The North-West Is Our Mother
The Story of Louis Riel's People, the Metis Nation
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $31.26
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jean Teillet
-
Written by:
-
Jean Teillet
About this listen
There is a missing chapter in the narrative of Canada’s Indigenous peoples - the story of the Métis Nation, a new Indigenous people descended from both First Nations and Europeans
Their story begins in the last decade of the 18th century in the Canadian North-West. Within 20 years the Métis proclaimed themselves a nation and won their first battle. Within 40 years they were famous throughout North America for their military skills, their nomadic life and their buffalo hunts.
The Métis Nation didn’t just drift slowly into the Canadian consciousness in the early 1800s; it burst onto the scene fully formed. The Métis were flamboyant, defiant, loud, and definitely not noble savages. They were nomads with a very different way of being in the world - always on the move, very much in the moment, passionate and fierce. They were romantics and visionaries with big dreams. They battled continuously - for recognition, for their lands and for their rights and freedoms. In 1870 and 1885, led by the iconic Louis Riel, they fought back when Canada took their lands. These acts of resistance became defining moments in Canadian history, with implications that reverberate to this day: Western alienation, Indigenous rights and the French/English divide.
After being defeated at the Battle of Batoche in 1885, the Métis lived in hiding for 20 years. But early in the 20th century, they determined to hide no more and began a long, successful fight back into the Canadian consciousness. The Métis people are now recognized in Canada as a distinct Indigenous nation. Written by the great-grandniece of Louis Riel, this popular and engaging history of “forgotten people” tells the story up to the present era of national reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
Title: Métis camp with Red River carts at [Milk River Lake, Alberta]
Source: Library and Archives Canada/George M. Dawson fonds/e011156514
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Jean Teillet (P)2021 Audible, Inc.You may also enjoy...
-
Stories of Métis Women
- Tales My Kookum Told Me
- Written by: Bailey Oster - editor, Marilyn Lizee - editor
- Narrated by: Lorene Shyba
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is a collection of stories about culture, history, and nationhood as told by Métis women.
-
-
I enjoyed the views of different people's, and the history behind it.
- By Annonymous. on 2024-01-29
Written by: Bailey Oster - editor, and others
-
The Company
- The Rise and Fall of the Hudson’s Bay Empire
- Written by: Stephen R. Bown
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Hudson’s Bay Company started out small in 1670, trading practical manufactured goods for furs with the indigenous inhabitants of inland subarctic Canada. Controlled by a handful of English aristocrats, it expanded into a powerful political force that ruled the lives of many thousands of people - from the lowlands south and west of Hudson Bay, to the tundra, the great plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Northwest.
-
-
Disappointing
- By James Edwards on 2022-02-22
Written by: Stephen R. Bown
-
Louis Riel
- Written by: Dan Asfar, Tim Chodan
- Narrated by: Steve Jodoin
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Champion of a people or traitorous rabble-rouser? Political visionary or religious lunatic? Louis Riel is one of the most ambiguous figures in Canadian history, a man who stood and fell for the Métis nation. Hear about the fascinating western icon in this well-paced biography. The doomed struggle of Louis Riel and his Métis people against the new Canadian government is a story rich in drama and cultural change.
-
-
Louis Riel Doesn’t Take Sides in Its Telling
- By Ringo Davil on 2023-07-09
Written by: Dan Asfar, and others
-
Dominion
- The Railway and the Rise of Canada
- Written by: Stephen Bown
- Narrated by: Wayne Ward
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 19th century, demand for fur was in sharp decline. This could have spelled economic disaster for the venerable Hudson's Bay Company. But an idea emerged in political and business circles in Ottawa and Montreal to connect the disparate British colonies into a single entity that would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. With over 3,000 kilometers of track, much of it driven through wildly inhospitable terrain, the CPR would be the longest railroad in the world and the most difficult to build. Its construction was the defining event of its era.
-
-
Fascinating story, great story-telling, but with significant progressive moralizing
- By David Selke on 2024-03-26
Written by: Stephen Bown
-
Halfbreed
- Written by: Maria Campbell
- Narrated by: Maria Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This extraordinary account, originally published in 1973, bravely explores the poverty, oppression, alcoholism, addiction, and tragedy Maria endured throughout her childhood and into her early adult life, underscored by living in the margins of a country pervaded by hatred, discrimination, and mistrust. Laced with spare moments of love and joy, this is a memoir of family ties and finding an identity in a heritage that is neither wholly Indigenous or Anglo; of strength and resilience; of indomitable spirit.
