Indigenous Contemporary Issues
Synopsis:
From the bestselling author of 21 Things™ You May Not Know About the Indian Act comes a powerful new book on dismantling the Indian Act and advancing Indigenous self-governance.
Bob Joseph’s 21 Things™You May Not Know About the Indian Act captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of Canadians by shining a light on the Indian Act and the problems associated with it. In that book, readers learned that the Consolidated Indian Act of 1876 has controlled the lives of Indigenous Peoples in Canada for generations, and despite its objective to assimilate Indians into the economic and political mainstream, it has had the opposite effect: segregation. They live under different laws and on different lands.
People came away from that book with questions such as "Can we get rid of the Indian Act?" and "What would that look like? Would self-government work?" These are timely questions, given that 2026 will mark 150 years since the Consolidated Indian Act of 1876. The short answer to these questions is, yes, we can dismantle the Act, and there are current examples of self-government arrangements that are working.
With his trademark wisdom, humility, and deep understanding, Bob Joseph shows us the path forward in 21 Things™ You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government: A Conversation About Dismantling the Indian Act, in which Indigenous self-governance is already happening and not to be feared—and negotiating more such arrangements, sooner rather than later, is an absolute necessity.
21 Things™ You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government: A Conversation About Dismantling the Indian Act is a call to action. Join the conversation now.
Additional Information
200 pages | 5.00" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Your next step on the journey of reconciliation starts here.
What can you do to be a better ally for your Indigenous colleagues, community members, and friends? By actively listening to the history and current lived experiences of Indigenous peoples, you can take steps to address the inequities they continue to face. Author Rose LeMay notes that if you continually educate yourself, you will see many opportunities to be an ally.
This insightful book suggests how to enter the field of reconciliation in a good way, in your community and your workplace. You will learn:
-more about the true history shared by Indigenous peoples and colonial governments
-why reconciliation is mostly the responsibility of non-Indigenous people
-approaches to intervene when you see racism happening
-better ways to respond to emotions that come up when doing the work of an ally
-how to be an active team player for equity and inclusion
LeMay describes key principles to promote reconciliation, deepen your practice of allyship, and contribute to meaningful change.
Additional Information
200 pages | 5.00" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
In Beyond Blood Quantum, voices from Indian Country convey the insidious impacts of the Indian Reorganization Act confronting the existential and pragmatic questions facing many Native Nations to determine who is—and who is not—a citizen. The voices of poets, parents, academics, activists, educators, young adults, and elders prompt conversations in consideration of shared cultural values and lived realities outside of the limited confines of blood quantum.
Both informational and poetic, Beyond Blood Quantum: Refusal to Disappear is a guide for conversation in-community and a songline of voices grappling with contemporary Native identity and the sovereignty inherent in defining citizenship with analysis softened by appreciation for kin, land, and promises to future generations from the descendants of generations who continue to resist, who refuse to disappear.
Reviews
“The tough issues of Native American identity come from within our communities as well as the harmful legacy of oppressive federal Indian policy. From the rise in “pretendians” to the fetishization of Native culture, contributors allow readers to explore the complexities of what it means to belong to a Tribe/Native Nation, according to their own customs and governance." —Karen Diver, Senior Advisor to the President for Native American Affairs at the University of Minnesota, Former Chairwoman, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and Former Special Assistant to President Obama for Native American Affairs
"Our elders teach us that no man, or government, not even the most powerful nation in the world can take away all that defines who we are as Indigenous people—that the Creator gifted to our foremothers and forefathers at the time of Creation—but ourselves. They say that if we are not mindful of our past experiences of our foremothers and forefathers surviving every conceivable policy and laws imposed upon our people, generation after generation, we can at some point in our journey be capable of becoming our own worst enemy. When we internalize the oppression as exhibited by this nation upon our people, and internalize that oppression, we can become the oppressors. The elders warn and prophesied that when that happens, it will be the beginning of the end of us. It is deviating from our core values as gifted to us by our Creator as the deepest expression of love for us. Blood quantum is the epitome of this departure from the Original Instructions of embracing all sacred beings that our children represent so that our lifeways will continue and thrive. The elders say, they are the sacred beings, gifts from the Creator so that we shall continue as a People. The use of blood, our lifeline, to define our relations and our connections ironically in this time of self determination could be the cause of our end. What the government designed, we shall complete. This cannot be the end of our journey.” —Regis Pecos
“A testament to the refusal to disappear and inherent Indigenous sovereignty, Beyond Blood Quantum offers profound insights and reflections on the path forward.” —Wayne Ducheneaux
“Tribal citizens must become informed of where we are and where we are going on the explosive issue of blood quantum. The chapters in this book are a tool for self-education and constitute possible road maps for the future of Indian nations.”—Henrietta Mann
“Blood quantum is an issue that all tribes need to be aware of as they exercise their sovereign right to set their membership standards.” —John Echohawk
Additional Information
288 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 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:
Internationally renowned as an expert in Aboriginal law and an advocate for Indigenous rights, Bruce McIvor delivers concise, essential information for Canadians committed to truth and reconciliation.
