About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
Andy and Phyllis Chelsea met during their years spent at the St. Joseph's Mission School in Williams Lake, BC. Like the thousands of others forced into the church-run residential school system, Andy and Phyllis are no strangers to the ongoing difficulties experienced by most Indigenous peoples in Canada. The couple married in 1964 but brought the trauma of their mission school years into their marriage. The Chelseas' struggle with alcohol came to an abrupt halt in 1971 when their daughter, Ivy, then aged seven, stated that she and her brothers did not want to live with their parents because of the drinking, that they would stay with their Grandmother, their Kye7e. Andy and Phyllis chose sobriety to preserve their family. This decision sparked a lifetime of activism for the couple, which included overcoming the challenges caused by Canada's disregard for their community. Throughout the twenty-seven years Andy was Chief of the Alkali Lake Esk'et First Nation, the Chelseas worked to eradicate alcoholism and took steps to overcome the rampant intergenerational trauma that existed for the people of Alkali Lake. Their efforts, their story and the perseverance of the members of their village have inspired Indigenous groups facing similar struggles throughout the world. RESOLVE: THE STORY OF THE CHELSEA FAMILY AND A FIRST NATION COMMUNITY'S WILL TO HEAL explores the harrowing, personal journey of the Chelseas. By combining personal interviews and historical records, biographer Carolyn Parks Mintz shares the Chelseas' transition from residential schools to state-sanctioned reservations to international recognition of their activism in the face of ongoing repression. A simultaneous celebration of strength and a condemnation of systemic racism, RESOLVE is a personal and deeply moving story that calls for a closer look at the status of Canada's reconciliation efforts from the Chelseas' perspective.
Contributor Notes
Carolyn Parks Mintz is an author, freelance journalist and public speaker and was twice nominated as a Woman of Distinction. She was the content specialist of the 1997 video I WILL WALK THIS ROAD WITH YOU, the producer, writer and host of the radio talk show Ontario's West Coast Today in 2008 and authored THE EYE OF THE DRAGON: WOMEN, CANCER AND COURAGE (EbbTide Publishing, 2004), for which she received the Global Calgary Woman of Vision award.
Editorial Review
'Carolyn Parks Mintz's understanding of and compassion for Indigenous history and culture are one and the same. She fully comprehends, from a journalistic point of view, that there is a story to be told, and in RESOLVE she has done that--recounting the life experiences of a remarkable couple, Andy and Phyllis Chelsea, and building around those, the history of Canada's First Peoples and their hope for the future.'' --Frank Antoine, co-founder of Moccasin Trails Inc.
''Trauma and alcohol are a bad combination. But thanks to people like Andy Chelsea and what the band at Alkali Lake did, most of us are on our feet again. The Chelseas led us in the direction of good, down the pathway of a better life again.'' --Ronnie Jules, a friend of Andy Chelsea