-
-
WOW!
- By EW on 2020-03-02
Written by: Maria Campbell
-
Bush Runner
- The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson
- Written by: Mark Bourrie
- Narrated by: Jeff Burling
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sourced from Pierre-Esprit Radisson’s journals, which are the best firsthand accounts of 17th-century Canada, Bush Runner tells the extraordinary true story of this protean 17th-century figure, a man more trading partner than colonizer, a peddler of goods and not worldview - and with it offers a fresh perspective on the world in which he lived.
-
-
So disappointed.
- By Mary Louise Colquhoun on 2020-02-08
Written by: Mark Bourrie
-
Stories of Métis Women
- Tales My Kookum Told Me
- Written by: Bailey Oster - editor, Marilyn Lizee - editor
- Narrated by: Lorene Shyba
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is a collection of stories about culture, history, and nationhood as told by Métis women.
-
-
I enjoyed the views of different people's, and the history behind it.
- By Annonymous. on 2024-01-29
Written by: Bailey Oster - editor, and others
-
The Company
- The Rise and Fall of the Hudson’s Bay Empire
- Written by: Stephen R. Bown
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Hudson’s Bay Company started out small in 1670, trading practical manufactured goods for furs with the indigenous inhabitants of inland subarctic Canada. Controlled by a handful of English aristocrats, it expanded into a powerful political force that ruled the lives of many thousands of people - from the lowlands south and west of Hudson Bay, to the tundra, the great plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Northwest.
-
-
Disappointing
- By James Edwards on 2022-02-22
Written by: Stephen R. Bown
-
Louis Riel
- Written by: Dan Asfar, Tim Chodan
- Narrated by: Steve Jodoin
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Champion of a people or traitorous rabble-rouser? Political visionary or religious lunatic? Louis Riel is one of the most ambiguous figures in Canadian history, a man who stood and fell for the Métis nation. Hear about the fascinating western icon in this well-paced biography. The doomed struggle of Louis Riel and his Métis people against the new Canadian government is a story rich in drama and cultural change.
-
-
Louis Riel Doesn’t Take Sides in Its Telling
- By Ringo Davil on 2023-07-09
Written by: Dan Asfar, and others
-
Dominion
- The Railway and the Rise of Canada
- Written by: Stephen Bown
- Narrated by: Wayne Ward
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 19th century, demand for fur was in sharp decline. This could have spelled economic disaster for the venerable Hudson's Bay Company. But an idea emerged in political and business circles in Ottawa and Montreal to connect the disparate British colonies into a single entity that would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. With over 3,000 kilometers of track, much of it driven through wildly inhospitable terrain, the CPR would be the longest railroad in the world and the most difficult to build. Its construction was the defining event of its era.
-
-
Fascinating story, great story-telling, but with significant progressive moralizing
- By David Selke on 2024-03-26
Written by: Stephen Bown
-
Halfbreed
- Written by: Maria Campbell
- Narrated by: Maria Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This extraordinary account, originally published in 1973, bravely explores the poverty, oppression, alcoholism, addiction, and tragedy Maria endured throughout her childhood and into her early adult life, underscored by living in the margins of a country pervaded by hatred, discrimination, and mistrust. Laced with spare moments of love and joy, this is a memoir of family ties and finding an identity in a heritage that is neither wholly Indigenous or Anglo; of strength and resilience; of indomitable spirit.
-
-
WOW!
- By EW on 2020-03-02
Written by: Maria Campbell
-
Bush Runner
- The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson
- Written by: Mark Bourrie
- Narrated by: Jeff Burling
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sourced from Pierre-Esprit Radisson’s journals, which are the best firsthand accounts of 17th-century Canada, Bush Runner tells the extraordinary true story of this protean 17th-century figure, a man more trading partner than colonizer, a peddler of goods and not worldview - and with it offers a fresh perspective on the world in which he lived.
-
-
So disappointed.
