Research on Indigenous issues rarely focuses on life in major metropolitan centres. Instead, there is a tendency to frame rural locations as emblematic of authentic or “real” Indigeneity. While such a perspective may support Indigenous struggles for territory and recognition, it fails to account for large swaths of contemporary Indigenous realities, including the increased presence of Indigenous people in cities. The contributors to this volume explore the implications of urbanization on the …

Indigenous oral narratives are an important source for, and component of, Coast Salish knowledge systems. Stories are not only to be recounted and passed down; they are also intended as tools for teaching.

Jo-ann Archibald worked closely with Elders and storytellers, who shared both traditional and personal life-experience stories, in order to develop ways of bringing storytelling into educational contexts. Indigenous Storywork is the result of this research and it demonstrates how stories have …

Judgement at Stoney Creek has been released in a new edition of an aboriginal studies classic: an engrossing look at the investigation into the hit-and-run death of Coreen Thomas, a young Native woman in her ninth month of pregnancy, at the wheels of a car driven by a young white man in central BC. The resulting inquest into what might have been just another small-town tragedy turned into an inquiry of racial tensions, both implicit and explicit, that surfaced not only on country backroads but i …

Let the Drums be Your Heart brings together the work of more than forty aboriginal writers from all over Canada. concerned with family and days gone by, romance and adventure, tragedy and danger, these poems, short stories, articles and life stories ring with native pride and determination.

As editor Joel T. Maki points out in his introduction, storytellers and historians have always played a vital role in aboriginal communities, ensuring that indvidiual cultures, languages, legends and customs …

In 1964, social worker Bridget Moran attracted widespread attention and the wrath of the BC government with her open letter to Premier W.A.C. Bennett, charging the welfare department with gross neglect in addressing the problems of the province's needy. This very public dispute formed a small part of Bridget Moran's "little rebellion" against a system she felt did not, and does not, respond to the needs of those it was designed to help. A Little Rebellion is a moving portrait of a fiery and out …

As a leader, Maskepetoon was respected for his skill as a hunter, his generosity and his wisdom. He was considered a “lucky” chief, a man who found buffalo on the edge of the plains, who avoided unnecessary conflicts with enemies, but protected his camp like a mother grizzly with her cubs. And in the turbulent mid-1800s, that’s exactly the kind of leader the Rocky Mountain Cree needed. Maskepetoon followed his own inclinations for peace and friendship. He formed allegiances with missionari …

An irreverent, insightful take on our First Nations’ great gift to Canada, delivered by a stellar cast of contributors.

Humour has always been an essential part of North American Aboriginal culture. This fact remained unnoticed by most settlers, however, since non-Aboriginals just didn’t get the joke. Indians, it was believed, never laughed. But Indians themselves always knew better.

As an award-winning playwright, columnist and comedy-sketch creator, Drew Hayden Taylor has spent fifteen years …

A moving and often funny look at Native sexuality from some of Canada's best First Nations and Inuit writers.

A sequel to the highly successful Me Funny, Me Sexy is an anthology containing thirteen contributions from leading members of North America's First Nations writing communities. The many highlights include Lee Maracle's creation story, Salish style; Tomson Highway explaining why Cree is the sexiest of all languages; Marius P. Tungilik looking at the dark side of Inuit sex; and Marissa Craz …