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George Manuel was a prominent leader of Canada's modern Indian movement and an internationally acclaimed spokesperson for native rights. His story is not just of one individual but of the rise of native power and consciousness in Canada and throughout the world. ... Read more

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Early hunter/gatherer societies have traditionally been considered basically egalitarian in nature. This assumption, however, has been challenged by contemporary archaeolgical and anthropological research, which has demonstrated that many of these societies had complex social, economic, and political structures. This volume considers two British Columbia Native communities - the Lillooet and Shuswap communities of Fountain and Pavilion - and traces their development to complex societies. The authors explore the relation between resource characteristics and hunter/gatherer adaptations and examine the use of fish, animal, and plant species, documenting their availability and the techniques used in their gathering, processing, and storing. The book also shows how cultural practices, such as raiding, potlatching, and stewardship of resources, can be explained from a cultural ecological point of view. An important contribution to the study of hunting and gathering cultures in the Canadian Northwest, this book is the most detailed examination of the subsistence base of a particular hunting and gathering group to date.Its exploration of the reasons why complex hunting and gathering societies emerge, as well as the ecological relationships between cultures and resources, may make an important contribution to the study of cultural ecology and contemporary archaeology. An important contribution to the study of hunting and gathering cultures in the Canadian Northwest, this book is the most detailed examination of the subsistence base of a particular hunting and gathering group to date. Its exploration of the reasons why complex hunting and gathering societies emerge, as well as the ecological relationships between cultures and resources, will make an important contribution to the study of cultural ecology and contemporary archaeology. "Brian Hayden is a professor in the Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University.". ... Read more

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It seems only yesterday that we arrived at this school, each of us alone, each of us searching, each of us a little afraid.Suddenly the year is over. We are leaving.Again, each of us will be alone. But each has discovered there is no need to be afraid. For no matter how far apart two friends must journey, it is still the same sunrise. And, maybe tomorrow, what we have all been searching for will all come clear. In a time when Canada is still young and prejudice against its native peoples still socially acceptable, two girls from different worlds come together to form a friendship that defies the odds. ... Read more

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One of the first books published to deal with the phenomenon of residential schools in Canada, Resistance and Renewal is a disturbing collection of Native perspectives on the Kamloops Indian Residential School(KIRS) in the British Columbia interior. Interviews with thirteen Natives, all former residents of KIRS, form the nucleus of the book, a frank depiction of school life, and a telling account of the system's oppressive environment which sought to stifle Native culture.

Winner of the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize (BC Book Prize) in 1989.

Now in its 8th printing.

Customer Reviews (3)

Book
I was a little disappointed with what I received.There are numerous instances of underlining throughout the book.I don't remember that being included in the description of the book although the seller may not have had the space to include that

Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School
Canadians are not known for hubris, but one thing most Canadians will show some pride about is the belief that Canada is the good guy of the world; an identity that is exhibited in everything from peacekeeping and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to politeness. However, Canada has an ugly not-too-distant past in the treatment of First Nations Peoples that is not commonly acknowledged.

In her book Resistance and Renewal, Celia Haig-Brown compiles first-hand accounts from members of the Shuswap Nation of the west coast, who were forced to attend the Kamloops Indian Residential School. As children, these individuals were taken from their family homes to a giant brick institution operated by nuns and missionaries, where they were subject to all manner of abuse, and punished if they spoke their own language. The mission of these schools was to integrate Native children into white society, or in other words, cultural genocide.

Resistance and Renewal is a cultural and historical study, but Haig-Brown's intentions for the book are to reach beyond the academic world. There is "richness and insight" in the stories her informants tell, and she seeks to reveal to a wide audience the skeletons in Canada's closet. The stories of her informants are organized by common themes and experiences, and lay out a clear portrait of suffering and subversion, the infliction and consequences of deep wounds. Her analysis of the school system elaborates how these injustices originated in the racist notions of Canadian government policy makers who referred to their work as "aggressive civilization."

For the non-Native audience, Haig-Brown gives faces and lives to a particular segment of First Nations people, and attempts to show something of the origins of the social problems those people face today. White Canadian society can easily ignore this tiny percentage of our nation's population, but in ignoring the history of Canada's treatment of indigenous people our national identity as the good guys of human rights becomes a lie.

