Métis Studies

that tongued belonging, the newest book from award-winning Métis poet Marilyn Dumont, is a collection of poems which search for acceptance in language, culture, love and geographical landscapes. These poems celebrate the humour and tenacity of Aboriginal women, lament the death of a mother, deride the political correctness of those ignorant of Aboriginal issues, recall the degradation of Aboriginal women, and chide the writer against the seduction of pop stardom, while challenging accepted ideas of love, age and femininity. Marilyn Dumont has published two collections of poetry A Really Good Brown Girl and green girl dreams Mountains. These works have won the League of Canadian Poets Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Writer's Guild of Alberta Stephan F. Stephansson Award. She has been Writer-in-Residence at many universities, teaches Creative Writing through Athabasca University, and is a mentor for the Wired Writing Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Dumont is currently working on a project that explores Métis history, politics and identity through her ancestral figure, Gabriel Dumont.

An updated edition of Herb Belcourt's remarkable life story with a brand-new foreword by the author. The eldest of ten children, Belcourt grew up in a small log home near the Métis settlement of Lac Ste. Anne during the Depression. His father purchased furs from local First Nations and Métis trappers and, with arduous work, began a family fur trading business that survives to this day. When Belcourt left home at 15 to become a labourer in coal mines and sawmills, his father told him to save his money so he could work for himself. Over the next three decades, Belcourt began a number of small Alberta businesses that prospered and eventually enabled him to make significant contributions to the Métis community in Alberta. Belcourt has devoted over 30 years of his life to improving access to affordable housing and further education for Aboriginal Albertans. In 1971, he co-founded CanNative Housing Corporation, a nonprofit agency charged with providing homes for urban Aboriginal people who confronted housing discrimination in Edmonton and Calgary. In 2004, Belcourt and his colleagues established the Belcourt Brosseau Métis Awards Fund, a $13-million endowment with a mandate to support the educational dreams of Métis youth and mature students in Alberta and to make a permanent difference in the lives of Métis Albertans.

Maria Campbell's biography is a classic, vital account of a young Métis woman's struggle to come to terms with the joys, sorrows, loves and tragedies of her northern Saskatchewan childhood. Maria was a strong and sensitive child who lived in a community robbed of its pride and dignity by the dominant culture. At 15 she tried in vain to escape by marrying a white man, only to find herself trapped in the slums of Vancouver -- addicted to drugs, tempted by suicide, close to death. But the inspiration of her Cree great-grandmother, Cheechum, gives her confidence in herself and in her people, confidence she needs to survive and to thrive. Half-Breed offers an unparalleled understanding of the Métis people and of the racism and hatred they face. Maria Campbell's story cannot be denied and it cannot be forgotten: it stands as a challenge to all Canadians who believe in human rights and human dignity