Salish
Synopsis:
From veteran hockey reporter Patrick Johnston and Gino’s longtime friend Peter Leech comes the authorized biography of Gino Odjick.
In the 1980s and ’90s, National Hockey League games were very different from the nimble, skill-focused displays we see today. One of the greatest differences—and one of the sport’s more popular facets at the time—was the widespread presence of “enforcers”: hulking, battle-scarred players whose main task was to police the sport by chasing down and brawling with opponents who had broken unwritten codes determining which aspects of violence counted as dishonorable or unjustified.
When hard-hitting Vancouver Canucks player Gino Odjick emerged in the early 1990s, he quickly became one of the game’s most feared enforcers and revered teammates, a sign of a new era for the team, racking up 296 penalty minutes in the 45 games he played in his rookie season. Hailing from Kitigan Zibi, an Algonquin community near Maniwaki, Quebec, Gino was one of the few Indigenous players in the NHL at the time. But it was Gino’s ferocious play contrasted by his genuinely affable and openhearted personality off the ice that won him a special place in the hearts of Canucks supporters.
Yet legends often obscure the human stories behind them. Patrick Johnston and Peter Leech look beyond Gino’s legendary persona, drawing on insights from family members, friends, and teammates to recount Gino’s early years in a loving household that was always ready to welcome foster children. Gino’s father, Joe, had suffered the lonely traumas of the residential school system, and the experience had instilled a commitment in the family to those who were less fortunate.
The book also details Gino’s eventual struggles with alcohol abuse, and how he responded by taking on the role of empathetic mentor to young Indigenous people, travelling from community to community to hear their stories and offer hope. He never wavered in this role, even as he confronted serious illnesses, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and the rare blood disorder that he survived for years longer than expected, but that eventually led to his death at age fifty-two.
Gino is a moving tribute to a beloved hockey legend.
Reviews
"Gino was the greatest teammate; he had such a huge heart and knew his role better than anyone in the league. Gino loved being a Vancouver Canuck and gave back to the community in so many ways. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and fans. This book will give people insight into his remarkable life."—Geoff Courtnall
“Gino provides a compelling account of the life of a beloved Vancouver Canuck. From his humble beginnings in Quebec to NHL stardom and beyond, Odjick was dedicated to the well-being of teammates and the Indigenous community. This is an excellent tribute to an exceptional man.”—Randi Druzin, author of Between the Pipes and Behind the Mask
Additional Information
288 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | b&w insert | Hardcover
Synopsis:
A stunning debut work of narrative nonfiction from one of the most powerful Indigenous story-tellers at work in Canada today, We Survived the Night combines investigative journalism, colonial history, Salish Coyote stories and a deeply personal father-son journey in a searing yet uplifting portrait of contemporary Indigenous life.
Born to a charismatic Sécwepemc artist from a tiny reserve in the interior of B.C. and a Jewish-Irish woman from Westchester County, N.Y., Julian Brave NoiseCat grew up in a swirl of contradictions. He was the spitting image of his dad, but was raised mostly by his white mother in the urban Native community of Oakland, CA. He became a competitive powwow dancer, travelling the North American circuit, but despite being embraced by his family, he felt like an outsider when he spent time on his home reserve—drawn to his father's world, his Indigenous heritage and identity, but struggling to make sense of his place in it. Struggling also to make sense of the swirling damage his alcoholic father—who could turn into "a brawling Indian super vigilante in the mould of Billy Jack" out to kick colonialism in the ass—had caused to those he loved.
So in his twenties, NoiseCat set out to uncover and tell the story of his father, of his Coyote People—the Interior Salish nations almost extirpated by the apocalyptic horsemen of colonialism—which soon rippled out, in five years of on-the-ground reporting, into the stories of other First Peoples in the United States and Canada, as NoiseCat attempted to counter the erasure, invisibility and misconceptions surrounding them. We Survived the Night paints a profound, inspiring and unforgettable portrait of Indigenous life, entwined with a deeply powerful reckoning between a father and a son seeking a path to a future full of possibilities—for himself and all the children of Indian Country.
Reviews
“Written in gorgeous, sparse prose, We Survived the Night reads like a novel. Told with a blistering honesty, the truth and grit create a beautifully woven coyote story we haven’t heard before. This is a love letter to Oakland, to the Canim Lake Band Tsq'secen of the Secwepemc Nation, to a father from his son, to the act of being a Native person in the twenty-first century finding ways to love even through all that wounds have opened and wrought. With this, Julian Brave NoiseCat has written a book I’ve been waiting my whole life to read.” —Tommy Orange, author of Wandering Stars
“Thoughtful, informative, often entertaining and just as often saddening, NoiseCat’s is a book to remember.” —Kirkus Reviews
“This book grabs your heart and doesn't let go. Julian Brave NoiseCat has written an immensely powerful, loving, lyrical story of how the profound search to understand our foundations, to know our ancestors, our communities and those closest to us, shapes and influences who we are and the path we walk on. Julian seamlessly weaves the present and past together, as he tells a beautiful, fearless, origin story, his own—the son of the coyote.” —Tanya Talaga, author of The Knowing and Seven Fallen Feathers
Additional Information
432 pages | 6.12" x 9.12" | 8 pp 4c photographs | Hardcover
Synopsis:
New poems from award-winning storyteller and poet Joseph Dandurand.
Prolific Kwantlen writer Joseph Dandurand offers his latest poetry collection, following The Punishment and The East Side of It All, which was shortlisted for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize.
Building on his legacy as a skilled storyteller, Dandurand continues to write about trauma, love, grief and forgiveness. These poems are about the streets, the East Side, self-pity, spirits and Dandurand’s people, the Kwantlen. As the jury of the 2022 Latner Writers’ Trust Award wrote, “his quotidian reflections read like parables, with startling economy.” After putting this collection down, don’t be surprised to find yourself saying “thank you,” too.
Additional Information
102 pages | 5.50" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
This book invites readers to step into a space of reflection on your personal relationship with truth, reconciliation, and Orange Shirt Day.
Written in response to the increase of residential school denialism, Phyllis Webstad and Kristy McLeod have collaborated to create a book that encourages readers to face their own biases. This book challenges readers through a series of sensitive conversations that explore decolonization, Indigenization, healing, and every person’s individual responsibility to truth and reconciliation. Centered around the Orange Shirt Day movement, and a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, these conversations encourage readers to unpack and reckon with denialism, biases, privilege, and the journey forward, on both a personal and national level.
Within each chapter, Phyllis Webstad draws on her decade of experience (sharing her Orange Shirt Story on a global level and advocating for the rights of Indigenous Peoples) to offer insights on these topics and stories from her personal journey, which co-author and Métis scholar, Kristy McLeod, helps readers to further navigate. Each section includes real denialist comments taken from social media and Kristy's analysis and response to them. Through empathy-driven truth-telling, this book offers an opportunity to witness, reflect, heal, and be intentional about the seeds we hope to plant for the future, together.
Additional Information
350 pages | 5.70" x 8.25" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
A celebration and in-depth exploration of Canada’s West Coast through an Indigenous and immigrant lens, Reconciling weaves together personal tales and tough histories for guiding steps toward true understanding.
A personal and historical story of identity, place, and belonging from a Musqueam-Chinese Elder caught between cultures.
It’s taken most of Larry Grant’s long life for his extraordinary heritage to be appreciated. He was born in a hop field outside Vancouver in 1936, the son of a Musqueam cultural leader and an immigrant from a village in Guangdong, China. In 1940, when the Indian agent discovered that their mother had married a non-status man, Larry and his two siblings were stripped of their status, suddenly labeled “bastard children.” With one stroke of the pen, they were no longer recognized as Indigenous.
In Reconciling, Larry tells the story of his life, including his thoughts on reconciliation and the path forward for First Nations and Canada. His life echoes the barely known story of Vancouver — and most cities in the Americas, from Cusco to Mexico City, from New York to Toronto. It combines Indigenous traditions with key events of the last two centuries, including Chinese immigration and the Head Tax, the ravages of residential schools, and now Indigenous revival and the accompanying change in worldview. Each chapter takes the form of a series of conversations between Larry and writer Scott Steedman and is built around one pivotal geographical place and its themes, including the Musqueam reserve, Chinatown, the site of the Mission Residential School, the Vancouver docks, and the University of British Columbia.
When Larry talks about reconciliation, he uses the verb reconciling, an ongoing, unfinished process we’re all going through, Indigenous and settler, immigrant and Canadian-born. “I have been reconciling my whole life, with my inner self,” he explains. “To not belong was forced upon me by the colonial society that surrounded me. But reconciling with myself is part of all that.”
Reviews
“Musqueam Elder Larry Grant’s intimate eyewitness accounts of huge changes in the region’s landscape and its evolving relationship with his people are a must-read for people who want to join Canada’s journey towards reconciliation.” — Paul Yee, author of Saltwater City
“Conversing with the ideal listener, the inquisitive, sensitive journalist Scott Steedman, Larry Grant speaks unflinchingly of his dual heritages and how, for most of his life, he had to suppress one or another or both. Steedman presents Grant’s spoken prose with pristine clarity, and so governmental crimes and real-estate wrongs are laid bare, and unbearable is our outrage, but necessary is our courage to rectify and reconcile.” — George Elliott Clarke, author of Where Beauty Survived: An Africadian Memoir
“Larry Grant’s conversational memoir is a poignant and honest recollection of identity politics as well as a meditation on bearing witness and surviving ecological and cultural displacement. His wise words invite you to reflect on how all of us can better reconcile with the past, present, and future and how we can never escape the fact that everything in this world is connected.” — Donna Seto, author of Chinatown Vancouver: An Illustrated History
Additional Information
232 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 16 black and white halftones; bibliography; table of contents | Paperback
Synopsis:
A Snuneymuxw ethnobotany guide grounded in Indigenous knowledge and deep ancestral connection to the land.
