Unsettling Canada
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: July 26, 2017 6:40 PM | Last Updated: September 13, 2017
Arthur Manuel & Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson
Unsettling Canada is built on a unique collaboration between two First Nations leaders, Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ron Derrickson.
Both men have served as chiefs of their bands in the B.C. interior and both have gone on to establish important national and international reputations. But the differences between them are in many ways even more interesting. Arthur Manuel is one of the most forceful advocates for Aboriginal title and rights in Canada and comes from the activist wing of the movement. Grand Chief Ron Derrickson is one of the most successful Indigenous businessmen in the country.
Together the Secwepemc activist intellectual and the Syilx (Okanagan) businessman bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to Canada's most glaring piece of unfinished business: the place of Indigenous peoples within the country's political and economic space. The story is told through Arthur's voice but he traces both of their individual struggles against the colonialist and often racist structures that have been erected to keep Indigenous peoples in their place in Canada.
In the final chapters and in the Grand Chief's afterword, they not only set out a plan for a new sustainable indigenous economy, but lay out a roadmap for getting there. (From Between the Lines)
From the book
There is no denying the beauty of the land. From the hills above Neskonlith — the community where I was born and grew up and where I served as band chief from 1995 to 2003 — you can see the blue waters of the Shuswap lakes, the dry scrubland of the valley, and the cooler hills shaded by strands of ponderosa pines. Below, the South Thompson River empties from the lake and winds westward through the valley toward Kamloops, where it joins the North Thompson and flows to the Fraser and down to the sea.
From Unsettling Canada by Arthur Manuel & Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson ©2015. Published by Between the Lines.