Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Synopsis:
Oneida is an endangered Iroquoian language spoken fluently by fewer than 250 people. This is the first comprehensive dictionary of the Oneida language as used in Ontario, where most of the surviving speakers reside.
The dictionary contains both Oneida-English and English-Oneida sections. The Oneida-English portion includes some 6000 entries, presenting lexical bases, particles and grammatical morphemes. Each entry for a base shows several forms; illustrates inflection, meaning and use; and gives details regarding pronunciation and cultural significance. The English-Oneida entries direct the reader to the relevant base in the Oneida-English section, where technical information is provided. Completing the volume is a set of appendices that organizes Oneida words into thematic categories.
The Iroquoian languages have an unusually complex word structure, in which lexical bases are surrounded by layers of prefixes and suffixes. This dictionary presents and explains that structure in the clearest possible terms. A work of enormous precision and care, it incorporates many innovative ideas and shows a deep understanding of the nature of the Oneida language.
Reviews
"The format of the entries and the amount of information provided is impressive indeed. The system of cross-references connects entries to one another in a web of lexical relationships that brilliantly displays the nature of the Oneida lexicon – these entries are treasure-troves!" Hanni Woodbury, author of A Reference Grammar of the Onondaga Language
Additional Information
1410 pages | 6.70" x 10.00"
Synopsis:
“I feel that it is important to re-establish our Salish footprint upon our lands, to create a visual expression of the link between the past and present that is both accessible and people-friendly. . . . I create unique, ‘original’ artwork that honours both my people and the diverse group of peoples from around the world who have come to live upon our lands on the Northwest Coast. My hope is that my art leaves a lasting impression on visitors, locals, and the surrounding communities.” — Susan Point
This beautifully designed book is the first to explore Susan Point's publicly commissioned artworks from coast to coast.
Susan Point’s unique artworks have been credited with almost single-handedly reviving the traditional Coast Salish art style. Once nearly lost to the effects of colonization, the crescents, wedges, and human and animal forms characteristic of the art of First Nations peoples living around the Salish Sea can now be seen around the world, reinvigorated with modern materials and techniques, in her serigraphs and public art installations—and in the works of a new generation of artists that she’s inspired.
People Among the People beautifully displays the breadth of Susan Point’s public art, from cast-iron manhole covers to massive carved cedar spindle whorls, installed in locations from Vancouver to Zurich. Through extensive interviews and access to her archives, Robert D. Watt tells the story of each piece, whether it’s the evolution from sketch to carving to casting, or the significance of the images and symbolism, which is informed by surviving traditional Salish works Point has studied and the Oral Traditions of her Musqueam family and elders.
In her long quest to re-establish a Coast Salish footprint in Southwest British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest of the US, Point has received many honours, including the Order of Canada and the Audain Lifetime Achievement Award. This gorgeous and illuminating book makes it clear they are all richly deserved.
Additional Information
208 pages | 10.17" x 12.39" | Colour photographs throughout | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Social action art in book form, Perception: A Photo Series encourages readers to look and then look again.
Tired of reading negative and disparaging remarks directed at Indigenous people of Winnipeg in the press and social media, artist KC Adams created a photo series that presented another perspective. Called “Perception Photo Series,” it confronted common stereotypes of First Nation, Inuit and Métis people to illustrate a more contemporary truthful story.
First appearing on billboards, in storefronts, in bus shelters, and projected onto Winnipeg’s downtown buildings, Adam’s stunning photographs now appear in her new book, Perception: A Photo Series. Meant to challenge the culture of apathy and willful ignorance about Indigenous issues, Adams hopes to unite readers in the fight against prejudice of all kinds.