- By Mary Louise Colquhoun on 2020-02-08
Written by: Mark Bourrie
-
Clearing the Plains
- Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life
- Written by: James Daschuk, Elizabeth A. Fenn - foreword, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair
- Narrated by: J.D. Nicholsen
- Length: 21 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In arresting, but harrowing, prose, James Daschuk examines the roles that Old World diseases, climate, and, most disturbingly, Canadian politics—the politics of ethnocide—played in the deaths and subjugation of thousands of Indigenous people in the realization of Sir John A. Macdonald’s “National Dream.” It was a dream that came at great expense: the present disparity in health and economic well-being between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and the lingering racism and misunderstanding that permeates the national consciousness to this day.
-
-
must read for all canadians
- By Bren H on 2023-01-16
Written by: James Daschuk, and others
-
The Inconvenient Indian
- A Curious Account of Native People in North America
- Written by: Thomas King
- Narrated by: Lorne Cardinal
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inconvenient Indian is at once a “history” and the complete subversion of a history - in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be “Indian” in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other.
-
-
Angry, embarrassed, disgusted, horrified, nauseous, scared and so so sad, but hopeful and now informed.
- By Shantelle Lamouche on 2021-01-18
Written by: Thomas King
-
True Reconciliation
- How to Be a Force for Change
- Written by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
- Narrated by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is one question Canadians have asked Jody Wilson-Raybould more than any other: What can I do to help advance reconciliation? This has been true from her time as a leader of British Columbia’s First Nations, as a Member of Parliament, as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, within business communities, and when having conversations with people. Whether speaking as individuals, communities, organizations, or governments, people want to take concrete and tangible action that will make real change. They just need to know how to get started, or to take the next step.
-
-
A must read for Canadians
- By Vicky Wilson on 2023-05-24
Written by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
-
Becoming Kin
- An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future
- Written by: Patty Krawec, Nick Estes - foreword
- Narrated by: Patty Krawec
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us. Settlers dominated and divided, but Indigenous peoples won't just send them all "home." Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and disappearance, Krawec helps listeners see settler colonialism through the eyes of an Indigenous writer.
-
-
A Wise Author, Wisdom Filled Book
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-10-13
Written by: Patty Krawec, and others
-
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act
- Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality
- Written by: Bob Joseph
- Narrated by: Sage Isaac
- Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on a viral article, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act is the essential guide to understanding the legal document and its repercussion on generations of Indigenous peoples, written by a leading cultural sensitivity trainer. The Indian Act, after 141 years, continues to shape, control, and constrain the lives and opportunities of Indigenous peoples, and is at the root of many lasting stereotypes.
-
-
Essentially Canadian - Must Read.
- By Marcel Molin on 2019-08-23
Written by: Bob Joseph
-
Unreconciled
- Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance
- Written by: Jesse Wente
- Narrated by: Jesse Wente
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part memoir and part manifesto, Unreconciled is a stirring call to arms to put truth over the flawed concept of reconciliation, and to build a new, respectful relationship between the nation of Canada and Indigenous peoples.
-
-
Brilliant Must Listen/Read for all Canadians
- By Cass on 2022-02-04
Written by: Jesse Wente
-
When the Irish Invaded Canada
- The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland's Freedom
- Written by: Christopher Klein
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Irish Invaded Canada is the untold tale of a band of fiercely patriotic Irish Americans and their chapter in Ireland's centuries-long fight for independence. Inspiring, lively, and often undeniably comic, this is a story of fighting for what's right in the face of impossible odds.
-
-
Very engaging!
- By glikar on 2021-02-26
Written by: Christopher Klein
-
Jonny Appleseed
- A Novel
- Written by: Joshua Whitehead
- Narrated by: Joshua Whitehead
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A tour-de-force debut novel about a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer young man and proud NDN glitter princess who must reckon with his past when he returns home to his reserve. “You're gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine” is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling debut novel by poet Joshua Whitehead.
-
-
Y gay?
- By Anonymous User on 2022-12-14
Written by: Joshua Whitehead
-
Imperial Twilight
- The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age
- Written by: Stephen R. Platt
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the most potent turning points in the country's modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today's China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to "open" China even as China's imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country's decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China's advantage.
