Lost Souls and Missing Persons premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille in 1984. It is a comic, biting, surreal investigation of the question of self and identity in the North American middle-class—a trope of insulating banalities which trades the body’s physical and spiritual content for the artifice of a formalized security and predictability. Ha …

Corker uses the familiar but difficult and treacherous nineteenth-century device of representing the family as a microcosm of the nation state. Opening with the extended family’s awkward attendance at the funeral of Serena, aging flower child of the sixties, the symbolic conflicts build quickly. Serena’s sister Merit, the hard-driving, social- …

Betty Issenman examines all aspects of winter and summer Inuit clothing, going back 4000 years, with particular emphasis on northern Canadian Inuit. She also describes the kinds of material and tools used to make the clothing. The focus is on on Inuit clothing as protection, identity, and culture bearer, roles it has played for thousands of years. …

Skookum, cultus, hyack, saltchuck, klahowya, tillicum: It is in words like these that the last vestiges of a lost British Columbian language remain. It was known as "Chinook." Its use today is mainly confined to colloquialisms, and place names like Boston Bar, Canim Lake, Illahee Mountain, Snass Creek, and Skookumchuck. It began as a trading jargon …

This book describes the delivery of 8000 aircraft to Russia over a little known airway that extended from the U.S. through Northwestern Canada to Nome, Alaska. Warplanes to Alaska is a tribute to the hundreds of men and women who toiled in the harshest of climates to help decide the outcome of World War II. The author interviewed scores of Canadian …

On December 11, 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in the historical aboriginal title action known a Delgamuukw versus The Queen. The decision vindicated the fifty-two Gitkan and We'suwe'en chiefs named as the plaintiffs in the court case, and completely rewrites the rules for resolving Native title in Canada. Epic battles with …

This book is an up-to-date checklist of the current valid taxonomy for all vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens in British Columbia, including synonyms, species codes, and other information. A convenient, geographically restricted, comprehensive checklist like this one will aid greatly in avoiding the present confusion concerning the names of m …

Hidden Dimensions is a collection of essays drawn from papers presented at an international conference in Vancouver, British Columbia in April 1995. Scholars from around the globe examine several aspects of wetland archaeology in North America, Mexico, Europe, eastern Siberia, and New Zealand. Some of the essays in this volume explore environmental …

A young brother and sister in the village of Sliammon must go out after dark to fetch their grandmother, and even though they are good children, they are caught by The One Who Takes Bad Children. It is up to the brother and sister to free themselves and all the other children by doing what they have been taught: stay calm, pay attention, and use ev …

In The Lifeline of the Oregon Country, James Gibson compellingly immerses the reader in one of the most intractable problems faced by the Hudson's Bay Company: how to realize wealth from such a remote and formidable land. The personalities, places, obstacles, and operations involved in the brigade system are all described in fascinating detail, str …

This collection of essays evolved from a colloquium held at the University of British Columbia in 1995 to honour the eminent political scientist and aphorist W.J. Stankiewicz. A theorist and consultant on political decisions, Stankiewicz has been noted for his ability to bring the classical concepts of political science into the decision-making roo …

The Yellow Pear is a brave and moving document, using words and art, of what it means to be Canadian.
Co-published with the Burnaby Art Gallery, this is a collection of deeply moving narratives (in both English and Mandarin) and illustrations about the artist's transition to a new life in a new land; his life in Canada resonates with the memories …

This is Ellen White's sequel to Kwulasulwut: Stories from the Coast Salish. The new volume features four more freshly written and translated English versions of traditional Salish legends adapted for children.

Walking in Indian Moccasins is the first work to offer a different view of the Tommy Douglas provincial government in Sakatchewan: their policies, their applications, and their shortcomings. Much more than that, however, it is a careful account of the development of Indian and Metis people in Saskatchewan in the post-war period. The goal of the CCF …

This book is the first complete descriptive grammar of Lillooet, an Indigenous Canadian language spoken in British Columbia, now threatened with extinction. The author discusses three major aspects of the language – sound system, word structure, and syntax – in great detail. The classical structuralism method of analysis, as developed in North …

