Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives with the goal of encouraging dialogue and a shared search for lasting solutions.

Expansive and enveloping, Webb-Campbell's collection asks, "Who am I in relation to the moon?" These poems explore the primordial connections between love, grief, and water, structured within the lunar calendar.

The poetics follow rhythms of the body, the tides, the moon, and long, deep familial relationships that are both personal and ancestral. Originating from Webb-Campbell's deep grief of losing her mother, Lunar Tides charts the arc to finding her again in the waves. Written from a mixed Mi'kmaq/settler perspective, this work also explores the legacies of colonialism, kinship and Indigenous resurgence.

Lunar Tides is the ocean floor and a moonlit night: full of possibility and fundamental connections.

Reviews
"Lunar Tides, Shannon Webb-Campbell exposes a heart that's broken but also carried across the gulf between the moon and the sea, a heart that knows how "grief takes up with the body." She shows us that grief is tidal, its ebb and flow pulsing like the moon and dog-earring our memories. This book reminds us that, grieving or not, we "need to be held by something other than a theory." —Douglas Walbourne-Gough, author of Crow Gulch

Additional Information
128 pages | 6.00" x 8.00" | Paperback

Magodiz (Anishinabemowin, Algonquin dialect): a person who refuses allegiance to, resists, or rises in arms against the government or ruler of their country.

Everything that was green and good is gone, scorched away by a war that no one living remembers. The small surviving human population scavenges to get by; they cannot read or write and lack the tools or knowledge to rebuild. The only ones with any power are the mindless Enforcers, controlled by the Madjideye, a faceless, formless spiritual entity that has infiltrated the world to subjugate the human population.

A'tugwewinu is the last survivor of the Andwanikadjigan. On the run from the Madjideye with her lover, Bel, a descendant of the Warrior Nation, they seek to share what the world has forgotten: stories. In Pasakamate, both Shkitagen, the firekeeper of his generation, and his life's heart, Nitawesi, whose hands mend bones and cure sickness, attempt to find a home where they can raise children in peace without fear of slavers or rising waters. In Zhong yang, Riordan wheels around just fine, leading xir gang of misfits in hopes of surviving until the next meal. However, Elite Enforcer H-09761 (Yun Seo, who was abducted as a child, then tortured and brainwashed into servitude) is determined to arrest Riordan for theft of resources and will stop at nothing to bring xir to the Madjideye. In a ruined world, six people collide, discovering family and foes, navigating friendship and love, and reclaiming the sacredness of the gifts they carry.

With themes of resistance, of ceremony as the conduit between realms, of transcending gender, Magodiz is a powerful and visionary reclamation that Two-Spirit people always have and always will be vital to the cultural and spiritual legacy of their communities.

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

Through traditional stories, Grandmothers' understandings guide and nurture parents and children as they grow together. 

Sali'j is a Mi'kmaw woman. She is strong, she is happy. Happy to be part of a loving family, happy to be Mi'kmaq. She begins to notice changes to her body, subtle at first, then more noticeable. She realizes that she is pregnant. She and her husband rejoice to think of welcoming a child into their lives. She goes to her Mother, to her Grandmother, to her Godmother. She tells them she is pregnant. They hug her in joy.

They gather their knowledge and their wisdom from teachings passed down from woman to woman, over the generations; they share this knowledge, little by little, story by story. This is the Mi'kmaw way.

Educator Information
Dual-language: English and Mi'kmaq.

This book is created by Prune Harris from the words and wisdom of four Grandmothers from the Mi’kmaw Nation of Eskasoni. They are Diana Denny, Murdena Marshall, Susie Marshall and Veronica (Flo) Young.

Additional Information
64 pages | Paperback

A powerful, often funny, always inspiring memoir from a beloved comedian, professional orator, actor, entertainer, gone all too soon.

Candy Palmater loved to connect with people. She lived for the stage, her effervescent presence on television and radio ignited and inspired audiences, touching them with her warm, often spicy humour as well as her positive message about love and kindness. And she always believed that it is never too late to pursue our dreams and that we should never allow others to negatively influence our life’s desires.

Candy described herself as a queer Mi’kmaw lawyer-turned-comic raised by bikers in rural New Brunswick and on the surface, she met with enormous success – on leaving government and the practice of law, she started a career as a stand-up comedian, which led to starring in five successful seasons of her own national TV show, hosting many radio shows and co-guest hosting CTV’s The Social, and landing a recurring role on a hot new sitcom in her fifties. But she is the first to tell you she made all kinds of mistakes and experienced all kinds of failure along the way. Running Down a Dream is Candy’s story, in her own words, of the highs, the lows, the moments of doubt, the turning points when she listened to her gut and tuned out all the people saying no. It’s also a tribute to her family and the love that always bolstered her, despite their own hard times. She shares her stories to inspire us to embrace our failures and to believe in ourselves. And most importantly, Running Down a Dream is a call to love ourselves for who we are.