Plant Teachings from My Auntie: Gathering Coast Salish Plants for Medicine, Textiles, Nourishment, and Ceremony is a richly illustrated compendium of the many culturally significant wild foods and herbal remedies found in the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.
Each entry features plant descriptions complete with both their Hul'q'umi'num and botanical names, typical native habitat, and traditional uses. Particular attention is paid to the sacred Western Red Cedar or "tree of life." The book also offers a selection of healing recipes; tips for respectful, sustainable harvesting; ethical and responsible preparation techniques; and a guide to local gathering sites.
Snu'y'ulh refers to teachings handed down through generations. Snuneymuxw Elder and Knowledge Keeper Geraldine Manson, whose traditional name is C'tasi:a, draws on the sacred knowledge passed on to her by her "Auntie Ellen," Dr. Ellen White, also known as Kwulasulwut. Central to these learnings is the fundamental concept or protocol of honoring gifts from the land by gathering and preparing in ways that respect the history, culture, spirituality, and Indigenous knowledge associated with each species.
This powerful work is a rare treasure that will appeal to those seeking to foster greater cultural understanding and ecological responsibility while deepening their commitment to meaningful reconciliation.
Additional Information
96 pages | 9.00" x 7.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Tales of an Urban Indian is a one-person play that follows the trials and tribulations of Simon Douglas, a young First Nations man who moves from his rural reservation to the big city of Vancouver. This dark comedy examines the issues of race, identity, and assimilation that drive young Indigenous men to self-destruction.
In The Trickster of Third Avenue East, Roger and Mary are spiralling out of control but are too scared to let each other go. Enter J.C., a mysterious visitor who turns their lives upside down and forces them to confront their darkest secrets. J.C. pushes Roger and Mary into the realm of the supernatural and past the brink of sanity.
Additional Information
134 pages | 5.45" x 8.40" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Le récit inspirant d’une chercheuse et écologiste autochtone qui a cherché à réconcilier sa tête (science occidentale) et son cœur (vision du monde indigène) pour trouver une voie plus juste vers la guérison écologique.La roue de médecine raconte le voyage de réconciliation personnelle et écologique vécu par la chercheuse autochtone Jennifer Grenz dans son travail sur la restauration écologique. Elle montre qu’il est possible de créer des ponts entre les savoirs autochtones et occidentaux sans tomber, pour les populations autochtones elles-mêmes, dans le piège de l’assimilation par l’inclusion. Un récit qui démontre qu’il n’est pas nécessaire de se couper de ses valeurs, de sa spiritualité, de sa vie relationnelle et de son engagement envers la communauté, mais qu’on gagne au contraire à les placer au cœur de son métier. Éloquent, inspirant et dérangeant, ce bestseller enfin traduit en français jette les bases d’une écologie autochtone et nous rappelle qu’une multiplicité de visions du monde est nécessaire pour sauvegarder notre planète.
Educator Information
This book is available in English: Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey toward Personal and Ecological Healing
Additional Information
Paperback
Synopsis:
The pelt of a dog named “Mutton” languished in a drawer at the Smithsonian for 150 years until it was discovered, almost accidentally, by an amateur archivist. This book tells Mutton's story and explores what it can teach us about Coast Salish Woolly Dogs and their cultural significance.
Until now, there has been very little written about the enigmatic Coast Salish Woolly Dog, or sqʷəmey̓ in the Hul'q'umi'num language. According to Indigenous Oral Histories of the Pacific Northwest, this small dog was bred for thousands of years for its woolly fibres, which were woven into traditional blankets, robes and regalia. Although the dogs were carefully protected by Coast Salish peoples, by the 1900s, the Woolly Dog had become so rare it is now considered extinct.
Co-authored with weavers, Knowledge Keepers, and Elders, The Teachings of Mutton interweaves perspectives from Musqueam, Squamish, Stó:lō, Suquamish, Cowichan, Katzie, Snuneymuxw, and Skokomish cultures with narratives of science, post-contact history, and the lasting and devastating impacts of colonization. Binding it all together is Mutton's story—a tale of research, reawakening, and resurgence.
Reviews
“What a compelling story, reflecting a way of life, practical knowledge, artistry and change in the Pacific Northwest! Mutton, the domesticated woolly dog, represents so much more than a museum collection or a source of weaving material. Generations of breeding, learning and sharing, caring and trading are mirrored in the discovery of his pelt in a drawer at the Smithsonian. Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa and her respected Salishan co-authors and Knowledge Keepers have brought Mutton into the present, and in doing so, have given us a new and unique perspective on the complex history of this region and on the meaning of Truth and Reconciliation. The book is clearly and thoughtfully written, and supplemented with excellent illustrations. It is a ‘must read’ for anyone wishing to know more about weaving arts, dog breeds, Indigenous cultures and/or history in northwestern North America.” — Nancy J. Turner, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of Victoria
“Conscientious and accessible, The Teachings of Mutton weaves a charming and informative history, walking through the discovery of his pelt in a museum drawer to the modern science that reveals the shape of this dog’s life. Highlighting and correcting generations of non-Indigenous misinterpretation, the intertwined histories provided by Salish knowledge keepers reveal the nuanced Indigenous sciences of dog husbandry, spinning, weaving, and the cultural significance of Woolly Dogs while telling a lively story.” — Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, PhD, curator of Northwest Native art and director of the Bill Holm Center for
Additional Information
264 pages | 8.00" x 10.00"
Synopsis:
Dangling in the Glimmer of Hope: Academic Action on Truth and Reconciliation demonstrates actions academics have taken in relation to some of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Poetry, short stories, and children’s stories sit alongside scholarly chapters, mixing personal and academic voices to challenge and engage both the head and the heart about what Truth and Reconciliation—and the Calls to Action—require of us all.
Garry Gottfriedson, Victoria Handford, and their collaborators invite readers not only to explore the diverse facets of Indigenous identity, but also to embark on a transformative, collective journey towards mutual understanding and respect.
Contributions by Dorothy Cucw-la7 Christian, Georgann Cope Watson, Garry Gottfriedson, Victoria (Tory) Handford, Sarah Ladd, Patricia Liu Baergen, Tina Matthew, Rod McCormick, Gloria Ramirez, Fred Schaub, and Bernita Wienhold-Leahy.
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Land Acknowledgement
In Your Canada—A Thousand and Counting by Garry Gottfriedson
About the Cover Photograph
List of Poems
List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword by Dorothy Cucw-la7 Christian
Introduction by Garry Gottfriedson and Victoria Handford
SECTION 1
Language and Culture Calls to Action
Returning from School by Garry Gottfriedson
Disrupting Colonial Practices through Indigenous Language Learning and Research by Gloria Ramirez
SECTION 2
Health Calls to Action
lessons by Garry Gottfriedson
Grave Concerns by Rod McCormick
A Walk Together by Bernita Wienhold-Leahy
Health Care Practices by Bernita Wienhold-Leahy
SECTION 3
Education for Reconciliation Calls to Action
KIRS Curriculum by Garry Gottfriedson
Change Begins with a Whisper by Georgann Cope Watson
SECTION 4
Business and Reconciliation Calls to Action
Too Much by Sarah Ladd
Cultural Dissonance: Job Interviewing and Indigenous Candidates by Sarah Ladd
SECTION 5
Commemoration Calls to Action
An Unholy Act by Garry Gottfriedson
Debwewin by Victoria Handford
Red Bridge by Victoria Handford
SECTION 6
Newcomers to Canada Calls to Action
The Flesh of Ice by Garry Gottfriedson
Encounters by Fred Schaub
Reconciliation and Decolonization: From the Shadows of Settler Shame to the Generosity of an Ethical Relationality by Fred Schaub
Exploring Curriculum as a Lived Experience of Poetic Dwelling in between Place Stories by Patricia Liu Baergen
Afterword by Tina Matthew
Contributors
Appendices
Additional Information
232 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 20 photos | Paperback
Synopsis:
"This beautiful book can completely change how we approach science, using both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and how we can work collaboratively to help foster balance in nature." —Suzanne Simard, bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree
For readers of Braiding Sweetgrass: Future-saving insights and approaches to science and ecology using both Indigenous and Western perspectives.
A farm kid at heart, and a Nlaka'pamux woman of mixed ancestry, Dr. Jennifer Grenz always felt a deep connection to the land. However, after nearly two decades of working as a restoration ecologist in the Pacific Northwest, she became frustrated that despite the best efforts of her colleagues and numerous volunteers, they weren't making the meaningful change needed for plant, animal and human communities to adapt to a warming climate. Restoration ecology is grounded in an idea that we must return the natural world to an untouched, pristine state, placing humans in a godlike role—a notion at odds with Indigenous histories of purposeful, reciprocal interaction with the environment. This disconnect sent Dr. Grenz on a personal journey of joining her head (Western science) and her heart (Indigenous worldview) to find a truer path toward ecological healing.
In Medicine Wheel for the Planet, building on sacred stories, field observations and her own journey, Dr. Grenz invites readers to share in the teachings of the four directions of the medicine wheel: the North, which draws upon the knowledge and wisdom of elders; the East, where we let go of colonial narratives and see with fresh eyes; the South, where we apply new-old worldviews to envision a way forward; and the West, where a relational approach to land reconciliation is realized.
Eloquent, inspiring and disruptive, Medicine Wheel for the Planet circles toward an argument that we need more than a singular worldview to protect the planet and make the significant changes we are running out of time for.
