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.
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
First Nations Wildfire Evacuations
A Guide for Communities and External Agencies
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Advancing Aboriginal Claims
Visions/Strategies/Directions
Policy, philosophy, strategy, and legal arguments are combined to build innovative strategies to advance Aboriginal claims.
- Copyright year: 2005
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada, Third Edition
Current Trends and Issues
An interdisciplinary guide for learning about government policy and the aspirations of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples.
- Copyright year: 2008
Moving Toward Justice
Legal Traditions and Aboriginal Justice
Exploring constitutional and administrative policy changes that underscore the urgent need for Aboriginal justice reform.
- Copyright year: 2008