Reviews
"Indeed, the potential lasting impact of this collection can’t be underestimated; this is socially engaged art at its best." — Kirkus Reviews, March 2019
"KC Adams' Perception series challenges us to bridge thought and reality; emerging on the other side better having challenged ourselves to see Indigenous peoples for what they really are. We are grandparents, parents, children - and everything in between. As Adams shows through this incredible exhibition of faces and feelings, we are beautiful, whole, and complex peoples irreducible to stereotypes and slander." — Romeo Saganash (Cree, father, activist, and dreamer)
"KC Adams's Perception series absolutely captured the most devastating perceptions from the colonial mind, and the accompanying lack of knowledge about the truth of Canada's historical relationship to Indigenous Peoples. Succinctly and beautifully, KC transformed that narrative in this series. It is a prolific piece which will always be a source of inspiration for truth and reconciliation. It is unforgettable. Kichi miigwetch KC Adams!." — Tina Keeper, March 2019
"We hear the saying, “A picture can say a thousand words” quite often, but sometimes we don’t take the time to actually look at what we are seeing and what it is saying. Sometimes photographs are taken for fun, with no real meaning behind them. But there are times when a photograph is taken for a purpose, taken to deliver a message. KC Adams, with Perception, is doing just that. She is not only delivering a message, she is also making a statement in order to break down the racial prejudices and stereotypes towards the indigenous community in Canada.... From looking at the first picture that shows their reaction to what people think of them to looking at their second picture that shows their look of pure happiness coupled with their name, their tribes, and the words they would use to describe themselves is what is causing people to think twice, think differently, and spark conversation." — Leslie Trotter, NetGalley, March 2019
"I admire what KC Adams did when she kept hearing disparaging remarks and slurs against the Native peoples of Canada. As an indigenous person herself, she too, had been subjected to mistreatment and prejudice just be being someone who looks different. She was determined to find a way to get people's perceptions to change. The Native/indigenous people and their cultures were here to stay and non-Native people had to come to terms with and accept that. Adams choose to use her skill as a photographer as a catalyst to address the racism and prejudice head on.... She took a series of two photographs of the same person; one as she said a racist remark, the other as she said something positive about the person. She then put up these pictures as posters around municipal areas. The first picture was headlined with the slur said while filming it, the bottom said "Think again". The second picture (taken when she invoked a positive response in them) told who they were and some things about them. This photography series (now captured in her book Perceptions) helped people recognize their own reactions to Native peoples and realize that they were unfair and untrue.... I love when art is not only creative, but an agent for social change! Kudos, Ms. Adams! Well done!" — Kathy Fuchs, NetGalley, February 2019
"Perception is an impressive collection...an inside look into a living legend’s photography practice (I say this in no uncertain terms) and, more importantly, as Adams intended, a reminder to look past the hurt in search of a love that can bring us all home." — Lindsay Nixon, Editor-at-Large Canadian Art, author nîtisânak, Metonymy Press, March 2019
"This is an amazing portrayal of the indigenous community. The emotions displayed by each individual are clearly defined. I highly recommend this resource be placed in all libraries and used to dispel racism and discriminatory ideas." — Shelley Stefanowich, NetGalley, April 2019
Educator & Series Information
For Grades 9-12 / Young Adults
Foreword by Katherena Vermette; Critical essay by Cathy Mattes
Caution: Mature subject matter/language in some instances as this book is dealing with stereotypes and prejudice (radicalized language and derogatory terminology).
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 10 to 12 for Art Education, Social Studies, Social Justice, and English Language Arts.
This book is part of The Debwe Series, a collection of exceptional Indigenous writings from across Canada.
Additional Information
120 pages | 6.75" x 9.00" | Hardcover | Foreward from Katherena Vermette
Synopsis:
Following the Final Report on Truth and Reconciliation, Performing Turtle Island investigates theatre as a tool for community engagement, education, and resistance.
Comprised of multidisciplinary and diverse perspectives, Performing Turtle Island considers theatre as a tool for community engagement, education, and resistance, and examines how communities in turn influence the construction of Indigenous identities through theatre.