Reviews
"Grenz shares her ancestral Nlaka'pamux wisdom that respect, relationship and reciprocity with all life is essential in healing the land. In telling her stories, she demonstrates how these fundamental principles underlie the good work. She also teaches us that our ability to understand nature and our success at stewardship requires that we lead with our hearts and keep our beginner’s curiosity open. When we do this, we have unlimited capacity to heal. This beautiful book can completely change how we approach science, using both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and how we can work collaboratively to help foster balance in nature.” —Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
“Rooted in both Indigenous and Western ways of understanding and doing science, Medicine Wheel for the Planet challenges the simplistic, dichotomous thinking that has led well-meaning environmentalists astray for too long. In a book that is part primer in ecology, part memoir, and part manifesto, Jennifer Grenz movingly shares her own process of learning and unlearning, of connecting with traditional knowledge and practices to help unearth future-saving insights and approaches — and by doing so, generously invites the reader to undertake a similar transformation. Wise, humble, provocative, brave, and beautifully written, this book is a triumph. Read it and let it alter and expand how you see the world and your place and role within it." —Astra Taylor, author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart
“Deeply moving and compelling, Medicine Wheel for the Planet weaves a powerful story about the limitations of restoration ecology and a Western lens, and illuminates a path forward using the power of Indigenous and reciprocal ways of being. An imperative read for all Canadians.” —Angela Sterritt, author of Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
“In this thoughtful and heartfelt book, Dr. Grenz challenges us to reflect on how – despite the massive contributions of Western science – we humans are impacting the Earth and all life on our planet in problematic ways, most recently evident in the ongoing global climate crisis. Guiding us through the medicine wheel concept, she illuminates the deep experiences of the First Peoples, often conveyed through stories, that can inspire us to be better relatives, reminding us to focus our time and energy on healing the Earth. This is a revelatory, immersive work that illustrates, with respect and gratitude, the meaningful role that all systems of knowledge play in connecting ‘our heads and our hearts’ for a healthier planet.” —Nancy J. Turner, Distinguished Emeritus Professor in Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, author/editor of many books including The Earth’s Blanket, Member of the Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia and winner of Canadian Botanical Association Lawson Medal
“Medicine Wheel for the Planet transported me gently into the dynamic world of plants and trees and offers a powerful viewing lens—one derived from Indigenous storytelling as well as from Western science. Dr. Grenz helped me to see research methods through a more holistic perspective, and skilfully shows what science could accomplish if untangled from the rigid rules of our dominant culture. With patience and humility, she convinced me that if we take the time to look and listen differently, the land will offer us crucial lessons in healing that would otherwise be left unseen and unheard.” —Dr. Jane Philpott, author of Health for All: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada
Educator Information
This book is available in French: La roue de médecine: Un nouveau récit pour guérir la planète
Additional Information
280 pages | 5.18" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
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.
Additional Information
224 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
“The map of the land is in our blood.”
A woman trawls the bottom of a riverbed with a makeshift plough, hoping to dislodge something—anything. The world has drastically changed: rivers run dry, rampant bushfires leave little left to burn. Still she persists searching for the stories of her loved ones, maybe even her own. She is not alone—an ancestor watches nearby. This desolate landscape is about to unearth its long-held secrets.
Inspired by the grassroots organization Drag the Red, which searches for evidence of missing Indigenous women, girls, and 2 Spirit people in the Red River of Treaty One Territory, this ethereal and engrossing drama is a profound offering to those who persevere in spite of sorrow. Told in Anishinaabemowin, English, and French, Tara Beagan’s prophetic play draws a direct connection between the treatment of Indigenous peoples and the abuse inflicted on the land. Fluid and majestic like the river itself, Rise, Red River is an invocation, a revelation, and a call to action.
Educator Information
Told in Anishinaabemowin, English, and French.
Additional Information
112 pages | 5.37" x 8.38" | Paperback
Synopsis:
From the award-winning, bestselling author of All the Quiet Places, comes Brian Thomas Isaac's highly anticipated, haunting and tender return to the Okanagan Indian Reserve and a teenager's struggle to become a man in a world of racism and hardship.
Summer, 1968. For the first time since his big brother, Eddie, disappeared two years earlier—either a runaway or dead by his own hand—sixteen-year-old Lewis Toma has shaken off some of his grief. His mother, Grace, and her friend Isabel have gone south to the United States to pick fruit to earn the cash Grace needs to put a bathroom and running water into the three-room shack they share on the reserve, leaving Lewis to spend the summer with his cousins, his Uncle Ned and his Aunt Jean in the new house they’ve built on their farm along the Salmon River. Their warm family life is almost enough to counter the pressures he feels as a boy trying to become a man in a place where responsible adult men like his uncle are largely absent, broken by residential school and racism. Everywhere he looks, women are left to carry the load, sometimes with kindness, but often with the bitterness, anger and ferocity of his own mother, who kicked Lewis’s lowlife father, Jimmy, to the curb long ago.
Lewis has vowed never to be like his father—but an encounter with a predatory older woman tests him and he suffers the consequences. Worse, his dad is back in town and scheming on how to use the Indian Act to steal the land Lewis and his mom have been living on. And then, at summer's end, more shocking revelations shake the family, unleashing a deadly force of anger and frustration.
With so many traps laid around him, how will Lewis find a path to a different future?
Reviews
"A compelling novel, honest and compassionate, haunted by the past. Towards the end of the book, I tried to slow down, not wanting the story to end, but it wasn’t possible."—Mary Lawson, bestselling author of A Town Called Solace
"Brian Thomas Isaac reinforces his place as one of Canada’s most engaging novelists with the tender troubling coming-of-age story of Lewis, a 16-year-old growing up on the Okanagan Reserve. He’s a boy who sees and feels everything with intensity—the joy of swimming in a river, the cruelty of a racist neighbour, the complexity of his mother’s love, the sensations of his first deep kiss, the injustices of the Indian Act, which keeps turning his family’s life upside down. I couldn’t put Bones of a Giant down, wondering to the end if Lewis is just too sweet and vulnerable for the mean world around him."—Carol Off, award-winning author of At a Loss for Words
"Bones of a Giant has good bones. Isaac is a masterful storyteller with an observant eye for nature and a deep compassion for his characters. I loved this book."—Thomas Wharton, bestselling author of The Book of Rain
"A clear-eyed love story to both a people and a place. Brian Thomas Isaac is a vital voice."—David Bergen, award-winning author of Here the Dark
Additional Information
320 pages | 6.25" x 9.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
An eighty-year overview of wood and argillite carving by Indigenous women artists on the Northwest Coast.
Though women of the Northwest Coast have long carved poles, canoes, panels, and masks, many of these artists have not become as well known outside their communities as their male counterparts. These artists are cherished within their communities for helping to keep traditional carving practices alive, and for maintaining the dances, songs, and ceremonies that are intertwined with visual art production. This book, and an associated exhibition at the Audain Art Museum, gathers a range of sculptural formats by Indigenous women in order to expand the discourse of carving in the region.
Both the exhibition and publication are co-curated by Dana Claxton, artist, filmmaker and head of the University of British Columbia's Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory; and Dr. Curtis Collins, the AAM's Director & Chief Curator. Commentaries by Skeena Reece, Claxton, and Marika Swan, and interviews with artists Dale Campbell and Mary Anne Barkhouse are presented alongside more than one hundred artworks from public and private collections across North America, including several newly commissioned pieces.
Featured artists include:
- Ellen Neel (Kwakwaka'wakw, 1916-1966) - Freda Diesing (Haida, 1925-2002) - Doreen Jensen (Gitxsan, 1933-2009) - Susan Point (Musqueam, b. 1952) - Dale Campbell (Tahltan, b. 1954) - Marianne Nicolson (Kwakwaka'wakw, b. 1969) - Arlene Ness (Gitxsan, b. 1970s) - Melanie Russ (Haida, b. 1977) - Marika Swan (Nuu-chah-nulth, b. 1982) - Morgan Asoyuf (Ts'msyen, b. 1984) - Cori Savard (Haida, b. 1985) - Cherish Alexander (Gitwangak, b. 1987) - Stephanie Anderson (Wetsuwet'en, b. 1991) - Veronica Waechter (Gitxsan, b. 1995)
Awards
- Winner of the 2025 Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award
Additional Information
160 pages | 9.20" x 1.10" | 120 colour photos | Hardcover
Synopsis:
What does it mean to be Secwepemc? And how can an autobiographical journey to recover Secwepemc identity inform teaching and learning? Drumming Our Way Home demonstrates how telling, retelling, and re-storying lived experiences not only passes on traditional ways but also opens up a world of culture-based learning.
Georgina Martin was taken from her mother not long after her birth in a segregated tuberculosis hospital. Her experience is representative of the intergenerational trauma inflicted by the Canadian state on Indigenous peoples. Here she tells her story and invites Elder Jean William and youth Colten Wycotte to reflect critically on their own family and community experiences. Together they journey, exchanging thoughts about personal and collective identity, culture and language, and the challenging process of gaining traditional knowledge.
This process of reaching into memories not only uncovers the pain of separation from culture but also provides a powerful example of reconnection through healing, affirmation, and intergenerational learning. Throughout this journey, Georgina Martin is guided by her hand drum, reflecting on its use as a way to uphold community protocols and honour teachings.
Drumming Our Way Home is evidence of the value of storytelling as pedagogy, demonstrating that it can offer vital lessons in teaching, learning, and meaning making.
This significant contribution to Indigenous pedagogical methodology is an excellent resource for educators, education students, and eduational policy makers. It should also be read by scholars and students in Indigenous studies and anthropology. Those in the helping fields of social work and health, education, and sociology will find the narrative of a personal healing journey inspiring and informative.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Foreword / Jo-ann Archibald
Preface
1 Drumming as Metaphor
2 The Drum Reverberates against the Intergenerational Aspects of Colonialism
3 Honouring the Drummer: Embodied Knowledge from within my community
4 Elder Jean’s Stories: Passing the Drum Forward to the Next Generation
5 Colten’s Stories: Memories and Values
6 Intergenerational Knowledge Transmission
Notes; References; Index
Additional Information
176 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 7 b&w photos, 1 map | Paperback
Synopsis:
The Secwépemc term le estcwicwéy̓ (the missing) was given by Secwépemc elders who dedicated their knowledge and time to guide the community through the hell they were forced to endure in May 2021. Garry Gottfriedson’s The Flesh of Ice picks up the thread of his 2021 collection, Bent Back Tongue, describing the history and relationship of Indigenous people in Canada with the Canadian government and the Catholic church. Here is the story of those who survived Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS), and stories of descendants of KIRS who remembered "the missing” in the wake of the discovery of unmarked graves at the KIRS. Here, in hauntingly visceral poems, are the living conditions, policies and practices of the school itself, the stories of those who lived there, and the names of practitioners of the school, called out and cursed. Lastly, personal stories are given space to reclaim the narrative, taking readers on a journey of resilience, survival, pain and joy.
