Indigenous Reads for Adults
The items listed below were purchased with funds from the Ron Lewis Memorial Gift, which was donated to the Library by the Canmore Rotary Club Charitable Foundation in the summer of 2022.
Ron Lewis was a Rotarian and long-time resident of Canmore who was greatly interested in education and Indigenous Studies, and the Library has recently acquired over 150 items by, for, and about Indigenous peoples in his name.
A complete list of the Ron Lewis Memorial Gift items can be viewed here.
The 500 years of Indigenous resistance comic book
Hill, Gord, author
2021
A new and expanded version of Gord Hill's seminal illustrated history of Indigenous struggles in the Americas. When it was first published in 2010, The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book was heralded as a groundbreaking illustrated history of Indigenous activism and resistance in the Americas over the previous 500 years, from contact to present day.
Aki-wayn-zih : a person as worthy as the Earth
Baxter, Eli, author.
2021
Members of Eli Baxter's generation are the last of the hunting and gathering societies living on Turtle Island. They are also among the last fluent speakers of the Anishinaabay language known as Anishinaabaymowin. Aki-wayn-zih is a story about the land and its spiritual relationship with the Anishinaabayg, from the beginning of their life on Miss-koh-tay-sih Minis (Turtle Island) to the present day. Baxter writes about Anishinaabay life before European contact, his childhood memories of trapping, hunting, and fishing with his family on traditional lands in Treaty 9 territory, and his personal experience surviving the residential school system. Examining how Anishinaabay Kih-kayn-daa-soh-win (knowledge) is an elemental concept embedded in the Anishinaabay language, Aki-wayn-zih explores history, science, math, education, philosophy, law, and spiritual teachings, outlining the cultural significance of language to Anishinaabay identity.
Blue bear woman
Pésémapéo Bordeleau, Virginia, 1951- author.
2019
"Blue Bear Woman (Ourse bleue) is the first novel in Quebec written by an Indigenous woman. The story of a young Cree woman's search for her roots and identity, this is also the author's debut novel, originally published in 2007, and it will be her second book to be published in English. The novel has been described as a "texte de resistance", showing contemporary Indigenous life and the impact on the Cree of the building of the Eastmain dam in northern Quebec, posited as "virgin" territory, yet which has actually been part of the Cree traditional territory since time immemorial. In search of her roots, Victoria takes a trip to the country of her Cree ancestors with her companion, Daniel. It is a long journey to the north along the shores of James Bay. Colours, smells, and majestic landscapes arouse memories that soon devolve into strange and hauntings dreams at night. In bits and pieces, uncles, aunties, and cousins arrive to tell the story of Victoria's family and bring with them images of her childhood that are tinged both with joy and sadness. Guided by her totem, the Blue Bear, she returns home to make peace with her soul, as well as release the soul of her great-uncle, a hunter who has been missing in the forest for over twenty years."-- Provided by publisher.
Burning in this midnight dream
Halfe, Louise, 1953-, author
2021
A deeply scouring poetic account of the residential school experience, and a deeply important indictment of colonialism in Canada. Many of the poems in Louise Halfe's Burning in This Midnight Dream were written in response to the grim tide of emotions, memories, dreams and nightmares that arose in her as the Truth and Reconciliation process unfolded. In heart-wrenching detail, Halfe recalls the damage done to her parents, her family, herself. With fearlessly wrought verse, Halfe describes how the experience of the residential schools continues to haunt those who survive, and how the effects pass like a virus from one generation to the next. She asks us to consider the damage done to children taken from their families, to families mourning their children; damage done to entire communities and to ancient cultures. Halfe's poetic voice soars in this incredibly moving collection as she digs deep to discover the root of her pain. Her images, created from the natural world, reveal the spiritual strength of her culture.
Christi Belcourt
2020
"This book is published in conjunction with the first retrospective of artist Christi Belcourt's work: "UPRISING: The Power of Mother Earth--Christi Belcourt--A Retrospective with Isaac Murdoch," curated by Nadia Kurd. The book traces Belcourt's artistic practice from its beginnings, in the early 1990s, to the present, concluding with recent paintings made collaboratively with artist Isaac Murdoch. It features an artist's statement by Christi Belcourt, and essays by Nadia Kurd, Sherry Farrell Racette and Dylan Miner. The texts are translated by Patricia Ningewance, and Roger Roulette, Indigenous Languages of Manitoba Inc."
Daughters of the deer
Daniel, Danielle, author
2022
1657. Marie, a gifted healer of the Deer Clan, does not want to marry the green-eyed soldier from France who has asked for her hand. But her people are threatened by disease and starvation and need help against the Iroquois and their English allies if they are to survive. When her chief begs her to accept the white man's proposal, she cannot refuse him. 1675. Jeanne, Marie's oldest child, is 17, neither white nor Algonquin, caught between worlds. Her heart belongs to a girl named Josephine, but soon her father will have to find her a husband or be forced to pay a hefty fine to the French crown.
Echoes of the supernatural : the graphic art of Robert Davidson
Wyatt, Gary, 1958- author
2022
This is the first publication in over forty years to offer a comprehensive visual retrospective of Robert Davidson's astonishing career. It includes new photography of over 150 prints, as well as images of over fifty paintings; numerous painted woven hats, painted and carved sculptures, jewellery, aluminum sculpture; and dozens of archival photographs His long-time gallerist Gary Wyatt details the artist's life and career, and offers insights on the work based on extensive new interviews. A foreword by Karen Duffek situates the contours of Davidson's practice within the broader Northwest Coast art world.