Contributors:
Megan Davies (York University)
Spy Dénommé-Welch (Brock University)
Floyd Favel (Poundmaker First Nation)
Carol Greyeyes (University of Saskatchewan)
Michael Greyeyes (Muskeg Lake First Nation)
Kahente Horn-Miller (Carleton University)
Dione Joseph (Onehunga, New Zealand)
Catherine Magowan (Hamilton, ON)
Daniel David Moses (Queen's University)
Yvette Nolan (University of Saskatchewan)
Armand Ruffo (Sagamok Ojibway and Chapleau Cree Fox Lake First Nations, Queen's University)
Annie Smith (Grand Prairie Regional College)
Reviews
“Brilliantly introduces pedagogies that jump scale; a bundling project for future ancestors revealing knowledges for flight into kinstillatory relationships. ” —Karyn Recollet, co-author of In This Together: Blackness, Indigeneity, and Hip Hop
“An important resource for those who want to introduce or incorporate Indigenous artistic perspectives in their course or work. ” —Heather Davis-Fisch, author of Loss and Cultural Remains in Performance
“A very significant and welcome contribution to the growing body of work on Indigenous theatre and performance in the land now called Canada. ” —Ric Knowles, author of Performing the Intercultural City
Educator Information
Understanding Indigenous cultures as critical sources of knowledge and meaning, each essay addresses issues that remind us that the way to reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous peoples is neither straightforward nor easily achieved. Comprised of multidisciplinary and diverse perspectives, Performing Turtle Island considers performance as both a means to self-empowerment and self-determination, and a way of placing Indigenous performance in dialogue with other nations, both on the lands of Turtle Island and on the world stage.
Additional Information
256 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 5 photos, 1 table
Synopsis:
Every object tells a story.
Picking Up the Pieces tells the story of the making of the Witness Blanket, a living work of art conceived and created by Indigenous artist Carey Newman. It includes hundreds of items collected from residential schools across Canada, everything from bricks, photos and letters to hockey skates, dolls and braids. Every object tells a story.
Carey takes the reader on a journey from the initial idea behind the Witness Blanket to the challenges in making it work to its completion. The story is told through the objects and the Survivors who donated them to the project. At every step in this important journey for children and adults alike, Carey is a guide, sharing his process and motivation behind the art. It's a very personal project. Carey's father is a residential school Survivor. Like the Blanket itself, Picking Up the Pieces calls on readers of all ages to bear witness to the residential school experience, a tragic piece of Canada’s history.
"In the traditions of my Salish ancestors, a blanket is gifted to uplight the spirit, protect the vulnerable or honour the strong. I made this blanket for the Survivors, and for the children who never came home; for the dispossessed, the displaced and the forgotten. I made this blanket so that I will never forget -- so that we will never forget." - Carey Newman
Reviews
"Picking Up the Pieces is both a crucial record of history and an outstanding assertion of love and community. The story behind the creation of the powerful Witness Blanket project is one of great care and consideration, with residential school Survivors and their families at the centre. By sharing his own family's connection to a brutal and shameful part of Canadian history, renowned artist Carey Newman brilliantly guides us through the meticulous and thoughtful process of creating one of the most important pieces of art to exist in this country. I had the privilege of experiencing the Witness Blanket on its tour, and it was a poignant moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Reading how it all came together is yet another vital experience. Like the Witness Blanket itself, Picking Up the Pieces will educate and enlighten Canadians for generations to come. It's a must-read for anyone seeking to understand Canada's residential-school saga. Most importantly, it's a touchstone of community for those survivors and their families still on the path to healing." — Waubgeshig Rice, journalist and author of Moon of the Crusted Snow, March 2019
Educator Information
Themes: Indigenous Art, Reconciliation, Residential Schools, Survivor Stories, Intergenerational Trauma
Suitable for most ages (about 12 years+). Useful social studies or Indigenous studies resource for pre-teens and teens; however, it does make reference to sexual, emotional, and physical abuse and trauma.
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 11 and 12 and as a teacher resource. Useful for these subjects: English Language Arts, Media Studies, Social Studies.
Additional Information
180 pages | 10.75" x 10.00"
Synopsis:
For over two decades, Manitoban artist Gerald Kuehl has travelled to the far-flung corners of Canada to draw out these answers from the last generation of Indigenous Peoples born on the land, and, pencil in hand, to record their likenesses and experiences. These Elders shared their gripping stories with him so that he might share them with the world.
