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Indigenous materials

  • Author:
    Andersen, Chris
    Summary:

    Ask any Canadian what “Métis” means, and they will likely say “mixed race.” Canadians consider Métis mixed in ways that other Indigenous people are not, and the census and courts have premised their recognition of Métis status on this race-based understanding. Andersen argues that Canada got it wrong. From its roots deep in the colonial past, the idea of Métis as mixed has slowly pervaded the Canadian consciousness until it settled in the realm of common sense. In the process, “Métis” has become a racial category rather than the identity of an Indigenous people with a shared sense of history and culture.

  • Author:
    Berthiaume, Sarah
    Summary:

    Garin was two years old when his mother disappeared from a rundown East Vancouver neighbourhood. Now that the Robert Pickton trial is gaining national attention, Garin wonders if his mother, a First Nations woman, could be one of his unidentified victims. His ailing father isn't forthcoming with answers, and Garin's supicions are at an all time high. In the midst of all this, his roommate Yuko has taken in Kate, a young pregnant hitchhiker who unintentionally wreaks havoc on their friendship. But when Garin's father is hospitalized, nothing matters except finally determining the truth about his mother. In this deftly written play, the characters grapple with the harsh Yukon winter within a world of racism, addiction, and loneliness.

  • Author:
    Gray Smith, Monique
    Summary:

    An evocative picture book intended to foster reconciliation among children and encourage them to show each other love and support.

  • Author:
    Saint-Pierre, Éliane
    Summary:

    On a prédit un destin exceptionnel à Yändicha, une belle Huronne du Canada, passionnée de danse et éprise de liberté. Lors d'un spectacle à Québec, Etienne Gallois, le directeur d'une troupe de théâtre, remarque l'étonnant talent de la beauté sauvage. La naïve et romantique Yändicha se laissera convaincre par cet homme charmant, un Français ayant fui la Révolution, de l'accompagner dans son pays. Là-bas, son exotisme enchanterait assurément les foules qui ne demandent qu'à retrouver leur joie de vivre au lendemain d'un épisode sanglant de leur histoire. Cependant, les rêves de la jeune Amérindienne se heurteront rapidement à la dure réalité. Désillusionnée et victime de gens malhonnêtes, elle sera réduite à se débrouiller seule dans cette contrée étrangère. Trouvera-t elle le moyen de traverser de nouveau l'Atlantique pour regagner sa terre natale ? Sa tribu lui pardonnera-t-elle d'avoir trahi ses origines et les siens ?

  • Author:
    Point Bolton, Rena, Daly, Richard
    Summary:

    Xwelíqwiya is the life story of Rena Point Bolton, a Stó:lō matriarch, artist, and craftswoman. Proceeding by way of conversational vignettes, the beginning chapters recount Point Bolton's early years on the banks of the Fraser River during the Depression. While at the time the Stó:lō, or Xwélmexw, as they call themselves today, kept secret their ways of life to avoid persecution by the Canadian government, Point Bolton’s mother and grandmother schooled her in the skills needed for living from what the land provides, as well as in the craftwork and songs of her people, passing on a duty to keep these practices alive. Point Bolton was taken to a residential school for the next several years and would go on to marry and raise ten children, but her childhood training ultimately set the stage for her roles as a teacher and activist. Recognizing the urgent need to forge a sense of cultural continuity among the younger members of her community, Point Bolton visited many communities and worked with federal, provincial, and First Nations politicians to help break the intercultural silence by reviving knowledge of and interest in Aboriginal art. She did so with the deft and heartfelt use of both her voice and her hands. Over the course of many years, Daly collaborated with Point Bolton to pen her story. At once a memoir, an oral history, and an “insider” ethnography directed and presented by the subject herself, the result attests both to Daly’s relationship with the family and to Point Bolton’s desire to inspire others to use traditional knowledge and experience to build their own distinctive, successful, and creative lives.

  • Author:
    Dorais, Louis-Jacques
    Summary:

    Words of the Inuit is an important compendium of Inuit culture illustrated through Inuit words. It brings the sum of the author's decades of experience and engagement with Inuit and Inuktitut to bear on what he fashions as an amiable, leisurely stroll through words and meanings. Inuit words are often more complex than English words and frequently contain small units of meaning that add up to convey a larger sensibility. Dorais' lexical and semantic analyses and reconstructions are not overly technical, yet they reliably evince connections and underlying significations that allow for an in-depth reflection on the richness of Inuit linguistic and cultural heritage and identity. An appendix on the polysynthetic character of Inuit languages includes more detailed grammatical description of interest to more specialist readers. Organized thematically, the book tours the histories and meanings of the words to illuminate numerous aspects of Inuit culture, including environment and the land; animals and subsistence activities; humans and spirits; family, kinship, and naming; the human body; and socializing with other people in the contemporary world. It concludes with a reflection on the usefulness for modern Inuit--especially youth and others looking to strengthen their cultural identity--to know about the underlying meanings embedded in their language and culture. With recent reports alerting us to the declining use of the Inuit language in the North, Words of the Inuit is a timely contribution.