-
-
Well written but not the story I was hoping for
- By Simon on 2022-02-03
Written by: Stephen R. Platt
-
You Are the Medicine
- 13 Moons of Indigenous Wisdom, Ancestral Connection, and Animal Spirit Guidance
- Written by: Asha Frost
- Narrated by: Asha Frost
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Medicine you have been searching for lives within you. Follow the path of the 13 Ojibwe Moons with Animal Spirits and Ancestors as your guides as you unlock your connection to your own unique, inherent healing power. Through storytelling, ceremonies, and Shamanic journeys, learn to apply ancient wisdom to your life in ways that are respectful and conscious of the stolen lands, lives, and traditions of Indigenous peoples.
-
-
A Powerful Healing Journey
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-06-22
Written by: Asha Frost
-
From the Ashes
- My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way
- Written by: Jesse Thistle
- Narrated by: Jesse Thistle
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high-school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is. Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually, the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, whose tough-love attitudes quickly resulted in conflicts.
-
-
Real, Raw and so encouraging
- By Cheryl Carter on 2020-11-19
Written by: Jesse Thistle
-
Braiding Sweetgrass
- Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
- Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
-
-
Fabulous wise, informative, inspiring, beautifully written book!
- By Carolinebp on 2019-10-01
Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
What listeners say about The North-West Is Our Mother
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C Anderson
- 2022-07-22
Excellent History of a Distinct Culture
A well researched and constructed narrative of the Metis and the relationship with Canada.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-08-30
Long book
Author not bilingual. Makes pronunciation of names hard to understand. Jumps from dates hard to follow. Good historical piece.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Snow Walker
- 2022-10-14
Not in my history class...
Do you remember being made aware of these events? Ya me neither. I know history is written by the "winners" but as Canadians, we need to demand the full account. The author does an admirable job of that. In school, Ole John A was pretty much presented as a hero and builder of our nation. I get a much different perspective on the man and his "work" after listening to this. Why do we so often resort to violence for resolution? Why focus on hate and division? What a different country it would be if we had adopted some of the solid societal keys of the Metis, if Riel would have been able to rightfully take his place among our political leaders? His voice needed to and should have been heard.
Should be required reading not only in schools but for all Canada.
Thank you Jean for sharing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Linda Brooks
- 2022-08-06
The other side of history
It took a bit to get into this but and although it made me feel for the first time ashamed of Canada I’m very glad I read it.
Honestly I think it’s time we stop apologizing for what our ancestors have done and get on to the job of repairing the harm they caused.
Thank you Ms Teillet for the education
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dinah D.
- 2022-08-21
History every Manitoban + Canadian should know
This book was extremely educational for me. I grew up in Manitoba. I thought I knew some history of the Metis. This was wonderfully in-depth and I now have a much better understanding of the Metis Nation and their struggles. I highly recommend this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Norman
- 2024-12-04
A vindication of the Metis
I had to stop reading this book several times, because the injustice heaped upon the Metis Nation seemed so unbearable.
Yet it's an important work. It opened my eyes to to the way history had been manipulated to place the Canadian government and the colonists in a much more favorable position.
It seems fitting I am reading this as a historic treaty with the Metis is enacted in Manitoba.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- L. Wright
- 2021-11-03
Incredible Fact-Filled Story!
The facts revealed in this book were life changing. Ms. Jean Teillet is a lawyer and it shows in the factual detail, knowledge and accountability of this book. However, additional interesting personal and cultural details which are no less factual, are interwoven throughout to create a fantastic and complex tapestry that also makes this a gripping story. She made learning this history enjoyable despite the ongoing heartbreak of the it. If you are Metis, you must read this! And I earnestly hope this book becomes required reading in the Canadian high school system in the very near future.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dianna Thompson
- 2022-08-22
Very informative
I learned alot from this book. This is nor the history I was taught in school. I am disgusted and embarrassed to be Canadian. I think every Canadian should read this book. We should all, as one, stand up and fight for the rights of our fellow Candians, the Indigenous People. Help stop how they continue to be treated by the government and fellow Canadians.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sally Landon
- 2022-10-07
super interesting and informative
This is your book if you're looking for a history lesson told in a captivating story. highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kaitlin M
- 2022-12-26
So important
Everyone should read this well-written and researched book. Read it. Start now. You will be glad you did.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!