Picking up where Kuehl’s acclaimed Portraits of the North left off, these pages follow the artist as he crosses the 60th parallel into Nunavut and the Far North, to meet the few Inuit Elders who still remember the days when their people lived entirely off the bounty of the land. The astonishing graphite pencil drawings and accompanying stories within—the result of Kuehl’s travels in Nunavut over thirteen years, hundreds of interviews with Elders, and thousands of hours at the drawing board—provide an unprecedented, poignant account of the changing realities Inuit experienced over the course of the last century, and their bright hopes for the future. These are tales of hardship and survival, of family and tradition, and of optimism and resilience. These are the faces and the voices of the Far North.
Additional Information
240 pages | 10.25" x 10.50"
Synopsis:
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report designed to facilitate reconciliation between the Canadian state and Indigenous Peoples. Its call to honour treaty relationships reminds us that we are all treaty people — including immigrants and refugees living in Canada. The contributors to this volume, many of whom are themselves immigrants and refugees, take up the challenge of imagining what it means for immigrants and refugees to live as treaty people. Through essays, personal reflections and poetry, the authors explore what reconciliation is and what it means to live in relationship with Indigenous Peoples.
Speaking from their personal experience — whether from the education and health care systems, through research and a community garden, or from experiences of discrimination and marginalization — contributors share their stories of what reconciliation means in practice. They write about building respectful relationships with Indigenous Peoples, respecting Indigenous Treaties, decolonizing our ways of knowing and acting, learning the role of colonized education processes, protecting our land and environment, creating food security and creating an intercultural space for social interactions.
Perhaps most importantly, Reconciliation in Practice reminds us that reconciliation is an ongoing process, not an event, and that decolonizing our relationships and building new ones based on understanding and respect is empowering for all of us — Indigenous, settler, immigrant and refugee alike.
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Preface
Contributors
Introduction
Reconciliation: Challenges and Possibilities (Ranjan Datta)
Sámi Reconciliation in Practice: A Long and Ongoing Process (Irja Seurujärvi-Kari and Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen)
Reconciliation Through Decolonization (Colleen J. Charles)
Reconciliation: A White Settler Learning from the Land (Janet McVittie)
Integrating Indigenous Knowledge in Practice and Research: A New Way Forward for the Immigrant Health Professionals (Farzana Ali)
Reconciliation Through Transnational Lenses: An Immigrant Woman’s Learning Journey (Jebunnessa Chapola)
Letter to John A. Macdonald (Chris Scribe)
Reconciliation as Ceremonial Responsibility: An Immigrant’s Story (Ranjan Datta)
Reconciliation via Building Respectful Relationships and Community Engagement in Indigenous Research (Valerie Onyinyechi Umaefulam)
Reconciliation and New Canadians (Ali Abukar)
Holes and Gray (Khodi Dill)
References
Index
Additional Information
168 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Synopsis:
A gripping account of the unsolved death of an Indigenous teenager, and the detective determined to find her killer, set against the backdrop of a troubled city.
On August 17, 2014, the body of fifteen-year-old runaway Tina Fontaine was found in Winnipeg's Red River. It was wrapped in material and weighted down with rocks. Red River Girl is a gripping account of that murder investigation and the unusual police detective who pursued the killer with every legal means at his disposal. The book, like the movie Spotlight, chronicles the behind-the-scenes stages of a lengthy and meticulously planned investigation. It reveals characters and social tensions that bring vivid life to a story that made national headlines.
Award-winning BBC reporter and documentary maker Joanna Jolly delves into the troubled life of Tina Fontaine, the half-Ojibway, half-Cree murder victim, starting with her childhood on the Sagkeeng First Nation Reserve. Tina's journey to the capital city is a harrowing one, culminating in drug abuse, sexual exploitation, and death.
