What role does social science research play in public policy decisions on Aboriginal issues? How can policymakers, Aboriginal organizations, and social scientists collaborate to best serve Aboriginal communities and the policymaking processes that affect them? Aboriginal Conditions considers such questions, with an aim to promote policymaking that …

Based on three years of ethnographic research in the Yukon, this book examines contemporary efforts to restructure the relationship between aboriginal peoples and the state in Canada. Although it is widely held that land claims and co-management – two of the most visible and celebrated elements of this restructuring – will help reverse centurie …

The Kwakwakawakw people and their culture have been the subject of more anthropological writings than any other ethnic group on the Northwest Coast. Until now, however, no biography had been written by or about a Kwakwakawakw woman. Paddling to Where I Stand presents the memoirs of Agnes Alfred (c.1890-1992), a non-literate noble Qwiqwasutinuxw wom …

Western philosophy has long held scientific rationalism in a place of honour. Reason, that particularly exalted human quality, has become steadily distanced from the metaphysical aspects of existence, such as spirit, faith, and intuition.

In Tsawalk, hereditary chief Umeek introduces us to an alternative indigenous worldview -- an ontology drawn fr …

Growing up Jewish in the little town, or shtetl, of Eisiskes near the Polish-Lithuanian border, Leon Kahn experienced a peaceful childhood until September 1, 1939 when Hitler's forces attacked Poland. Only sixteen years of age, Kahn watched as the women and children of his community were herded into a gravel pit and murdered.

Realizing that to stay …

So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy is an anthology of original new stories by leading African, Asian, South Asian, and Aboriginal authors, as well as North American and British writers of colour.

Stories of imagined futures abound in Western writing. Writer and editor Nalo Hopkinson notes that the science fiction/fantasy g …

Often remembered for its humanitarian platform and its pioneering social programs, Saskatchewan’s Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) wrought a much less scrutinized legacy in the northern regions of the province during the twenty years it governed.

Until the 1940s churches, fur traders, and other wealthy outsiders held uncontested control …

One of the most colourful chapters in the history of North American settlement began in the 1880s when the rich Alberta grasslands spreading east from the foothills of the Rockies became the magnet for cattle ranching. Award-winning Cattle Kingdom provides readers with all the colourful tales of raffish characters, political intrigues and partnersh …

The Musqueam peoples’ territory includes much of the Fraser Delta and the city of Vancouver. Halkomelem, one of the twenty-three languages that belong to the Salish Family, is spoken in three distinct forms: Upriver, by the Stó:lo‘ of the Fraser Valley; Downriver, of which Musqueam is the only surviving representative; and Island, spoken by th …

In the last twenty years, there has been a growing interest in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), as scholars and practitioners seek more effective, context-sensitive approaches to conflict. Where formerly conflict was tackled and “resolved” in formal legal settings and with an adversarial spirit, more conciliatory approaches – negotiation …

When rogue geologist Chuck Fipke discovered diamonds on the Barren Grounds near Yellowknife in Canada's Arctic, international mining companies took notice. Almost immediately, miners from these large conglomerates began to stake claims to the minerals: pure "ice" diamonds untainted by bloodshed and war.

These diamond lands are home to the Dene, Na …

A fresh perspective from Haida leaders, art and cultural historians, anthropologists and artists on the lasting legacy of the famed Haida artist Bill Reid.

Bill Reid's work has long been acknowledged for its astute and eloquent analysis of Haida tradition, and for the paradox of making modern art from the old Haida stories. It expanded the understa …

In his debut poetry collection, A.J. Levin presents a world in which the past overlays our modern existence, where classical allusions and philosophical observation are married to slapstick humour and carnival: Plato is a blues singer, Tantalus is a prospector in BC, and Descartes wanders around a Montreal amusement park. Monks' Fruit is above all …

Heartways, a collaboration between the Whitney Museum of American Art, Printed Matter Inc, and Arsenal Pulp Press, is an extraordinary faux romance compilation that deconstructs art, literature, sex, and desire in one fell swoop. Constructed as a "novel," each chapter is written by a different contributor, all of whom create romantic tableaux that …

American Whiskey Bar is a remarkable faux memoir about the un-making of a film--a film which Michael Turner was commissioned to write. However, whether or not this film was ever made is debatable. And only one print is said to exist. Nevertheless, American Whiskey Bar, a film seen by only a handful of people, is well on its way to becoming a curiou …