Like the renowned American writer Edmund Wilson, who began to learn Hungarian at the age of 65, Richard Teleky started his study of that difficult language as an adult. Unlike Wilson, he is a third-generation Hungarian-American with a strong desire to understand how his ethnic background has affected the course of his life. "Exploring my ethnicity …

A much-loved Canadian classic, Pauline Johnson's Legends of Vancouver was first published in 1911 and has been in print ever since. Through her poetic, romantic retelling of these Native legends, Pauline Johnson takes the reader back to a time long ago, before the city of Vancouver was built, when the land belonged to the Squamish people. These leg …

Red Blood is the first novel by Native American author Jack Forbes whose incredibly prolific writing career includes more than fifteen titles. The novel traces a young Native American man's journey through life, and consequent coming of age, as he travels all over North America seeking insights into his values, relationships, spirituality and cultu …

Before he passed away, the Haida artist Bill Reid was internationally renowned for his totem poles and other large pieces, as well as for his work on a small scale in silver and gold. His masterpiece, The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, is a bronze canoe six metres (20 feet) long, filled to overflowing with the creatures of Haida mythology. Two copies of th …

For more the 200 years, controversy has simmered over the subject of cannibalism on the Pacific Northwest Coast. So heated has the topic become that many scholars have hesitated to engage in the debate. Now, using an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural approach, historian Jim McDowell offers a comprehensive study of cannibalism on the coast. Beginnin …

In conventional histories of the Canadian prairies, Native people disappear from view after the Riel Rebellions. In this groundbreaking study, Frank Tough examines the role of Native peoples, both Indian and Metis, in the economy of northern Manitoba from Treaty 1 to the Depression. He argues that they did not become economically obsolete but rathe …

Cree Adelaide McCauley and her two children witness the shooting of their Metis husband/ father by a crazed white miner. She attempts to nurse him back to life but he dies after several painful days. This tragedy takes place in the Robson Valley and the nearest court of justice is 300 miles away, over treacherous mountain trails, in Golden, BC. Ade …

Geographic Variation in Forest Trees is the first book to examine this subject from a world-wide perspective. The author discusses population genetic theory and genetic systems of native North American tree species as they interact with environments in the major climatic regions in the world. He then demonstrates how this knowledge is used to guide …

Descriptive interpretation of northwest coast Indian art as represented by this collection of several previously unpublished works of Wilson Duff. The tragic death of Wilson Duff at the age of 51, cut short the life of one of the leading experts on the arts and culture of Native peoples of the Northwest Coast. An anthropology professor at the Unive …

It is the spring of 1963. The young Quebec author Marie-Claire Blais, bursting with energy and talent, has just won a coveted Guggenheim fellowship. She chooses Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the place where she will begin her writer’s apprenticeship with her mentor, Edmund Wilson.
American Notebooks is much more than a fascinating autobiographical …

A powerful coming-of-age story -- edgy, stark, and at times, darkly funny that centers around Larry, a Native teenager trying to cope with a painful past and find his place in a confusing and stressful modern world.

Larry is a Dogrib Indian growing up in the small northern town of Fort Simmer. His tongue, his hallucinations and his fantasies are ho …

Shorebirds are known for their swift flight, their piercing cries and their extravagantly long legs and bills. They are also known for their spectacular migrations, which may take them from the Canadian High Arctic to the tip of South America, spanning 25 000 kilometres or more on their round trip. Magnificently illustrated with some of the best ph …

This book represents the archeological evidence for the first 5,500 years of prehistory in British Columbia, from about 10,500 to 5,000 years ago. As this period is poorly known, even to specialists, Early Human Occupation in British Columbia is a vital contribution to current knowledge about an enigmatic time in a critically important area of west …

An elegant reissue of a timeless collection of Haida myths, with a new preface by Claude Levi-Strauss.