A shortage of trustworthy information continues to frustrate Canadians with best intentions to fulfill Canada’s commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. To meet this demand, lawyer and historian Bruce McIvor provides concise, plain answers to 100 essential questions being asked by Canadians across the country.
During his nearly three decades advocating for Indigenous rights and teaching Aboriginal law, McIvor has recorded the fundamental questions that Canadians from all corners of society have asked to advance reconciliation: Why do Indigenous people have special rights? What is the Doctrine of Discovery? Who are the Métis? Why was the Calder decision important? What is reconciliation? McIvor supplies the answers Canadians are looking for by scrapping the technical language that confuses the issues, and speaks directly to everyone looking for straight answers. Throughout, McIvor shares his perspective on why reconciliation as envisioned by the courts and Canadian governments frustrates Indigenous people and what needs to change to overcome the impasse. McIvor’s explanations of complex legal issues demonstrate a unique mix of a deep knowledge of the law, the ability to write clearly and concisely, practical experience from the frontlines of advocating for First Nations in courtrooms and at negotiation tables across the country, and a profound passion for justice rooted in his work and personal history.
To ensure the country’s reconciliation project progresses from rhetoric to reality, ordinary Canadians need straightforward answers to fundamental questions. McIvor provides the answers and context to support a thoughtful and respectful national conversation about reconciliation and the fulfillment of Canada’s commitment to a better future for Indigenous people.
Additional Information
208 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 25 colour and b&w photographs | Paperback
Synopsis:
An unflinching examination of the impacts of settler colonialism from first contact to the contemporary nation state.
On Settler Colonialism in Canada: Lands and Peoples is the first installment in a comprehensive collection investigating settler colonialism as a state mandate, a structuring logic of institutions, and an alibi for violence and death. The book examines how settler identities are fashioned in opposition to nature and how eras of settler colonialism have come to be defined. Scholars and thinkers explore how settlers understood themselves as servants of empire, how settler identities came to be predicated on racialization and white supremacy, and more recently, how they have been constructed in relation to multiculturalism.
Featuring perspectives from Indigenous, Black, mixed-race, and other racialized, queer, and white European-descended thinkers from across a range of disciplines, On Settler Colonialism in Canada: Lands and Peoples addresses the fundamental truths of this country. Essays engage contemporary questions on the legacy of displacement that settler colonialism has wrought for Indigenous people and racialized settlers caught up in the global implications of empire.
Asserting that reconciliation is a shared endeavor, the collection’s final section exposes the myth at the heart of Canada’s constitutional legitimacy and describes the importance of affirming Indigenous rights, protecting Indigenous people (especially women) from systemic violence, and holding the Canadian settler nation state—which has benefited from the creation and maintenance of genocidal institutions for generations—accountable.
Reviews
“Remarkable...likely to become a landmark reference work for scholars and interested individuals alike.” — Lorenzo Veracini, author of Colonialism: A Global History
“Positive shared futures with all our relations depend on perpetual truth-telling and (re)conciliation. This book guides us through the dark and toward the light.”— David Garneau, author of Dark Chapters
"A thought-provoking and insightful ‘must read’ for all those seeking reconciliation based on truth, justice, and accountability.” — Paulette Regan, author of Unsettling the Settler Within and former research director for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off! That observation best describes the power of this fabulous book that every Canadian should read.”— Val Napoleon, Professor and Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance, University of Victoria
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the On Settler Colonialism in Canada series.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Contributor Biographies
David B MacDonald and Emily Grafton, “Introduction: Critical Engagements with Canadian Settler Colonialism: Colonization, Land Theft, Gender Violence, Imperialism, and Genocide”
Section 1: Considering Violence and Genocide in the Canadian Settler State
Karine Duhamel, “I feel like my spirit knows violence: interrogating the language of temporality and crisis for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTQ people.”