Aware of the reality of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, Jolly has chronicled Tina Fontaine's life as a reminder that she was more than a statistic. Raised by her father, and then by her great-aunt, Tina was a good student. But the violent death of her father hit Tina hard. She ran away, was found and put into the care of Child and Family Services, which she also sought to escape from. That choice left her in danger.
Red River Girl focuses not on the grisly event itself, but on the efforts to seek justice. In December 2015, the police charged Raymond Cormier, a drifter, with second-degree murder. Jolly's book will cover the trial, which resulted in an acquittal. The verdict caused dismay across the country.
The book is not only a true crime story, but a portrait of a community where Indigenous women are disproportionately more likely to be hurt or killed. Jolly asks questions about how Indigenous women, sex workers, community leaders, and activists are fighting back to protect themselves and change perceptions. Most importantly, the book will chronicle whether Tina's family will find justice.
Reviews
“Tina Fontaine brought international attention to the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit folks. This retelling of her life and the investigation into her death is a breathtaking account of the fight to find justice for Tina.” —Wab Kinew, Leader of the Manitoba NDP and author of The Reason You Walk
Additional Information
320 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Synopsis:
Andy and Phyllis Chelsea met during their years spent at the St. Joseph’s Mission School in Williams Lake, BC. Like the thousands of others forced into the church-run residential school system, Andy and Phyllis are no strangers to the ongoing difficulties experienced by most Indigenous peoples in Canada. The couple married in 1964 but brought the trauma of their mission school years into their marriage. The Chelseas’ struggle with alcohol came to an abrupt halt in 1971 when their daughter, Ivy, then aged seven, stated that she and her brothers did not want to live with their parents because of the drinking, that they would stay with their Grandmother, their Kye7e. Andy and Phyllis chose sobriety to preserve their family. This decision sparked a lifetime of activism for the couple, which included overcoming the challenges caused by Canada’s disregard for their community. Throughout the twenty-seven years Andy was Chief of the Alkali Lake Esk’et First Nation, the Chelseas worked to eradicate alcoholism and took steps to overcome the rampant intergenerational trauma that existed for the people of Alkali Lake. Their efforts, their story and the perseverance of the members of their village have inspired Indigenous groups facing similar struggles throughout the world.
Resolve: The Chelsea Story and a First Nation Community’s Will to Heal explores the harrowing, personal journey of the Chelseas. By combining personal interviews and historical records, biographer Carolyn Parks Mintz shares the Chelseas’ transition from residential schools to state-sanctioned reservations to international recognition of their activism in the face of ongoing repression. A simultaneous celebration of strength and a condemnation of systemic racism, Resolve is a personal and deeply moving story that calls for a closer look at the status of Canada’s reconciliation efforts from the Chelseas’ perspective.
Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 10 to 12 for English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Social Justice.
Caution: Alcoholisms, trauma, physical and sexual abuse.
Additional Information
240 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Synopsis:
While cities like Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Saskatoon, Rapid City, Edmonton, Missoula, Regina, and Tulsa are places where Indigenous marginalization has been most acute, they have also long been sites of Indigenous placemaking and resistance to settler colonialism.
Although such cities have been denigrated as “ordinary” or banal in the broader urban literature, they are exceptional sites to study Indigenous resurgence. The urban centres of the continental plains have featured Indigenous housing and food co-operatives, social service agencies, and schools. The American Indian Movement initially developed in Minneapolis in 1968, and Idle No More emerged in Saskatoon in 2013.
The editors and authors of Settler City Limits, both Indigenous and settler, address urban struggles involving Anishinaabek, Cree, Creek, Dakota, Flathead, Lakota, and Métis peoples. Collectively, these studies showcase how Indigenous people in the city resist ongoing processes of colonial dispossession and create spaces for themselves and their families.
Working at intersections of Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, urban studies, geography, and sociology, this book examines how the historical and political conditions of settler colonialism have shaped urban development in the Canadian Prairies and American Plains. Settler City Limits frames cities as Indigenous spaces and places, both in terms of the historical geographies of the regions in which they are embedded, and with respect to ongoing struggles for land, life, and self-determination.
