First Nations

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192 pages | 7.08" x 9.03" | Colour photos throughout

An exploration of the historical and future significance of Canada's Native soul.

Eatenonha is the Wendat word for love and respect for the Earth and Mother Nature. For many Native peoples and newcomers to North America, Canada is a motherland, an Eatenonha - a land in which all can and should feel included, valued, and celebrated.

In Eatenonha Georges Sioui presents the history of a group of Wendat known as the Seawi Clan and reveals the deepest, most honoured secrets possessed by his people, by all people who are Indigenous, and by those who understand and respect Indigenous ways of thinking and living. Providing a glimpse into the lives, ideology, and work of his family and ancestors, Sioui weaves a tale of the Wendat's sparsely documented historical trajectory and his family's experiences on a reserve. Through an original retelling of the Indigenous commercial and social networks that existed in the northeast before European contact, the author explains that the Wendat Confederacy was at the geopolitical centre of a commonwealth based on peace, trade, and reciprocity. This network, he argues, was a true democracy, where all beings of all natures were equally valued and respected and where women kept their place at the centre of their families and communities.

Identifying Canada's first civilizations as the originators of modern democracy, Eatenonha represents a continuing quest to heal and educate all peoples through an Indigenous way of comprehending life and the world.

Reviews
"Eatenonha is a unique interweaving of self, family, First Nation, and Indigenous peoples of the Americas and elsewhere." - John Steckley, Humber College

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 10 to 12 for use in these areas: English Language Arts and Social Studies.

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200 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

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224 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 10 b&w photos, 4 maps

Based on recorded interviews and journal entries this major biography of Cecil Paul (Wa’xaid) is a resounding and timely saga featuring the trials, tribulations, endurance, forgiveness, and survival of one of North American’s more prominent Indigenous leaders.

Born in 1931 in the Kitlope, Cecil Paul, also known by his Xenaksiala name, Wa’xaid, is one of the last fluent speakers of his people’s language. At age ten he was placed in a residential school run by the United Church of Canada at Port Alberni where he was abused. After three decades of prolonged alcohol abuse, he returned to the Kitlope where his healing journey began. He has worked tirelessly to protect the Kitlope, described as the largest intact temperate rainforest watershed in the world. Now in his late 80s, he resides on his ancestors’ traditional territory.

Following upon the success of Wa'xaid's own book of personal essays, Stories from the Magic Canoe, Briony Penn's major biography of this remarkable individual will serve as a timely reminder of the state of British Columbia's Indigenous community, the environmental and political strife still facing many Indigenous communities, and the philosophical and personal journey of a remarkable man.

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376 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Forbidden Fruit: Engaging an Indigenous Feminist Lens as an Neninaw Iskwew is a feminist based memoir acknowledging that people are measured, categorized, and placed in a hierarchal order that is deeply influenced by discourses predicated upon social processes.

Dr. McKay’s Indigenous feminism is about being aware that due to the colonial patriarchy that has seeped through Indigenous social and cultural systems, Indigenous women are positioned differently in economic, social and political structures. Marlene masterfully uses her own life experiences to assert that colonialism and Indigenous cultures obscure the role of women in a way that continues both their marginalization and the binary of the princess/squaw (p. 11).

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98 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

In this poetic, poignant memoir, Dene artist and social activist Antoine Mountain paints an unforgettable picture of his journey from residential school to art school—and his path to healing.

In 1949, Antoine Mountain was born on the land near Radelie Koe, Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories. At the tender age of seven, he was stolen away from his home and sent to a residential school—run by the Roman Catholic Church in collusion with the Government of Canada—three hundred kilometres away. Over the next twelve years, the three residential schools Mountain was forced to attend systematically worked to erase his language and culture, the very roots of his identity.

While reconnecting to that which had been taken from him, he had a disturbing and painful revelation of the bitter depths of colonialism and its legacy of cultural genocide. Canada has its own holocaust, Mountain argues.

As a celebrated artist and social activist today, Mountain shares this moving, personal story of healing and the reclamation of his Dene identity.

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grades 9 to 12 in the following subject areas: English Language Arts, Social Studies.

