The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America is a book by American-Canadian author Thomas King, first published in 2012 by Doubleday Canada. It presents a history of indigenous peoples in North America. The book has been adapted into a documentary film titled Inconvenient Indian directed by Michelle Latimer, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2020. [1] The film won Best Canadian Feature Film at the festival. [2]
King's work is an account of the history of indigenous rights and treaties in North America. He notes the portrayal of indigenous peoples in popular media as having contributed greatly to public knowledge of North American Indians. The book ends on an optimistic note: "If the last five hundred years are any indication, what the Native people of North America do with the future should be very curious indeed."
The book won the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize [3] and was a finalist for the 2013 Trillium Book Award [4] and the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. [5]
Thomas King is an American-born Canadian writer and broadcast presenter who most often writes about First Nations.
Daniel Poliquin is a Canadian novelist and translator. He has translated works of various Canadian writers into French, including David Homel, Douglas Glover, and Mordecai Richler. Poliquin and his hometown of Ottawa are the subjects of 1999 documentary film L'écureuil noir, directed by Fadel Saleh for the National Film Board of Canada.
Michelle Latimer is a Canadian actress, director, writer, and filmmaker. She initially rose to prominence for her role as Trish Simkin on the television series Paradise Falls, shown nationally in Canada on Showcase Television (2001–2004). Since the early 2010s, she has directed several documentaries, including her feature film directorial debut, Alias (2013), and the Viceland series, Rise, which focuses on the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests; the latter won a Canadian Screen Award at the 6th annual ceremony in 2018.
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples from around the world. The festival includes screenings, parties, panel discussions, and cultural events.
Over the course of centuries, many Indigenous Canadians have played a critical role in shaping the history of Canada. From art and music, to law and government, to sports and war; Indigenous customs and culture have had a strong influences on defining Canadian culture. The Indspire Awards are the annual awards presented by Indspire, formerly the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. The awards were first established in 1993 in conjunction with the United Nations declaring the 1990s "International Decade of the World's Indigenous peoples". June 21 is Canada's National Aboriginal Day, in recognition of the cultural contributions made by Canada's indigenous population. The day was first celebrated in 1996 following Governor General of Canada Roméo LeBlanc's proclamation.
katherena vermette is a Canadian writer, who won the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection North End Love Songs. Vermette is of Métis descent and originates from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was an MFA student in creative writing at the University of British Columbia.
The Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature is a Canadian literary award, presented annually to works judged to be the best works of young adult literature published by indigenous writers in Canada. The award is sponsored by the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE), a Canadian charitable organization devoted to literacy and education, and philanthropist William Burt, and administered by the Canada Council. Several other organizations, including the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the National Association of Friendship Centres and the Association of Canadian Publishers, are also involved in the award's administration.
Alexandra Shimo is a Canadian writer, who was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 2014 Governor General's Awards as cowriter of Edmund Metatawabin's memoir Up Ghost River: A Chief's Journey Through the Turbulent Waters of Native History. The book describes Metatawabin's life during and after St. Anne's, a residential school in Fort Albany, northern Ontario, a place where there was a home-made electric chair to punish the children. The school is considered one of the worst in North America, where children were regularly sexually and physically abused. The book became a national bestseller, and was named one of the best books of 2014 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Hill Times and Quill and Quire. In February 2015, it was named one of the winners of the CBC's Bookie Awards.
Julie Flett is a Cree-Métis author and illustrator, known for her work in children's literature centered around the life and cultures of Indigenous Canadians. Flett is best known for her illustrations in books such as Little You, and When We were Alone, as well as for her written work in books such as Birdsong. Many of Flett's books are bilingual, and written in a combination of English, Michif, and Cree, and serve as an introduction to Michif and Cree for English-speaking readers. Flett's works are critically successful and have been awarded the Governor General's Literary Award and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award.
Adam Garnet Jones is an Indigenous Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter.
Rachel Attituq Qitsualik-Tinsley is a Canadian writer. She was a winner of the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature in 2015 for Skraelings, which she cowrote with her husband Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley. The book was also a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature at the 2014 Governor General's Awards.
Chelsea Vowel, who often writes as âpihtawikosisân, is a Métis writer, professor, and lawyer from near Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, whose work focuses on language, gender identity, and cultural resurgence. She has been published in the Huffington Post, The National Post, and The Globe and Mail. Co-host of the podcast Métis in Space and runner of the IndigenousXca Twitter account, Vowel has been noted as a "prominent and respected Métis blogger" and "one of the most visible of [the] new generation" of Métis intellectuals.
Indigenous peoples of Canada are culturally diverse. Each group has its own literature, language and culture. The term "Indigenous literature" therefore can be misleading. As writer Jeannette Armstrong states in one interview, "I would stay away from the idea of "Native" literature, there is no such thing. There is Mohawk literature, there is Okanagan literature, but there is no generic Native in Canada".
Aviaq Johnston is a Canadian Inuk writer from Igloolik, currently living in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Her debut young adult novel Those Who Run in the Sky won the inaugural Indigenous Voices Award for English Prose. The novel was also a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature at the 2017 Governor General's Awards, and for the Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature.
The Indigenous Voices Awards are a Canadian literary award program, created in 2017 to honour Indigenous literatures in Canada. It is administered by the Indigenous Literary Studies Association, a non-profit organization that promotes the production, study and teaching of Indigenous literatures.
Patti LaBoucane-Benson is a Canadian academic and politician. A Métis, she serves as director of research at the Native Counselling Services of Alberta. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada on October 3, 2018 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Monique Gray Smith is a Canadian writer of children's and young adult literature. She is also an international speaker and consultant. Of Cree, Lakota and Scottish descent, Smith is based in Victoria, British Columbia.
The Marrow Thieves is a young adult dystopian novel by Métis Canadian writer Cherie Dimaline, published on September 1, 2017, by Cormorant Books through its Dancing Cat Books imprint.
Inconvenient Indian is a 2020 Canadian documentary film, directed by Michelle Latimer. It is an adaptation of Thomas King's non-fiction book The Inconvenient Indian, focusing on narratives of indigenous peoples of Canada. King stars as the documentary's narrator, with Gail Maurice and other indigenous artists appearing.
Five Little Indians is the debut novel by Cree Canadian writer Michelle Good, published in 2020 by Harper Perennial. The novel focuses on five survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system, struggling with varying degrees of success to rebuild their lives in Vancouver, British Columbia after the end of their time in the residential schools. It also explores the love and strength that can emerge after trauma.