Ten masterful, complex drawings by Bill Reid are accompanied by ten episodes from Haida mythology told by Bill Reid and Robert Bringhurst. The result brings Haida art and mythology alive as never before in an English-speaking world. The collection …

This book remains the constant companion of all observers of plants, from professional botanists to weekend hikers. Featuring stunning colour photography, beautifully rendered line drawings and descriptions of hundreds of plant species, Wildflowers Across The Prairies has won acclaim in both Canada and the United States. This new, expanded edition …

Cape Dorset sits at the very heart of Inuit culture. Since the late 1950s, this community has symbolized the essence of Inuit art, thanks to the widely acclaimed work of artists such as Kenojuak Ashevak, Mayureak Ashoona, Pitseolak Ashoona, Qaunaq Mikkigak, Oopik Pitsiulak, Napachie Pootoogook, Lucy Qinnuayuak, Pitaloosie Saila and Ovilu Tunnillie. …

Two Shores is the first collection of poetry in English by a Vietnamese immigrant to the West. Born in Hanoi in 1940 and then moving to Saigon in 1954, Thuong Vuong-Riddick first describes life in Vietnam under the influence of the Japanese, the Chinese, the Vietminh, the French, and the Americans, as well as the difficulties of living through "the …

For centuries, man has passed down stories about strange, unknown creatures inhabiting the forests, lakes and oceans of North America. Witnesses have come forth to sign sworn testimonies as to the truth of their reports. Films have been offered to authorities as the real thing. And yet, no carcasses or live specimens have been found--the search for …

An unsettling study of two tragic events at an Indian residential school in British Columbia which serve as a microcosm of the profound impact the residential school system had on Aboriginal communities in Canada throughout this century. The book's focal points are the death of a runaway boy and the suicide of another while they were students at th …

It is rare for a single work of sculpture to become the subject of a book at any time, much less at the moment of its installation. But Bill Reid's Spirit of Haida Gwaii is no ordinary sculpture. Commissioned for the courtyard of the new Canadian chancery in Washington, DC, it sits directly across the street from the National Gallery and is destine …

This book is the first life history of a Northwest Coast Indian woman. Florence Davidson, daughter of noted Haida carver and chief Charles Edenshaw, was born in 1896. As one of the few living Haida elders knowledgeable about the culture of a bygone era, she was a fragile link with the past. Living in Masset on the Queen Charlotte Islands, some fift …

Written mainly by First Nations and Metis people, this book examines current issues in First Nations education.

From the mighty cedar of the rainforest came a wealth of raw materials vital to the early Northwest Coast Indian way of life, its art and culture. For thousands of years these people developed the tools and technologies to fell the giant cedars that grew in profusion. They used the rot-resistant wood for graceful dugout canoes to travel the coastal …

Taking Control is a critical ethnography of the Native Education Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. It presents an intimate view of the centre, focusing on the ways that people who work there – First Nations students, board members, teachers, and non-Native teachers – talk about and put into practice their beliefs about First Nations contro …

In Britain and the Origins of Canadian Confederation, 1837-1867, Ged Martin offers a sceptical review of claims that Confederation answered all the problems facing the provinces, and examines in detail British perceptions of Canada and ideas about its future. The major British contribution to the coming of Confederation is to be found not in the af …

The enigmatic American artist Georgia O’Keeffe flourished in the desert solitude where her creativity and vision thrived and was challenged by its dangerous energies, its desolate and hard beauty. In John Murrell’s The Faraway Nearby, Georgia O’Keeffe resigns herself to an old age spent in the auburn and tawny light of her beloved Faraway mou …

Federalism is at once a set of institutions -- the division of public authority between two or more constitutionally defined orders of government -- and a set of ideas which underpin such institutions. As an idea, federalism points us to issues such as shared and divided sovereignty, multiple loyalties and identities, and governance through multi-l …

The heyday of anthropological collecting on the Northwest Coast took place between 1875 and the Great Depression. The scramble for skulls and skeletons, poles, canoes, baskets, feast bowls, and masks went on until it seemed that almost everything not nailed down or hidden was gone. The period of most intense collecting on the coast coincided with t …

The aboriginal people of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand became minorities in their own countries in the nineteenth century. The expanding British Empire had its own vision for the future of these peoples, which was expressed in 1837 by the Select Committee on Aborigines of the House of Commons. It was a vision of the steps necessary for them to …

Chiwid was a Tsilhqot'in woman, said to have shamanistic powers, who spent most of her adult life "living out" in the hills and forests around Williams Lake, BC. Chiwid is the story of this remarkable woman told in the vibrant voices of Chilcotin oldtimers, both native and non-native. Chiwid is number 2 in the Transmontanus series.