Browse Books for Adults

Thomas Isaac highlights the most important aspects of Canadian law as it impacts on Aboriginal peoples and their relationship with the wider Canadian society. While covering important issues such as Aboriginal and treaty rights, constitutional issues, land claims, self-government, provincial and federal roles in dealing with Aboriginal peoples, the rights of the Métis, and the Indian Act, this book pays particular attention to the Crown’s duty to consult. In discussing the Crown’s duty to consult the author canvasses when and to whom the duty applies. He also highlights the role of governments in reconciling Aboriginal interests with the needs of Canadian society as a whole. The Supreme Court of Canada is clear that the objective of achieving reconciliation lies primarily with governments.

This is a law book, but it is designed for use by anyone needing to understand Aboriginal legal issues and is presented in a neutral way. All major Canadian cases dealing with Aboriginal law are discussed and analyzed in this volume. The author looks at the broad picture of trends that are developing in the law and the background to such trends. This edition of Aboriginal Law does not contain case or legislative excerpts, all of which are readily available on the internet.

Additional Information
443 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

First Nations, Inuit, and Métis music in Canada is dynamic and diverse, reflecting continuities with earlier traditions and innovative approaches to creating new musical sounds. Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada narrates a story of resistance and renewal, struggle and success, as indigenous musicians in Canada negotiate who they are and who they want to be. Comprised of essays, interviews, and personal reflections by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal musicians and scholars alike, the collection highlights themes of innovation, teaching and transmission, and cultural interaction. Individual chapters discuss musical genres ranging from popular styles including country and pop to nation-specific and intertribal practices such as powwows, as well as hybrid performances that incorporate music with theatre and dance. As a whole, this collection demonstrates how music is a powerful tool for articulating the social challenges faced by Aboriginal communities and an effective way to affirm indigenous strength and pride. Juxtaposing scholarly study with artistic practice, Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada celebrates and critically engages Canada's vibrant Aboriginal music scene. Contributors include Véronique Audet (Université de Montreal), Columpa C. Bobb (Tsleil Waututh and Nlaka'pamux, Manitoba Theatre for Young People), Sadie Buck (Haudenosaunee), Annette Chrétien (Métis), Marie Clements (Métis/Dene), Walter Denny Jr. (Mi'kmaw), Gabriel Desrosiers (Ojibwa, University of Minnesota, Morris), Beverley Diamond (Memorial University), Jimmy Dick (Cree), Byron Dueck (Royal Northern College of Music), Klisala Harrison (University of Helsinki), Donna Lariviere (Algonquin), Charity Marsh (University of Regina), Sophie Merasty (Dene and Cree), Garry Oker (Dane-zaa), Marcia Ostashewski (Cape Breton University), Mary Piercey (Memorial University), Amber Ridington (Memorial University), Dylan Robinson (Stó:lo, University of Toronto), Christopher Scales (Michigan State University), Gilles Sioui (Wendat), Gordon E. Smith (Queen's University), Beverly Souliere (Algonquin), Janice Esther Tulk (Memorial University), Florent Vollant (Innu) and Russell Wallace (Lil'wat).

Additional Information
520 pages | 6.14" x 9.25"

Authenticity Note: While the editors of this book are not Indigenous, the majority of contributors are Indigenous; therefore, this book has received the Authentic Indigenous Text label.

Welcome to the secret world of tracks, sign and the animals that made them. Signs of the who, what and where of wildlife are all around us, even when their makers are too shy to come closer. This new guide is the key to unlocking the natural world that shares our environment, by day and by night. All we have to do is take the time to observe and interpret the signs.

The book features nearly 50 species with photos of tracks, scat and other signs, as well as drawings of tracks, track patterns, distribution maps and interesting details on the appearance, habitat and behavior of each species. Information on 20 additional species is also included, to help identify other species in the area and to distinguish one animal from another. There is even a ruler on the back cover. Tracking is detective work—fun, stimulating and very inspiring for anyone who is ready to “meet” the animals that share our landscape, by studying the fascinating clues they leave behind.

