Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call

.. is built on a unique collaboration between two First Nations leaders, Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ron Derrickson.

Both men have served as chiefs of their bands in the B.C. interior and both have gone on to establish important national and international reputations. But the differences between them are in many ways even more interesting. Arthur Manuel is one of the most forceful advocates for Aboriginal title and rights in Canada and comes from the activist wing of the movement. Grand Chief Ron Derrickson is one of the most successful Indigenous businessmen in the country.

Together the Secwepemc activist intellectual and the Syilx (Okanagan) businessman bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to Canada?s most glaring piece of unfinished business: the place of Indigenous peoples within the country?s political and economic space. The story is told through Arthur?s voice but he traces both of their individual struggles against the colonialist and often racist structures that have been erected to keep Indigenous peoples in their place in Canada.

In the final chapters and in the Grand Chief?s afterword, they not only set out a plan for a new sustainable indigenous economy, but lay out a roadmap for getting there.

"This is the back story of both grassroots and backroom struggles that created the context in which we find ourselves today, one in which a new generation of First Nations leaders is demanding sovereignty and self-determination, and more and more non-Indigenous Canadians finally understand that huge swaths of this country we call Canada is not ours?or our government?s?to sell."

"Pragmatic and helpful, this is a timely book for our fraught and political moment"

?Unsettling Canada is a breathtakingly beautiful story of Indigenous resistance, strength, and movement building. Unsettling Canada echoes the power of George Manuel?s The Fourth World, centering the heart of the narrative deep inside a kind of Indigenous intelligence rarely shared outside our communities. This is the critical conversation that Canada and Indigenous peoples must have because it is centred on land, and, therefore, it is one of the most important books on Indigenous politics I?ve ever read.?

Arthur Manuel has participated in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues since its inception in 2002. Since 2003, he has served as spokesperson for the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade (INET). Working through INET, Manuel succeeded in having the struggle for Aboriginal title and treaty rights injected into international financial institutions, setting important precedents for Aboriginal title and rights in Canada.Manuel is a member of the board of directors of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development and a spokesperson for the Defenders of the Land, an activist network aligned with the Idle No More movement.