National Network for Equitable Library Service

Theodore (Ted) Fontaine lost his family and freedom just after his seventh birthday, when his parents were forced to leave him at an Indian residential school by order of the Roman Catholic Church and the Government of Canada. Twelve years later, he left school frozen at the emotional age of seven. He was confused, angry and conflicted, on a path of self-destruction. At age 29, he emerged from this blackness. By age 32, he had graduated from the Civil Engineering Program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and begun a journey of self-exploration and healing.

An insightful look at the first mayor of Nanaimo, BC, drawing heavily on his prolific and insightful written observations.Mark Bate, elected Nanaimo’s first mayor in 1875, was a renaissance man. He loved music, writing, literature, the outdoors, community affairs, and of course politics. Bate served as mayor for sixteen terms—most by acclamation.

The never-before-published memoir of Major-General Sir Edward Morrison, a true Canadian hero of the First World War.The First World War marked a turning point in Canadian history and in Canada’s self-identification as a nation. Yet in memorializing the iconic events and battles of the War, certain key individuals who participated have been lost in our collective memory.

Like many other pioneering North West Mounted Police officers, Cecil Denny was a colourful, independent man with a career full of conquest and controversy. He and his comrades played key roles in the taming of Canada's wild and woolly west, and in this compilation of selected writings from his books The Law Marches West and The Riders of the Plains, we get that story straight from the horse's mouth.

Buying Saffron, a 24-foot racing sailboat, was an act of desperation meant to help single parent June Cameron and her youngest son validate themselves. It did that and more. A friend persuaded June to race the boat, and over the next decade June, either solo or with her all-female crew, competed in BC's major sailing races, taking home a lot of the hardware for their class. Shelter from the Storm is a fascinating memoir about finding one's place, even if that place is at sea.

Veteran broadcaster Terry David Mulligan takes readers on a galloping romp down the roads he’s travelled, from busting bad guys as a Mountie to spinning records as a DJ to sampling fine wines around the world. He reminisces about growing up in the North Vancouver neighbourhood known as Skunk Hollow, and about the hard price he paid to leave the Mounties for music.

Hughina Harold paints a powerful picture of a world that no longer exists in this compelling account of her experiences as a young teacher and nurse on the remote Broughton Archipelago on British Columbia’s coast in the 1930s. Fresh from nursing school in Victoria and eager to start work, Harold could not have imagined the challenges that awaited her in the tiny village of Mamalilikulla. Leaving the comforts of Victoria behind for a cold, leaky floathome that she shared with two elderly missionaries, she had to adapt quickly to her new circumstances.

This is the story of a rebellious girl from British Columbia who travelled the world in pursuit of her calling only to find her true inspiration in the Canadian landscape she’d left behind. Both a prolific painter and an accomplished writer, Carr was more comfortable in the raw wilderness than in the tea rooms of London, and more at home with her unique pets than with the people around her. Despite numerous setbacks and disappointments, she persevered to become the West Coast’s most celebrated artist—and a Canadian icon.

Jason Dorland is no stranger to competition. As a rower and coach, he’s seen his share of races won and lost. But after a devastating performance at the 1988 Olympics, Jason was overwhelmed by a sense of failure—and with small wonder. Winning at all costs, whereby the playing field is seen as a battlefield, is pretty much the industry standard when it comes to motivating elite athletes. That philosophy coloured his own coaching style, until he met someone who coped with the loss of her own Olympic dream, and viewed competition itself, in a different way.

Here are the stories of singularly courageous West Coast women—driven, obsessed, sometimes desperate people whose nonconformist beliefs and actions made them rebels in society’s eyes. Many faced hardship and ridicule as they pursued their goals.