Explore the fascinating world of Nunavut's insects in this richly visual, informative book. Through beautiful photographs and a broad range of information—including traditional knowledge compiled through interviews with Inuit elders—readers will learn about the appearances, adaptations, life cycles, and behaviors of the diverse array of arthropods that live in the North.

This detailed non-fiction book is perfect for middle school and high school students looking to learn about the insects that survive in one of the world's coldest climates.

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32 pages | 9.00" x 6.50"

Gordon Winter is an RCMP hero, a life-long champion of First Nations rights, and a bigot. He's challenging the next generation of chiefs to stand up to the federal government when he spews a Nazi-inspired racist and homophobic rant. Suddenly, one of the most revered First Nations leaders is now one of the most reviled human beings in Canada. While most want to consign Winter to the dustbin of history, some are quick to defend a man who did so much good in his life. Questions get asked: how should society respond to such outrageous comments from a prominent and public figure? Is it right to condemn a man based on just one moment of his life? Where did these convictions come from?

The play moves forward in following Winter as he fights the criminal charge of inciting hate. It also moves backwards to show why Queen Elizabeth II pinned a medal of bravery onto his chest in the 70s, and to a critical moment in his childhood when the seeds of hate were planted by a small act of kindness.

Our second instalment of Grassroots Anthology, this beautiful, 95 page book, is now available!

“This volume continues the celebration of First Nations artistic perspectives. It shares even more stories, poems, paintings and photographs from talented artists and writers in Manitoba.”

MFNERC is honoured to present this work as a source of inspiration for younger generations. With this anthology we hope to inspire young people to develop and pursue their own creative aspirations so they may also share their stories.

A Field Guide to the Identification of Pebbles has sold over 50,000 copies, and now this extremely popular title is also available in French. The Guide practique d'identification des cailloux is a full-colour, laminated, accordion-folded, easy to use guide with over 80 beautiful photographs of pebbles from beaches and rivers. A great resource for French Immersion schools, the short text deals with how rocks form and how to tell if a rock is igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic. It also provides some fun facts about minerals in our daily lives.

Educator Information
This field guide is available in English: A Field Guide to the Identification of Pebbles 

Additional Information
37.00" x 9.00" | 80 colour photographs

The bold futurist and bestselling author explores the limitless potential of reverse-engineering the human brain

Ray Kurzweil is arguably today’s most influential—and often controversial—futurist. In How to Create a Mind, Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization—reverse engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines.

Kurzweil discusses how the brain functions, how the mind emerges from the brain, and the implications of vastly increasing the powers of our intelligence in addressing the world’s problems. He thoughtfully examines emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness and envisions the radical possibilities of our merging with the intelligent technology we are creating.

Certain to be one of the most widely discussed and debated science books of the year, How to Create a Mind is sure to take its place alongside Kurzweil’s previous classics which include Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever and The Age of Spiritual Machines.

NDN word warrior Marie Annharte Baker's fourth book of poems, Indigena Awry, is her largest and wildest yet. It collects a decade's worth of verse — fifty–nine poems.

Set noticeably in Winnipeg and Vancouver, but in many other places on either side of the Medicine Line as well, the poems are a laser–eyed meander through contested streets filled with racism, classism, and sexism. Shot through with sex and violence and struggle and sadness and trauma, her work is always set to detect and confront the delusions of colonialism and its discontents.

These poems are informed by a sceptical spirituality. They call for justice for NDNs through the Permanent Resistance that goes around in cities. This is bruising and exacting stuff, but Annharte is also one of poetry's best jokers.

In Indigena Awry, you can find fictitious girl gangs coexisting with real boy ones. NDN grannies may be found flirting salaciously in some internet chat room. One might use duct tape to prevent a war. You might be worried that hand–signalling for a Timbit on an airplane flight will be considered a terrorist act.

Annharte may be seam–walking a singular path but she is not without allies. In the United States, they could include Leslie Marmon Silko and Chrystos. In Canada, Beth Brant and Gerry Gilbert. The jazz inflections of Beat writing are often apparent in her work. She swings from a poetic madness into a mad poetics. Way under it all, acting as a deep sort of platform, could be considered the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o's project of decolonizing one's mind. Both sketch out an argument that we will not see, feel, or respond correctly in or to our own lives without doing this, because otherwise we will be living within a philosophical myopia generated by a bad fiction.