The world lost Candy in late 2021, and yet she left us with this gift -- a memoir and a message that will inspire us for years to come.

Additional Information
304 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover

The Musician Healer resurrects a long-forgotten role for musicians and provides clear guidance for preparation and self-development as a musician healer in order to reactivate this role for the modern world. It begins with the author’s personal musical story that draws upon her Mi’kmaq/Abenaki First Nation and French roots, followed by a section on the history of musician healers from ancient Egypt and India. Runningdeer then explores the energetic aspects of music healing, especially the quality of personal energies that a musician channels through her music, and how to elevate and emanate those vibrations for positive healing outcomes.

“There are a few very particular aspects of healing for myself that I’ve enjoyed these past twenty plus years, while developing my work as Musician Healer. Yours will be different, perhaps, depending upon what your own inner challenges to growth have been. Our stories are different, after all ... I now know who I am, and why I’m here. I love and accept all my strengths, peculiarities and tender places. And feel great confidence in what I have to offer the world.” — Islene Runningdeer, 2022

Reviews
"Runningdeer writes like a spider spinning her web­—circling and diving, drawing sticky connections and mind-expanding shapes. This book is an offering to a suffering world and to musicians who are yearning to transmit good through their gifts." — Mary Bonhag, Artistic Director, Scrag Mountain Music

"The beauty of the objective frequency in music to provide healing and love is excellently transmitted in this unique text. A heartfelt and genuine connection with ancient lifetimes and ancestors brings moments of perfection and clarity, as the sum total of everything acquired is realized in the present moment. Runningdeer brings lessons of giving and awareness in service to the light." — Julian Hobson Energy Healer and Editor of Embrace Your Divine Plan (2023)

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

The story of an overlooked group of cultural visionaries

The “Micmac Indian Craftsmen” of Elsipogtog (then known as Big Cove) rose to national prominence in the early 1960s. At their peak, they were featured in print media from coast to coast, their work was included in books and exhibitions — including at Expo 67 — and their designs were featured on prints, silkscreened notecards, jewelry, tapestries, and even English porcelain.

Primarily self-taught and deeply rooted in their community, they were among the first modern Indigenous artists in Atlantic Canada. Inspired by traditional Wabanaki stories, they produced an eclectic range of handmade objects that were sophisticated, profound, and eloquent.

By 1966, the withdrawal of government support compromised the Craftsmen's resources, production soon ceased, and their work faded from memory. Now, for the first time, the story of this groundbreaking co-operative and their art is told in full. Accompanying a major exhibition at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery opening in 2022, Wabanaki Modern features essays on the history of this vibrant art workshop, archival photographs of the artisans, and stunning full-colour images of their art.

Wla atukuaqn na ujit ta'nik mu ewi'tamuki'k tetuji kelulkɨpp ta'n teli amaliteka'tijik

Wla “Mi'kmewaqq L'nue'k amaliteka'tijik” tlo'ltijik Elsipogtog (amskweseweyekk i'tlui'tasikɨpp Big Cove) poqji wuli nenupnikk wla amaliteka'tijik 1960ekk. Je wekaw wutlukowaqnmuwow ika'tasikɨpp wikatikniktuk aqq ne'yo'tasikɨpp ta'n pukwelk ta'n wen nmitew — je wekaw Expo 67 — aqq ta'n koqoey kisi napui'kmi'tipp tampasɨk koqoey eweketu'tij stike' l'taqnewi'kasik, napui'kn misekn, wi'katikne'ji'jk, meko'tikl kuntal, kaqapitkl l'taqa'teke'l, aqq wekaw akalasie'we'k eptaqnk. Nekmow na kekina'masultijik aqq melki knukwi'tij ta'n tett telayawultijik, nekmow na amskewsewa'jewaqq l'nu'k tel nenujik ujit ta'n teli amaliteka'tijik ujit Atlantic Canada. Pema'lkwi'titl a'tukuaqnn ta'n sa'qewe'l, ta'n wejiaqel a'tukuaqnn Wabanaki, l'tu'tipp kaqasi milamu'k koqowey toqo eweketu'titl wutpitnual tetuji moqɨtekl, ma'muntekl, aqq weltekl.

