Our Canada Our Country Our Stories


Book Description

An inspirational collection of 125 heartwarming stories of family, bravery, kindness and more from Our Canada magazine submitted and told by Canadians from coast to coast. From Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador, to Nanaimo, British Columbia, here are the heartwarming stories about things that matter to us the most... Family--It's what makes us resilient and keeps us strong--the joys, sorrows, humour and wisdom of family life. Kindness--Inspiring stories about Canadians who do good works--in their communities and around the world. Valour--True stories that commemorate the sacrifices ofour brave men and women in uniform. Memories--From lakeside in the summer to hockey in the winter, and from characters that inspired us to the games we love, here are some of our fondest recollections. Adventure--From camping on the tundra to motoring cross-country, here are the tall talkes for intrepid adventurers. Community--Canadians celebrate their neighbourhoods, culture and inclusiveness in poignant stories of struggle and achievement. Talent--Gifted Canadians share their creative journeys while chasing their dreams. The stories in this engaging book are from Our Canada and it's companion publication, More of Our Canada--magazines like no other. Written by readers, every issue brings Canadians together to share adventures, celebrate joyful memories and tell the stories of this great land of ours and the people who so proudly call it home. Guaranteed to warm your heart and make you proud.




Our Story


Book Description

Inspired by history, Our Story is a beautifully illustrated collection of original stories from some of Canada’s most celebrated Aboriginal writers. Asked to explore seminal moments in Canadian history from an Aboriginal perspective, these ten acclaimed authors have travelled through our country’s past to discover the moments that shaped our nation and its people. Drawing on their skills as gifted storytellers and the unique perspectives their heritage affords, the contributors to this collection offer wonderfully imaginative accounts of what it’s like to participate in history. From a tale of Viking raiders to a story set during the Oka crisis, the authors tackle a wide range of issues and events, taking us into the unknown, while also bringing the familiar into sharper focus. Our Story brings together an impressive array of voices—Inuk, Cherokee, Ojibway, Cree, and Salish to name just a few—from across the country and across the spectrum of First Nations. These are the novelists, playwrights, journalists, activists, and artists whose work is both Aboriginal and uniquely Canadian. Brought together to explore and articulate their peoples’ experience of our country’s shared history, these authors’ grace, insight, and humour help all Canadians understand the forces and experiences that have made us who we are. Maria Campbell • Tantoo Cardinal • Tomson Highway • Drew Hayden Taylor • Basil Johnston • Thomas King • Brian Maracle • Lee Maracle • Jovette Marchessault • Rachel Qitsualik




The Truth about Stories


Book Description

Winner of the 2003 Trillium Book Award "Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares in his 2003 CBC Massey Lectures. "And they are dangerous." Beginning with a traditional Native oral story, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, gracefully elucidating North America's relationship with its Native peoples. Native culture has deep ties to storytelling, and yet no other North American culture has been the subject of more erroneous stories. The Indian of fact, as King says, bears little resemblance to the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the construct so powerfully and often destructively projected by White North America. With keen perception and wit, King illustrates that stories are the key to, and only hope for, human understanding. He compels us to listen well.




Telling Our Stories


Book Description

Since the 1970s, Louis Bird, a distinguished Aboriginal storyteller and historian, has been recording the stories and memories of Omushkego (Swampy Cree) communities along western Hudson and James Bays. In nine chapters, he presents some of the most vivid legends and historical stories from his collection, casting new light on his people’s history, culture, and values. Working with the editors and other contributors to provide background and context for the stories, he illuminates their many levels of meaning and brings forward the value system and world-view that underlie their teachings. Students of Aboriginal culture, history, and literature will find that this is no ordinary book of stories compiled from a remote, disconnected voice, but rather a project in which the teller, deeply engaged in preserving his people's history, language, and values, is committed to bringing his listeners and readers as far along the road to understanding as he possibly can.




The Best of Reader's Digest


Book Description

More than two dozen timeless favorites from the Reader's Digest archives. From everyday heroes to larger-than-life characters, small moments to historic events, the unforgettable stories in Reader's Digest come alive as never before in this keepsake book. Our editors have combed the archives for the narratives—sometimes funny, often poignant, always inspirational—that still strike deep chords today, such as: The gripping tale of a North Carolina woman and her Shepherd, Gandalf, who found a lost Boy Scout in the woods during their first search-and-rescue job The tragic account of the crash of the Columbia Space Shuttle The miracle of the old letter that led to a couple being reunited after nearly 60 years apart The heroic actions of an eighteen-year-old girl who carried a young boy to safety after being pulled out to sea in a riptide The hilarious anecdote about the one exception to humorist Calvin Trillin’s happy childhood, a sickly collie named Chubby Featuring the best of the best fron the present and past, this collection of timeless favorites will thrill your senses, warm your heart, and brighten your day.