Included in this story are personal stories of residential school and addiction.

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272 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Dementia is on the rise around the world, and health organizations in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand are responding to the urgent need – voiced by communities and practitioners – for guidance on how best to address memory loss in Indigenous communities. This innovative volume responds to the call by bringing together, for the first time, research studies and Indigenous teaching stories on this topic. Using decolonizing methods, it addresses key areas of concern with chapters that:

• examine the prevalence and causes of dementia, as well as the public discourse surrounding the issue
• provide examples for incorporating Indigenous perspectives on care and prevention into research and practice
• demonstrate culturally safe applications of research to Elder care.

Presenting strategies for health practice and effective collaborative research informed by Indigenous knowledge and worldviews, this book is a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, students, and educators who seek a better understanding of memory loss and memory care.

This book will be of interest to students, educators, researchers, and practitioners working in or interested in the fields of dementia studies and Indigenous health.

Reviews
"This book represents the first significant contribution to what we know about how Indigenous peoples understand dementia and memory loss." -  from the foreword by Rod McCormick (Kanienkehaka), professor and British Columbia Innovation Council research chair in Aboriginal Health, Faculty of Education and Social Work, Thompson Rivers University

"A leap forward in understanding how health care can be provided in culturally safe ways." - Lloy Wylie, assistant professor, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University

Educator Information

Table of Contents
Foreword / Rod McCormick
Introduction / Wendy Hulko, Jean E. Balestrery, and Danielle Wilson
We Call It Healing / Secwepemc Elder, Wendy Hulko, Danielle Wilson, Star Mahara, Gwen Campbell-McArthur, Jean William, Cecilia DeRose, and Estella Patrick Moller

Part 1: Prevalence, Causes, and Public Discourse
1 Current and Projected Dementia Prevalence in First Nations Populations in Canada / Jennifer Walker and Kristen Jacklin
2 Indigenous Vascular Dementia: An Indigenous Syndemic Dementia Model / J. Neil Henderson, Linda D. Carson, and Kama King
3 A Story about Joe in the News Media: Decolonizing Dementia Discourse / Suzanne MacLeod
Coyote: Keeper of Memories / Danielle Wilson, Gwen Campbell-McArthur, Wendy Hulko, Star Mahara, Jean William, Cecilia DeRose, and Estella Patrick Moller

Part 2: Indigenous Perspectives on Care and Prevention
4 Perceptions of Dementia Prevention among Anishinaabe Living on Manitoulin Island / Jessica E. Pace, Kristen Jacklin, Wayne Warry, and Karen Pitawanakwat
5 The Understanding from Within Project: Perspectives from Indigenous Caregivers / Carrie Bourassa, Melissa Blind, Kristen Jacklin, Eric Oleson, and Kate Ross-Hopley
6 Oldest Age Does Not Come Alone: “What’s the Name of the Day?” / Mere Kēpa
A Fecund Frontier: We Listen ... in between Talk ... We Listen / Jean E. Balestrery and Sophie “Eqeelana Tungwenuk” Nothstine

Part 3: Applying Theory and Knowledge to Practice
7 Depression, Diabetes, and Dementia: Historical, Biocultural, and Generational Factors among American Indian and Alaska Native Elders / Linda D. Carson, J. Neil Henderson, and Kama King
8 Adapting CIRCA-BC in the Post-Residential-School Era / Barbara Purves and Wendy Hulko
9 Focus(ing) on Love and Respect: Translating Elders’ Teachings on Aging and Memory Loss into Learning Tools for Children and Youth / Wendy Hulko, Danielle Wilson, and Jessica Kent

Conclusion / Wendy Hulko, Jean E. Balestrery, and Danielle Wilson
Index

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264 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Indigenous Relations: Your Guide to Working Effectively with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.

A timely sequel to the bestselling 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act - and an invaluable guide for anyone seeking to work more effectively with Indigenous Peoples.

We are all treaty people. But what are the everyday impacts of treaties, and how can we effectively work toward reconciliation if we're worried our words and actions will unintentionally cause harm?

