They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars

They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars

BC Book Prize, Non-Fiction, Bev Sellars, They Called Me Number One (Finalist)
Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature: Bev Sellars, They Called Me Number One (Third Prize winner)

Like thousands of Aboriginal children in Canada, and elsewhere in the colonized world, Xatsu'll chief Bev Sellars spent part of her childhood as a student in a church-run residential school.

These institutions endeavored to "civilize" Native children through Christian teachings; forced separation from family, language, and culture; and strict discipline. Perhaps the most symbolically potent strategy used to alienate residential school children was addressing them by assigned numbers only--not by the names with which they knew and understood themselves.

In this frank and poignant memoir of her years at St. Joseph's Mission, Sellars breaks her silence about the residential school's lasting effects on her and her family--from substance abuse to suicide attempts--and eloquently articulates her own path to healing. Number One comes at a time of recognition--by governments and society at large--that only through knowing the truth about these past injustices can we begin to redress them.

Bev Sellars: Author of the award-winning memoir, They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School, and now retired as chief of the Xatsu'll (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, British Columbia, Bev Sellars holds a degree in history from the University of Victoria and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. She has served as an advisor to the BC Treaty Commission. She was first elected chief in 1987 and has spoken out on behalf of her community on racism and residential schools and on the environmental and social threats of mineral resource exploitation in her region.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780889227415
ISBN 10	0889227411
Title	They Called Me Number One
Author	Bev Sellars
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Talonbooks
Year published	2012-07-12
Number of pages	256
Prizes	Winner of 44 weeks on the B.C. Bestsellers list in 2013 & 2014! 2014 (Canada), Winner of George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature (2014), Winner 2014 (Canada), Short-listed for Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize (B.C. Book Prizes) 2014 (Canada), Short-listed for Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature 2014 (Canada), Short-listed for Named one of 15 memoirs by Indigenous writers you need to read CBC Books 2017 (Canada), Short-listed for First Nation Communities READ – Periodical Marketers of Canada Aboriginal Literature award 2018 (Canada), Short-listed for First Nation Communities READ‚ Periodical Marketers of Canada Aboriginal Literature award 2018 (Canada)
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.