  • Author:
    Summary:

    From diversity comes strength and wisdom: This was the guiding principle for selecting the articles in this collection. Because there is no single voice, identity, history, or cultural experience that represents the women of the First Nations, a realistic picture will have many facets. Accordingly, the authors in Women of the First Nations include Native and non-Native scholars, feminists, and activists from across Canada." "Their works examine various aspects of Aboriginal women's lives from a variety of theoretical and personal perspectives. They discuss women's traditional roles as teachers and providers, and they challenge standard media representations, as well as historical and current realities. They bring new perspectives to discussions on Aboriginal art, literature, historical and cultural contributions, and they offer diverse viewpoints on present economic, environmental, and political issues." "This collection counters the marginalization and silencing of First Nations women's voices and reflects the power, strength, and wisdom inherent in their lives.

  • Author:
    Summary:

    "From diversity comes strength and wisdom": this was the guiding principle for selecting the articles in this collection. Because there is no single voice, identity, history, or cultural experience that represents the women of the First Nations, a realistic picture will have many facets. Accordingly, the authors in Women of the First Nations include Native and non-Native scholars, feminists, and activists from across Canada. Their work examines various aspects of Aboriginal women's lives from a variety of theoretical and personal perspectives. They discuss standard media representations, as well as historical and current realities. They bring new perspectives to discussions on Aboriginal art, literature, historical, and cultural contributions, and they offer diverse viewpoints on present economic, environmental, and political issues. This collection counters the marginalization and silencing of First Nations women's voices and reflects the power, strength, and wisdom inherent in their lives.

  • Author:
    Syliboy, Alan
    Summary:

    From the bestselling creator of The Thundermaker comes another adventure featuring Little Thunder and Wolverine—a trickster, who is strong and fierce and loyal. The two are best of friends, even though Wolverine can sometimes get them into trouble. Their favourite pastime is eel fishing, whether it’s cutting through winter ice with a stone axe or catching eels in traditional stone weirs in the summer. But that all changes one night, when they encounter the giant river eel—the eel that is too big to catch. The eel that hunts people! At once a universal story of friendship and problem-solving, Wolverine and Little Thunder is a contemporary invocation of traditional Mi’kmaw knowledge, reinforcing the importance of the relationship between the Mi’kmaq and eel, a dependable year-round food source traditionally offered to Glooscap, the Creator, for a successful hunt.

  • Author:
    Niptanatiak, Allen
    Summary:

    Animals Illustrated mixes fun-filled animal facts suitable for the youngest of readers with intricately detailed illustrations to create a unique and beautiful collection of children's non-fiction books about Arctic animals. Each volume contains first-hand accounts from authors who live in the Arctic, along with interesting facts on the behaviours and biology of each animal. In this book, kids will learn how wolverines raise their babies, where they live, what they eat, and other interesting information, like how they use their distinctive scent and how they have adapted to become excellent scavengers!

  • Author:
    Wolfe, Beatrice
    Summary:

    The topics of addictions, sex trafficking, and sexual exploitation are best understood through a personal story. Understanding how it happens in our own communities regardless of race, gender or religious background is helpful for individuals, businesses and faith communities to engage in some way. Beatrice's life story (and her book "Wolf Woman") is an inspiring journey from brokenness towards healing. At once heartbreaking and hope-filled, vulnerable and tenacious, Wolfe's story shows the resiliency of the human spirit and the power of healing to create real-life change.

  • Author:
    Olsen, Keith
    Summary:

    One winter in the 1960's Keith Olsen, his brother and parents went out to a trapline on Little Mahigan Lake in Northern Saskatchwan. Olsen recounts how his family made a success of this way of life with 2 young boys.

  • Author:
    Johnson, Leslie Main
    Summary:

    Wisdom Engaged demonstrates how traditional knowledge, Indigenous approaches to healing, and the insights of Western bio-medicine can complement each other when all voices are heard in a collaborative effort to address changes to Indigenous communities’ well-being. In this collection, voices of Elders, healers, physicians, and scholars are gathered in an attempt to find viable ways to move forward while facing new challenges. Bringing these varied voices together provides a critical conversation about the nature of medicine; a demonstration of ethical commitment; and an example of successful community relationship building.