While Indigena Awry is written for NDN persons, it is highly recommended for truth–seekers of every nature and anarchs of word and spirit. In an Annharte poem you might lose your way only to find what's important.

Through poems that move between the two languages, McIlwraith explores the beauty of the intersection between nêhiyawêwin, the PlainsCree language, and English, âkayâsîmowin. Written to honour her father's facility in nêhiyawêwin and her mother's beauty and generosity as an inheritor of Cree, Ojibwe, Scottish, and English, kiyâm articulates a powerful yearning for family,history, peace, and love.

La Mohawk E. Pauline Johnson (1862–1913), poète et personnalité de la scène au tournant du XXe siècle, se lie d’amitié avec Joe Capilano, chef de la tribu des Squamish sur la côte Ouest du Pacifique. En s’entretenant avec le vieil homme, Johnson recueille plusieurs légendes sur des lieux de la région de Vancouver. Elle transcrit ces légendes en anglais et les publie en 1911. L’ouvrage remporte un succès populaire et sera réédité à plusieurs reprises.

Un siècle plus tard paraît enfin la première traduction française des Légendes de Vancouver. Un nouveau public peut à son tour s’émerveiller de l’imaginaire et de la culture des Premières Nations, tout en découvrant le talent littéraire d’une de leurs plus célèbres porte-parole.

E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake), connue en son temps à la fois comme une dame victorienne et une princesse mohawk, demeure l’une des grandes auteures canadiennes.

Cette édition française comporte des photographies d’Anne-Marie Comte qui a revisité certains lieux évoqués par Johnson.

This anthology of Aboriginal writings from Manitoba takes readers back through the millennia and forward to the present day, painting a dynamic picture of a territory interconnected through words, ideas, and experiences. A rich collection of stories, poetry, nonfiction, and speeches, it features:
- Historical writings, from important figures.
- Vibrant literary writing by eminent Aboriginal writers.
- Nonfiction and political writing from contemporary Aboriginal leaders.
- Local storytellers and keepers of knowledge from far-reaching Manitoba communities.
- New, vibrant voices that express the modern Aboriginal experiences.
- Anishinaabe, Cree, Dene, Inuit, Métis, and Sioux writers from Manitoba.

Educator & Series Information
Created in the spirit of the Anishinaabe concept debwe (to speak the truth), The Debwe Series is a collection of exceptional Aboriginal writing from across Canada. Manitowapow, a one-of-a-kind anthology, is the first book in The Debwe Series. Manitowapow is the traditional name that became Manitoba, a word that describes the sounds of beauty and power that created the province.

Recommended for grades 11 and 12, university students, and adults.

Additional Information
416 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Métis Soldiers of Saskatchewan greatly contributes to our knowledge of the role played by Saskatchewan’s Métis during Canada’s war efforts. This important commemorative book contains hundreds of photographs as well as a detailed list of more than 1,700 Métis soldiers from Saskatchewan who fought in two World Wars and the Korean war.

Since the first edition of the No-Nonsense Guide to Indigenous Peoples was published in 2003, much has changed. The United Nations General Assembly has adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous rights have become an increasingly important subject in international law, with Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, arguing on the international stage from an indigenous perspective, and introducing policies benefiting indigenous communities through land reforms and redistribution of wealth. Moreover, there has been a surge in indigenous activism and advocacy, with the growth of a global indigenous rights industry, the effects of which are not always positive. This updated edition reflects the changing context and examines the developments as well as the tensions and contradictions, and includes as many direct voices as possible.

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144 pages | 4.38" x 7.00"

The 1999 Nisga'a agreement covering part of NW British Columbia was truly the first postcolonial land claims settlement in Canada, the author argues. The book analyzes the impact the agreement has on federal/provincial/First Nations relations and in a concise manner examines the major terms of the agreement. She notes that the agreement marks a major departure from previous agreements with First Nations and outlines the opposition, including two court challenges, mounted against the agreement.