Our Stories


Book Description

“. . . to suddenly discover yourself existing . . . .” Our Stories: An Introduction to South Asian America is an anthology rooted in community. Bringing together the voices of sixty-four authors—including a wide range of scholars, artists, journalists, and community members—Our Stories weaves together the myriad histories, experiences, perspectives, and identities that make up the South Asian American community. This volume consists of ten chapters that explore both the history of South Asian America, spanning from the 1780s through the present day, and various aspects of the South Asian American experience, from civic engagement to family. Each chapter offers stories of struggle, resistance, inspiration, and joy that disrupt dominant narratives that have erased South Asian Americans’ role in U.S. history and made restrictions on our belonging. By combining these narratives, Our Stories illustrates the diversity, vibrancy, and power of the South Asian American community.




Seeing Red


Book Description

The first book to examine the role of Canada’s newspapers in perpetuating the myth of Native inferiority. Seeing Red is a groundbreaking study of how Canadian English-language newspapers have portrayed Aboriginal peoples from 1869 to the present day. It assesses a wide range of publications on topics that include the sale of Rupert’s Land, the signing of Treaty 3, the North-West Rebellion and Louis Riel, the death of Pauline Johnson, the outing of Grey Owl, the discussions surrounding Bill C-31, the “Bended Elbow” standoff at Kenora, Ontario, and the Oka Crisis. The authors uncover overwhelming evidence that the colonial imaginary not only thrives, but dominates depictions of Aboriginal peoples in mainstream newspapers. The colonial constructs ingrained in the news media perpetuate an imagined Native inferiority that contributes significantly to the marginalization of Indigenous people in Canada. That such imagery persists to this day suggests strongly that our country lives in denial, failing to live up to its cultural mosaic boosterism.




Turtle Island


Book Description

Unlike most books that chronicle the history of Native peoples beginning with the arrival of Europeans in 1492, this book goes back to the Ice Age to give young readers a glimpse of what life was like pre-contact. The title, Turtle Island, refers to a Native myth that explains how North and Central America were formed on the back of a turtle. Based on archeological finds and scientific research, we now have a clearer picture of how the Indigenous people lived. Using that knowledge, the authors take the reader back as far as 14,000 years ago to imagine moments in time. A wide variety of topics are featured, from the animals that came and disappeared over time, to what people ate, how they expressed themselves through art, and how they adapted to their surroundings. The importance of story-telling among the Native peoples is always present to shed light on how they explained their world. The end of the book takes us to modern times when the story of the Native peoples is both tragic and hopeful.




My Conversations with Canadians


Book Description

Finalist for the 2018 Toronto Book Award My Conversations With Canadians is the book that "Canada 150" needs. On her first book tour at the age of 26, Lee Maracle was asked a question from the audience, one she couldn't possibly answer at that moment. But she has been thinking about it ever since. As time has passed, she has been asked countless similar questions, all of them too big to answer, but not too large to contemplate. These questions, which touch upon subjects such as citizenship, segregation, labour, law, prejudice and reconciliation (to name a few), are the heart of My Conversations with Canadians. In prose essays that are both conversational and direct, Maracle seeks not to provide any answers to these questions she has lived with for so long. Rather, she thinks through each one using a multitude of experiences she's had as a First Nations leader, a woman, a mother, and grandmother over the course of her life. Lee Maracle's My Conversations with Canadians presents a tour de force exploration into the writer's own history and a reimagining of the future of our nation. Praise for My Conversations with Canadians "My Conversations With Canadians? offer s] strength and solidarity to Indigenous readers, and a generous guide to ally-ship for non-Indigenous readers. For the latter, these books will unsettle, but to engage in ally-ship is to commit to being unsettled--all the time." --The Globe and Mail




People and Stories of Canada to 1867


Book Description

Take a look at life in Canada from very early times until 1867. The history of Canada is presented in exciting stories about different people and intriguing events, including wars, betrayals, and acts of heroism. To help make history come alive, People and Stories of Canada to 1867 includes: hundreds of vibrant illustrations, pictures, and historical artwork detailed maps, charts, and diagrams accurate timelines to help organize historical information special information boxes to enhance content and much more! Recommended by Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth as a Manitoba Grade 5 Social Studies Learning Resource.




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