James Daschuck, “The Battleford hangings and the rise of the settler colonial state.”
David B MacDonald, “Match and Exceed: Why Recognizing Genocide in Canada is Only the First Step in Promoting Indigenous Self-Determination.”
Malissa Bryan, “Unsettled Arrivants: Imagining Black & Indigenous Solidarity Under Settler Colonialism.”
Angie Wong, “Labouring and Living in Canada: Early Chinese Arrivants and Making Settler Colonial Canada.”
Section 2: Logics of Empire, Colonialism, and Unsettlement
Liam Midzain-Gobin, “Imperial circulation, implicatedness and co-conspiracy, racialized interruptions of settler colonialism in Canada.”
Peter Kulchyski, “A Contribution to Periodizing Settler Colonial History in Canada”
Ajay Parasram, “Learning Settler Colonialism: Double Diaspora and Transnational Imperial Refraction.”
Andrew Woolford, “Settler natures: becoming settler against water.”
Section 3: Settler colonial society: Relating, Reckoning, and Unreconciliation
Chris Lindgren and Michelle Stewart, “Reckoning and Unreconciled: Neil Stonechild, Starlight Tours, and Racialized Policing in the Settler State.”
Fazeela Jiwa, “On shitheads and revolutionaries: claiming my displaced kin.”
Jerome Melancon, “Relying upon the Colonial Project: Francophone Communities in Minority Settings within the Bilingual Settler Colonial State.”
Desmond McAllister, “Straddling Different Worlds.”
Bernie Farber and Len Rudner, “B’Chol Dor v’Dor: In each and Every Generation.”
Section 4: Asserting Indigenous Knowledges in settler colonial Canada
Solomon Ratt (poetry) “stolen childhood” and “asastîwa – They pile up”
Joyce Green, “Being and Knowing Home.”
Rebecca Major, “Surviving Institutions in Canada’s Polite Society.”
Paul Simard Smith, “On the Illegitimacy of the Canadian Constitutional Order.”
Emily Grafton, “Resistance and Resurgence: Asserting Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Settler Colonial Canada.”
“Afterword,” Jeremy Patzer
Additional Information
384 pages | 6.02" x 9.01" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A powerful anthology uniting the voices of Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members affected by the tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people from across Turtle Island.
In 2010, Métis artist Jaime Black-Morsette created the REDress Project—an art installation consisting of placing red dresses in public spaces as a call for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). Symbolizing both absence and presence, the red dresses ignite a reclamation of voice and place for MMIWG2S. Fifteen years later, the symbol of the empty red dress endures as families continue to call for action.
In this anthology, Jaime Black-Morsette shares her own intimate stories and memories of the REDress Project along with the voices of Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members affected by this tragedy. Together they use the power of their collective voice to not only call for justice for MMIWG2S, but honour Indigenous women as keepers and protectors of land, culture, and community across Turtle Island.
Reviews
“REDress is a must-read for anyone who seeks to truly understand the hearts of those most impacted by MMIWG2S. For allies and interested citizens, this anthology shows how Canada emboldened and fostered a society to inflict genocide against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirited and transgendered relatives.”—Sheila North, Former Grand Chief, Creator of hashtag #MMIW, Mother and Kookom
“REDress is a love offering to MMIWG2S and those who are intimately impacted by this epidemic.”—Cathy Mattes, curator, writer, and Associate Professor in History of Art at the University of Winnipeg
"This is a moving look at how women in indigenous communities are using art and activism to keep the the issue at the forefront, despite the lack of progress in solving or preventing the crimes.... A content warning signals that the book contains language concerning violence against women. I’d offer this to activist artists or anyone interested in justice for indigenous communities, in high school and up." - Youth Services Book Review - Stephanie Tournas, Retired librarian, Cambridge, MA
Educator Information
Content Warning: This book's content deals with violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people; genocide; death; intergenerational trauma; suicide; and residential schools.
