From the #1 national bestselling author of 'Indian' in the Cabinet and True Reconciliation, a truly unique history of our land—powerful, devastating, remarkable—as told through the voices of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

The totem pole forms the foundation for this unique and important oral history of Canada. Its goal is both toweringly ambitious and beautifully direct: To tell the story of this country in a way that prompts readers to look from different angles, to see its dimensions, its curves, and its cuts. To see that history has an arc, just as the totem pole rises, but to realize that it is also in the details along the way that important meanings are to be found. To recognize that the story of the past is always there to be retold and recast, and must be conveyed to generations to come. That in the act of re-telling, meaning is found, and strength is built.

When it comes to telling the history of Canada, and in particular the history of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, we need to accept that the way in which our history has traditionally been told has not been a common or shared enterprise. In many ways, it has been an exclusive and siloed one. Among the countless peoples and groups that make up this vast country, the voices and experiences of a few have too often dominated those of many others.

Reconciling History shares voices that have seldom been heard, and in this ground-breaking book they are telling and re-telling history from their perspectives. Born out of the oral history in True Reconciliation, and complemented throughout with stunning photography and art, Reconciling History takes this approach to telling our collective story to an entirely different level.

The Honourable JODY WILSON-RAYBOULD, P.C., Q.C., M.P., is the Independent Member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville. She served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Associate Minister of National Defence until her resignation in 2019 following the SNC-Lavalin affair. Wilson-Raybould is a lawyer, an advocate and a leader in British Columbia’s First Nations. She has been a provincial crown prosecutor, a councillor for the We Wai Kai Nation, a chair of the First Nations Finance Authority and has served as regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations.

Jody Wilson-Raybould is a descendant of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and Laich-Kwil-Tach peoples, which are part of the Kwakwaka’wakw and also known as the Kwak’wala-speaking peoples. She is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation. Her traditional name, Puglaas, means “woman born to noble people.”

Jody Wilson-Raybould's profile page

Roshan Danesh's profile page