Reviews
"Drawing on the work of the late legal scholar Patricia Monture-Angus, I find fitting words for this book and for the former students of KIRS: first we were victims, then we were survivors and now we are warriors. Those warriors have now become teachers—teachers for those who learn to listen to the voices in this book."—from the prologue by Celia Haig-Brown
Additional Information
126 pages | 5.50" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Now You Know Me tells of a journey of understanding between two old friends who grew up in different worlds in the same small town of Powell River, BC, on traditional Tla’amin land. Joe Gallagher, who is Tla’amin, and John Matterson, who is white, were friends as teenagers but went their separate ways before reconnecting 35 years later and truly getting to know each other.
As John began to listen more deeply to Joe’s history, they journeyed together through the historic events and attitudes that deeply wounded the Tla’amin and their way of life. With each conversation, John’s understanding of Joe’s life and recognition of his own unearned advantages and blind participation in racism became clearer.
In their illuminating dialogue in Now You Know Me, we learn what it took for Joe to straddle two worlds while battling racism, a traumatic childhood, and his father’s warning that he couldn’t succeed in a white world without working twice as hard. Despite ongoing suffering from multigenerational harms, Joe garnered broad respect on his way to becoming CEO of a groundbreaking Indigenous-led health organization, bringing hope and a collaborative spirit to a revolution in health and wellness for BC First Nations.
Today, John is committed to ongoing learning and allyship, while Joe is called on by First Nations leaders as well as senior leaders in health and government as an able navigator of the movement toward Truth and Reconciliation.
Additional Information
304 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A provocative, historical investigation into the displacement of the Snayackstx (Sinixt) First People of British Columbia’s West Kootenays.
This compact book records a quest for understanding, to find the story behind the Snayackstx (Sinixt) First Nation. Known in the United States as the Arrow Lakes Indians of the Colville Confederated Tribes, the tribe lived along the upper Columbia River and its tributaries for thousands of years. In a story unique to First Nations in Canada, the Canadian federal government declared them “extinct” in 1956, eliminating with the stroke of a pen this tribe’s ability to legally access 80 per cent of their trans-boundary traditional territory.
Part travelogue, part cultural history, the book details the culture, place names, practices, and landscape features of this lost tribe of British Columbia, through a contemporary lens that presents all readers with an opportunity to participate in reconciliation.
Educator Information
Please note that the author of this work is not Indigenous, but the text content is about the Snayackstx (Sinixt) First People. Shelly Boyd, Sinixt/Arrow Lakes Cultural Facilitator provides a Foreword.
In an Introduction to the work, the author notes: "First and foremost, every word of the story of their culture as presented here has been confirmed and accepted as true by the contemporary Sinixt.... Second, because the story also exists within a colonial context, it refers to written materials, published history and textual memories, information that was often recorded by the hand of non-Indigenous People but nonetheless reflects the knowledge of Indigenous generations.... The result is a tapestry, combining threads of history, ethnography, science and personal essays on the natural word.... Sinixit leaders, local historians, and academic experts review[ed] the text prior to publication.... Some non-Indigenous people criticized me for writing about Indigenous People at all, telling me it was not 'my story to tell.' This was, I realize now, a subtle form of silencing. While racism toward Indigenous People still exists across this culture, a groundswell of recognition has begun. In working alongside the Sinixt all these years, I have come to understand that integrating Indigenous perspectives into contemporary culture is not exclusively the responsibility of Indigenous People. As Shelly Boyd so aptly reminds all of us, we, the settlers, need to listen well and with respect. We need to pick up our pens or cameras or drawing pencils, and dig in to help."
It is up to readers to determine if this resource will be useful for their purposes.
Additional Information
280 pages | 6.00" x 8.90" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A personal account of one man’s confrontation with colonization that illuminates the philosophy and values of a First Nation on the front lines of the fight against an extractive industry, colonial government, and threats to the life-giving Salish Sea.
It Stops Here is the profound story of the spiritual, cultural, and political resurgence of a nation taking action to reclaim their lands, waters, law, and food systems in the face of colonization. In deeply moving testimony, it recounts the intergenerational struggle of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to overcome colonial harms and the powerful stance they have taken alongside allies and other Indigenous nations across Turtle Island against the development of the Trans Mountain Pipeline—a fossil fuel megaproject on their unceded territories.
In a firsthand account of the resurgence told by Rueben George, one of the most prominent leaders of the widespread opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, It Stops Here reveals extraordinary insights and revelations from someone who has devoted more than a decade of his life to fighting the project. Rueben shares stories about his family’s deep ancestral connections to their unceded lands and waters, which are today more commonly known as Vancouver, British Columbia and the Burrard Inlet. He discloses how, following the systematic cultural genocide enacted by the colonial state, key leaders of his community, such as his grandfather, Chief Dan George, always taught the younger generations to be proud of who they were and to remember the importance of their connection to the inlet.
Part memoir, part call to action, It Stops Here is a compelling appeal to prioritize the sacred over oil and extractive industries, while insisting that settler society honour Indigenous law and jurisdiction over unceded territories rather than exploiting lands and reducing them to their natural resources.
Additional Information
288 pages | 5.13" x 7.98" | 31 b+w images throughout | Paperback
Synopsis:
An invaluable resource for educators looking to actively participate in reshaping education to include historically silenced voices in the classroom.
Re-Storying Education is a process of dismantling old narratives taught in education and rebuilding new narratives that include all the voices that have created this place known as Canada today. This vital and timely book outlines how colonialism has shaped both the country and the public school system. Re-Storying Education uses an Indigenous lens, offering ways to put Indigenous education, history, and pedagogy into practice. It invites readers into an open dialogue in the pursuit of a more inclusive and just educational landscape.
Drawing from her own experiences as an Indigenous student, educator, and administrator, in public and band-operated school systems, Indigenous academic Carolyn Roberts offers a deep understanding of how to support educators with Indigenous education and to create a nurturing and inclusive environment for all students. Re-Storying Education brings wider perspectives, connections to the land and the people of this land, and a deeper understanding of how relationships to these can change the educational experience for all students.
Re-Storying Education contains valuable lesson and assessment ideas, fostering the development of a critical lens in education. Roberts offers questions for self-reflection, suggestions for professional action, recommended resources for further learning, personal stories and anecdotes, insights from her own decolonizing teaching practices, and playlists that reflect the spirit of the work and that uplift Indigenous voices.
This is a must-have resource for all educators and change-makers in education today!
Reviews
"A gentle yet thorough overview and introduction, Re-Storying Education is packed with history and context to help educators decolonize their practices. Carolyn Roberts has written an excellent resource for navigating often-fraught waters, turning potential struggle into a hopeful journey of discovery and reconciliation." — Eden Robinson, bestselling author of the Trickster trilogy
"Woven in these pages is a masterful contribution to the field of education and to those who work in educating hearts, minds and spirits. I found myself lit up, excited, eager to turn each page and also inspired to slow down, reflect and let all the beauty in the pages find their rightful place in my own learning. Carolyn invites us to go on a journey with her, to be in relationship with her as we learn, unlearn, relearn and ignite our excitement in the joy of education. Re-Storying Education is full of knowledge, wisdom, truths and stories and will influence education for generations to come." — Monique Gray Smith, bestselling author of I Hope
Additional Information
224 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Academia remains an unwelcoming space for Indigenous scholars. What space it does cede to Indigenous knowledge is dictated and narrowly defined. W̱SÁNEĆ scholar Jack Horne, author of TOL, NEW̱ SEN TŦE SOȽ: I Know the Road articulates his own negotiation with academia:
“In response to the question of how I, a W̱SÁNEĆ artist and scholar, use embodied W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge in my artistic and academic work, this book advocates for a move away from standard social sciences theories, methodologies and paradigms while forcefully insisting on a W̱SÁNEĆ paradigm.”
To accomplish this constructive goal, Horne argues, “requires a negotiation of embodied W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge, performance studies theory, and western eurocentric social sciences paradigms.”
Written through beautiful storytelling practices with this goal in mind, TOL, NEW̱ SEN TŦE SOȽ: I Know the Road is thus part personal and cultural history, and part contemporary critique. Horne uses a variety of research, letters, and even fragments from his plays, to create a compelling challenge to outmoded academic structures, proposing an alternative that embraces and tools historically suppressed W̱SÁNEĆ ways of knowing. Not only does Horne’s writing confront white supremacy and anti-Indigenous racism in academia, it offers material alternatives to status quo, white-centric pedagogy. With its focus on W̱SÁNEĆ history and knowledge practices, this book offers a praxis of Indigenous knowledge and performance study theory that delivers a unique and deeply valuable pedagogic project.
Additional Information
216 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"| Paperback
Synopsis:
Rock art – etched in blood-red lines into granite cliffs, boulders, and caves – appears as beguiling, graffiti-like abstraction. What are these signs? The petroglyphs and red-ochre pictographs found across Nlaka’pamux territory in present-day British Columbia and Washington State are far more than a collection of ancient motifs.
Signs of the Time explores the historical and cultural reasons for making rock art. Chris Arnett draws on extensive archival research and decades of work with Elders and other Nlaka’pamux community members, their oral histories and oral tradition, to document the variability and similarity of practices. Rock art was and is a form of communication between the spirit and physical worlds, a way to pass information to later generations, and a powerful protection against challenges to a people, land, and culture.