Contributors: Chris Andersen, Nicholas Brown, Elizabeth Comack, Heather Dorries, Nick Estes, Adam Gaudry, Robert Henry, David Hugill, Sharmeen Khan, Corey Laberge, Brenda Macdougall, Tyler McCreary, Lindsey Claire Smith, Michelle Stewart, Zoe Todd, Julie Tomiak
Reviews
“Settler City Limits breaks ground, shattering the powerful authoritative structures of racism that have dichotomized rural and urban space, and Indigenous peoples’ relation to these as a central force sustaining and fortifying settler colonialism.” – Heather A. Howard-Bobiwash, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Michigan State University, and Affiliated Faculty Centre for Indigenous Studies, University of Toronto
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1 Land and Politics
Part 2 Contestation, Resistance, Solidarities
Part 3 Policing and Social Control
Part 4 Life and Death
Additional Information
368 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Authenticity Note: Contains contributions from both Indigenous peoples and settlers.
Synopsis:
Just as a basket’s purpose determines its materials, weave, and shape, so too is the purpose of the essay related to its material, weave, and shape. Editors Elissa Washuta and Theresa Warburton ground this anthology of essays by Native writers in the formal art of basket weaving. Using weaving techniques such as coiling and plaiting as organizing themes, the editors have curated an exciting collection of imaginative, world-making lyric essays by twenty-seven contemporary Native writers from tribal nations across Turtle Island into a well-crafted basket.
Shapes of Native Nonfiction features a dynamic combination of established and emerging Native writers, including Stephen Graham Jones, Deborah Miranda, Terese Marie Mailhot, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Eden Robinson, and Kim TallBear. Their ambitious, creative, and visionary work with genre and form demonstrate the slippery, shape-changing possibilities of Native stories. Considered together, they offer responses to broader questions of materiality, orality, spatiality, and temporality that continue to animate the study and practice of distinct Native literary traditions in North America.
Reviews
"In this anthology, shape matters. It turns the essay into a resistant form, pushing against the myth of the ‘disappearing Native’ and asserting a new narrative, one that isn’t subject to colonizing. . . . Shapes of Native Nonfiction is full of cognitive and emotional work. It turns the essay into something alive and breathing." - Cincinnati Review
"The medium is the message in this formally daring anthology of essays from Native writers, organized into basket-weaving themes such as ‘coiling’ and ‘plaiting.’ In these 27 essays by writers hailing from multiple tribal nations, some established and some newcomers, the Native experience is interrogated, elucidated, and celebrated." - Esquire
"In gathering contemporary Native nonfiction, this book elucidates the roots of the form-conscious essay and brings together the exciting current work of Native writers. In a sweeping decolonizing gesture, this anthology challenges the nonfiction canon as it’s been taught and creates a porous new space in its place." - Essay Daily
"Shapes of Native Nonfiction is. . . an accessible, engaging book, both for those who have read widely on the subject and for those seeking a place to begin." - New York Journal of Books
"This new collection of essays from established and emerging contemporary Indigenous writers is stunning both in-depth and scope. . . . The collection, expertly curated and structured by writer and Cowlitz Indian Tribe member Elissa Washuta (whose incredible essay Apocalypse Logic also appears here) and literary scholar Theresa Warburton, shines in every piece and in its existence as a whole. . . . In these pages, storytelling is a way of developing new Native nonfiction literary possibility." - Literary Hub
"Shapes of Native Nonfiction introduces the reader to a unique collection of voices, telling stories that shift from lost to living language, from history to lived experience. These shifts create new shapes for Indigenous writers to inhabit, explore and share. In this anthology, that shaping makes for a powerful read, and an absolutely necessary one" - High Country News
"In this far-ranging collection of essays, Indigenous writers explore family, home, landscape, identity, trauma, history, and memory. Some of the essays are about writing itself. Others tell stories about particular experiences or moments. Still others are more outwardly focused, exploring art, culture, and politics. Part of what makes this book so unique is the various innovative forms the essays take." - Book Riot
Additional Information
302 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Colonialism in settler societies such as Canada depends on a certain understanding of the relationship between time and Indigenous peoples. Too often, these peoples have been portrayed as being without a future, destined either to disappear or assimilate into settler society. This book asserts quite the opposite: Indigenous peoples are not in any sense “out of time” in our contemporary world.