It is important for all Canadians to bring these issues into their national historical knowledge, and to recognize that they are not in the past, but in contemporary society. The last residential school was only closed in the nineties, and the children of the system are now adults and leaders of their communities.

Since its first publication in 1988, Resistance and Renewal has found a place in the popular realm. Non-Native Canadian readers continue to be educated about the state of the third world within our borders, and Native readers have found their own experiences reflected in its pages, leading to the healing of old wounds suffered by individuals and communities and to the continued fight with the Canadian government for apology and recompense.

It reads like a masters thesis
This short book regarding Indian Boarding School experiences in Canada reads like a masters thesis.It was fairly dry and I had to force myselfto finish it.However, it did have a "saving grace".Theforward to this book was written by Randy Fred, who wrote about his lifeprior, during and after entering Kamloops Indian Residential School.Ms.Haig-Brown is a professional educator and tried to reinforce that tribesare taking control of the educational systems involving their children now. She did not address the cultural values involved in the meaning and goalsof education, which continue to conflict between the mainstream andtraditional cultures. ... Read more

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A passionate and provocative collection of poetry, Glass Tepee finds its roots in the experiences and traditions of Canada's first peoples. Some pieces draw on the landscape, philosophy and culture of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) territory and original inhabitants, while others comment on Aboriginal reserve politics and the complicated realities experienced by Natives in urban centres.

Critical and compassionate, Gottfriedson's imagination is infused with a contemporary political and cultural awareness that is disarming and unpretentious. ... Read more

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What does the media coverage of a crisis situation reveal about the nature of dominant-minority relations locally, regionally, and nationally?Sandra Lambertus asks this question of the media coverage of the largest RCMP operation in Canadian history ? the 1995 Gustafsen Lake Native Indian standoff.

Drawing from extensive newspaper, television, and radio news products, legal and law enforcement documents, ethnographic interviews with 26 journalists, as well as RCMP, and Native leaders, Lambertus examines the construction and national dissemination of vilifying stereotyped portrayals of Native people. The ethnographic component pushes the standard of media analysis, bringing to light previously unconsidered aspects of media representations of minorities: media and law enforcement processes, frameworks of the news makers, face presentation strategies, information control, and exchange relations in news-gathering. The investigation shows how the values and perspectives of local communities, media, and law enforcement became overshadowed by 'outsiders' during the course of the event and the serious effects of the media coverage on specific audiences and ultimately, Canadian society. The study culminates with an assessment of the structural elements that contributed to the damaging media portrayals: media bias, competition, cooperation, empowerment, and cultural misperceptions. Wartime Images, Peacetime Wounds opens new avenues for studies of minorities in the news and for the study of news media in general.

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An unsettling study of two tragic events at an Indian residential school in British Columbia which serve as a microcosm of the profound impact the residential school system had on Aboriginal communities in Canada throughout this century. The book's focal points are the death of a runaway boy and the suicide of another while they were students at the Williams Lake Indian Residential School during the early part of this century. Imbedded in these stories is the complex relationship between the Department of Indian Affairs, the Oblates, and the Aboriginal communities that in turn has influenced relations between government, church, and Aboriginals today.

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Poetry. Native American Studies. SKIN LIKE MINE presents a suite of poems that peel away the skin of contemporary first nations society to reveal an inside view of individual experience. Today's youth, Gottfriedson says, are "afraid of themselves." He finds that both individuals and bands end in "tangles," that they write "nonsense words in the sand" or exploit images painted on rocks, those "the postmodern Indian calls / visual poetic expression." As the collection continues, however, his love for the land emerges. He draws attention to the rape of the natural environment through clear-cut logging. He speaks of the damage caused by the pine beetle, of "forests being / eaten from the inside out." And here it is that Gottfriedson introduces the mysterious Horsechild, who is to prepare the drying racks for the returning salmon "so that beneath your skin / the mountains will be forever abundant": a prayer for us to protect the migrating salmon with their multi-year cycles, to protect the bears and eagles that feast upon them, so as to assure that the transformations will continue, that there will be abundance for both humans and the earth itself. ... Read more