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.
Under the White Gaze
Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism
Blending research with a reporter’s journey through the industry, Under the White Gaze takes a pointed look at how people of colour are routinely missing, marginalized, or misrepresented in Canadian journalism, and explores what can be done to make our media more inclusive.
- Copyright year: 2024
Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage, New Edition
A Canadian Obligation
Against the backdrop of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage examines past and emerging issues in the recognition of Indigenous inherent human rights and knowledge within a Canadian legal context.
- Copyright year: 2024
Breathing Life into the Stone Fort Treaty
An Anishnabe Understanding of Treaty One
A comprehensive evaluation of how negotiations for Treaty One were shaped by Aboriginal Anishinabe laws
- Copyright year: 2013
Decolonizing Education
Nourishing the Learning Spirit
An impassioned argument for Aboriginal education and critical engagement with Indigenous knowledges and traditions.
- Copyright year: 2013
Indian Ernie
Perspectives on Policing and Leadership by Ernie Louttit
Retired police sergeant Ernie Louttit shares stories from the streets of Saskatoon, struggling to bring justice to communities where the lines between criminal and victim often blurred.
- Copyright year: 2013
Revisiting the Duty to Consult Aboriginal Peoples
The duty to consult has a fundamental importance for all Canadians, yet misunderstandings of the doctrine remain widespread; this book addresses those misconceptions.
- Copyright year: 2014
Moving Aboriginal Health Forward
Discarding Canada’s Legal Barriers
This comprehensive analysis of Aboriginal health statistics, historical practices, and legal principles in Canadian law provides a practical framework for the reconciliation of Aboriginal health and healing practices within Canadian society.
- Copyright year: 2014
Nationhood Interrupted
Revitalizing nêhiyaw Legal Systems
Co-founder of the international movement Idle No More, Sylvia McAdam shares nêhiyaw (Cree) laws so that future generations may understand and live by them, revitalizing Indigenous nationhood.
- Copyright year: 2015
More Indian Ernie
Insights from the Streets
Retired Police Sergeant Ernie Louttit heads back to the streets in his second book, giving readers a rare glimpse of the realities a street cop faces dealing with prostitutes, street gangs, drunk drivers, and other offenders.
- Copyright year: 2015
The Honour and Dishonour of the Crown
Making Sense of Aboriginal Law in Canada
Unique within Canadian legal writing, this book unpacks the complex conceptual differences between the fiduciary duty of the Crown and the honour of the Crown.
- Copyright year: 2015
Upstream Medicine
Doctors for a Healthy Society
Upstream Medicine features interviews with physicians who are identifying and addressing the upstream conditions that lead to good health and long lives, thus avoiding more complex, painful, and expensive downstream medical problems later on. By transforming how we imagine the practice of medicine, this book will help us build a healthier society.
- Copyright year: 2017