Shaping the Future on Haida Gwaii shows how Indigenous peoples in Canada not only continue to have a future but are at work building many different futures – for themselves and for their non-Indigenous neighbours. Through the experiences of the residents of the Haida First Nation community of Old Massett on the islands of Haida Gwaii, Joseph Weiss explores these possible futures in detail, demonstrating how Haida ways of thinking about time, mobility, and political leadership are at the heart of contemporary strategies for addressing the dilemmas that come with life under settler colonialism.
From the threat of ecological crisis to the assertion of sovereign rights and authority, Weiss shows that the Haida people consistently turn towards their possible futures, desirable and undesirable, in order to work out how to live in and transform the present. His book breaks new ground in the exploration of the relationship between time and colonialism as experienced in the day-to-day lives of an Indigenous community.
Educator Information
This book will appeal to scholars and students of Indigenous studies, particularly in anthropology, ethnography, sociology, and history. Researchers planning to work with communities will learn from the author’s reflections on conducting ethnographic fieldwork with First Nations.
This book is the result of five years of fieldwork in Old Massett and Masset with the people of the Haida First Nation.
Reviews
"Grounded in respectful experience, observation, and interviews with Haida citizens, this book provides scholars with a complex understanding and analysis of how one Indigenous community adapts to and maintains a commitment, however difficult, to imagining and enacting a futurity determined by themselves, not settler colonialism. It will be widely read in Indigenous studies circles." - Kevin Bruyneel, author of The Third Space of Sovereignty: The Postcolonial Politics of U.S.-Indigenous Relations
"An engaging, contemporary ethnography … this lively book, with its rich theoretical bases, has the potential to further reconfigure and unsettle problematic ethnographic and popular texts on the Haida, and Indigenous peoples more generally." - Brian Thom, Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria
"In his highly original, carefully written, and theoretically grounded ethnography, Joseph Weiss describes how the people of Haida Gwaii engage in envisioning future-making, an aspirational and contested process that unsettles their own temporal displacement and potential erasure within settler colonialism … Shaping the Future points in a new direction and calls for a rethinking of ethnography as a method and the future of Indigenous nations within the state."- Bruce Miller, author of Oral History on Trial: Recognizing Aboriginal Narratives in the Courts
Additional Information
244 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Synopsis:
When your culture is banned and your land and resources stolen, it takes a special individual not only to survive but to thrive. Grounded in the wisdom of his elders, Gisdewe Alfred Joseph wove respect, kindness and courage into his years of service to the Witsuwit’en people of northwest British Columbia. As artist, teacher, chief band councilor, house chief and a lead plaintiff in Delgamuukw-Gisdewe – one of the most important Aboriginal title cases in Canada – Alfred relied on the lessons he learned as a boy to deal with a pervasive colonial reality. In Song of the Earth, Ross Hoffman opens the feast hall doors, throwing light on what the Witsuwit’en have lost and what they have preserved since settlers came to their lands.
Written in collaboration with Alfred Joseph, Song of the Earth brings us inside the heart and mind of a man who grew up in the heart of Witsuwit’en culture and lived to see it transformed. But he was no passive observer; he initiated and participated in legal battles that have reshaped how Canada addresses its colonial past and struggles to find ways to reconcile with Indigenous nations. In the face of current Witsuwit’en attempts to block pipeline construction across their territories in northwestern BC, this book provides insight into the people standing up for the rights that Canadian courts have affirmed.
Additional Information
200 pages | 5.50" x 7.50"
Authenticity Note: Because this work is a collaboration between the author and Alfred Joseph, it has received the Authentic Indigenous Text label.
