History

In 1914, Canada was a very British society with anti-Asian attitudes. Although Great Britain had declared that all people from India were officially British citizens and could live anywhere in the British Commonwealth, Canada refused to accept them. This racist policy was challenged by Gurdit Singh, a Sikh businessman, who chartered a ship, the Komagata Maru, and sailed to Vancouver with over 300 fellow Indians wishing to immigrate to Canada. They were turned back, tragically.

Over the years, the Canadian government gradually changed its immigration policies, first allowing entry to wives and children of Indian immigrants and later to many more immigrants from India. The Indo-Canadian community has grown throughout Canada, especially in British Columbia. Many in the community continue to celebrate their Indian heritage which enriches Canadian culture.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 13 to 18.

This book is part of the Righting Canada's Wrongs series. 

Additional Information
104 pages | 9.01" x 11.02" | Hardcover 

This extraordinary story of courage and faith is based on the actual experiences of three girls who fled from the repressive life of Moore River Native Settlement, following along the rabbit-proof fence back to their homelands. Assimilationist policy dictated that these girls be taken from their kin and their homes in order to be made white. Settlement life was unbearable with its chains and padlocks, barred windows, hard cold beds, and horrible food. Solitary confinement was doled out as regular punishment. The girls were not even allowed to speak their language. Of all the journeys made since white people set foot on Australian soil, the journey made by these girls born of Aboriginal mothers and white fathers speaks something to everyone.

Educator Information
Grades 11-12 English First Peoples Resource.

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.00" x 7.75"

Healing Histories is the first detailed collection of Aboriginal perspectives on the history of tuberculosis in Canada’s indigenous communities and on the federal government’s Indian Health Services. Featuring oral accounts from patients, families, and workers who experienced Canada’s Indian Hospital system, it presents a fresh perspective on health care history that includes the diverse voices and insights of the many people affected by tuberculosis and its treatment in the mid-twentieth century. This intercultural history models new methodologies and ethics for researching and writing about indigenous Canada based on indigenous understandings of “story” and its critical role in Aboriginal historicity, while moving beyond routine colonial interpretations of victimization, oppression, and cultural destruction. Written for both academic and popular reading audiences, Healing Histories is essential reading for those interested in Canadian Aboriginal history, history of medicine and nursing, and oral history.

When a black teen was murdered in a Sydney, Cape Breton park late one night, his young companion, Donald Marshall Jr., became a prime suspect. Sydney police coached two teens to testify against Donald which helped convict him of a murder he did not commit. He spent 11 years in prison until he finally got a lucky break. Not only was he eventually acquitted of the crime, but a royal commission inquiry into his wrongful conviction found that a non-aboriginal youth would not have been convicted in the first place. Donald became a First Nations activist and later won a landmark court case in favour of native fishing rights. He was often referred to as the "reluctant hero" of the Mi'kmaq community.

Reviews
"Bill Swan presents a straightforward, compelling narrative, easily followed, that will astound today's teenagers." — Joan Marshall, Resource Links

"the important subject matter, meticulous research, and ultimately balanced portrait of the flawed man Marshall was makes this an engrossing and enlightening read for curious teens."— CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"Much of this disturbing but well-researched book is impressively drawn directly from court documents and is part of the valuable Real Justice series, which features wrongfully accused Canadian youth and their fight for freedom."— Booklist Online

Educator Information
Interest age: From 13 To 17
Fry Reading Level [grade]: 5.0
Lexile Reading Level: HL770L

Additional Information
184 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

The Ruptured Sky explores the War of 1812 from First Nations perspectives. Without their involvement, the borders of Canada and America might have been vastly different.

Without their First Nations allies, British troops and Canadian militia would not have win key battles and the U.S./Canada border might not exist. Canada might not have become an independent nation. First Nations peoples remained conflicted about whom to support since longstanding allegiances existed with both the British and Americans. This became a divisive issue. Individuals such as Tecumseh, John Norton, Joseph Brant, and others played major roles in the war's outcome. First Nations peoples fought with outstanding bravery, great ferocity, and remarkable skill. This book tells a little-known story of their remarkable contributions to Canadian victories in the War of 1812--and of how they were treated at the war's end.