Nlaka’pamux have used such culturally prescribed means to forestall external threats to their lifeways from as early as the sixteenth century – when they were aware of incipient European encroachment – until well into the twentieth. As this important work attests, rock art remains a signature of resilience and resistance to colonization among Nlaka’pamux today.
As well as providing essential reading for scholars and students of archaeology, cultural and applied anthropology, Indigenous studies, and art history, Signs of the Time will also fascinate rock art specialists and amateur enthusiasts.
Reviews
"Signs of the Time is innovative and provocative, adding dramatically to the discussion of how Western science interacts with and accommodates Indigenous knowledge, concerns, and heritage." — David S. Whitley, author of Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origin of Creativity and Belief
"Signs of the Time is informative and accessible, giving equal voice to Indigenous knowledge keepers and academics in presenting the ideas in petroglyphs and pictographs. It is an excellent example of how Eurowestern academics can work alongside Indigenous knowledge experts to understand the Indigenous world. I highly recommend it." — Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams EdD; OC; OBC; Lil’watul; professor emerita, University of Victoria
Additional Information
256 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 40 b&w photos
Synopsis:
From bestselling true-crime author Peter Edwards and Governor General's Award-winning playwright Kevin Loring, two sons of Lytton, BC, the town that burned to the ground in 2021, comes a meditation on hometown―when hometown is gone.
Before it made global headlines as the small town that burned down during a record-breaking heat wave in June 2021, while briefly the hottest place on Earth, Lytton, British Columbia, had a curious past. Named for the author of the infamous line, “It was a dark and stormy night,” Lytton was also where Peter Edwards, organized-crime journalist and author of seventeen non-fiction books, spent his childhood. Although only about 500 people lived in Lytton, Peter liked to joke that he was only the second-best writer to come from his tiny hometown. His grade-school classmate’s nephew Kevin Loring, Nlaka’pamux from Lytton First Nation, had grown up to be a Governor General's Award-winning playwright.
The Nlaka’pamux called Lytton “The Centre of the World,” a view Buddhists would share in the late twentieth century, as they set up a temple just outside town. In modern times, many outsiders would seek shelter there, often people who just didn’t fit anywhere else and were hoping for a little anonymity in the mountains. You’ll meet a whole cast of them in this book.
A gold rush in 1858 saw conflict with a wave of Californians come to a head with the Canyon War at the junction of the mighty Fraser and Thompson rivers, one that would have changed the map of what was soon to become Canada had the locals lost. The Nlaka’pamux lost over thirty lives in that conflict, as did the American gold seekers. A century later, Lytton hadn’t changed much. It was always a place where the troubles of the world seemed to land, even if very few people knew where it was.
This book is the story of Lytton, told from a shared perspective, of an Indigenous playwright and the journalist son of a settler doctor who quietly but sternly pushed back against the divisions that existed between populations (Dr. Edwards gladly took a lot of salmon as payment for his services back in the 1960s). Portrayed with all the warmth, humour and sincerity of small-town life, the colourful little town that burned to the ground could be every town’s warning if we don’t take seriously what this unique place has to teach us.
Additional Information
376 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Exploring how Indigenous media has flourished across Canada from the 1990s to the present
In the early 1990s, Indigenous media experienced a boom across Canada, resulting in a vast landscape of film, TV, and digital media. Coinciding with a resurgence of Indigenous political activism, Indigenous media highlighted issues around sovereignty and Indigenous rights to broader audiences in Canada. In Producing Sovereignty, Karrmen Crey considers the conditions—social movements, state policy, and evolutions in technology—that enabled this proliferation.
Exploring the wide field of media culture institutions, Crey pays particular attention to those that Indigenous media makers engaged during this cultural moment, including state film agencies, arts organizations, provincial broadcasters, and more. Producing Sovereignty ranges from the formation of the Aboriginal Film and Video Art Alliance in the early 1990s and its partnership with the Banff Centre for the Arts to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s 2016 production of Highway of Tears—an immersive 360-degree short film directed by Anishinaabe filmmaker Lisa Jackson—highlighting works by Indigenous creators along the way and situating Indigenous media within contexts that pay close attention to the role of media-producing institutions.
Importantly, Crey focuses on institutions with limited scholarly attention, shifting beyond the work of the National Film Board of Canada to explore lesser-known institutions such as educational broadcasters and independent production companies that create programming for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Through its refusal to treat Indigenous media simply as a set of cultural aesthetics, Producing Sovereignty offers a revealing media history of this cultural moment.
Reviews
"Producing Sovereignty is a must-read for those interested in the theoretical fundamentals of Indigenous media studies. By unearthing and revealing the subjugated histories and materiality of Indigenous artists and filmmakers, Karrmen Crey provides a crucial lens into the co-constitutive production of Indigenous aesthetics as an outcome of institutional contestations."—Brendan Hokowhitu, University of Queensland
"One of the most engaging and sophisticated books in the field, Producing Sovereignty uses highly immersive case studies to locate Indigenous media within wider social movements and cultural developments in North America. Karrmen Crey speaks to the decolonizing force of Indigenous media—not only as expressions of Indigenous cultural sovereignty but as destabilizing forces within contemporary settler societies."—Marian Bredin, coeditor of Canadian Television: Text and Context
Additional Information
224 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 25 black and white illustrations | Paperback
Synopsis:
Have Indigenous plant knowledge at your fingertips with this gorgeously illustrated card deck from Leigh Joseph, an ethnobotanist and a member of the Squamish Nation.
Plants can be a great source of healing as well as nourishment, and the practice of growing and harvesting from trees, flowering herbs, and other plants is a powerful way to become more connected to the land. The Indigenous Peoples of North America have long traditions of using native plants as medicine as well as for food. Held by the Land Deck includes 45 cards of indigenous plants and their properties and a 48-page booklet to guide you along the way. Here are some of the things you will find:
- Tips to build your own home apothecary
- Notes on how to mindfully harvest and connect to the land you’re on
- Recipes for infused oils and salves
- A botanical glossary to help out with some of the more technical language
- Checklists for safe and sustainable harvesting
This beautifully illustrated card deck includes plants that are culturally significant to the Pacific Northwest, including Western Red Cedar, Devil’s Club, Broad-Leaved Plantain, Camas, Wapato, and Red Laver. Special features in the booklet include recipes for food and beauty products along with stories and traditions around the plants.
This elegant, full-color card deck and booklet is your go-to guide for Indigenous plants and will give you new insights into the power of everyday nature.
Additional Information
48 pages | 4.50" x 5.90" | 45 Cards and 48-Page Booklet
Synopsis:
Nature is a place to both play and learn. The physical self is moving and active, the mental self is thinking and questioning, the emotional self is feeling and experiencing, and the spiritual self is connecting and thankful. We see what we have been taught to see. We love and respect our natural surroundings when we see ourselves as belonging to that community. This resource leads readers on a rich learning journey as they deepen their connections to nature and culture.
The activities inside instill traditional teachings of respect, honour, resourcefulness, and humility in children. This handbook is intended to inspire parents, caregivers, and educators to provide children with meaningful outdoor experiences interwoven with traditional indigenous knowledge.
Educator Information
For use with children.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Power of Ceremony
- Introduction
- Ceremony and Daily Life
- Sunrise Ceremony
- Nature Picnic
- Sharing
- Navajo Forgiveness Ceremony
- Smudging Ceremony
Mindfulness: Meditation of Gratitude
- Introduction
- Gratitude
- Silent Study
- Sensory Wake-Up
- Walking Meditation
- Guided Meditation
- Nature Meditation
- Traditional Prayers
We Are All Related
- Honouring the Plants, Earth and Water
- Medicine Wheel Teachings in Nature
- Water is Life
- Find the Rock Game
- Adopt a Tree
- Read a Tree
- Earthing
- Build a Nature Structure
Swimmers, Walkers and Fliers
- The Animal People
- Walk Like the Animal People
- Tracking
Indigenous Games
- Introduction
- Blindfold Detective
- Stalk the Drum
- Fire Keeper
- Deer Cliff Arrow
- Hunter
- Run and Scream
- Metis Map-Making
Conclusion
Additional Information
84 pages | 9.00" x 7.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Petite femme montagne est un cri du coeur qui prend le lecteur à témoin et l'oblige à examiner sa propre vie. C'est livre vérité, un livre boussole qui explique comment survivre aux relations mère-fille, à la maternité, au désir, à la trahison, aux amours déçus, à la dépendance, à l'abus et à l'injustice. Terese Marie Mailhot illumine avec finesse son enfance dans une maison infestée de coccinelles sur la réserve de Seabird Island. Son père, un artiste qu'a rencontré sa mère alors qu'il était en prison est décédé dans une chambre de motel après une altercation avec un ami. Elle montre comment pour quelqu'un qui a vécu la faim, l'abus et les familles déchirées le simple confort de la vie domestique peut ressembler au paradis. Petite femme montagne est un livre nécessaire.
Educator Information
This book is available in English: Heart Berries: A Memoir
Additional Information
204 Pages
Synopsis:
Krie Redsky is an extraordinary Indigenous child who has both a curse and blessing that allows him to walk between this world and the Spirit Realm. He is also at an age where he is learning to cope with the twists and turns of friendships, the awkwardness of first love, and the self-doubt that must be overcome following loss and betrayal. But, nurtured by Knowledge Keepers as “one who is without fear, and with the ability to cross realities,” he is soon recognized as an individual who can – and will – battle the terrifying ancient spirit stealers known as Bonewalkers. But is he strong enough for what is to come?
Additional Information
236 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A story of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation): past, present, and future.
