New Books June 2009

Tom Porter (Sakokwenionkwas), And Grandma Said...Iroquois Teachings as passed down through the oral tradition. Xlibris Corporation, 2008. Dafoe E 99 I7 P676 2008.

Tom Porter is a member of the Bear Clan of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne. He founded the traditional Mohawk community of Kanatsiohare:ke. "With heartfelt sincerity, tears and laughter, Tom describes the tragic effects of colonization on his people and shares the teachings passed down to him through the oral traditions by the grandmother who raised him." (from the book jacket.)

James Arvaluk, That's My Vision, Nunavut Arctic College, Life Stories of Northern Leaders volume 5, 2007. Dafoe E99 E7 A785 2008.

James Arvaluk, after working at various jobs, joined the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada as Director of Communications and Coordinator of Land Claims in 1972. He was elected President in 1974. This book is his story and recounts the long process of negotiating a land claim settlement for the Inuit.

John Amagoalik, Changing the Face of Canada, Nunavut Arctic College, Life Stories of Northern Leaders, Volume 2, 2007. Dafoe E99 E7 A43, 2007.

"Reading John's stirring life story will reveal the vision of hope that he has nurtured for Nunavut for more than thirty years. It is an inspiring vision of dignity and prosperity that still burns in his words." (from the book cover).

Peter Freuchen Ittinuar, Teach an Eskimo How to Read..., Nunavut Arctic College, Life Stories of Northern Leaders, Volume 4, 2008. Dafoe E99 E7 I85 2008.

Born in Chesterfield Inlet Peter Ittinuar became Canada's first Inuk Member of Parliament. He participated in the Nunavut Constitutional Forum and has been Executive Director of the Inuit cultural Centre and an Assistant Deputy Minister in the Nunavut government.

Luther Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle, University of Nebraska Press, 2006.
Dafoe E99 T34 S7 2006.

This is a new editon of the 1933 classic with an introduction by Joseph Marshall III. "Luther Standing Bear was, in a sense, part of the Lakota Nation's greatest generation. He lived during the darkest and most traumatic cultural and geographic upheaval expereinced by the Lakotas. His generation knew, firsthand, what they were losing when they gave up their free-roaming and nomadic lifestyle for the static boundaries of the reservation. ... They quickly realized that, though clashes with the military were mostly over, the Lakotas were in a different kind of war, one that would be fought on new and different battlefields. And the fact that there is still a Lakota culture is testament to their successes on those battlefields." (From the Introduction by Lakota historian Joseph Marshall.).