Hereditary chief and leading Indigenous relations trainer Bob Joseph is your guide to respecting cultural differences and improving your personal relationships and business interactions with Indigenous Peoples. Practical and inclusive, Indigenous Relations interprets the difference between hereditary and elected leadership, and why it matters; explains the intricacies of Aboriginal Rights and Title, and the treaty process; and demonstrates the lasting impact of the Indian Act, including the barriers that Indigenous communities face and the truth behind common myths and stereotypes perpetuated since Confederation.

Indigenous Relations equips you with the necessary knowledge to respectfully avoid missteps in your work and daily life, and offers an eight-part process to help business and government work more effectively with Indigenous Peoples - benefitting workplace culture as well as the bottom line. Indigenous Relations is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to improve their cultural competency and undo the legacy of the Indian Act. 

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 11 and 12 in these areas: Social Studies, Law, English Language Arts, and Social Justice.

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200 pages | 8.00" x 5.00"

This book shares the life story of Anishinaabe artist Rene Meshake in stories, poetry, and Anishinaabemowin “word bundles” that serve as a dictionary of Ojibwe poetics. Meshake was born in the railway town of Nakina in northwestern Ontario in 1948, and spent his early years living off-reserve with his grandmother in a matriarchal land-based community he calls Pagwashing. He was raised through his grandmother’s “bush university,” periodically attending Indian day school, but at the age of ten Rene was scooped into the Indian residential school system, where he suffered sexual abuse as well as the loss of language and connection to family and community. This residential school experience was lifechanging, as it suffocated his artistic expression and resulted in decades of struggle and healing. Now in his twenty-eighth year of sobriety, Rene is a successful multidisciplinary artist, musician and writer. Meshake’s artistic vision and poetic lens provide a unique telling of a story of colonization and recovery.

The material is organized thematically around a series of Meshake’s paintings. It is framed by Kim Anderson, Rene’s Odaanisan (adopted daughter), a scholar of oral history who has worked with Meshake for two decades. Full of teachings that give a glimpse of traditional Anishinaabek lifeways and worldviews, Injichaag: My Soul in Story is “more than a memoir.”

Awards

• 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards Winner for Works in an Indigenous Language
  

Reviews
“This is the story of an Anishinaabe journey across time and space. This is more than an autobiography of trauma, it is a celebration of resilience.”– Margaret Noodin, Associate Professor, English and American Indian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Educator Information
Table of Contents
Invocation
Family Tree
Community Tree
Introduction
Section 1 Odinimanganikadjigan
Section 2 Nibinaabe
Section 3 Wikwedong
Section 4 Bimisi
Section 5 Miskwadesshimo
Section 6 Papawangani
Section 7 Migisiwiganj
Epilogue

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240 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Law’s Indigenous Ethics examines the revitalization of Indigenous peoples’ relationship to their own laws and, in so doing, attempts to enrich Canadian constitutional law more generally. Organized around the seven Anishinaabe grandmother and grandfather teachings of love, truth, bravery, humility, wisdom, honesty, and respect, this book explores ethics in relation to Aboriginal issues including title, treaties, legal education, and residential schools.

With characteristic depth and sensitivity, John Borrows brings insights drawn from philosophy, law, and political science to bear on some of the most pressing issues that arise in contemplating the interaction between Canadian state law and Indigenous legal traditions. In the course of a wide-ranging but accessible inquiry, he discusses such topics as Indigenous agency, self-determination, legal pluralism, and power. In its use of Anishinaabe stories and methodologies drawn from the emerging field of Indigenous studies, Law’s Indigenous Ethics makes a significant contribution to scholarly debate and is an essential resource for readers seeking a deeper understanding of Indigenous rights, societies, and cultures.