Additional Information
62 pages 

For the first time in history, the Blackfoot people share their culture, beliefs and traditions with the rest of the world.

In an innovative partnership with the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta, a team of elders and spiritual leaders from the Blackfoot community agreed to share their history, traditions and artifacts in an effort to document their lives. The Story of the Blackfoot People: Nitsitapiisinni is the first piece of permanent documentation written by the leaders of the Blackfoot community about their lives both past and present.

This book chronicles all the important aspects of Blackfoot life and history. The book begins by exploring the fundamental belief systems of the Blackfoot including their traditional stories, sacred places, dances and ceremonies. Strong relationships are recognized by the Blackfoot as one of the most important keys to survival and the roles of men, women, children and elders, and their sacred connection to nature and their environment, are examined in detail. Less harmonious relationships are also candidly explored including relations between the Blackfoot people and the governments of the United States and Canada. In its moving conclusion, the Blackfoot community discusses the importance of uniting ancient traditions with modern challenges in order for their legacy to survive.

Revealing the enduring strength and fortitude of spirit of the Blackfoot people, this book will have meaning for both native and non-native readers alike.

Authenticity Note: This work is labelled as containing Authentic Indigenous Text because of the contributions from elders and other Indigenous peoples.

Like thousands of Aboriginal children in Canada, and elsewhere in the colonized world, Xatsu'll chief Bev Sellars spent part of her childhood as a student in a church-run residential school.

These institutions endeavored to "civilize" Native children through Christian teachings; forced separation from family, language, and culture; and strict discipline. Perhaps the most symbolically potent strategy used to alienate residential school children was addressing them by assigned numbers only-not by the names with which they knew and understood themselves.

In this frank and poignant memoir of her years at St. Joseph's Mission, Sellars breaks her silence about the residential school's lasting effects on her and her family-from substance abuse to suicide attempts-and eloquently articulates her own path to healing. 'Number One' comes at a time of recognition-by governments and society at large-that only through knowing the truth about these past injustices can we begin to redress them.

Awards

• 2014 Burt Award Third Place Winner

Educator Information
Grades 10-12 BC English First Peoples resource for the unit Place-Conscious Learning - Exploring Text through Local Landscape.

Additional Information
256 pages | 5.67" x 8.20"

History in BC grows profusely and luxuriantly, but with odd undergrowth," observed historian J.M.S. Careless many years ago. This claim is fully borne out by this impressive anthology of some of the province's most distinguished historians, geographers, and writers gleaned from over forty years of British Columbia's leading scholarly journal, BC Studies.

This collection includes fascinating articles on the Fraser Canyon by Cole Harris; on Fort Simpson, Metlakatla, and Port Essington by Daniel Clayton; on Victoria's early Chinese community by Patrick Dunae and others; on the eviction of Kitsilano and Squamish people from Vancouver and Stanley Park by Jean Barman; on early home design styles in Vancouver by Deryck Holdsworth; on the failed utopias of Wallachin and Sointula by Nelson Riis and Mikko Saikku; on life in a 1970s logging camp by Peter Harrison; on fly-fishing and dispossession at Penask Lake by Michael Thoms; and on the perennial lonesome prospector by Megan Davies.

The overarching theme is provided by George Bowering in his classic essay, "Home Away," concerning the search for a home on the West Coast--a new one for settlers and an old one for indigenous peoples.

Italians came to Canada to seek a better life. From the 1870s to the 1920s they arrived in large numbers and found work mainly in mining, railway building, forestry, construction, and farming. As time passed, many used their skills to set up successful small businesses, often in Little Italy districts in cities like Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Winnipeg. Many struggled with the language and culture in Canada, but their children became part of the Canadian mix.

