Purich Books

Purich Publishing was founded by Don Purich and Karen Bolstad in 1992. Together, they built an influential and enduring list of books in Indigenous studies and law, and about Western Canadian issues. On December 1, 2015, Purich Publishing’s list was acquired by UBC Press, whose existing strengths in the fields of Indigenous studies and law made it an ideal home for Purich.

UBC Press will continue to build on this significant legacy under a new imprint, Purich Books. We are moving forward with a clear purpose: to publish impassioned and experienced voices that will ignite understanding and champion change. Informed by substantive knowledge and written with the vigor of direct engagement, these are the books, the authors, and the ideas that readers will come to know as essential.

New and Forthcoming from Purich Books
Showing 11-20 of 22 items.

Getting Wise about Getting Old

Debunking Myths about Aging

By exploring the social issues of aging and debunking the common myths, Getting Wise about Getting Old paints a more accurate and nuanced portrait of old age in our society.

  • Copyright year: 2020
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First Nations Wildfire Evacuations

A Guide for Communities and External Agencies

By Tara K. McGee, Amy Cardinal Christianson, and First Nations Wildfire Evacuation Partnership

Based on the experiences of evacuees from seven First Nations communities, this book offers guidance to Indigenous communities and external agencies on how to successfully plan for and carry out wildfire evacuations.

  • Copyright year: 2021
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Making the Case

2SLGBTQ+ Rights and Religion in Schools

Making the Case provides clear explanations of how law protects sexual minority rights, making it an essential resource for supporting 2SLGBTQ+ students in Canadian schools.

  • Copyright year: 2021
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Métis Rising

Living Our Present Through the Power of Our Past

Métis Rising brings together a vibrant collection of essays on history, politics, and culture that celebrate the resilience of Métis identity.

  • Copyright year: 2021
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Braided Learning

Illuminating Indigenous Presence through Art and Story

In Braided Learning, Lenape-Potawatomi educator Susan Dion inspires engagement with the histories and perspectives of Indigenous peoples, cultivating capacities for understanding, attunement, and respect.

  • Copyright year: 2022
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The Fire Still Burns

Life In and After Residential School

The Fire Still Burns is a tale of survival and redemption through which Squamish Elder Sam George recounts his residential school experience and how it led to a life of addiction, violence, and imprisonment until he found the courage to face his past and begin healing.

  • Copyright year: 2023
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A Healthy Future

Lessons from the Frontlines of a Crisis

This riveting insider’s account of how the COVID-19 pandemic unfurled in one of Canada’s hardest-hit provinces draws on the lessons learned to provide a hopeful vision for building a healthier future.

  • Copyright year: 2023
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Canada and Colonialism

An Unfinished History

Canada and Colonialism presents the history Canadians must reckon with before decolonization is possible, from the nation’s establishment as a settler colony to the discriminatory legacies still at work in our institutions and culture.

  • Copyright year: 2024
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One Second at a Time

My Story of Pain and Reclamation

A deeply personal history of colonialism’s corrosive effects on an Ojibway-Anishinabe woman who survives a traumatic childhood, becomes a teen mother, and eventually escapes unrelenting domestic violence to find hope and healing, dedicating herself to helping women and children like her former self.

  • Copyright year: 2024
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Geographies of the Heart

Stories from Newcomers to Canada

In Geographies of the Heart, eighteen newcomers to Canada share their journeys, reveal the conditions that necessitated them leaving their homes, and challenge assumptions about newcomers’ lives in Canada.

  • Copyright year: 2024
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From Purich Publishing
Showing 11-20 of 39 items.

Advancing Aboriginal Claims

Visions/Strategies/Directions

Edited by Kerry Wilkins

Policy, philosophy, strategy, and legal arguments are combined to build innovative strategies to advance Aboriginal claims.

  • Copyright year: 2005
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A Breach of Duty

Fiduciary Obligations and Aboriginal Peoples

The government, Guerin, and the golf course: the inside story of the Musqueam people’s 26-year struggle to right the injustice done to them by the federal government in leasing their land as a golf course.

  • Copyright year: 2005
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Treaty Promises, Indian Reality

Life on a Reserve

In a respectful and personal account of his life and the Cowessess people, Harold LeRat, shares the history and many successes of Indian peoples, despite the numerous challenges they faced.

  • Copyright year: 2005
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Justice for Young Offenders

Their Needs, Our Responses

This ground-breaking analysis of complex issues of youth justice challenges the assumptions behind Canada’s approach to youth justice and mental health disorders.

  • Copyright year: 2006
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Gambling with the Future

The Evolution of Aboriginal Gaming in Canada

Slots, cards, and casinos: what does gambling mean to First Nations communities in Canada?

  • Copyright year: 2006
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Two Families

Treaties and Government

Through an examination of treaty rights, Johnson makes a passionate plea for equality and harmony between First Nations, governments, and society in general.

  • Copyright year: 2007
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The Cypress Hills

An Island by Itself

Building on the success of their earlier work, The Cypress Hills: The Land and its People, Hildebrandt and Hubner revisit the hills and bring new and updated material to this book.

  • Copyright year: 2007
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Cree Narrative Memory

From Treaties to Contemporary Times

Drawing upon the narrative memory of his family from the James Smith and Sandy Lake reserves in Saskatchewan, Neal McLeod gives a narrative history of the determination and adaptability of Plains Cree.

  • Copyright year: 2007
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Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada, Third Edition

Current Trends and Issues

Foreword by John Hylton; Edited by Yale Belanger

An interdisciplinary guide for learning about government policy and the aspirations of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples.

  • Copyright year: 2008
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Moving Toward Justice

Legal Traditions and Aboriginal Justice

Foreword by Tony Penikett; Edited by John Whyte

Exploring constitutional and administrative policy changes that underscore the urgent need for Aboriginal justice reform.

  • Copyright year: 2008
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