In the mid 1840s, 50 years after first contact with Europeans, the Songhees people amalgamated on a reserve across the harbour from the newly built Fort Victoria. Grant Keddie tells the story of the old Songhees Reserve through the eyes of outsiders, expressed in newspaper reports and private journals, and depicted in sketches, paintings and photog …

The Aleutian Islands, a mostly forgotten portion of the United States on the southwest coast of Alaska, have often assumed a key role in American military strategy. But for most Americans, prior to the Second World War, the bleak and barren islands were of little interest. In Stepping Stones to Nowhere, Galen Perras shows how that changed with the …

The extended peace the world anticipated following the decisive Allied victory in the Second World War was abruptly shattered in June 1950 by the invasion of South Korea by communist North Korea. Responding to a United Nations’ call to assist the South Korean regime, Canada deployed an 8000-man brigade to the peninsula to fight as part of an Amer …

Could a horde of American miners have delivered British Columbia into the hands of the United States in 1859? In McGowan's War, Donald J. Hauka argues that the new colony was a rifle shot away from war and annexation during the fateful winter of 1859, when the British Crown could barely control 30,000 politically divided American miners camped the …

The first comprehensive study of naval operations involving North American squadrons in Nova Scotia waters, Frigates and Foremasts offers a masterful analysis of the motives behind the deployment of Royal Navy vessels between 1745 and 1815, and the navy’s role on the Western Atlantic.

Interweaving historical analysis with vivid descriptions of piv …

Labrador is about a part of the world that practically no one knows anything about — Canada's own Siberia. And because your tour guide is the lovely and talented TJ Dawe, it's also about the cycle of generations, how the hell bread got invented, the blurry line between fact and fiction, why schedule needs to be pronounced with a k sound, and how …

Joe Keithley, aka Joey Shithead, founded legendary punk pioneers D.O.A. in 1978. Punk kings who spread counterculture around the world, they've been cited as influences by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Rancid, and The Offspring, and have toured with The Clash, The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Nirvana, PiL, Minor Threat, and others, a …

Canada is often called a pluralist state, but few commentators view Aboriginal self-government from the perspective of political pluralism. Instead, Aboriginal identity is framed in terms of cultural and national traits, while self-government is taken to represent an Aboriginal desire to protect those traits. Shifting Boundaries challenges this vie …

This title is complimentary to Hancock House's first Mildred Valley Thornton book released in 2000, Buffalo People: Portraits of a Vanishing Nation. Potlatch People concentrates on the lives and legends of the Coastal Indian Tribes. Mildred Valley Thornton had an abiding passion which she pursued with almost missionary fervor throughout her life-th …

Fabulous and lighthearted food from Rob Feenie's cool Lumiere Tasting Bar, an international culinary hot spot that features casual dishes and sexy cocktails created to the same impeccable standards as the tasting menus in his renowned restaurant.

In french, the word lumiere means "light." Chef Rob Feenie's Lumiere Restaurant in Vancouver has lit up …

Some of the questions that Chomsky answers in this second volume of interviews with David Barsamian include: why do nightly newscasts increasingly feature violent crimes?; how does the American political economy supercede gender and race?; when do "family values" equal increasing numbers of children in poverty?

Chomsky tackles the shibboleths of our …

Spirit of Powwow has evolved as we have talked with dancers and drummers until we feel we now have a powwow book that goes beyond the usual mere description of regalia and dances. The photography and text cover every component of the powwow, not just the dance competition. The Nahanee family and their friends make this book a very personal experien …

The Tlingit Indians of the Northwest Coast carved interior house posts, portal entrances and free standing totem poles with crests of animals, sea creatures, birds, and legendary and human figures, successfully combining symbolism and realism. This book examines the social and artistic relevance of the Tlingit carvings and relates many of the fasci …

Over twenty years ago, Aboriginal and Treaty Rights were included in Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. They provided the basis for recognition of the unique status of Indigenous Peoples within Canada. After four first ministers' conferences on Aboriginal Constitutional Matters failed to produce any substantial agreement between Indigenous P …

Fred A. Reed’s fifth book on the Middle East and “the wars of the Ottoman succession” traces the roots of Islamic fundamentalism, as currently enacted by Hezbollah and other Islamic fundamentalist organizations, to the iconoclasts of sixth- and seventh-century Damascus.