One hundred years after Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) leadership signed an amalgamation agreement that declared several communities in Squamish territory as one nation, this accessible history of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people traces our stories from ancient times to the present. Tiná7 Cht Ti Temíxw: We Come from This Land offers the culmination of generations of knowledge about the Squamish People and Sḵwx̱wú7meshulh Temíx̱w (Squamish People’s Territory).
Today, we are over 4,100 people and growing, living within Sḵwx̱wú7meshulh Temíx̱w and beyond. Our 6,732-square-kilometre territory includes the watersheds of the Squamish River, Mamquam River, and Howe Sound in the north, and English Bay, False Creek, and Burrard Inlet in the south. It encompasses saltwater and rushing rivers, old-growth forests at valley bottoms, and alpine forests high above the ocean.
Oral histories and archaeological sites demonstrate our relationship with the lands and waters going back over twelve thousand years. Here, we introduce ancient Squamish stories and ways, as well as describe relationships with our neighbours from time immemorial. We discuss early contact with Europeans and the disastrous effects of racism and colonialism, the Indian Act, reserves, and residential schools. We detail our engagement with the imperfect tool of the Canadian judicial system in several significant court cases that have advanced Indigenous rights. And we show how the Squamish Nation is taking back ownership and stewardship within our homelands.
Tiná7 Cht Ti Temíxw: We Come from This Land is a powerful introduction to our vast history and a launching point for discovering more about the different places, people, and stories offered here.
Additional Information
416 pages | 6.50" x 9.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
This Indigenous Art Colouring Book features Holiday designs to colour from Coast Salish artist Angela Kimble.
Included are 28 colouring pages based on original pieces of artwork created by the artist, as well as information on the artist's cultural background and the artist's biography. The artist is paid royalties for the sale of this product.
Additional Information
8.5" x 11" | 28 Colouring Pages | Made in Canada
Synopsis:
Hailed as a contemporary classic of oral literature, The Days of Augusta is Shuswap elder Augusta Evans’ memories of a lifetime that spanned from 1888 to 1978.
Accompanied by Robert Keziere’s intimate photographs, Augusta’s rhythmic prose reads like poetry. She depicts with strength and eloquence her own story—her days at the Mission School, making baskets and catching salmon, the pain of giving birth and the death of a son—as well as the legends and stories of events told to her—a stagecoach robbery, a woman who was the prisoner of a bear. First printed in 1973, Augusta’s story continues to be a fascinating glimpse into the past, with throughlines to the present.
Additional Information
80 pages | 8.00" x 9.00"| 25 b&w photos | Paperback
Synopsis:
Guileless and refreshingly honest, Terese Mailhot's debut memoir chronicles her struggle to balance the beauty of her Native heritage with the often desperate and chaotic reality of life on the reservation.
Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar II, Terese Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father--an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist--who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.
Mailhot "trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain and what we can bring ourselves to accept." Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people and to her place in the world.
Educator Information
This book is available in French: Petite Femme Montagne
Additional Information
144 pages | 5.00" x 7.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Place names are powerful, and their significance extends far beyond words. Learning and embracing the original Indigenous phrases used to describe the world around us acknowledges the impact of colonization, recognizes First Peoples’ ongoing relationship to the land, and honours their traditional way of being. In Snuneymuxw Mulstimuxw, Traditional Knowledge Keeper and respected Elder Geraldine Manson, C’tasi:a offers an extensive survey of the history and meaning of local Hul’q’umi’num place names and origin stories of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.
Produced through a partnership between Snuneymuxw First Nation, Vancouver Island University, and New Society Publishers, this beautifully illustrated, full-colour booklet gathers and shares the rich history of the Snuneymuxw’s living landscape as passed down through generations from time immemorial. From how Xw’ulhquyum (Snake Island) and other sites of significance got their names to ancient stories such as the bringing of fire by Qeyux to the Tle:ltxw people, the cultural history chronicled in these pages provides a unique lens through which to view and understand nearby lands and waters.
In addition to the sacred cultural narratives distilled from the teachings of the Ancestors, Snuneymuxw Mulstimuxw delves into more recent historical events, told from the perspective of those who experienced them firsthand or whose families are still experiencing the intergenerational effects. This invaluable work is complemented by a series of maps integrating traditional Hul’q’umi’num place names into their present day context.
Educator Information
In Snuneymuxw Mulstimuxw Elder C’tasi:a offers an extensive survey of Hul’q’umi’num place names, sites of significance, and origin stories of the Snuneymuxw Nation.
Embracing the original Indigenous names for the world around us, this book acknowledges the impact of colonization and honours First Peoples’ ongoing relationship with the land.
Additional Information
42 Pages | 8.5" x 11" | Paperback
All proceeds from the sale of this work are donated to Youth and Elders events and youth who need finances to attend events.
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:
In 1973, fifteen-year old, or "Squito" Bob, is a mixed-blood NłeᎮkepmx boy trying to find his place in a small, mostly Native town. His closest friends are three nłeᎮkepmx boys and a white kid, an obnoxious runt who thinks himself superior to his friends. Accepted as neither Native nor white, Squito often feels like the stray dog of the group and envisions a short, disastrous life for himself. HOME WALTZ follows the boys over thirty-six hours on what should be one of the best weekends of their lives. With a senior girls volleyball tournament in town, Squito's favourite band performing, and enough alcohol for ten people, the boys dream of girls, dancing and possibly romance. A story of love, heartbreak and tragedy, HOME WALTZ delves into suicide, alcohol abuse, body image insecurities, and systemic racism. A coming of age story like no other, HOME WALTZ speaks to one indigenous youth's experience of growing up in a world that doesn't want or trust him.
Reviews
"In Squito Bob, Gordon Grisenthwaite has given us a latter-day Holden Caufield, fighting hormones, toxic friendships, and the general stupidity of others in the fleeting hope of his own brief shot at transcendence. Home Waltz is a tour de force, full of compassion and insight and humour and utterly unflinching in its look at the hard truths of life on the res." —Nino Ricci, author of Lives of the Saints, and Testament
"Grisenthwaite weaves the classic coming-of-age tale into a story of deep grief and longing for place, the unfair treatment of First Nations people, but also the heart and kinship of First Nation’s communities."—Crystal Mackenzie, Freefall Magazine
Additional Information
304 pages | 5.25" x 8.25" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Curious, uncanny tales blending Indigenous oral storytelling and meticulous style, from an electric voice in Canadian fiction.
These are stories that are a little bit larger than life, or maybe they really happened. Tales that could be told 'round the campfire, each one-upping the next. Tales about a car that drives herself, ever loyal to her owner. Tales about an impossible moose hunt. Tales about the Real Santa(TM) mashed up with the book of Genesis, alongside SPAM stew and bedroom sets from IKEA.
G.A. Grisenthwaite's writing is electric and inimitable, blending meticulous literary style with oral storytelling and coming away with a voice that is entirely his own. Tales for Late Night Bonfires is truly one of a kind, and not to be missed.
Reviews
"Tales for Late Night Bonfires is funny, dark, and rich all at once; each story is immense and alive. Grisenthwaite shows us what fiction can be when story leads the way." - QUILL & QUIRE starred review
"With his first book, Home Waltz, G.A. Grisenthwaite had arrived. With Tales for Late Night Bonfires, he has fully moved in. His writing is so vivid and fresh that the reader inhabits his characters, in their homes, on the land, in their talking cars. Gord has a great gift for dialogue and he writes with flinty humour and such love. I felt more completely human when I finished this book." - SHELAGH ROGERS founding host and co-creator, The Next Chapter, CBC Radio
"Grisenthwaite is a master storyteller, with a voice capable of roasting us and all the other ‘two-leggeds’ while keeping us at the bonfire, hungry for more. The lives of these unforgettable characters are at once comic and heart-crushing, precarious and buoyed by the undying embrace of interlaced dimensions, imbricate worlds." - SUSAN HOLBROOK author of Throaty Wipes and Ink Earl
"Gordon has a voice that is authentic campfire. I felt like I was holding a mug of tea in one hand, and enjoying a fish fry with the other - while waiting for his words to paint a vibrant canvas of characters. Sitting around the campfire, and ingesting memory with stories that need to be told, and retold. These stories visit places in the heart, where we each share, words that need to be said, words that beg to be read." - CAROL ROSE GOLDENEAGLE author of Bearskin Diary and Essential Ingredients
Additional Information
232 pages | 5.25" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Award-winning author Grand Chief Ron Derrickson tells the story of his personal fight against Ukrainian political and economic forces alongside the larger story of the wider struggle for Ukraine to end the corruption that has plagued the country since the 1990s
Ron Derrickson watched the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country where he had spent much of the past 20 years, with a kind of anguish, knowing the country had been systematically shut out of the EU and left on its own. While doing business there, he had entered the rabbit hole of Ukrainian political and economic life, a land where gangsters controlled not only the heights of the economy but also the police, the courts, and the national parliament. At stake was his $28 million company stolen by a cast of characters that included a former governor and members of the national parliament.
In the end, Derrickson spent a dozen years fighting for justice in the courts, in political and diplomatic spheres, and even with automatic weapon-toting mercenaries. Ukranian Scorpions tells not only the story of his personal battles but the much wider struggle of Ukraine to find its footing and shake off the gangsterism that has plagued it since the 1990s. In the end, Derrickson searches for signs that after the recent cataclysm, a new Ukraine might rise from the ashes.
Additional Information
232 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
“We need to learn and grow together, and if we are able to do this, we will create harmony,” counsels Tom Sampson, an elder of Tsartlip First Nation in British Columbia.
Dynamic and diverse, Coast Salish culture is bound together by shared values and relations that generate a resilient worldview. Jesintel—"to learn and grow together"—characterizes the spirit of this book, which brings the cultural teachings of nineteen elders to new generations.