Reviews
"Law’s Indigenous Ethics addresses very controversial topics in Canada, not just in Indigenous legal studies, but far beyond that. John Borrows employs story work methodology, along with thorough legal research, ensuring that his work is truly leading edge. Law’s Indigenous Ethics will further advance Indigenous studies in Canada and beyond. Borrows’s work moves beyond the binary, divisive, and linear ideologies dominating the Indigenous intellectual landscape in Canada. He provides nuance, complicates dominate narratives, and gives the reader much food for thought and, more importantly, asks the reader to think, reflect, and embrace the principles embedded in the seven grandmother and grandfather teachings as a whole." -Deborah McGregor, Osgoode Hall Law School, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice, York University

"Law’s Indigenous Ethics is extremely novel, important, and has the potential for great influence. Demonstrating tremendous expertise and fluency with its subjects, John Borrows’s arguments are sound and thoughtful, providing a number of important insights that lead me to adjust the way I think about issues that are very familiar to me." -Bethany Berger, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, University of Connecticut

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400 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Over the past fifty years, Canada's Indigenous Affairs department (now two departments with more than 30 federal co-delivery partners) has mushroomed into a "super-province" delivering birth-to-death programs and services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. This vast entity has jurisdictional reach over 90-percent of Canada's landscape, and an annual budget of some $20-billion. Yet Indigenous people have no means to hold this "super-province" accountable to them. Not a single person in this entity has been elected by Indigenous people to represent their interests. Not one. When it comes to federal Indigenous policy, ordinary Indigenous people in Canada are voiceless and powerless.

In Let the People Speak: Oppression in a Time of Reconciliation, author and journalist Sheilla Jones raises an important question: are the well-documented social inequities in Indigenous communities--high levels of poverty, suicide, incarceration, children in care, family violence--the symptoms of this long-standing, institutionalized powerlessness? If so, the solution lies in empowerment. And the means of empowerment is already embedded in the historic treaties. Jones argues that there can be meaningful reconciliation only when ordinary Indigenous Canadians are finally empowered to make their voices heard, and ordinary non-Indigenous Canadians can join with them to advance a shared future.

Educator Information
Includes a foreword from Sheila North. Sheila is from the Bunibonibee Cree Nation and is the former Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), and former Chief Communications Officer for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. She is a former Gemini-nominated CBC journalist, former CTV journalist and documentarist.

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256 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Nakón-i'a wo! Beginning Nakoda is a language resource designed to help revitalize and document Nakoda, now spoken in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Written for beginning learners of Nakoda (also known as Assiniboine), this workbook, arranged thematically, provides a Nakoda/English lexicon, a vocabulary, a table of kinship terms, a glossary of linguistic terminology, and exercises to do after each lesson.

This book was made possible with the assistance of Elders and Language Keepers of the Nakoda Nation: Armand McArthur and Wilma Kennedy, Main Consultants; with additional contributions by Pete Bigstone, Leona Kroscamp, Freda O'Watch, and Ken Armstrong.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for Grades 7+

Part of the Indigenous Languages for Beginners series.

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304 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | Black and white illustrations throughout

Labrador Innu cultural and environmental activist Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue is well-known both within and far beyond the Innu Nation. The recipient of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award and an honorary doctorate from Memorial University, she has been a subject of documentary films, books, and numerous articles. She led the Innu campaign against NATO’s low-level flying and bomb testing on Innu land during the 1980s and ’90s, and was a key respondent in a landmark legal case in which the judge held that the Innu had the “colour of right” to occupy the Canadian Forces base in Goose Bay, Labrador. Over the past twenty years she has led walks and canoe trips in nutshimit, “on the land,” to teach people about Innu culture and knowledge.

Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive began as a diary written in Innu-aimun, in which Tshaukuesh recorded day-to-day experiences, court appearances, and interviews with reporters. Tshaukuesh has always had a strong sense of the importance of documenting what was happening to the Innu and their land. She also found keeping a diary therapeutic, and her writing evolved from brief notes into a detailed account of her own life and reflections on Innu land, culture, politics, and history.

Beautifully illustrated, this work contains numerous images by professional photographers and journalists as well as archival photographs and others from Tshaukuesh’s own collection.

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288 pages | 6.00" x 8.50" | 128 colour illustrations | 1 map | bibliography

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

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1410 pages | 6.70" x 10.00"

“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.

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208 pages | 10.17" x 12.39" | Colour photographs throughout | Hardcover