Big Ideas: Diverse and Inclusive Representation: Identity; Land-Based or Place-Based Learning; Social-Emotional Learning: Death, Grief, Bereavement; Social-Emotional Learning: Self Expression, Creative Writing, Art; Social Justice: Citizenship and Social Responsibility; Social Justice: Impacts of Colonization and Colonialism; Social Justice: MMIWG2S; Social Justice: Prejudice and Racism.
Edited by: Jaime Black-Morsette
Contributions by: KC Adams, Mackenzie Anderson Linklater, Marjorie Beaucage, Christi Belcourt, Judy Da Silva, Karine Duhamel, Deantha Edmunds, Cambria Harris, Jaimie Isaac, Casey Koyczan, Crystal Lepscier, Lee-Ann Martin, Diane Maytwayashing, Cathy Merrick, Sherry Farrell Racette, Gladys Radek, Zoey Roy, Jennifer Lee Smith, and Patti Beardy.
Additional Information
168 pages | 7.00" x 10.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
From ground zero of this country's most important project: reconciliation
Niigaan Sinclair has been called provocative, revolutionary, and one of this country's most influential thinkers on the issues impacting Indigenous cultures, communities, and reconciliation in Canada. In his debut collection of stories, observations, and thoughts about Winnipeg, the place he calls "ground zero" of Canada's future, read about the complex history and contributions of this place alongside the radical solutions to injustice and violence found here, presenting solutions for a country that has forgotten principles of treaty and inclusivity. It is here, in the place where Canada began—where the land, water, people, and animals meet— that a path "from the centre" is happening for all to see.
At a crucial and fragile moment in Canada's long history with Indigenous peoples, one of our most essential writers begins at the centre, capturing a web spanning centuries of community, art, and resistance.
Based on years' worth of columns, Niigaan Sinclair delivers a defining essay collection on the resilience of Indigenous peoples. Here, we meet the creators, leaders, and everyday people preserving the beauty of their heritage one day at a time. But we also meet the ugliest side of colonialism, the Indian Act, and the communities who suffer most from its atrocities.
Sinclair uses the story of Winnipeg to illuminate the reality of Indigenous life all over what is called Canada. This is a book that demands change and celebrates those fighting for it, that reminds us of what must be reconciled and holds accountable those who must do the work. It's a book that reminds us of the power that comes from loving a place, even as that place is violently taken away from you, and the magic of fighting your way back to it.
Awards
- Winner of the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction.
Additional Information
384 pages | 5.14" x 7.92" | b&w photos throughout | Paperback
Synopsis:
Reconciliation is for businesses, too.
From colonization through the Indian Act and residential schools, there is a lot of complicated history in the country we now call Canada. Between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people there is a disconnect, a fractured relationship we now need to make right. But what does Reconciliation mean, and specifically what does it mean for businesses?
The Canadian Business Owner’s Guide to Reconciliation is about how our history affects the present, and how we need to deal with the past so we can move into the future together. It’s about creating opportunities to include Indigenous voices in business, education around Indigenous history and best practices for businesses, and how we can reverse some of the unfair and unsustainable practices to create a better, more inclusive climate.
Author Alison Tedford brings her experience working with government, business, and nonprofits on Indigenous issues including reconciliation over the past two decades to this book.
If you're in business in Canada, you need to know how you can participate in reconciliation and transforming relations for a brighter future.
Additional Information
128 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Indigenous Peoples have taken physical recreational activity – sport – back from the colonizers. One of very few books to show the two edges of sport: it colonized but is now decolonizing.
Decolonizing Sport tells the stories of sport colonizing Indigenous Peoples and of Indigenous Peoples using sport to decolonize. Spanning several lands — Turtle Island, the US, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Kenya — the authors demonstrate the two sharp edges of sport in the history of colonialism. Colonizers used sport, their own and Indigenous recreational activities they appropriated, as part of the process of dispossession of land and culture. Indigenous mascots and team names, hockey at residential schools, lacrosse and many other examples show the subjugating force of sport. Yet, Indigenous Peoples used sport, playing their own games and those of the colonizers, including hockey, horse racing and fishing, and subverting colonial sport rules as liberation from colonialism. This collection stands apart from recent publications in the area of sport with its focus on Indigenous Peoples, sport and decolonization, as well as in imagining a new way forward.
