National Network for Equitable Library Service

There are two Icelands. One is the island in the North Sea, settled since Viking times. The other is "Western Iceland," the communities throughout North America, settled by Icelanders in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and which still maintain strong ties to the "old country."" "This collection of short stories and poems spans seventy-five years of writing by Western Icelandic women writers.

The Midewiwin is the traditional religious belief system central to the world view of Ojibwa in Canada and the US. It is a highly complex and rich series of sacred teachings and narratives whose preservation enabled the Ojibwa to withstand severe challenges to their entire social fabric throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. It remains an important living and spiritual tradition for many Aboriginal people today. The rituals of the Midewiwin were observed by many 19th century Euro-Americans, most of whom approached these ceremonies with hostility and suspicion.

Account of archaeological work in northern Manitoba and of artifacts found in three sites: Thyazzi, Twin Lakes, and Seahorse Gully. Author's Doctoral thesis at University of Calgary, May 1968.

Health care is Canada's best loved social program--and for good reason. For over forty years, Canadians have enjoyed high quality health services based on need rather than on ability to pay. Yet we hear almost daily accounts of problems with the system. We are bombarded with warnings that public health care is unsustainable, especially in light of the baby boomer generation reaching retirement age. Such stories can help undermine our support for public care even though they are often based on poor, partial or even false information.

Howard Pawley, former Premier of Manitoba (1981–88), led the province during one of the most turbulent periods in its history. Elected at the outset of a serious national recession, his government successfully implemented social democratic policies that ran counter to the neo-conservative trends that dominated the period, including job creation, labour reform, and human rights legislation.

Perspectives on the heritage of the United Church of Canada in the west.

This book is a collection of the best blogs from Indigenous Nationhood produced by well-known lawyer, activist and academic Pamela Palmater. Her blogs offer critical legal and political commentary and analysis on legislation, Aboriginal rights, Canadian politics, and First Nation politics and social issues like murdered and missing Indigenous women, poverty, economics, and identity and culture.

In River Road Friesen tells some of the "local stories" that make up the history of the Canadian prairies. From Louis Riel to the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord, the prairies have often been a place where conflicting visions of Canada have clashed. Friesen portrays some of the different sides and personalities of this history, such as Bob Russell, leader of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, and J.H. Riddell, principal of Wesley College.

Graham McInnes was one of many talented young people recruited by the charismatic John Grierson to build the National Film Board of Canada during the heady days of WWII. McInnes’s memoir of these “days of high excitement” is an insider’s look at the NFB from 1939 to 1945, a vivid “origin” story of Canada’s emerging world-class film studio that provides the NFB with the kind of full-bodied vitality usually associated with the great Hollywood studios in their golden years.

Jen Powley was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at fifteen. By thirty-five, she had lost the use of her arms and legs. Just Jen is a powerful memoir that tells the story of Powley's life at the time of her diagnosis, and the infinite, irrevocable ways it has changed since. Powley's writing pulls no punches. She is lively, bold and unapologetic, answering questions people are often afraid to ask about living with a progressive disease. And yet, these snapshots from Powley's life are not tinged with anger or despair.