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Canada's state police : 150 years of the RCMP / by Marquis, Greg,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Stripping away the myth of the RCMP, historian Greg Marquis offers an account of 150 years of a state police force acting on behalf of the wealthy and powerful. From its start policing Indigenous people in western Canada, the RCMP has gone on to surveil, harass and seek to jail labour organisers, leftist idealists, Quebec sovereigntists, and now environmental activists. The RCMP has often made itself judge, jury, and executioner of who can live unmolested in Canada. Drawing upon all the available literature on the organisation's history, historian Greg Marquis lays bare 150 years of state police action. He highlights the force's racism, sexism, misogyny, and internal dysfunctions. An invaluable resource, this book challenges the carefully constructed myths about the RCMP's role in Canadian life"--
Subjects: Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Discrimination in law enforcement; Police;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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True north rising : my fifty-year journey with the Inuit and Dene leaders who transformed Canada's North / by Fraser, Whit,author.;
"In this captivating memoir, Whit Fraser weaves scenes from more than fifty years of reporting and living in the North with fascinating portraits of the Dene and Inuit activists who successfully overturned the colonial order and politically reshaped Canada--including his wife, Mary Simon, Canada's first Indigenous governor general. "This is a huge embrace of a book, irresistible on every level. . . . I couldn't put it down." --Elizabeth Hay, Giller-winning author of Late Nights on Air In True North Rising, Whit Fraser delivers a smart, touching and astute living history of five decades that transformed the North, a span he witnessed first as a longtime CBC reporter and then through his friendships and his work with Dene and Inuit activists and leaders. Whit had a front-row seat at the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry, the constitutional conferences and the land-claims negotiations that successfully reshaped the North; he's also travelled to every village and town from Labrador to Alaska. His vivid portraits of groundbreakers such as Abe Okpik, Jose Kusugak, Stephen Kakfwi, Marie Wilson, John Amagoalik, Tagak Curley, and his own wife, Mary Simon, bring home their truly historic achievements, but they also give us a privileged glimpse of who they are, and who Whit Fraser is. He may have begun as a know-nothing reporter from the south, but he soon fell in love with the North, and his memoir is a testament to more than fifty years of commitment to its people."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Fraser, Whit.; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Journalists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Sounding thunder : the stories of Francis Pegahmagabow / by McInnes, Brian D.,1974-;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Stories from the life of Ojibwe Francis Pegahmagabow, who became Canada's most decorated Indigenous soldier during the First World War, and then settled in Wasauksing, Ontario, where he served his community as both chief and councillor and belonged to the Brotherhood of Canadian Indians.LSC
Subjects: Pegahmagabow, Francis, 1889-1952.; Wasauksing First Nation; Indian veterans; Indian activists; Ojibwa Indians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Spirit of the grassroots people : seeking justice for Indigenous survivors of Canada's colonial education system / by Mason, Raymond,1946-author.; Pind, Jackson,1993-editor.; Christou, Theodore Michael,editor.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Raymond Mason is an Ojibway activist who campaigns for the rights of residential school survivors and a founder of Spirit Wind, an organization that played a key role in the development of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. This memoir offers a firsthand account of the personal and political challenges Mason confronted on this journey. A riveting and at times harrowing read, Spirit of the Grassroots People describes the author's experiences in Indian day and residential schools in Manitoba and his struggles to find meaning in life after trauma and abuse. Mason details the work that he and his colleagues did over many years to gain recognition and compensation for their suffering. Drawing from Indigenous oral traditions as well as Western historiography, the work applies the concept of two-eyed seeing to the histories of colonialism and education in Canada. The memoir is supplemented by a final chapter in which Theodore Michael Christou and Jackson Pind put Mason's story into a historical and educational context. An essential key to understanding the legacy of Indian residential and day schools, this text is both a documentation of history and a deeply personal story of a human experience."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Mason, Raymond, 1946-; Adult child abuse victims; Ojibwe;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Smile so big / by Tenasco, Sunshine Quem.; Chief Lady Bird,1993-;
When Challa comes home in tears after being teased about her smile, her mom gives her a special gift. It's a magic mirror -- shiny, beaded and beautiful -- passed on from her mom, and from her djo djo before her. Challa's mom tells her that when anyone looks into the mirror, they will see their true self. There's just one rule: Everyone has to say what they see in the reflection. At first the mirror seems to work for everyone but her. Challa keeps looking and looking. The more beauty she sees in herself, the happier she feels, and the longer she looks into the mirror, the more beauty she sees, until finally Challa sees so much beauty, she can't contain her smile! This special story, from award-winning activist Sunshine Quem Tenasco and artist Chief Lady Bird, introduces readers to concepts of self-acceptance, self-empowerment, and recognition of the unique beauty that comes from within.