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Sport, Colonialism and Decolonization (Janice Forsyth, Christine O’Bonsawin, Murray G. Phillips and Russell Field)
Section 1: Storytelling Beyond Competition: An Indigenous Perspective on Organized Sport (Brian Rice)
More Than a Mascot: How the Mascot Debate Erases Indigenous People in Sport (Natalie Welch)
Section 2: Interrogating the Archive Witnessing Painful Pasts: Understanding Images of Sports at Canadian Indian Residential Schools (Taylor McKee and Janice Forsyth)
On the Absence of Indigenous Moving Bodies: Whiteness, Decolonization and Indigenous/Indigenizing Sport History (Malcolm MacLean)
Section 3: Rights and Reconciliation # 87: Reconciliation, Sport History and Indigenous Peoples in Canada (Victoria Paraschak)
Taken at Face Value: The Legal Feasibility of Indigenous-Led Olympic Games (Christine O’Bonsawin)
Section 4: Settler Colonialism Canoe Races to Fishing Guides: Sport and Settler Colonialism in Mi’kma’ki (John Reid)
Moments of Transcending Colonialism? Rodeos and Races in Lethbridge (Robert Kossuth)
“Men Pride Themselves on Feats of Endurance”: Masculinities and Movement Cultures in Kenyan Running History (Michelle M. Sikes)
Section 5: Resistance and Activism Stealing, Drinking and Non-Cooperation: Sport, Everyday Resistance in Aboriginal Settlements in Australia (Gary Osmond)
Let’s Make Baseball! Practices of Unsettling on the Recreational Ball Diamonds of Tkaronto/Toronto (Craig Fortier and Colin Hastings)
Subjugating and Liberating at Once: Indigenous Sport History as a Double Edged Sword (Brendan Hokowhitu)
Additional Information
256 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
What would Indigenous resurgence look like if the parameters were not set with a focus on the state, settlers, or an achievement of reconciliation? Indigenous Resurgence in an Age of Reconciliation explores the central concerns and challenges facing Indigenous nations in their resurgence efforts, while also mapping the gaps and limitations of both reconciliation and resurgence frameworks.
The essays in this collection centre the work of Indigenous communities, knowledge, and strategies for resurgence and, where appropriate, reconciliation. The book challenges narrow interpretations of indigeneity and resurgence, asking readers to take up a critical analysis of how settler colonial and heteronormative framings have infiltrated our own ways of relating to our selves, one another, and to place. The authors seek to (re)claim Indigenous relationships to the political and offer critical self-reflection to ensure Indigenous resurgence efforts do not reproduce the very conditions and contexts from which liberation is sought.
Illuminating the interconnectivity between and across life in all its forms, this important collection calls on readers to think expansively and critically about Indigenous resurgence in an age of reconciliation.
Reviews
"This book is an undoubtedly critical, original, and powerful contribution to the field of Indigenous studies and beyond. With sound scholarship, the contributors show us how disentangling from reconciliation discourses is not only a tool of critique, but also a methodology for understanding how settler concepts of territoriality and authority have shaped Indigenous peoples’ understandings of themselves, their governments, and their relationships to land and to one another." — Shiri Pasternak, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Toronto Metropolitan University
"The relationship between reconciliation and resurgence is a complicated and, at times, deeply contested one. This volume does an excellent job of situating itself within the wider literature on resurgence and reconciliation and their conflicted and/or complimentary relationship. This is an important contribution to a fraught conversation, and it provides many different perspectives that help to, if not resolve, then guide the conversation beyond its current roadblocks towards something better." — Joshua Nichols, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law, McGill University
Additional Information
280 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
An urgent, informed, intimate condemnation of the Canadian state and its failure to deliver justice to Indigenous people by national bestselling author and former Crown prosecutor Harold R. Johnson. Now with a brand new foreward.