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  • Author:
    Welch, James
    Summary:

    A contemporary classic from a major writer of the Native American renaissance — "Brilliant, brutal and, in my opinion, Welch's best work." —Tommy Orange, The Washington Post During his life, James Welch came to be regarded as a master of American prose, and his first novel, Winter in the Blood , is one of his most enduring works. The narrator of this beautiful, often disquieting novel is a young Native American man living on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana. Sensitive and self-destructive, he searches for something that will bind him to the lands of his ancestors but is haunted by personal tragedy, the dissolution of his once proud heritage, and Montana's vast emptiness. Winter in the Blood is an evocative and unforgettable work of literature that will continue to move and inspire anyone who encounters it. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

  • Author:
    Hubbert, Mildred Young
    Summary:

    The northern community known as Peawanuck (Cree for Flint) is located approximately 32 kilometres up river from the former village of Winisk on the shore of Hudson Bay. There, prior to a devastating flood on May 16, 1986, the First Nations residents of Winisk had carried on with a traditional lifestyle built largely around hunting and trapping seasons.The late Mildred Young Hubbert of Markdale, Ontario, first visited Winisk in the 1960s as a classroom consultant with the then Department of Indian Affairs. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine the scenario some three years later that found her experiencing an odd sort of honeymoon at Winisk and ultimately her first three years of marriage to the wonderful and highly unorthodox teacher, George Hubbert, all six foot six of him. Together the two teachers came to be a vital part of the village during the mid-1970s, a story lovingly and engagingly told by Millie Hubbert in a manuscript completed just prior to her passing.Winisk: On the Shore of Hudson Bay is charmingly told in the same anecdotal writing style that delighted readers of several previous books by the same author. This is vintage Millie Hubbert!

  • Author:
    Demers, Barbara
    Summary:

    Willa is a thirteen-year-old orphan shipped to the new world in 1795. Resourceful and strong-willed, she survives many hardships before travelling on foot from Hudson's Bay to Fort Edmonton with native companions who show her a genuinely "new" world.

    Life doesn't look promising for Willa when her family is wiped out by the London plague. Her uncaring uncle ships her to York Factory on Hudson's Bay, scarcely expecting her to survive the trip. But she's stronger than he knows. Not only does she make it to the new world, but she also survives unscrupulous thieves by going to work for Master George, the fort commander, and by befriending Amelia, the aboriginal cook.

    Through her successful work and the support of Amelia, Willa begins to be something she has never dreamed of - a strong and independent person. After Willa refuses Master George's surprise offer of marriage, she decides she must leave again. As Amelia's relatives lead her across the northern wilderness to Fort Edmonton, they show her a land of great beauty and teach Willa how to live in accord with this natural world.

  • Author:
    Robertson, David
    Summary:

    Based on the story by Iskwé and Erin Leslie May, a young teenage girl, traverses the city streets, finding keepsakes in different places along her journey. When May and her kookum make these keepsakes into a necklace, it opens a world of danger and fantasy. While May fights against a terrible reality, she learns that there is strength in the spirit of those who have passed. But will that strength be able to save her? A story of tragedy and beauty, Will I See? illuminates the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

  • Author:
    Brissenden, Constance, Loyie, Larry
    Summary:

    Tomma, a young Iroquois voyageur, signs his first contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Does his loyalty lie with the almighty Bay or with his love of freedom? For Governor George Simpson, profits always come first, but for the Iroquois and Canadien voyageurs, this is their life and their fight for survival. As they face the terrifying Fraser River at Hell’s Gate, there is no turning back.

  • Author:
    Justice, Daniel Heath
    Summary:

    Part survey of the field of Indigenous literary studies, part cultural history, and part literary polemic, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter asserts the vital significance of literary expression to the political, creative, and intellectual efforts of Indigenous peoples today. In considering the connections between literature and lived experience, this book contemplates four key questions at the heart of Indigenous kinship traditions: How do we learn to be human? How do we become good relatives? How do we become good ancestors? How do we learn to live together? Blending personal narrative and broader historical and cultural analysis with close readings of key creative and critical texts, Justice argues that Indigenous writers engage with these questions in part to challenge settler-colonial policies and practices that have targeted Indigenous connections to land, history, family, and self. More importantly, Indigenous writers imaginatively engage the many ways that communities and individuals have sought to nurture these relationships and project them into the future. This provocative volume challenges readers to critically consider and rethink their assumptions about Indigenous literature, history, and politics while never forgetting the emotional connections of our shared humanity and the power of story to effect personal and social change. Written with a generalist reader firmly in mind, but addressing issues of interest to specialists in the field, this book welcomes new audiences to Indigenous literary studies while offering more seasoned readers a renewed appreciation for these transformative literary traditions.

  • Author:
    Partridge, Lynda
    Summary:

    Why Are You Still Here? is from the author of the award-winning Lillian & Kokomis. In this new book in the Lillian mystery series, Lillian discovers her connection with a surprising spirit that returns her to traditional ways, legends, and Indigenous ways of knowledge. She and her buddies also uncover the mystery of ghosts and spirits that live behind a window at the family farm.

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