House made of dawn
Momaday, N. Scott, 1934-
2018
A novel of a proud stranger in his native land. He was a young American Indian named Abel, and he lived in two worlds. One was that of his father, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, the ecstasy of the drug called peyote. The other was the world of the twentieth century, goading him into a compulsive cycle of sexual exploits, dissipation, and disgust. Home from a foreign war, he was a man being torn apart, a man descending into hell.
Hunter with harpoon
Markoosie, author.
2020
"Published fifty years ago under the title Harpoon of the Hunter, Markoosie Patsauq's novel helped establish the genre of Indigenous fiction in Canada. This new English translation unfolds the story of Kamik, a young hero who comes to manhood while on a perilous hunt for a wounded polar bear. In this astonishing tale of a people struggling for survival in a brutal environment, Patsauq describes a life in the Canadian Arctic as one that is reliant on cooperation and vigilance. In collaboration with the author, Valerie Henitiuk and Marc-Antoine Mahieu return to the original Inuktitut text to provide English readers with a more accurate translation. With a preface by Patsauq, an introduction from the translators, and an afterword by throat singer and filmmaker Evie Mark, this edition offers a fresh and contextualized interpretation of a cultural milestone. Whether revisiting this classic or discovering it for the first time, readers will find in Hunter with Harpoon a sophisticated coming-of-age tale illustrating a way of life not as it appeared to southerners, but as it has survived in the memory of the Inuit themselves."-- Provided by publisher.
Laughing with the Trickster : on sex, death, and accordions
Highway, Tomson, 1951-, author
2022
Tomson Highway brings his signature irreverence to an exploration of five themes central to the human condition: language, creation, sex and gender, humour, and death. A comparative analysis of Christian, Classical, and Cree mythologies reveals how they have given form and substance to Western thought, life, and culture. Yet Indigenous mythologies provide unique, timeless solutions to our modern problems. Laugh with the legendary Tomson Highway as he illuminates a healing, hilarious way forward.
Mother Earth plants for health & beauty = kikāwīnaw askiy oskihtēpakwa : Indigenous plants, traditions & recipes
Armstrong, Carrie, 1964- author
2020
"Mother Earth Essentials was founded by Carrie Armstrong. Her passion is sharing Aboriginal culture and the vehicle for her message is her products. Carrie has based a philosophy steeped in respect and honor for the environment and the beautiful plants used in her luxurious bath, body and beauty line. Carrie blends the finest essential oils, berries, medicinal, and ceremonial plants that Mother Earth provides with the teachings she learned as a young girl. She gathered plants and berries with her Grandmother while she shared her stories and her deep understanding of traditional plants and their uses. Carrie started to realize that, overall, there is a lack of awareness about the significant contributions Aboriginal people have made in the areas of plants and their medicinal uses. The pharmaceutical industry currently uses over 200 plants traditionally used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years. Yet, Carrie realized from 15 years of experience in the cosmetic industry, there were no products created from Aboriginal knowledge."-- Provided by publisher.
The Pemmican Eaters
Dumont, Marilyn
2015
A picture of the Riel Resistance from one of Canada's preeminent Métis poets With a title derived from John A. Macdonald's moniker for the Métis, The Pemmican Eaters explores Marilyn Dumont's sense of history as the dynamic present. Combining free verse and metered poems, her latest collection aims to recreate a palpable sense of the Riel Resistance period and evoke the geographical, linguistic/cultural, and political situation of Batoche during this time through the eyes of those who experienced the battles, as well as through the eyes of Gabriel and Madeleine Dumont and Louis Riel. Included in this collection are poems about the bison, seed beadwork, and the Red River Cart, and some poems employ elements of the Michif language, which, along with French and Cree, was spoken by Dumont's ancestors. In Dumont's The Pemmican Eaters, a multiplicity of identities is a strengthening rather than a weakening or diluting force in culture.
Picking up the pieces : residential school memories and the making of the Witness Blanket
Newman, Carey, 1975- author
2019
Tells the story of the making of the Witness Blanket, a living work of art. It includes hundreds of items collected from residential schools across Canada, everything from bricks, photos and letters to hockey skates, dolls and braids. Every object tells a story.
The reconciliation manifesto : recovering the land, rebuilding the economy
Manuel, Arthur, author
2017
Scars & stars
Thistle, Jesse, author
2022
In his second moving collection, Jesse Thistle digs deeper into the poetic form, which is especially close to his heart. Charting his own history, the stories of people from his past, the burning intensity of new and unexpected love, the complex legacies of family and community, and the beauty of parenthood, this collection is a profound mediation that expands his engagement with the ideas and experiences that have shaped his body of work thus far.
Winter in the blood
Welch, James, 1940-2003
2008
Narrated by a young Native American living on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana, Winter in the Blood is the story of a man living out the tragedy of his people. Intelligent, sensitive, and self-destructive, he is haunted by the untimely deaths of his father and older brother and the shards of his once proud heritage. He sleepwalks through his days working on his stepfather's cattle ranch and consoles himself with alcohol and women. An ironic epiphany provides a tie to the vast land of his ancestors and an alternative to despair.