Subjects: Picture books.; Mirrors; Smiling; Indigenous peoples;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Still ruffling feathers : let us put our minds together / by Wuttunee, Wanda A.(Wanda Ann),1956-editor.;
Includes bibliographical references."William (Bill) Wuttunee was a trailblazing lawyer, a courageous native rights activist; and one of the architects of the process for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His 1971 book, Ruffled Feathers: Indians in Canadian Society, decried conditions on reserves and pressed for integration -- on Indigenous peoples' own terms -- supporting many of the aims of the Trudeau government's 1969 "White Paper." Though controversial at the time, Wuttunee's arguments were rooted in a foundational belief in the strengths of his people and a steadfast rejection of victimhood. In the fifty years that have followed its publication, Ruffled Feathers has been largely forgotten, though ideas that Wuttunee put forth -- ending the Indian Act and the reserve system -- continue to find space within contemporary Canadian political discourse. In this volume, editor Wanda Wuttunee gathers a diverse cohort of scholars to engage with her father's ideas and offer their own perspectives on the opportunities and challenges facing Indigenous peoples in Canada, then and now. Favouring discourse over conclusions, Still Ruffling Feathers leads the reader to a nuanced understanding of the ongoing conversations and unresolved issues stemming from the Indian Act and invites us to envision miyo-pimâtisiwin, "the good life.""--
Subjects: Wuttunee, William I. C.; First Nations;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Rehearsals for living / by Maynard, Robyn,author.; Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake,1971-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A revolutionary collaboration about the world we're living in now, between two of our most important contemporary thinkers, writers and activists. When much of the world entered pandemic lockdown in spring 2020, Robyn Maynard, influential author of Policing Black Lives, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, award-winning author of several books, including the recent novel Noopiming, began writing each other letters -- a gesture sparked by friendship and solidarity, and by a desire for kinship and connection in a world shattering under the intersecting crises of pandemic, police killings, and climate catastrophe. Their letters soon grew into a powerful exchange on the subject of where we go from here. Rehearsals is a captivating book, part debate, part dialogue, part lively and detailed familial correspondence between two razor-sharp writers convening on what it means to get free as the world spins into some new orbit. In a genre-defying exchange, the authors collectively envision the possibilities for more liberatory futures during a historic year of Indigenous land defense, prison strikes, and global-Black-led rebellions against policing. By articulating to each other Black and Indigenous perspectives on our unprecedented here and now, and the long-disavowed histories of slavery and colonization that have brought us to this moment in the first place, Maynard and Simpson create something new: a vital demand for a different way forward, and a poetic call to dream up new ways of ordering earthly life."--
Subjects: Personal correspondence.; Maynard, Robyn; Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake, 1971-; Authors, Canadian; Social history; Social movements;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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From Bear Rock Mountain : the life and times of a Dene residential school survivor / by Mountain, Antoine,1949-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In this poetic, poignant memoir, Dene artist and social activist Antoine Mountain paints an unforgettable picture of his journey from residential school to art school-and his path to healing. In 1949, Antoine Mountain was born on the land near Radelie Koe, Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories. At the tender age of seven, he was stolen away from his home and sent to a residential school-run by the Roman Catholic Church in collusion with the Government of Canada-three hundred kilometres away. Over the next twelve years, the three residential schools Mountain was forced to attend systematically worked to erase his language and culture, the very roots of his identity. While reconnecting to that which had been taken from him, he had a disturbing and painful revelation of the bitter depths of colonialism and its legacy of cultural genocide. Canada has its own holocaust, Mountain argues. As a celebrated artist and social activist today, Mountain shares this moving, personal story of healing and the reclamation of his Dene identity."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Mountain, Antoine, 1949-; Indigenous peoples; First Nations; First Nations; Denesuline; Denesuline;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Water confidential : witnessing justice denied--the fight for safe drinking water in Indigenous and rural communities in Canada / by Blacklin, Susan,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In Water Confidential, Susan Blacklin (formerly Sue Peterson) revisits the important work of her late ex-husband, Dr. Hans Peterson. Beginning in 1996, Peterson, growing frustrated with his work in government funded research in Saskatchewan, brought attention to the desperate need for equal access to safe drinking water after a health inspector encouraged him to visit the Yellow Quill First Nation. In response to the issue, he developed biological technology for effective water treatment, still in use today. Peterson and Blacklin joined forces with scientists from around the world to establish the registered national charity, the Safe Drinking Water Foundation. The SDWF developed accredited education programs for schools across Canada, while also educating the general public and Water Treatment Operators from Indigenous communities. Advocacy became a high priority when they discovered a variety of challenges to their mission, including questionable government practices that were blocking the reality of safe drinking water in First Nations communities. As committed activists, it became their life's work to ensure that access to Peterson's technology was available to all rural and First Nations communities. Thirty years later, the majority of First Nations communities in Canada continue to face atrocious health issues as a result of unsafe drinking water. Blacklin, now retired, shares her deep concerns at the indifference, corruption, and lack of due diligence from all levels of government in response to the safe water movement. She echoes the work of the SDWF stating that Canada needs to implement federal drinking water regulations, and that a responsible government should use rather than abuse science when accurately determining Boil Water Advisories and addressing the deplorable state of access to potable water. In this passionate and timely memoir, Blacklin shares her experiences with fundraising, activism and lobbying work. She reveals the complexities of negotiating between cultures, communities and the provincial and federal government. Blacklin emphasizes that ensuring safe drinking water to each and every First Nations community should be the top priority toward reconciliation with Indigenous people of Canada."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Blacklin, Susan.; Drinking water; Drinking water; Human rights workers; Right to water; Water quality management; Water-supply; First Nations; First Nations;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The social safety net / by Loreto, Nora,1984-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Canada's social safety net is fraying. Why does it feel like everything is collapsing? Canada is at a crossroad. Neoliberalism has hollowed out and sold off the social services Canadians rely on now more than ever, and has brought into stark relief the dissonance among colonial, Indigenous, and some of Canada's most at-risk groups. The Social Safety Net tracks the forty-year attack on Canada's social safety net. As neoliberalism has matured in Canada, Canadians are seeing the impact of these attacks: unreliable health services, crises in education and social services, and a society that feels like it is losing cohesion. The first volume in a series by activist, author, and journalist Nora Loreto, the Canada in Decline series is the story of Canada's untenable status quo and the forces that have led us to where we are today. It outlines the choices we need to make as well as the possible paths forward to fix all that is crumbling around us."--
Subjects: Neoliberalism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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