Synopsis:
A teen's suspicious death, a shocking police cover-up and a mother's search for truth: this landmark investigation into justice and Canada's Indigenous people is re-issued and updated here for the first time in over a decade.
In 1990, on a brutally cold night, 17-year-old Neil Stonechild disappeared from downtown Saskatoon, last seen in police custody. His frozen body was found three days later in a field outside town. Though his mother pressed for answers, a cursory investigation pinned the blame on the teen himself, dead by alcohol and misadventure. Only in 2000, when two more men were found frozen to death, and a third survived his "starlight tour" at the hands of police, did the truth about Stonechild's fate begin to emerge. Soon one of the country's most prominent Indigenous lawyers was on the case, and an open secret was secret no more.
With exclusive co-operation from the Stonechild family, lawyer Donald Worme, and others, Starlight Tour is an engrossing portrait of rogue cops, racism, obstruction of justice and justice denied, not only to a boy and his family but to an entire nation.
Reviews
“For justice junkies like myself, this is a deeply engrossing account…. Should be compulsory reading for Canadian police recruits from sea to shining sea.” –William Deverell, The Globe and Mail
“The Stonechild story is ably captured by veteran CBC journalists Susanne Reber and Robert Renaud in a thoroughly researched, deftly written work…. A powerfully written, meticulously researched work with a cinematic feel, which should be on reading lists for students of Canadian history, journalism or law enforcement.” –Toronto Star
“The suspenseful and meticulous account of a very real and dark chapter in Canada’s modern history.” –TIME (Canada)
Additional Information
448 pages | 6.04" x 8.98"
Synopsis:
Within Turtle Island Indigenous people know that its spiritual centre is the ultimate mover within everything we do and are surrounded by. The Clean Place: Honouring Indigenous Spiritual Roots of Turtle Island illuminates the strong connection Indigenous people have with the land and the importance of a paradigm shift worldwide toward sustainable ways of thinking and being. The voices and perspectives of the writers weave traditional teachings, spirituality, and messages of hope, change, and transformation.
Reviews
"Hankard’s compilation takes us on a journey throughout Turtle Island and beyond, across sacred oceans to the ancestral homelands of our relatives. This journey illuminates a connecting theme of Indigenous existence on, from and with the land as a sacred being. Upon a shared reading of a chapter with my son, it was clear he embodied the teachings within – he was doing his part in maintaining the Clean Place." - Cindy Peltier, PhD, Chair Indigenous Education Nipissing University
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Gchi-Biimskogaabiwiding
Introduction
Michael Hankard
1. I Still Have the Place
Lorraine Rekmans
2. Unsettling the Clean Place: Beginnings of a Philosophical Reflection
Réal Fillion
3. Giving Thanks for the Light
Ross Hoffman
4. In Place and Time: Indigenous Women’s Re-Weaving and Resistances
Laura Hall
5. The Healing Journey: Spirituality, Cultural Connection and the Significance of Aboriginal Peoples Relationship to the Land
John E. Charlton & John G. Hansen
6. Honouring Papatuanuku: Honouring Mother Earth
Taima Moeke-Pickering
7. Stewards of the Sacred
Cynthia Landrum
8. A Buffalo’s Breath on a Cold Winter Morning
Michael Hankard
9. Wahi Pana: A Hawaiian Sense of Place and Relationship to the Land
Umi Perkins
10. The Land is One with Us, and We are One with the Land: A Personal Journal
Emily Faries
11. Caring for Past/Present/Future Through Anishinabe Photography on the Land
Celeste Pedri-Spade
12. Washed ‘Clean’ in Zimbabwe: The Dzivaguru Creation Story
Collis G. Machoko
13. Reflections on Urban Connections to Land and Ceremony: Uncovering the Virtues of Creativity, Cultural Resiliency, Flexibility and Tenacity
Barbara Waterfall
14. Biinidsa: Going Home to Clean Up
Kevin FitzMaurice
Epilogue: Clean Water in the ‘Clean Place’?
Maurice Switzer
About the Authors
Additional Information
251 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"