When Canada declared war on Italy on June 10, 1940, the government used the War Measures Act to label all Italian citizens over the age of eighteen as enemy aliens. Those who had received Canadian citizenship after 1922 were also deemed enemy aliens. Immediately, the RCMP began making arrests. Men, young and old, and a few women were taken from their homes, offices, or social clubs without warning. In all, about 700 were imprisoned in internment camps, mainly in Ontario and New Brunswick.

The impact of this internment was felt immediately by families who lost husbands and fathers, but the effects would live on for decades. Eventually, pressure from the Italian Canadian community led Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to issue an apology for the internment and to admit that it was wrong.

Using historical photographs, paintings, documents, and first-person narratives, this book offers a full account of this little-known episode in Canadian history.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 13 to 18.

This book is part of the Righting Canada's Wrongs series.

Additional Information
112 pages | 9.01" x 11.02" | Hardcover

This book is an illustrated history of the wartime internment of Japanese Canadian residents of British Columbia. At the time when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Japanese Canadians numbered well over 20,000. From the first arrivals in the late nineteenth century, they had taken up work in many parts of BC, established communities, and become part of the Canadian society even though they faced racism and prejudice in many forms.

With war came wartime hysteria. Japanese Canadian residents of BC were rounded up, their homes and property seized, and forced to move to internment camps with inadequate housing, water, and food. Men and older boys went to road camps while some families ended up on farms where they were essentially slave labour. Eventually, after years of pressure, the Canadian government admitted that the internment was wrong and apologized for it.

This book uses a wide range of historical photographs, documents, and images of museum artefacts to tell the story of the internment. The impact of these events is underscored by first-person narrative from five Japanese Canadians who were themselves youths at the time their families were forced to move to the camps.

Framed by the historic 2005 signing of the Labrador Inuit Land Claim Agreement and the creation of Nunatsiavut, the first Inuit self-government, Settlement, Subsistence, and Change Among the Labrador Inuit is a history of land and resource use by the Labrador Inuit. It examines in detail the way of life and cultural survival of this unique indigenous population, including household structure, the social economy and organization of wild food production, forced relocations and land claims, subsistence and settlement patterns, and contemporary issues around climate change, urban planning, and self-government. Comprised of twelve essays, this volume represents the first significant publication on the Labrador Inuit in more than thirty years.

First-hand accounts of Indigenous people’s encounters with colonialism are rare. A daily diary that extends over fifty years is unparalleled. Based on a transcription of Arthur Wellington Clah’s diaries, this book offers a riveting account of a Tsimshian man who moved in both colonial and Aboriginal worlds. From his birth in 1831 to his death in 1916, Clah witnessed profound change: the arrival of traders, missionaries, and miners, and the establishment of industrial fisheries, wage labour, and reserves. His many voyages – physical, cultural, and spiritual – provide an unprecedented Aboriginal perspective on colonial relationships on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Drawing on a painstaking transcription of Arthur Wellington Clah’s diaries, Peggy Brock pieces together the many voyages -- physical, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual -- of a Tsimshian man who moved in both colonial and Aboriginal worlds. Clah’s birth in 1831 coincided with the establishment of a permanent fur trade post, and he became student, teacher, and confidant to missionary William Duncan. Later, Clah’s spiritual voyage into the world of colonial culture transformed him into a devout Christian and an evangelist for the faith.

From the goldfields of BC and Alaska to the hop fields of Washington State, Clah witnessed profound change. His diaries reveal the complexities of personal interactions between colonizers and the colonized and the inevitable tensions within a community undergoing rapid change. They also show how Clah’s hopes for his people were gradually eroded by the realities of land dispossession, interference by the colonial state in cultural and political matters, and diminishing economic opportunities.

Taken together, Clah’s many voyages offer an unprecedented Aboriginal perspective on colonial relationships as they played out on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

This book is required reading for students and scholars of indigenous peoples and colonialism and anyone interested in BC or Canadian history.

