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 1-10 of 22 items.

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
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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
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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From Purich Publishing
Showing 1-10 of 39 items.

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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Decolonizing Education

Nourishing the Learning Spirit

An impassioned argument for Aboriginal education and critical engagement with Indigenous knowledges and traditions.

  • Copyright year: 2013
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Breathing Life into the Stone Fort Treaty

An Anishnabe Understanding of Treaty One

By Aimée Craft; Foreword by John Borrows

A comprehensive evaluation of how negotiations for Treaty One were shaped by Aboriginal Anishinabe laws

  • Copyright year: 2013
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Aboriginal Law, Fourth Edition

Commentary and Analysis

Now in its 4th edition, this definitive text discusses and clarifies Canadian laws impacting Aboriginal peoples.

  • Copyright year: 2012
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