The emergence of Iconoclasm, as sudden and overwhelming as it was catalyti …

In one generation, women's international soccer has taken its place on the world sports stage. This book traces its history from its first golden age in the late 19th century to the present. Along the way are such peak moments as the legendary 1991 first-ever Women's World Championship that pitted the U.S. against the Norwegians before 60,000 screa …

The years between 1922 and 1961, often referred to as the “Dark Ages of Northwest Coast art,” have largely been ignored by art historians, and dismissed as a period of artistic decline. Tales of Ghosts compellingly reclaims this era, arguing that it was instead a critical period during which the art played an important role in public discourses …

A new look at the Tlingit. The author weaves personal observations in with historical and cultural references to give a lively account of these artistic native peoples. When you visit southeast Alaska you encounter the Tlingit Indians and their very rich lands, diversified culture and wondrous art forms. You can visit from cruise ships, from the Al …

Transnational Muscle Cars provides a withering critique of how it is that consumption, buying (into) something, buying anything, has become the prime mover in a transient global urbanism that now defines our everyday lives.

Written over the past ten years in a quartet of cities—Calgary, Toronto, New York and Vienna—Transnational Muscle Cars is t …

When Bill Reid, one of North America's great artists, died on March 13, 1998, he left behind a legacy of magnificent art that drew deeply on that of his Haida ancestors. His work continues to be exhibited internationally and is in many private and public collections around the world.

This book celebrating the artist and his work was first published …

In his analysis of justice issues facing urban Aboriginals, Proulx pays particular attention to the situation of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and how the current justice system has failed them. He looks at alternatives to the current system, examining in detail the Community Council Project (CCP), an Aboriginal-run diversion program in Toronto. Th …

In Bordertown Café, seventeen-year-old Jimmy faces the archetypal Canadian dilemma: stay home in Canada, with all its obvious flaws, or go south (young man) to the Land of Opportunity. Jimmy’s dad is the powerfully encoded Western hero of American popular myth – the cowboy as trucker, living his freedom and riding the roads of Wyoming. He offe …

Written by a professional financial planner, Plan Ahead: Protect Your Estate and Investments will help you get your estate and your financial affairs in order without the expense of a lawyer. Using easy-to-understand language, this comprehensive guide takes you step-by-step through the process of understanding tax and estate laws and creating an es …

Peter Macnair and Alan Hoover recount the history of Haida argillite carving since it began in the early 1800s, and they describe more than 200 examples from the extensive collection of the Royal BC Museum. Argillite is a dense, black shale mined from a quarry on Haida Gwaii, reserved for the exclusive use of Haida carvers. Argillite works are uniq …

Amendments to the Canadian Constitution in 1982 recognize and affirm “the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada”, specifically the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples. A 1996 report from The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples laid out a process to recognize and define Canada’s Aboriginal peoples according …

Exercises in Lip Pointing is a new collection of poems by respected First Nations writer, Annharte. She uses oral sounds and written signs to probe and prod the reader, to ask the right questions, to lay bare the contradictions and delights in the serendipities of her experience. She makes us laugh, cry, and learn.

The history of indigenous political action in Canada is long, hard-fought, and under-told. By the mid-1900s, Native peoples across western Canada were actively involved in their own political unions in a drive to be heard outside their own, often isolated, reserve communities. In Alberta, the Indian Association of Alberta (IAA) represented the inte …

This elegantly written and insightful book provides a geographical history of the Indian reserve in British Columbia. Cole Harris analyzes the impact of reserves on Native lives and livelihoods and considers how, in light of this, the Native land question might begin to be resolved. The account begins in the early nineteenth-century British Empire …

With stunning photographs and the Elders' stories, author Wim Tewinkel records the lives lead by twenty-one elders of the Interior Salish people. They share with the author the highlights of their lives -- from being a bomber in World War II to being a great-grandmother and master bead worker. Tewinkel's photographic portraits capture both the dept …

Q'sapi, meaning "long time ago," is a book that traces the history of the Okanagan People. The People of the Okanagan Nation are located in the interior valley of British Columbia and all the way down past the border into the United States. Containing conversations with Elders and other members of the community, this book shares their personal expe …