Featuring interviews that share powerful experiences and stories, Jesintel illuminates the importance of ethical reciprocal relationships and the interconnectedness of places, land, water, and the spirit within all things. Elders offer their perspectives on language revitalization, Coast Salish family values and naming practices, salmon, sovereignty, canoe racing, and storytelling. They also share traumatic memories, including of their boarding school experiences and the epidemics that ravished their communities. Jesintel highlights the importance of maintaining relations and traditions in the face of ongoing struggles. Collaboration is at the heart of this work and informs how the editors and community came together to honor the boundless relations of Coast Salish people and their territories.
Elders Interviewed:
Tom Sampson (Tsartlip First Nation)
Virginia Cross (Muckleshoot Tribe)
Ernestine Gensaw (Lummi Nation)
Steve and Gwen Point (Stó:lō Nation)
Gene and Wendy Harry (Malahat Nation)
Claude Wilbur (Swinomish Tribe)
Richard Solomon (Lummi Nation)
Elaine Grinell (Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe)
Arvid Charlie (Cowichan Nation)
Amy George (Tsleil-Waututh Nation)
Nancy Shippentower (Nisqually Tribe)
Nolan Charles (Musqueam Indian Band)
Andy de los Angeles (Snoqualmie Tribe)
Jewell James (Lummi Nation)
Kenny Moses Sr. Family (Tulalip Tribal Nation)
Ramona Morris (Lummi Nation)
Reviews
"A beautiful sharing of thriving Coast Salish communities. Indigenous elders, cultures, and languages have so much precious wisdom to share, and Jesintel celebrates these through storytelling and photos. It is a generous gift to anyone who wants to better understand the resilience of Indigenous communities."- Michelle M. Jacob (Yakama), author of The Auntie Way: Stories Celebrating Kindness, Fierceness, and Creativity
Educator Information
Nineteen elders from Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia offer a portrait of their perspectives on language, revitalization, and Coast Salish family values. Topics include naming practices, salmon, canoe journeys and storytelling.
Additional Information
224 pages | 9.00" x 10.00" | 144 colour illustrations | 1 map | Paperback
Synopsis:
Conversations with Khahtsahlano, 1932–1954 contains twenty-two years of conversations between Sḵwx̱uwú7mesh Chief X̱ats’alanexw, a.k.a. Chief August Jack Khahtsahlano, and Major J.S. Matthews. Originally published in 1955 by the Vancouver City Archives, Conversations with Khahtsahlano received a limited publication and is reproduced here in facsimile.
Chief X̱ats’alanexw’s reminiscences travel as far back as 1881. He recounts neighbourhood tales, the Traditional Stories he grew up with, local genealogies, cultural histories, and detailed accounts of practices for everything from fishing sturgeon to building houses. Knowledgeable and forthcoming, Chief X̱ats’alanexw’s recollections weave a meticulous tapestry.
After centuries of violent erasure of Indigenous world views, here is a rare first-hand account detailing traditional life of the Coast Salish peoples, an insightful record rich with art, diagrams, maps, letters, and photographs. Chief X̱ats’alanexw’s observations give shape to the social and physical changes of the region, and offer an illuminating glimpse into so-called Vancouver in its infancy. Conversations with Khahtsahlano is an essential text that brings history indelibly to life.
This facsimile reprint is a co-production by Talonbooks and Massy Books.
Reviews
“Chief X̱ats’alanexw provides incredible insight into the history, culture, and lifestyle of our peoples. His descriptive accounts help readers to visualize our historical villages around k’emk’emeláy̓, learn how we’ve thrived off our lands for millennia and understand how we were forcibly removed from them during colonization.”—Syex̱wáliya Ann Whonnock, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw Councillor and grandniece of Chief X̱ats’alanexw
Additional Information
444 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
“My name is Sam George. In spite of everything that happened to me, by the grace of the Creator, I have lived to be an Elder.”
The crimes carried out at St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver scarred untold numbers of Indigenous children and families across generations. Sam George was one of these children. This candid account follows Sam from his idyllic childhood growing up on the Eslhá7an (Mission) reserve to St. Paul’s, where he weathered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. He spent much of his life navigating the effects of this trauma – prison, addiction, and challenging relationships – until he found the strength to face his past. Now an Elder and educator with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, this is Sam’s harrowing story, in his own words. An ember of Sam’s spirit always burned within him, and even in the darkest of places he retained his humour and dignity.
The Fire Still Burns is an unflinching look at the horrors of a childhood in the Indian Residential School system and the long-term effects on survivors. It illustrates the healing power of one’s culture and the resilience that allows an individual to rebuild a life and a future.
This frank and powerful personal story of trauma and resilience will bring a greater understanding to all readers – Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike – of residential schools and the impact they had on those who were forced to attend them.
Reviews
"I am glad that Sam George has lent his voice to the many voices of survivors now surfacing from residential "schools". I love the way Sam describes his traditional life before he was forced to go to the school and then later goes back to his culture to overcome the trauma he endured. Sam did time in jail for a crime he committed, but the real crime is that our Indigenous way of life was interfered with, and that created the dysfunction in our communities. This book shows that we had it right all along – Indigenous culture is our saviour."— Bev Sellars, author of They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School
"Brutally frank yet disarmingly subtle, sensitive, and funny, The Fire Still Burns by Sam George offers an unflinching look at the human dimensions of Canada’s attempted genocide of Indigenous Peoples through residential schooling." — Sam McKegney, author of Carrying the Burden of Peace: Reimagining Indigenous Masculinities through Story
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Preface / Sam George
Acknowledgments
A Note on the Text
1 Your Name Is T'seatsultux
2 In Them Days
3 Our Lives Signed Away
4 The Strap
5 A Girl Named Pearl, a Boy Named Charlie
6 Runaway
7 I Tried to Be Invisible
8 Finding Ways to Feel Good
9 On Our Own
10 Oakalla
11 Haney Correctional
12 Longshoreman
13 Misery Loves Company
14 Drowning
15 Tsow-Tun Le Lum
16 I’m Still Here
Afterword: On Co-Writing Sam George’s Memoir / Jill Yonit Goldberg
Reader’s Guide
About the Authors
Additional Information
152 pages | 5.00" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Bringing the Legends home
Legends of the Capilano updates E. Pauline Johnson’s 1911 classic Legends of Vancouver, restoring Johnson’s intended title for the first time. This new edition celebrates the storytelling abilities of Johnson’s Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) collaborators, Joe and Mary Capilano, and supplements the original fifteen legends with five additional stories narrated solely or in part by Mary Capilano, highlighting her previously overlooked contributions to the book.
Alongside photographs and biographical entries for E. Pauline Johnson, Joe Capilano, and Mary Capilano, editor Alix Shield provides a detailed publishing history of Legends since its first appearance in 1911. Interviews with literary scholar Rick Monture (Mohawk) and archaeologist Rudy Reimer (Skwxwú7mesh) further considers the legacy of Legends in both scholars’ home communities. Compiled in consultation with the Mathias family, the direct descendants of Joe and Mary Capilano and members of the Skwxwú7mesh Nation, this edition reframes, reconnects, and reclaims the stewardship of these stories.
Reviews
"Shield has skilfully opened up a new avenue to the past with potentially wide-ranging appeal both to scholars and students and to general readers."— Jean Barman
Educator Information
This book is part of the First Voices, First Texts series.
Additional Information
256 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Dear grandmother, I am writing this song, over and over again, for you. I am a stranger in this place, he tauhou ahau, reintroducing myself to your land.
Tauhou is an inventive exploration of Indigenous families, womanhood, and alternate post-colonial realities by Kotuku Titihuia Nuttall, a writer of Maori and Coast Salish descent. This innovative hybrid novel envisions a shared past between two Indigenous cultures, set on reimagined versions of Vancouver Island and Aotearoa New Zealand that sit side by side in the ocean.
Each chapter is a fable, an autobiographical memory, a poem. A monster guards cultural objects in a museum, a woman uncovers her own grave, another woman remembers her estranged father. On rainforest beaches and grassy dunes, sisters and cousins contend with the ghosts of the past - all the way back to when the first foreign ships arrived on their shores.
In a testament to the resilience of Indigenous women, the two sides of this family, Coast Salish and Maori, must work together in understanding and forgiveness to heal that which has been forced upon them by colonialism. Tauhou is an ardent search for answers, for ways to live with truth. It is a longing for home, to return to the land and sea.
Reviews
"Tauhou is a search for answers, of finding ways to live with the truth. Some of the stories are like fables, others like poetry, and all are a sheer joy to read. A longing for home resonates, a gift for those of us searching for our island also."— Kete Books
"This one's for the lovers of language, lean prose-poetry you can dip in and out of and think about for hours. Best read beside a large body of water."— Woman Magazine
"Brilliantly written in the best of Maori and Coast Salish practices of story, Tauhou is teeming with possibility, love, and dreaming otherwise." — Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies
"Kotuku Titihuia Nuttall takes threads made from all the colours of the Indigenous experience and crosses them over oceans, cultures, and time." — Tayi Tibble, author of Poukahangatus and Rangikura
"Kotuku Titihuia Nuttall's Tauhou is a brilliant example of what language can do when forged with intentional hands and a fantastic mind. Nuttall's work binds words in a way that doesn't hold too tightly but steadfastly contains the many Ancestors present in Nuttall's life and work, weaving together a tapestry of nuance and witnessing. Masterful dialogue and rich scenes move emotions like the currents around Aotearoa and the Salish Seas, a beautiful display of lyricism that loudly proclaims that Kotuku Titihuia Nuttall belongs in the crescendo of rising voices in CanLit. Tauhou is not a collection to miss!" — jaye simpson, author of it was never going to be okay
"The stories in this collection move like the waves of the ocean that divide Vancouver Island and Aotearoa. Once you emerge from Tauhou's narrative depths, you'll miss its imagination, its rhythms, its heart." — Alicia Elliott, author of A Mind Spread Out on the Ground
Educator Information
Includes a SENĆOŦEN glossary, a Te Reo Māori glossary, an Author's Notes and Acknowledgements.
