Indigenous Writes

A decade after sparking national dialogue, Chelsea Vowel returns to deepen, challenge, and expand the conversation she began in Indigenous Writes.

“Reading Indigenous Writes, you feel that you are having a conversation over coffee with a super-smart friend, someone who refuses to simplify, who chooses to amplify, who is unafraid to kick against the darkness... What this book really is, is medicine.” —Shelagh Rogers, O.C., broadcast journalist, TRC Honorary Witness In the second edition of Indigenous Writes, Chelsea Vowel continues the groundbreaking conversation she began over a decade ago. Delgamuukw. Sixties Scoop. Bill C-31. Blood quantum. Appropriation. Two-Spirit. Tsilhqot’in. Status. TRC. RCAP. FNPOA. Pass and permit. Numbered Treaties. Terra nullius. The Indian Act. The Great Peace. Are you familiar with these terms? With thousands of copies sold each year, Indigenous Writes has reached countless readers and become a widely taught, widely read resource for understanding Indigenous realities in Canada. In 31 insightful essays, Chelsea explores Indigenous experiences from the time of contact to the present, through five categories: Terminology of Relationships; Culture and Identity; Myth-Busting; State Violence; and Land, Learning, Law, and Treaties. The second edition features expanded and updated discussions about Métis and Inuk identity, Bill C-31, cultural appropriation, identity fraud and pretendianism, Two-Spirit identity, the Indian Act, and drinking water on reserves, as well as reflections on the current state of Truth and Reconciliation and what has changed—or not—since the book was first published. This new edition expands and updates the original, accounting for the past ten years of progress and setbacks, and looks ahead to the conversations still to come.