"The night of the decision in the Gerald Stanley trial for the murder of Colten Boushie, I received a text message from a retired provincial court judge. He was feeling ashamed for his time in a system that was so badly tilted. I too feel this way about my time as both defence counsel and as a Crown prosecutor; that I didn't have the courage to stand up in the courtroom and shout 'Enough is enough.' This book is my act of taking responsibility for what I did, for my actions and inactions." -- Harold R. Johnson
In early 2018, the failures of Canada's justice system were sharply and painfully revealed in the verdicts issued in the deaths of Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine. The outrage and confusion that followed those verdicts inspired former Crown prosecutor and bestselling author Harold R. Johnson to make the case against Canada for its failure to fulfill its duty under Treaty to effectively deliver justice to Indigenous people, worsening the situation and ensuring long-term damage to Indigenous communities.
In this direct, concise, and essential volume, Harold R. Johnson examines the justice system's failures to deliver "peace and good order" to Indigenous people. He explores the part that he understands himself to have played in that mismanagement, drawing on insights he has gained from the experience; insights into the roots and immediate effects of how the justice system has failed Indigenous people, in all the communities in which they live; and insights into the struggle for peace and good order for Indigenous people now.
Additional Information
272 pages | 5.00" x 7.51" | B&W photo spread in text | Paperback
Synopsis:
Updated and expanded 2nd edition of the national best seller!
First Nations 101 provides a broad overview of the day-to-day lives of Indigenous people, traditional Indigenous communities, colonial interventions used in an attempt to assimilate Indigenous people into mainstream society, the impacts those interventions had on Indigenous families and communities, and how Indigenous people are working towards holistic health and wellness today.
This 2nd edition has over 75 chapters, including new ones on rematriation, water for life, governance ‘options’, Indigenous feminisms, decolonization, (mis)appropriation, Indigenous Knowledge, and how to become a great ally.
Educator Information
Author Lynda Gray’s accessible writing style makes First Nations 101 the perfect primer for all to read. She notes that although governments may encourage and fund reconciliation activities, true reconciliation can only happen through the ongoing commitment and consistent actions of individuals, groups, organizations, governments, and businesses.
$1 from each book sold will be donated to the Ts’msyen Revolution Fund which Lynda Gray and her children, Dr. Robin Gray and artist Phil Gray, started in 2022. The Fund will help support Ts’msyen language and culture revitalization in laxyuubm Ts’msyen (Ts’msyen territory).
Lynda Gray is member of the Ts’msyen Nation from Lax Kw’alaams on the Northwest Coast of B.C. The book’s cover art was created by her son Phil Gray and features a 'neełx (killerwhale) to represent the author and her children’s clan (Gisbutwada).
The 2nd edition has over 75 chapters, with 16 new ones including rematriation, what is reconciliation, traditional economies, water for life, Indigenous feminisms, (mis)appropriation, economic development, Indigenous Knowledge, how to become a great ally, and more.
Additional Information
336 Pages | Updated and expanded 2nd edition
Synopsis:
Written by leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, Voicing Identity examines the issue of cultural appropriation in the contexts of researching, writing, and teaching about Indigenous peoples. This book grapples with the questions of who is qualified to engage in these activities and how this can be done appropriately and respectfully.
The authors address these questions from their individual perspectives and experiences, often revealing their personal struggles and their ongoing attempts to resolve them. There is diversity in perspectives and approaches, but also a common goal: to conduct research and teach in respectful ways that enhance understanding of Indigenous histories, cultures, and rights, and promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
Bringing together contributors with diverse backgrounds and unique experiences, Voicing Identity will be of interest to students and scholars studying Indigenous issues as well as anyone seeking to engage in the work of making Canada a model for just relations between the original peoples and newcomers.