Curriculum Connections: Indigenous Studies
Additional Information
224 pages | 5.00" x 7.75" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Author Leigh Joseph, an ethnobotanist and a member of the Squamish Nation, provides a beautifully illustrated essential introduction to Indigenous plant knowledge.
Plants can be a great source of healing as well as nourishment, and the practice of growing and harvesting from trees, flowering herbs, and other plants is a powerful way to become more connected to the land. The Indigenous Peoples of North America have long traditions of using native plants as medicine as well as for food. Held by the Land honors and shares some of these traditions, offering a guide to:
- Harvesting herbs and other plants and using them topically
- North American plants that can treat common ailments, add nutrition to your diet, become part of your beauty regime, and more
- Stories and traditions about native plants from the author's Squamish culture
- Using plant knowledge to strengthen your connection to the land you live on
Early chapters will introduce you to responsible ways to identify and harvest plants in your area and teach you how to grow a deeper connection with the land you live on through plants. In the plant profiles section, common plants are introduced with illustrations and information on their characteristics, range, how to grow and/or harvest them, and how to use them topically and as food. Special features offer recipes for food and beauty products along with stories and traditions around the plants.
This beautiful, full-color guide to Indigenous plants will give you new insights into the power of everyday plants.
Additional Informaiton
192 pages | 8.00" x 9.25" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
In May 2021, the world was shocked by news of the detection of 215 unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS) in British Columbia, Canada. Ground-penetrating radar confirmed the deaths of students as young as three in the infamous residential school system, which systematically removed children from their families and brought them to the schools. At these Christian-run, government-supported institutions, they were subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse while their Indigenous languages and traditions were stifled and denounced. The egregious abuses suffered in residential schools across the continent caused - as the 2021 discoveries confirmed - death for too many and a multigenerational legacy of trauma for those who survived.
"Tsquelmucwilc" (pronounced cha-CAL-mux-weel) is a Secwepemc phrase loosely translated as "We return to being human again." Tsqelmucwilc is the story of those who survived the Kamloops Indian Residential School, based on the 1988 book Resistance and Renewal, a groundbreaking history of the school - and the first book on residential schools ever published in Canada. Tsqelmucwilc includes the original text as well as new material by the original book's author, Celia Haig-Brown; essays by Secwepemc poet and KIRS survivor Garry Gottfriedson and Nuu-chah-nulth elder and residential school survivor Randy Fred; and first-hand reminiscences by other survivors of KIRS, as well as their children, on their experience and the impact of their trauma throughout their lives.
Read both within and outside the context of the grim 2021 discoveries, Tsqelmucwilc is a tragic story in the history of Indigenous peoples of the indignities suffered at the hands of their colonizers, but it is equally a remarkable tale of Indigenous survival, resilience, and courage.
Additional Information
240 pages | 6.00" x 8.00" | B&W photos throughout | Paperback
Synopsis:
the tales are of loss and forgiveness
and they fill the room
The Punishment is the latest addition to the oeuvre of prolific Kwantlen writer Joseph Dandurand, whose stunning previous collection, The East Side of It All, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize.
In The Punishment, Joseph Dandurand's now-familiar storyteller's voice wrangles trauma, grief, forgiveness and love. His poems illustrate the poet's solitary existence. With scenes of residential school, the psych ward, the streets and the river, Dandurand reveals an arduous journey: one poet's need to both understand his life and find ways to escape it. Through poetry, he shares with us all his lovers. He shares the streets. He shares what he sees: the great eagles and small birds; his culture and teachings; the East Side; self-pity; the deception of love; the deception of hate; sasquatches; spirits; and his people, the Kwantlen.
At root, The Punishment is about survival. Dandurand's poems will show you disease. They'll show you cedar. They'll show you music. They'll show you shadows. They'll show you forgiveness, and they'll show you punishment.
Reviews
"Hands down, Joseph Dandurand is one of my all-time favourite writers ... Good Lord―what a voice!" — Richard Van Camp,
Additional Information
144 pages | 5.50" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Bent Back Tongue is a raw examination of love, identity, politics, masculinity, and vulnerability. Through sharp honesty and revealing satire, Gottfriedson delves into Canadian colonialism and the religious political paradigms shaping experiences of a Secwépemc First Nations man. This is a book that tears through deceptions that both Canada and the church impose on their citizens. Gottfriedson tackles the darkest layers of a shared colonial history; at the same time, the poems in Bent Back Tongue are a celebration of love, land, family, and the self.
Additional Information
120 pages | 5.50" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Too often, history and knowledge of Indigenous-settler conflict over land take the form of confidential reports prepared for court challenges. To Share, Not Surrender offers an entirely new approach, opening scholarship to the public and augmenting it with First Nations community expertise.
The collection appraises the historical and present-day relevance of treaty-making in the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. The authors take us back to when James Douglas and his family relocated to Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island in 1849, critically tracing the transition from treaty-making in the colony of Vancouver Island to reserve formation in the colony of British Columbia. Informed by cel’aṉ’en – “our culture, the way of our people” – this multivocal work explicitly addresses the tensions between academic research, Indigenous knowledge, and local experience. The collection includes essays, translations/interpretations of the treaties into the SENĆOŦEN and Lekwungen languages, and contributions by participants of the Songhees, Huu-ay-aht, and WSANEC peoples.
The chapters demonstrate that the continuing inability to arrive at equitable land-sharing arrangements stem from a fundamental absence of will with respect to accommodating First Nations world views. To Share, Not Surrender is an attempt to understand why, and thus to advance the urgent task of reconciliation in Canada.
The multiple perspectives presented in this important work will find equally diverse audiences: Canadian historians, scholars and students of Indigenous studies, ethno-historians, legal historians, lawyers practising in the areas of Aboriginal law, and researchers preparing historical reports on First Nation land claims.
Reviews
"The past is with us and history matters. Read To Share Not Surrender as a great example of how there can be different interpretations of the past." — Robin Fisher, The British Columbia Review
"After James Douglas negotiated treaties on Vancouver Island, he never made another in BC. Why not? Some of the foremost experts in the field work here to answer this question, analyzing Douglas’s policies and their lasting impact on BC First Nations’ continuing battle with rights and title." — Daniel Boxberger, professor emeritus, anthropology, Western Washington University
"The connection that To Share, Not Surrender makes between the events of the 1850s and 1860s and the modern-day treaty process in British Columbia is extremely valuable. It helps the reader develop a better understanding, not only of colonial history, but also of the relevance of Indigenous law to territorial claims today." — Kent McNeil, author of Flawed Precedent: The St. Catherine’s Case and Aboriginal Title
Educator Information
Contributors: Keith Thor Carlson, Robert Clifford, Emchayiik Robert Dennis Sr., STOLCEL John Elliott Sr., Elmer George, Stephen Hume, Maxine Hayman Matilpi, Kevin Neary, Adele Perry, Sarah Pike, Chief Ron Sam, and Laura Spitz
Additional Information
330 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
This book explores the history and meaning behind petroglyphs on Gabriola Island.
From the author: "This booklet is dedicated to the Ancestors, for the legacy they left us, and to our Elders of Elders who continued to pass this knowledge down in the oral tradition."
All proceeds from the sale of this work are donated to youth programs.
Synopsis:
Long known as the Cannibal Dance, the Hamat̓sa is among the most important hereditary prerogatives of the Kwakwa̱ka̱ꞌwakw of British Columbia. Writing the Hamat̓sa offers a critical survey of attempts to record, describe, and interpret the dance under shifting colonial policy. In the late nineteenth century, as anthropologists arrived to document the practice, colonial agents were pursuing its eradication and Kwakwa̱ka̱ꞌwakw were adapting it to ensure its survival. In the process, the dance – with dramatic choreography, magnificent bird masks, and an aura of cannibalism – entered a vast and variegated library of ethnographic texts.
Drawing on close, contextualized reading of published texts, extensive archival research, and fieldwork, Aaron Glass analyses key examples of overlapping genres over four centuries: the exploration journal, the territorial survey, the missionary polemic, settler journalism, government reports, anthropological works (especially by Franz Boas and George Hunt), poetry, fiction, and Indigenous (auto)biography.
Going beyond postcolonial critiques of representation that often ignore Indigenous agency in the ethnographic encounter, Writing the Hamat̓sa focuses on forms of textual mediation and Indigenous response that helped transform the ceremony from a set of specific performances into a generalized cultural icon. This meticulous work illuminates how Indigenous people contribute to, contest, and repurpose texts in the process of fashioning modern identities under settler colonialism.
This comprehensive critical survey of ethnographic literature on the Hamat̓sa ceremony will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students of the Northwest Coast in a range of disciplines – Indigenous studies, anthropology and history of anthropology, ethnohistory, BC studies, art history, museum studies, and material culture – as well as for Kwakwa̱ka̱ꞌwakw/Indigenous readers.
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Foreword / Chief William Cranmer/T̓łlakwagila (ꞌNa̱mg̱is Nation)
Prologue: Points of Arrival and Departure
Introduction: From Writing Culture to the Intercultural History of Ethnography
1 A Complex Cannibal: Colonialism, Modernity and the Hamat̓sa
2 Discursive Cannibals:The Textual Dynamics of Settler Colonialism, 1786–1893
3 The Foundations of All Future Researches: The Work of Franz Boas and George Hunt, 1886–1966
4 Reading, Rewriting, and Writing Against: Changing Anthropological Theory, 1896–1997
5 From Index to Icon: (Auto)Biography and Popular Culture, 1941–2012
6 Reading Culture, Consuming Ethnography
Afterword: Between This World and That / Andy Everson/Tanis (K̕ómoks Nation)
Appendices
Glossary
Notes; References; Index
Additional Information
512 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 28 b&w photos, 2 maps | Paperback























