Reviews
"The Many Voyages of Arthur Wellington Clah is a striking book offering an on-the-ground viewpoint of colonialism as it evolved on the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada." - Susan Neylan, Wilfrid Laurier University, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, V. 13, No 2, Fall 2012

"A fascinating account...Peggy Brock has made a truly significant contribution to our understanding of the history of the northwest coast in the nineteenth century." - Robin Fisher, Mount Royal University, International Journal of Maritime History, Vol XXIV No 3

"Arthur Wellington Clah’s diary is likely the most remarkable document to come into the light of Pacific Northwest Coast history ... Surmounting the challenges presented by this rich and at times near impenetrable personal record, Peggy Brock has researched and admirably summarized fifty years of the diary, pulling out key themes and highlighting its many contradictions. This much-needed introduction to a man and an indigenous history of British Columbia and Alaska will change the way we think about our past." - John S. Lutz, author of Makúk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations

Clah’s life and diary offer a window into the lives of the Tsimshian political hierarchy of the time and Tsimshian society’s interaction with colonialism ... His voyage is a metaphor for the voyage that his own and other indigenous people were also taking in their encounters with colonialism." - Neil Sterritt, consultant in Aboriginal leadership and governance

Additional Information
324 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 19 photographs, 4 maps | Paperback

In this richly illustrated study of a complex society, Max Carocci delves into the history of the North American Plains Indian warrior cultures, examining their ongoing legacy, continuity, and the change between historic war practices and contemporary Native American military associations. Warriors of the Plains skilfully interweaves a survey of North American Plains Indian history with a generously detailed examination of Plains Indian warrior art - weapons, amulets, clothing, and ceremonial objects - with particular emphasis on their ritual use and symbolic meanings. Replete with both modern and archival photographs from the British Museum, this book offers a novel approach to a fascinating subject, while integrating history, anthropology, and personal narratives. Showcasing meticulous scholarship and the impressive collection of the British Museum, Warriors of the Plains is a comprehensive and significant contribution to the study of North American History.

In this much-anticipated second volume in the Extraordinary Women Anthology series, Diana French follows up on Gumption and Grit with more stories of the women who have contributed, or who are still contributing, to the vibrant mosaic that is the Cariboo Chilcotin. The area has more than its share of remarkable women, from educators to rodeo stars, doctors to playwrights, administrators to environmentalists, artists to politicians.

In earlier days, nurse Jane Lehman, the daughter of pioneers, traveled long, lonely miles by horseback in the West Chilcotin to reach her patients. Jessie Pigeon was Canada's first female Government Agent, and Gwen Ringwood was already an internationally known playwright when she came to Williams Lake with her doctor husband.

Later-day heroines include June Striegler, whose teaching career has spanned over seventy years and Joan Gentles, an outstanding courtworker, educator, and rodeo competitor. Former mayor Ethel Winger likes to relax by prospecting for gold, and Lynette Cobb serves the community from her wheelchair. Helen Haig-Brown is an award-winning filmmaker, Xeni Gwet'in Chief Marilyn Baptiste stands tall to protect her people and land from the latest gold rush. Pharmacists Adaline and Cathie Hamm are among the mother/daughter combos serving the community.

Diverse as they may be, the women of the Cariboo Chilcotinshare their ability to meet all challenges head-on and do what needs to be done with love, strength and humour.

The story of the expansion of European civilization into the wilderness continues to shape perceptions of how Aboriginal people became part of nations such as Canada. This groundbreaking study subverts this narrative of progress and modernity by examining Canadian nation building from the perspective of a northern community and its residents. Drawing on decades of research and fieldwork, Patricia McCormack argues that Fort Chipewyan - established in 1788 and situated in present-day Alberta - was never an isolated Aboriginal community but a plural society that stood at the crossroads of global, national, and indigenous cultures and economies. The steps that led Aboriginal people to sign Treaty No. 8 and accept scrip in 1899 and their struggle to maintain autonomy in the decades that followed reveal that Aboriginal peoples and others can - and have - become modern without relinquishing cherished beliefs and practices. This meticulously researched study of the most famous and best studied of the Treaty No. 8 communities not only provides a window into the history of Canada and Alberta - it challenges the nature of history writing in Canada itself. Anyone interested in the history of First Nations, northern communities, or the way historians and local communities approach and understand the past should read this book.