Wekaw 1966ekk, kpno'l pun apoqnmuapni wla amaliteka'tikete'jɨk jel kaqnma'tijik ta'n koqoey nuta'tipp, amuj pana pun lukutipnikk, aqq tel awantasuwalutki'k. Nike', amskwesewey, wla a'tukuaqn tetuji msɨki'kɨpp wla wut lukewaqnmuwow etel kaqi a'tukwasikk. Wije'tew meski'k neya'tmk Beaverbrook Art Gallery pana'siktetew 2022al, Wabanaki Modern na pema'toql wikikaqnn ujit ta'n pemiaqɨpp wla tetuji wulamu'kɨpp kisitaqnne'l telukutijik, maskutekl sa'qewe'l napuikasikl toqo nemu'jik etl-lukutijik wla lukewinu'k, aqq sikte wultek aqq welamu'k ta'n koqoey kisitu'tij.

L'histoire d'un groupe de visionnaires culturels ignorés

Un groupe d'artisans mi'kmaw d'Elsipogtog (autrefois Big Cove) au Nouveau-Brunswick se fit connaître à travers le Canada au début des années 1960. À l'apogée de leur renommée, les Micmac Indian Craftsmen firent l'objet d'articles dans des publications d'un océan à l'autre. Leur travail figura dans des livres et des expositions — dont Expo 67 à Montréal — et leurs œuvres graphiques furent reproduites sous forme de gravures et de sérigraphies, et elles ornèrent de la papeterie, des bijoux, des tapisseries et même de la porcelaine anglaise.

En grande partie autodidactes et solidement enracinés dans leur communauté, les Micmac Indian Craftsmen furent parmi les premiers artistes autochtones modernes au Canada atlantique. En s'inspirant de récits traditionnels wabanakis, ils fabriquaient à la main une gamme variée d'objets raffinés, évocateurs et porteurs d'un sens profond.

En 1966, toutefois, le gouvernement retira son soutien. Les Craftsmen perdirent leur financement, la production cessa peu après et leur œuvre finit par être oubliée. Une nouvelle publication relate maintenant, pour la première fois, l'histoire complète de cette coopérative innovatrice et de ses réalisations. Publié dans le cadre d'une grande exposition qui a lieu à la Galerie d'art Beaverbrook en 2022, Wabanaki Moderne comprend des textes sur l'histoire de cet atelier dynamique, des photographies d'archives des artisans et de superbes illustrations couleur de leurs œuvres.

Educator Information
Delivered in three languages: English, Mi'kmaw, and French

Additional Information
228 pages | 10.00" x 10.00" | Paperback | 96 Colour Reproductions and Photos, 26 Black and White Illustrations and Archival Photos 

Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars forward child welfare issues currently impacting Indigenous children in Canada.

Developed by the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium, this edited collection brings together accomplished Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars from the prairie provinces to forward critical research about a range of contemporary child welfare issues currently impacting Indigenous children in Canada.
 
Centering Indigenous knowledge and working to decolonize child welfare, contributors address the over-representation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system, the un-met recommendations of the TRC, the connections between colonialism and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, the impact of Bill C-92, and more.
 
Contributors include: Jason Albert, Dorothy Badry, Cindy Blackstock, Elder Mae Louise Campbell, Peter Choate, Linda Dano-Chartrand, Michael Doyle, Koren Lightning Earle, Arlene Eaton Erickson, Yahya El-Lahib, Hadley Friedland,  Don Fuchs, Del Graff, Jennifer Hedges, Bernadette Iahtail, Jennifer King, Brittany Mathews, Eveline Milliken, Kelly Provost—Ekkinnasoyii (Sparks in a Fire), Christina Tortorelli, Gabrielle Lindstrom Tsapinaki, Susannah Walker, and Robyn Williams

Reviews
“A great contribution for all of us who conduct research, teach, and work directly in the field of Indigenous child welfare practice.”—Jeannine Carrière, author of Calling Our Families Home: Métis Peoples’ Experiences with Child Welfare

Additional Information
288 pages | 5.00" x 7.50" | Paperback

The highly anticipated debut poetry collection of Mi'kmaq poems by Prince Edward Island's Poet Laureate, Julie Pellisier-Lush.

This collection will enthrall poetry lovers. Skilled at taking words from hearts and minds to paper, Julie's poems will connect with the reader deeply. Some poems were created with teachings from our Elders and some were created to learn more about the art of words.

At times heart wrenching and other times a call to action for Mother Earth, each poignant poem is paired with vivid artwork crafted by the poet herself.

Take what you like, use what you need, most of all enjoy.

Additional Information
96 pages | 5.50" x 9.00" | Paperback