National Network for Equitable Library Service

While games of chance have been part of the Aboriginal cultural landscape since before European contact, large-scale commercial gaming facilities within First Nations communities are a relatively new phenomenon in Canada. First Nations Gaming in Canadais the first multidisciplinary study of the role of gaming in indigenous communities north of the 49th parallel.

With the advent of Aboriginal street gangs such as Indian Posse, Manitoba Warriors, and Native Syndicate, Winnipeg garnered a reputation as the 'gang capital of Canada.' Yet beyond the stereotypes of outsiders, little is known about these street gangs and the factors and conditions that have produced them. Indians Wear Red locates Aboriginal street gangs as a form of resistance to colonialism. But just as colonialism has been destructive, so too has street gang activity, including the illegal trade in drugs.

A thoughtful account of life on a reserve and of the interaction of Native people with White society, this volume is based on the author’s three years’ experience with one Indian band on the prairie, during a period in which there were intense negotiations between the band and the federal government. Lithman’s analysis of the political manoeuvring of both sides makes this a rare contemporary account.

The legacy of the residential school system ripples throughout Native Canada, its fingerprints on the domestic violence, poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide rates that continue to cripple many Native communities. Magic Weapons is the first major survey of Indigenous writings on the residential school system, and provides groundbreaking readings of life writings by Rita Joe (Mi’kmaq) and Anthony Apakark Thrasher (Inuit) as well as in-depth critical studies of better known life writings by Basil Johnston (Ojibway) and Tomson Highway (Cree).

How We Go Home shares contemporary first-person stories in the long and ongoing fight to protect Native land, rights, and life. Each of the twelve narrators' lives has been shaped by loss, injustice, and resilience—and by the struggle to share space with settler nations whose essential aim is to take all that is Indigenous. In her introduction, Sinclair writes: “These are stories about returning to place, revitalizing culture and language, and re-forming traditional support systems.

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.

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.

Land-Water-Sky follows the story of a vexatious shapeshifter (Nahga) that lives throughout the centuries from time immemorial.

Policing is a controversial subject, generating considerable debate. One issue of concern has been “racial profiling” by police, that is, the alleged practice of targeting individuals and groups on the basis of “race.” Racialized Policing argues that the debate has been limited by its individualized frame. As well, the concen- tration on police relations with people of colour means that Aboriginal people’s encounters with police receive far less scrutiny.

Religious ceremonies were an inseparable part of Aboriginal traditional life, reinforcing social, economic and political values. However, missionaries and government officials with ethnocentric attitudes of cultural superiority decreed that Native dances and ceremonies were immoral or un-Christian and an impediment to the integration of the Native population into Canadian society.