Reviews
"This book is a beautiful and fearless gift to those willing to be challenged about popular public claims regarding a range of cultural appropriation issues. The editors and contributors have created a rich and contextual resource to generate critical conversations about forms of lateral violence and unproductive silencing, and about our need for ‘deliberate unknowing’ so we have space for real learning, practical institutional change, and inclusivity. This collection invites us to ask how ‘Raven steals the sun,’ making sure ‘we look both ways’ when reconsidering history, and thinking about the ‘we’ and the ‘ours.’"— Val Napoleon, IPC, Cree, Saulteau First Nation, Acting Dean and Professor and Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
"A highly stimulating and engaging contribution to a much-debated topic – all the more absorbing because the authors come from a wide range of backgrounds and ground their contributions in their personal experiences. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the subject."— Brian Slattery, Professor Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Introduction
John Borrows and Kent McNeil
1. Su-taxwiye: Keeping My Name Clean
Sarah Morales
2. At the Corner of Hawks and Powell: Settler Colonialism, Indigenous People, and the Conundrum of Double Permanence
Keith Carlson
3. Look at Your "Pantses": The Art of Wearing and Representing Indigenous Culture as Performative Relationship
Aimée Craft
4. Indigenous Legal Traditions, De-sacralization, Re-sacralization, and the Space for Not-Knowing
Hadley Friedland
5. Mino-audjiwaewin: Choosing Respect, Even in Times of Conflict
Lindsay Borrows
6. How Could You Sleep When Beds Are Burning? Cultural Appropriation and the Place of Non-Indigenous Academics
Felix Hoehn
7. Who Should Teach Indigenous Law?
Karen Drake and A. Christian Airhart
8. Reflections on Cultural Appropriation
Michael Asch
9. Turning Away from the State: Cultural Appropriation in the Shadow of the Courts
John Borrows
10. Voice and Indigenous Rights
Robert Hamilton
11. Guided by Voices? Perspective and Pluralism in the Constitutional Order
Joshua Nichols
12. NONU WEL,WEL TI,Á NE TȺ,EȻEȽ: Our Canoe Is Really Tippy
kQwa'st'not and Hannah Askew
13. Sharp as a Knife: Judge Begbie and Reconciliation
Hamar Foster
14. On Getting It Right the First Time: Researching the Constitution Express
Emma Feltes
15. Confronting Dignity Injustices
Sa’ke’j Henderson
Contributors
Additional Information
336 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 5 black and white illustrations | Paperback
Synopsis:
In A People and a Nation, the authors, most of whom are themselves Métis, offer readers a set of lenses through which to consider the complexity of historical and contemporary Métis nationhood and peoplehood. Multidisciplinary chapters on identity, politics, literature, history, spirituality, religion, and kinship networks orient the conversation toward Métis experiences today.
The chapters within are themselves also a reorientation given that the field of Métis Studies has been afflicted by a longstanding tendency to situate Métis within deeply racialized contexts, and/or by an overwhelming focus on the nineteenth century. A People and a Nation confronts such problematic characterizations head on, training a critical gaze on conventional historiographical positionings of the Métis people as a primitive intermediate force that opened up the Canadian West.
A People and a Nation dismantles the impoverished notions that continue to shape political, legal, and social understandings of Métis existence. It is a timely collection that convincingly demonstrates how racialized interpretative frameworks diminish the Métis people and are incompatible with the task of understanding Métis peoplehood and nationhood.
Reviews
Educator Information
This important work will appeal not only to scholars in Métis studies but also to scholars and students of Indigenous studies, political science, sociology, history, and cultural studies, and to policy workers and others seeking a better understanding of the Métis people and the current state of Métis studies.
Table of Contents
Introduction: A New Era of Métis Studies Scholarship / Chris Andersen and Jennifer Adese
1 Peoplehood and the Nation Form: Core Concepts for a Critical Métis Studies / Chris Andersen
2 The Power of Peoplehood: Reimagining Metis Relationships, Research, and Responsibilities / Robert L.A. Hancock
3 The Race Question in Canada and the Politics of Racial Mixing / Daniel Voth
4 Challenging a Racist Fiction: A Closer Look at Métis-First Nations Relations / Robert Alexander Innes
5 Restoring the Balance: Métis Women and Contemporary Nationalist Political Organizing / Jennifer Adese
6 Alcide Morrissette: Oral Histories of a Métis Man on the Prairies in the Mid-Twentieth Century / Jesse Thistle
7 “We’re Still Here and Métis:” Rewriting the 1885 Resistance in Marilyn Dumont’s The Pemmican Eaters / June Scudeler
8 Mary and the Métis: Religion as a Site for New Insight in Métis Studies / Paul L. Gareau
9 Building the Field of Métis Studies: Toward Transformative and Empowering Métis Scholarship / Adam Gaudry
List of Contributors; Index
Additional Information
252 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback