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Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey toward Personal and Ecological Healing (PB)
$23.00
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Format: Paperback
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781039006034

Synopsis:

"This beautiful book can completely change how we approach science, using both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and how we can work collaboratively to help foster balance in nature." —Suzanne Simard, bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree

For readers of Braiding Sweetgrass: Future-saving insights and approaches to science and ecology using both Indigenous and Western perspectives.

A farm kid at heart, and a Nlaka'pamux woman of mixed ancestry, Dr. Jennifer Grenz always felt a deep connection to the land. However, after nearly two decades of working as a restoration ecologist in the Pacific Northwest, she became frustrated that despite the best efforts of her colleagues and numerous volunteers, they weren't making the meaningful change needed for plant, animal and human communities to adapt to a warming climate. Restoration ecology is grounded in an idea that we must return the natural world to an untouched, pristine state, placing humans in a godlike role—a notion at odds with Indigenous histories of purposeful, reciprocal interaction with the environment. This disconnect sent Dr. Grenz on a personal journey of joining her head (Western science) and her heart (Indigenous worldview) to find a truer path toward ecological healing.

In Medicine Wheel for the Planet, building on sacred stories, field observations and her own journey, Dr. Grenz invites readers to share in the teachings of the four directions of the medicine wheel: the North, which draws upon the knowledge and wisdom of elders; the East, where we let go of colonial narratives and see with fresh eyes; the South, where we apply new-old worldviews to envision a way forward; and the West, where a relational approach to land reconciliation is realized.

Eloquent, inspiring and disruptive, Medicine Wheel for the Planet circles toward an argument that we need more than a singular worldview to protect the planet and make the significant changes we are running out of time for.

Reviews
"Grenz shares her ancestral Nlaka'pamux wisdom that respect, relationship and reciprocity with all life is essential in healing the land. In telling her stories, she demonstrates how these fundamental principles underlie the good work. She also teaches us that our ability to understand nature and our success at stewardship requires that we lead with our hearts and keep our beginner’s curiosity open. When we do this, we have unlimited capacity to heal. This beautiful book can completely change how we approach science, using both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and how we can work collaboratively to help foster balance in nature.” —Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest

“Rooted in both Indigenous and Western ways of understanding and doing science, Medicine Wheel for the Planet challenges the simplistic, dichotomous thinking that has led well-meaning environmentalists astray for too long. In a book that is part primer in ecology, part memoir, and part manifesto, Jennifer Grenz movingly shares her own process of learning and unlearning, of connecting with traditional knowledge and practices to help unearth future-saving insights and approaches — and by doing so, generously invites the reader to undertake a similar transformation. Wise, humble, provocative, brave, and beautifully written, this book is a triumph. Read it and let it alter and expand how you see the world and your place and role within it." —Astra Taylor, author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart

“Deeply moving and compelling, Medicine Wheel for the Planet weaves a powerful story about the limitations of restoration ecology and a Western lens, and illuminates a path forward using the power of Indigenous and reciprocal ways of being. An imperative read for all Canadians.” —Angela Sterritt, author of Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls

“In this thoughtful and heartfelt book, Dr. Grenz challenges us to reflect on how – despite the massive contributions of Western science – we humans are impacting the Earth and all life on our planet in problematic ways, most recently evident in the ongoing global climate crisis. Guiding us through the medicine wheel concept, she illuminates the deep experiences of the First Peoples, often conveyed through stories, that can inspire us to be better relatives, reminding us to focus our time and energy on healing the Earth. This is a revelatory, immersive work that illustrates, with respect and gratitude, the meaningful role that all systems of knowledge play in connecting ‘our heads and our hearts’ for a healthier planet.” —Nancy J. Turner, Distinguished Emeritus Professor in Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, author/editor of many books including The Earth’s Blanket, Member of the Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia and winner of Canadian Botanical Association Lawson Medal

Medicine Wheel for the Planet transported me gently into the dynamic world of plants and trees and offers a powerful viewing lens—one derived from Indigenous storytelling as well as from Western science. Dr. Grenz helped me to see research methods through a more holistic perspective, and skilfully shows what science could accomplish if untangled from the rigid rules of our dominant culture. With patience and humility, she convinced me that if we take the time to look and listen differently, the land will offer us crucial lessons in healing that would otherwise be left unseen and unheard.” —Dr. Jane Philpott, author of Health for All: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada

Educator Information
This book is available in French: La roue de médecine: Un nouveau récit pour guérir la planète

Additional Information
280 pages | 5.18" x 8.00" | Paperback

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre (PB)
$36.00
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian; First Nations; Anishinaabeg;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9780771099199

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

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Around the Kitchen Table: Métis Aunties' Scholarship
$27.95
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Format: Paperback
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian; Métis;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781772840735

Synopsis:

Honouring the scholarship of Métis matriarchs

While surveying the field of Indigenous studies, Laura Forsythe and Jennifer Markides recognized a critical need for not only a Métis-focused volume, but one focused on the contributions of Métis women. To address this need, they brought together work by new and established scholars, artists, storytellers, and community leaders that reflects the diversity of research created by Métis women as it is lived, considered, conceptualized, and re-imagined.

With writing by Emma LaRocque and other pioneers of Métis studies, Around the Kitchen Table looks beyond the patriarchy to document and celebrate the scholarship of Métis women. Focusing on experiences in post-secondary environments, this collection necessarily traverses a range of methodologies. Spanning disciplines of social work, education, history, health care, urban studies, sociology, archaeology, and governance, contributors bring their own stories to explorations of spirituality, material culture, colonialism, land-based education, sexuality, language, and representation. The result is an expansive, heartfelt, and accessible "community of Métis thought," as articulated by Markides.

Reverent and revelatory, this collection centres the strong aunties and grandmothers who have shaped Métis communities, culture, and identities with teachings shared in classrooms, auditoriums, and around the kitchen table.

Reviews
"Inspiring, healing, and future-facing, this long overdue book gives us valuable new insights into the histories and identities of Métis people." — Kim Anderson

"Around the Kitchen Table is an exciting and thought-provoking contribution to the fields of Métis Studies and Indigenous feminism. Reading this book is like sitting down to visit with a strong cup of tea and your favourite aunties. It will inspire readers to think about matriarchy in new and exciting ways, teaching us what it means to be Métis women, good relatives, and innovative scholars." — Cheryl Troupe

Educator Information
Other contributors: Jennifer Adese, Christi Belcourt, Hannah Bouvier, Rita Bouvier, Vicki Bouvier, Robline Davey, Leah Marie Dorion, Marilyn Dumont, Nicki Ferland, Chantal Fiola, Lucy Fowler, Chelsea Gabel, Janice Cindy Gaudet, Emily Haines, Shalene Jobin, Emma LaRocque, Amanda LaVallee, Lynn Lavallee, Avery Letendre, Kirsten Lindquist, Yvonne Poitras Pratt, Angela Rancourt, Lisa Shepherd, Allyson Stevenson, Kisha Supernant, Caroline Tait, Angie Tucker, Dawn Wambold

Table of Contents

Contributors
Foreword by Caroline Tait
The Work of Métis Women: An Introduction – Jennifer Markides

Part One: Identity

1. Brown Names – Marilyn Dumont
2. We Know Ourselves – Lisa Shepherd
3. Kaa-waakohtoochik: The Ones Who Are Related to Each Other – Vicki Bouvier
4. The Roots Always Remain: Reconnecting to Our Communities in the Twenty-First Century – Angie Tucker
5. For the Love of Place―Not Just Any Place: Selected Metis Writings – Emma Larocque
6. Coming Home through Métis Research – Allyson Stevenson
7. Valuing Métis Identity in the Prairies through a “5 R” Lens: Our Digital Storytelling Journey – Chelsea Gabel and Amanda LaVallee
8. Prenatal/Postpartum Ceremonies and Parenting as Michif Self-Determination – Chantal Fiola
9. Medicine Women – Jennifer Adese
10. Lii Michif – Lisa Shepherd

Part Two: Women in the Academy

11. Metis Women as Contributors to the Academy Despite Colonial Patriarchy – Laura Forsythe
12. Connecting to Our Ancestors Through Archaeology: Stories of Three Métis Women Academics – Kisha Supernant, Dawn Wambold, and Emily Haines
13. Métis Women Educating in the Academy – Yvonne Poitras Pratt and Jennifer Markides
14. Structural and Lateral Violence Toward Metis Women in the Academy – Lynn Lavallee

Part Three: Research Methodology

15. Métis Research and Relationality: Auntie Governance, the Visiting Way, and Kitchen Table Reflections – Kirsten Lindquist, Shalene Jobin, Avery Letendre
16. Lii Taab di Faam Michif/Metis Women’s Kitchen Table: Practicing Our Sovereignty – Cindy Gaudet and Angela Rancourt
17. Wahkotowin: An Approach to Indigenous (Land-Based) Education – Nicki Ferland
18. Kaa-natoonamaan taanshi chi-ishi-natoonikeeyaan: My Search for how to Research Things (in a Queer Métis paradigm) – Lucy Fowler
19. Differentiating Métis Feminism – Robline Davey
20. Celebrating the Wisdom of Our Métis Matriarchs: Sewing Our Wellness All Together—Kood Toot Aansamb – Leah Dorion, Janice Cindy Gaudet, Hannah Bouvier
21. if the land could speak – Rita Bouvier

Bibliography
Art – Christi Belcourt

Additional Information
200 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | index, bibliography | Paperback

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Autumn Peltier
$14.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Grade Levels: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6;
ISBN / Barcode: 9781774566718

Synopsis:

Only 19 years old, Autumn Peltier has achieved so much by advocating for her community. Discover more about her advocacy for Indigenous peoples and clean water.

Educator Information
Juvenile Nonfiction.

Additional Information
24 Pages

 

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Bead Talk: Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics from the Flatlands
$27.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian; First Nations; Métis;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781772840650

Synopsis:

Sewing new understandings.

Indigenous beadwork has taken the art world by storm, but it is still sometimes misunderstood as static, anthropological artifact. Today’s prairie artists defy this categorization, demonstrating how beads tell stories and reclaim cultural identity. Whether artists seek out and share techniques through YouTube videos or in-person gatherings, beading fosters traditional methods of teaching and learning and enables intergenerational transmissions of pattern and skill.

In Bead Talk, editors Carmen Robertson, Judy Anderson, and Katherine Boyer gather conversations, interviews, essays, and full-colour reproductions of beadwork from expert and emerging artists, academics, and curators to illustrate the importance of beading in contemporary Indigenous arts. Taken together, the book poses and responds to philosophical questions about beading on the prairies: How do the practices and processes of beading embody reciprocity, respect, and storytelling? How is beading related to Indigenous ways of knowing? How does beading help individuals reconnect with the land? Why do we bead?

Showcasing beaded tumplines, text, masks, regalia, and more, Bead Talk emphasizes that there is no one way to engage with this art. The contributors to this collection invite us all into the beading circle as they reshape how beads are understood and stitch together generations of artists.

Reviews
“An evocative, aesthetically gorgeous book that is rich in knowledge, relationality, and experience. Curated with care, rooted in artistic practice and lived experience, and embodying a polyvocal, collaborative spirit, it immerses the reader in the world of Indigenous beadwork on the prairies. Bead Talk carries teachings about decolonial love, healing and medicine, cultural knowledges, political and theoretical modes of action, gendered experience, and more. I can’t think of any other book like this—it is a gift!” — Aubrey Hanson

Educator Information
Contributors: Ruth Cuthand, Dayna Danger, Sherry Farrell Racette, Marcy Friesen, Felicia Gay, Franchesca [Fran] Hebert-Spence, Audie Murray, Cathy Mattes.

Table of Contents

Foreword – Brenda Macdougall

Who We Are

Introduction – Carmen Robertson, Judy Anderson, and Katherine Boyer

Part I: Conversations

1. Mentoring/Beading – Ruth Cuthand and Marcy Friesen

2. mîkisistahêwin (bead medicine) – Judy Anderson and Audie Murray

3. Parallel Lines Move Along Together: A Beaded Line that Connects Me to You – Katherine Boyer and Dayna Danger

4. The Power of Gathering: Revisiting the Seeds of Ziigimineshin – Franchesca Hebert-Spence and Carmen Robertson

5. Beads, Blood, and Curating Ruth Cuthand’s Art – Felicia Gay and Carmen Robertson

Part II: Essays

6. “Until We Bead Again”: The BU Beading Babe and Embodying Lateral Love and Generous Reciprocity – Cathy Mattes

7. Visiting Kin: Indigenous Flatland Beading Aesthetics – Carmen Robertson

8. If the Needles Don’t Break and the Thread Doesn’t Tangle: Beading Utopia – Sherry Farrell Racette

Afterword: Spreading the Bead Love Far and Wide

Additional Information
240 pages | 6.00" x 8.50" | 62 colour illustrations | Paperback 


Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Beast: A Novel
$24.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Grade Levels: 9; 10; 11; 12;
ISBN / Barcode: 9781771624145

Synopsis:

Returning to his favourite setting of Fort Simmer, Northwest Territories, Richard Van Camp brings his exuberant style to a captivating teen novel that blends the supernatural with 1980s-era nostalgia to reflect on friendship, tradition and forgiveness.

For as long as Lawson can remember, his life in a small Northwest Territories town has revolved around “the Treaty” between the Dogrib and the Chipewyan, set down centuries ago to prevent the return of bloody warfare between the two peoples.

On the Dogrib side, Lawson and his family have done their best to keep the pact alive with the neighbouring Cranes, a family with ancestral ties to a revered Chipewyan war chief. But even as Lawson and his father dutifully tidy the Cranes’ property as an act of respect, their counterparts offer little more than scowls and derision in return, despite the fact that both families are responsible for protecting the treaty.

Worse still, it seems that one of the Cranes’ boys is doing all he can to revive the old conflict: Silver, fresh out of jail, has placed himself in the service of a cruel, ghoulish spirit bent on destroying the peace. Now it's up to Isaiah Valentine, a Cree Grass Dancer, Shari Burns, a Metis psychic, and Lawson Sauron, a Dogrib Yabati—or protector—to face what Silver Cranes has called back.

This latest feat of storytelling magic by celebrated author Richard Van Camp blends sharply observed realism and hair-raising horror as it plays out against a 1980s-era backdrop replete with Platinum Blonde songs and episodes of Degrassi Junior High. Unfolding in the fictional town of Fort Simmer—the setting of previous Van Camp stories—Beast delivers a gripping, spirited tale that pits the powers of tradition against the pull of a vengeful past.

Educator Information
Young adult fiction.

Additional Information
312 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Authentic Indigenous Artwork
Between the Pipes
$21.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian; First Nations; Cree (Nehiyawak);
Grade Levels: 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12;
ISBN / Barcode: 9781774921043

Synopsis:

In this engrossing graphic novel, teen hockey player Chase learns more about himself and his identity in the face of prejudice and homophobia.

Thirteen-year-old Chase’s life and identity should be simple. He’s the goalie for his hockey team, the Eagles. He’s a friend to Kevin and Jade. He's Kookum's youngest grandchild. He’s a boy. He should like girls.

But it’s not that simple. Chase doesn’t like girls the way that the other boys do. It’s scary being so different from his peers. Scarier still is the feeling that his teammates can tell who he is—and that they hate him for it. If he pretends hard enough, maybe he can hide the truth.

Real strength and change can’t come from a place of shame. Chase’s dreams are troubled by visions of a bear spirit, and the more he tries to hide, the more everything falls apart. With the help of an Elder, and a Two-Spirit mentor, can Chase find the strength to be proud of who he is?

Between the Pipes explores toxic masculinity in hockey through the experiences of an Indigenous teen.

Reviews
“Highlights the importance of community and cultural connection as roots for embracing one’s identity.” — Kirkus Reviews

“The authors deftly confront multiple layers of intolerance exacerbated by toxic masculinity. Ojibwe artist RL uses saturated full color (with well-placed, empowering rainbows) to capture Chase’s self-empowering journey. The result is a compelling, hope-giving antidote against potential at-risk suicide among 2-Spirit/Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ youth.” — Booklist

“This hopeful...story offers valuable insight into Chase’s experience as a gay, Indigenous teen. Hockey and identity collide in this affirming graphic novel about recognizing and valuing one’s authentic self.” — School Library Journal

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12 - 18.

Reading Level: Fountas & Pinnell Y

Additional Information
56 pages | 6.50" x 10.00" | Paperback

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Brown Tom's Schooldays - 2nd Edition
$24.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781772840865

Synopsis:

Residential school life through the eyes of a child.

Enos Montour's Brown Tom's Schooldays, self-published in 1985, tells the story of a young boy's life at residential school. Drawn from Montour's first-hand experiences at Mount Elgin Indian Residential School between 1910 and 1915, the book is an ironic play on "the school novel," namely 1857's Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes.

An accomplished literary text and uncommon chronicle of federal Indian schooling in the early twentieth century, Brown Tom's Schooldays positions Brown Tom and his schoolmates as citizens of three worlds: the reserve, the "white man's world," and the school in between. It follows Tom leaving his family home, making friends, witnessing ill health and death, and enduring constant hunger.

Born at Six Nations of the Grand River in 1899, Montour earned degrees in Arts and Divinity at McGill University and served as a United Church minister for more than thirty years, honing his writing in newspapers and magazines and publishing two books of family history. Brown Tom's Schooldays reflects Montour's intelligence and skill as well as his love of history, parody, and literature.

This critical edition includes a foreword by the book's original editor, Elizabeth Graham, and an afterword by Montour's granddaughters, Mary Anderson and Margaret McKenzie. In her introduction, historian Mary Jane Logan McCallum documents Montour's life and work, details Brown Tom's Schooldays's publication history, and offers further insight into the operations of Mount Elgin. Entertaining and emotionally riveting, Montour's book opens a unique window into a key period in Canada's residential school history.

Reviews
"A fantastic read. People need more books like this, which are directly related to the TRC but are also a testament to the strength and creativity of Indigenous literature." — Crystal Fraser, University of Alberta

"Brown Tom's Schooldays is a literary artifact from the residential school era. In this fictionalized coming of age account, Enos Montour captures the youthful hopes, dreams, and disappointments of his real life upbringing at Mount Elgin, one of Canada's earliest and longest running residential schools. Unique in style, tone, and perspective, Schooldays is an important read for anyone interested in understanding the residential school system and for all of us who call the lower Great Lakes home." — Thomas Peace, Huron at Western University

Educator Information
This book is part of the First Voices, First Texts series.

Table of Contents

Foreword: On A Personal Note, The Making of Brown Tom’s Schooldays, 1982–1984 by Elizabeth Graham

Introduction: Enos Montour, Brown Tom, and “Ontario Indian” Literature by Mary Jane Logan McCallum

Brown Tom’s Schooldays by Enos Montour

Chapter 1: Salad Days

Chapter 2: Brown Tom Arrives

Chapter 3: Brown Tom's Three Worlds

Chapter 4: The Milling Herd

Chapter 5: Loaf 'n' Lard

Chapter 6: Brown Tom Makes a Deal

Chapter 7: Too Big for Santa Claus

Chapter 8: Brown Tom's Happy Days

Chapter 9: Trial By Fire

Chapter 10: Brown Tom "Has It Bad"

Chapter 11: Brown Tom Gets Religion

Chapter 12: The Roar of Mighty Waters

Chapter 13: Happy Hunting Ground for Noah

Chapter 14: War Clouds Over Mt. Elgin

Chapter 15: Brown Tom "Arrives"

Afterword by Mary Anderson and Margaret McKenzie

Appendix 1: Glossary of Idioms and References in Brown Tom’s Schooldays

Appendix 2: Bibliography of Works by Enos Montour

Endnotes

Bibliography

Additional Information
216 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 20 b&w illustrations, 3 maps | Paperback

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories
$27.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781772840940

Synopsis:

The first comprehensive study of Indian residential schools in the North.

In this ground-breaking book, Crystal Gail Fraser draws on Dinjii Zhuh (Gwich'in) concepts of individual and collective strength to illuminate student experiences in northern residential schools, revealing the many ways Indigenous communities resisted the institutionalization of their children.

After 1945, federal bureaucrats and politicians increasingly sought to assimilate Indigenous northerners--who had remained comparatively outside of their control--into broader Canadian society through policies that were designed to destroy Indigenous ways of life. Foremost among these was an aggressive new schooling policy that mandated the construction of Grollier and Stringer Halls: massive residential schools that opened in Inuvik in 1959, eleven years after a special joint committee of the House of Commons and the Senate recommended that all residential schools in Canada be closed.

By Strength, We Are Still Here shares the lived experiences of Indigenous northerners from 1959 until 1982, when the territorial government published a comprehensive plan for educational reform. Led by Survivor testimony, Fraser shows the roles both students and their families played in disrupting state agendas, including questioning and changing the system to protect their cultures and communities.

Centring the expertise of Knowledge Keepers, By Strength, We Are Still Here makes a crucial contribution to Indigenous research methodologies and to understandings of Canadian and Indigenous histories during the second half of the twentieth century.

Reviews
"By Strength, We Are Still Here demonstrates an intergenerational process of love and strength. Fraser's methodology, theory work, and incredibly thorough research are in and of themselves lifegiving, vital, and serve as an example to all other scholars." — Omeasoo Wahpasiw

"By integrating survivor testimony with archives, Fraser points towards the Indigenous resistance revealed in the ellipses and gaps in the colonial record. This is very important work." — Chris Trott

Educator Information
Table of Contents

Glossary

A Note on Region and Terminology

Introduction—By Strength, We Are Still Here.

Chapter One—“If anyone is going to jail for this, I’m taking it”: Our Relatives Speak

  • Education in Nanhkak Thak Before the Arrival of Settlers
  • Indian Day and Residential Schools
  • The Construction of Inuvik

Chapter Two—Calls Grow. “Listen! It’s louder now. From here, from there. Indian voices, Métis voices, demanding attention, demanding equality!"

Chapter Three—“The long process of tearing our family apart”

Chapter Four—“Making us into nice white kids.”

Chapter Five—“The hazards that can result from too permissive or undisciplined sexual behaviour.”

Chapter Six—“To find that inner peace, it was so important for us all.”

Chapter Seven—“These are our children and they are very precious to us.”

Conclusion—“We knew the value of strength.”

Appendix A

Endnotes

Additional Information
320 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 69 b&w illustrations, index, bibliography | Paperback 

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Coexistence: Stories (HC) (2 in Stock)
$29.95
Quantity:
Format: Hardcover
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9780735242036

Synopsis:

A collection of intersecting stories about Indigenous love and loneliness from one of contemporary literature’s most boundless minds.

Across the prairies and Canada’s west coast, on reserves and university campuses, at literary festivals and existential crossroads, the characters in Coexistence are searching for connection. They’re learning to live with and understand one another, to see beauty and terror side by side, and to accept that the past, present, and future can inhabit a single moment.

An aging mother confides in her son about an intimate friendship from her distant girlhood. A middling poet is haunted by the cliché his life has become. A chorus of anonymous gay men dispense unvarnished truths about their sex lives. A man freshly released from prison finds that life on the outside has sinister strictures of its own. A PhD student dog-sits for his parents at what was once a lodging for nuns operating a residential school—a house where the spectre of Catholicism comes to feel eerily literal.

Bearing the compression, crystalline sentences, and emotional potency that have characterized his earlier books, Coexistence is a testament to Belcourt’s mastery of and playfulness in any literary form. A vital addition to an already rich catalogue, this is a must-read collection and the work of an author at the height of his powers.

Reviews
“Belcourt is one of the finest and most sublime writers at work today. This book is a feat of beauty and compression, every sentence reinventing the reader. It’s like entering a quiet room or a secret lake. It’s about our coexistence with lovers, kin, enemies, but also our coexistence with desire, solitude, and an intelligence that in itself is a form of hunger—language as solace, language as light. Belcourt is the rare writer who composes from, to, and because of the soul. It’s been some time since I loved a book so deeply.”—Claudia Dey, author of Daughter

“Through the interconnected lifeworlds contained in Coexistence, we hear a defiantly loving and astoundingly honest response to colonial and racial violence. Billy-Ray Belcourt has written an homage and an elegy to a still-unfolding history—as intimate and hopeful as young romance, as mysterious and life-giving as family. I adore this collection.” —Tsering Yangzom Lama, author ofWe Measure the Earth with our Bodies

Coexistence filled my heart and lifted my spirit. There are few writers who can authentically capture the beauty and complexity of Indigenous existence both on the rez and in the city like Billy-Ray Belcourt. This book is a resolute proclamation of resilient Indigenous humanity and the nuance and richness we all embody. The stories weave and enrich on journeys that are both familiar and informative. Coexistence is a powerful celebration and a gift to the world.” —Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Turning Leaves

“Billy-Ray Belcourt masterfully portrays the complexities of Indigenous lives, longing, and belonging through these stories. There are sentences in this collection that I didn’t know I had been waiting to read; my breath caught on several of them. I suspect that readers will be letting out collective sighs while reading this book.”—Helen Knott, author of Becoming a Matriarch

“Billy-Ray Belcourt’s Coexistence is a brilliant exploration of the boundaries both imposed and imagined that exist between beings and the spaces we inhabit. I wildly admire Belcourt’s crisp prose and remarkable insights, yet what haunts me most about these powerful stories is the author’s heart-blasted willingness to be vulnerable on the page. This engaging, alive text drills right to heart of what it is to be Indigenous in the twenty-first century.”—Mona Susan Power, author of A Council of Dolls

Additional Information
200 pages | 5.00" x 7.50" | Hardcover

 

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Cold: A Novel
$24.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9780771002892

Synopsis:

A tragic plane crash that leaves two women stranded and fighting for their lives kicks off this sweeping and hilarious novel from award-winning writer Drew Hayden Taylor that blends thriller, murder mystery, and horror with humour and spectacle.

Elmore Trent is a professor of Indigenous studies who finds himself entangled in an affair that's ruining his marriage; Paul North plays in the IHL (Indigenous Hockey League), struggling to keep up with the game that's passing him by; Detective Ruby Birch is chasing a string of gruesome murders, with clues that conspicuously lead her to both Elmore and Paul. And then there's Fabiola Halan, former journalist-turned-author and famed survivor of a plane crash that sparked a nationwide tour promoting her book.

What starts off as a series of subtle connections between isolated characters quickly takes a menacing turn, as it becomes increasingly clear that someone—or something—is hunting them all.

Taking tropes from the murder mystery, police procedural, thriller, and horror genres, Drew Hayden Taylor weaves a pulse-pounding and propulsive narrative with an intricate cast of characters, while never losing the ability to make you laugh.

Reviews
"Cold is an absolutely enthralling novel from a legendary writer and storyteller. Drew Hayden Taylor is a master of genuinely capturing contemporary Indigenous realities in fiction, making the vibrant characters in this exceptional story relatable and real. Cold is creepy and funny, smart and lively, and overall a strikingly dynamic book that will keep readers on edge from start to finish."—Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves

"The myth of the Wendigo has shaped narratives from Pet Semetary to Shadow Country to The Hunger—but never in my reading has it been so cleverly and relevantly employed as it is in Drew Hayden Taylor's serpentine and haunting new novel, Cold." —Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and Little Heaven

Additional Information
368 pages | 5.50" x 8.25" | Paperback

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Authentic Indigenous Artwork
Curve!: Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast
$45.00
Quantity:
Format: Hardcover
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian; First Nations;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781773272542

Synopsis:

An eighty-year overview of wood and argillite carving by Indigenous women artists on the Northwest Coast.

Though women of the Northwest Coast have long carved poles, canoes, panels, and masks, many of these artists have not become as well known outside their communities as their male counterparts. These artists are cherished within their communities for helping to keep traditional carving practices alive, and for maintaining the dances, songs, and ceremonies that are intertwined with visual art production. This book, and an associated exhibition at the Audain Art Museum, gathers a range of sculptural formats by Indigenous women in order to expand the discourse of carving in the region.

Both the exhibition and publication are co-curated by Dana Claxton, artist, filmmaker and head of the University of British Columbia's Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory; and Dr. Curtis Collins, the AAM's Director & Chief Curator. Commentaries by Skeena Reece, Claxton, and Marika Swan, and interviews with artists Dale Campbell and Mary Anne Barkhouse are presented alongside more than one hundred artworks from public and private collections across North America, including several newly commissioned pieces.

Featured artists include:
- Ellen Neel (Kwakwaka'wakw, 1916-1966) - Freda Diesing (Haida, 1925-2002) - Doreen Jensen (Gitxsan, 1933-2009) - Susan Point (Musqueam, b. 1952) - Dale Campbell (Tahltan, b. 1954) - Marianne Nicolson (Kwakwaka'wakw, b. 1969) - Arlene Ness (Gitxsan, b. 1970s) - Melanie Russ (Haida, b. 1977) - Marika Swan (Nuu-chah-nulth, b. 1982) - Morgan Asoyuf (Ts'msyen, b. 1984) - Cori Savard (Haida, b. 1985) - Cherish Alexander (Gitwangak, b. 1987) - Stephanie Anderson (Wetsuwet'en, b. 1991) - Veronica Waechter (Gitxsan, b. 1995)

Additional Information
160 pages | 9.20" x 1.10" | 120 colour photos | Hardcover 

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Authentic Indigenous Artwork
Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread
$50.00
Quantity:
Format: Hardcover
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian; First Nations; Haida; Raven Clan;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781773272412

Synopsis:

Part look-book, part memoir, and part history, this beautifully illustrated monument to a singular designer who helped inspire the growing Indigenous fashion movement is also a powerful demonstration of the enduring resonance and possibilities of Haida art.

Inspired by a discussion with celebrated Haida artist Bill Reid, Haida designer Dorothy Grant made it her life's mission to bring her culture's traditional art into contemporary fashion while adhering to the principle of Yaguudang, or respect for oneself and others. The 1989 launch of her Feastwear collection, featuring modern silhouettes hand-appliquéd with Northwest Coast formline, immediately established her at the forefront of Indigenous fashion in North America, and she has since hosted runway shows and trunk sales from Paris to Vancouver to Tokyo. Her clients include Indigenous leaders, national politicians, and global celebrities, and her garments can be found in museums and galleries around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread is the first monograph to celebrate her trailblazing career. It features new photography of dozens of garments spanning the past four decades, modeled in studio and natural settings in Vancouver and Haida Gwaii, alongside sketches, traditional button robes and spruce-root weaving, and personal stories and reflections from Grant. Essays by Haida repatriation specialist and museologist Sdahl Ḵ'awaas Lucy Bell and curator India Rael Young place Grant in the long continuum of Haida fashion and trace the many innovations and accomplishments of her journey, and Haida curator and artist Kwiaahwah Jones, a longtime assistant to Grant, shares behind-the-scenes insights and memories. An associated exhibition, Dorothy Grant: Raven Comes Full Circle, opened at Haida Gwaii Museum in July 2024.

Educator Information
The publisher notes this work is from Dorothy Grant in collaboration with the Haida Gwaii Museum. Contributors to this work include:

  • Sdahl Ḵ’awaas Lucy Bell
  • Taa.uu ’Yuuwans Nika Collison
  • Kwiaahwah Jones
  • India Rael Young

Additional Information
168 pages | 9.44" x 10.35" | Hardcover 

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Firekeeper: A Novel
$24.00
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian;
Reading Level: N/A
ISBN / Barcode: 9781773636573

Synopsis:

Nyla has an affinity to fire. A neglected teen in a small northern town—trying to escape a mother battling her own terrors—she is kicked out and struggles through life on the streets. Desperate for love, Nyla accidentally sets fire to her ex’s building and is then incarcerated for arson. Through community-led diversion, Nyla finds herself on a reserve as their firekeeper. But when climate change–induced wildfires threaten her new home, she knows intimately how to fight back.

The fourth book from acclaimed writer Katłıà brings a Northern Indigenous perspective to the destructive effects of ongoing colonialism. Displaying Katłıà’s enthralling storytelling style, Firekeeper is a coming-of-age tale that addresses intergenerational trauma by reclaiming culture, belonging and identity.

Join Nyla on her healing journey through the fire to sacred waters.

Reviews
“Katłıà’s Firekeeper is an enchanting page-turner of a novel that captured my heart from start to finish. It’s an essential story about finding spirit, family, and home, told through one of the strongest and most authentic protagonists I’ve ever read. I felt like I was right there with Nyla through all her tragedies and triumphs, which is testament to Katłıà’s smooth and heartfelt prose. This book is a celebration of the resilient spirit and leadership of Indigenous women.”—Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Crusted Snow

“Written with searing truth and genuine heart, breathtaking at times in its description of life, living, dying and death - Firekeeper is a loving testament to the power of kindness and of gentleness. Piercing and honest, with an eye for detail in chaos, the writing and voice are humble and humbling. This is Katłı̨̀ą’s best work to date.”— Tracey Lindberg, writer, scholar, Indigenous Rights activist and the author of Birdie

Additional Information
176 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback

Authentic Canadian Content
Authentic Indigenous Text
Haudenosaunee: The People and Nations
$16.95
Quantity:
Format: Paperback
Grade Levels: 4; 5; 6;
ISBN / Barcode: 9781774565124

Synopsis:

The Haudenosaunee, like many Indigenous Nations and communities across North America, have their own history and culture. Discover the Peacemaker Story, which explains how the Confederacy was created. Learn about historical facts and their effects on present times. Get to know Haudenosaunee people who give thanks everyday and have many stories and traditions to tell.

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Indigenous Nations in North America series.

Additional Information
32 Pages | Paperback

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Strong Nations Publishing

2595 McCullough Rd
Nanaimo, BC, Canada, V9S 4M9

Phone: (250) 758-4287

Email: contact@strongnations.com

Strong Nations - Indigenous & First Nations Gifts, Books, Publishing; & More! Our logo reflects the greater Nation we live within—Turtle Island (North America)—and the strength and core of the Pacific Northwest Coast peoples—the Cedar Tree, known as the Tree of Life. We are here to support the building of strong nations and help share Indigenous voices.