Wînipêk
Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre
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Narrated by:
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Niigaan Sinclair
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Written by:
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Niigaan Sinclair
About this listen
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Winner of the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction • Named a Best Book of 2024 by Audible, Spotify, and Winnipeg Free Press • One of CBC's Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2024
From ground zero of this country's most important project: reconciliation.
Niigaan Sinclair has been called provocative, revolutionary, and one of this country's most influential thinkers on the issues impacting Indigenous cultures, communities, and reconciliation in Canada. In his debut collection of stories, observations, and thoughts about Winnipeg, the place he calls "ground zero" of Canada's future, read about the complex history and contributions of this place alongside the radical solutions to injustice and violence found here, presenting solutions for a country that has forgotten principles of treaty and inclusivity. It is here, in the place where Canada began—where the land, water, people, and animals meet— that a path "from the centre" is happening for all to see.
At a crucial and fragile moment in Canada's long history with Indigenous peoples, one of our most essential writers begins at the centre, capturing a web spanning centuries of community, art, and resistance.
Based on years' worth of columns, Niigaan Sinclair delivers a defining essay collection on the resilience of Indigenous peoples. Here, we meet the creators, leaders, and everyday people preserving the beauty of their heritage one day at a time. But we also meet the ugliest side of colonialism, the Indian Act, and the communities who suffer most from its atrocities.
Sinclair uses the story of Winnipeg to illuminate the reality of Indigenous life all over what is called Canada. This is a book that demands change and celebrates those fighting for it, that reminds us of what must be reconciled and holds accountable those who must do the work. It's a book that reminds us of the power that comes from loving a place, even as that place is violently taken away from you, and the magic of fighting your way back to it.
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Who We Are
- Four Questions For a Life and a Nation
- Written by: Murray Sinclair, Sara Sinclair, Niigaan Sinclair
- Narrated by: Murray Sinclair, Niigaan Sinclair, Shelagh Rogers
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Judge, senator, and activist. Father, grandfather, and friend. This is Murray Sinclair’s story—and the story of a nation—in his own words, an oral history that forgoes the trappings of the traditionally written memoir to center Indigenous ways of knowledge and storytelling. As Canada moves forward into the future of Reconciliation, one of its greatest leaders guides us to ask the most important and difficult question we can ask of ourselves: Who are we?
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Hidden gem
- By vj on 2024-11-04
Written by: Murray Sinclair, and others
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Canada's Indigenous Constitution
- Written by: John Borrows
- Narrated by: John Borrows
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Canada's Indigenous Constitution reflects on the nature and sources of law in Canada, beginning with the conviction that the Canadian legal system has helped to engender the high level of wealth and security enjoyed by people across the country. However, longstanding disputes about the origins, legitimacy, and applicability of certain aspects of the legal system have led John Borrows to argue that Canada's constitution is incomplete without a broader acceptance of Indigenous legal traditions.
Written by: John Borrows
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The Serviceberry
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- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
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As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity.
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An excellent read!
- By Gardener Phyl on 2024-11-19
Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
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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
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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.
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A Wise Author, Wisdom Filled Book
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Life Stages and Native Women
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In Life Stages and Native Women, Kim Anderson shares the teachings of fourteen elders from the Canadian prairies and Ontario to illustrate how different life stages were experienced by Metis, Cree, and Anishinaabe girls and women during the mid-twentieth century.
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Heart warming and hopeful
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The Message
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Ta-Nehisi Coates originally set out to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell’s classic “Politics and the English Language,” but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories—our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking—expose and distort our realities. In the first of the book’s three intertwining essays, Coates, on his first trip to Africa, finds himself in two places at once: in Dakar, a modern city in Senegal, and in a mythic kingdom in his mind.
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Thought-provoking and stirring
- By Ekta on 2024-10-27
Written by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Who We Are
- Four Questions For a Life and a Nation
- Written by: Murray Sinclair, Sara Sinclair, Niigaan Sinclair
- Narrated by: Murray Sinclair, Niigaan Sinclair, Shelagh Rogers
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
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Story
Judge, senator, and activist. Father, grandfather, and friend. This is Murray Sinclair’s story—and the story of a nation—in his own words, an oral history that forgoes the trappings of the traditionally written memoir to center Indigenous ways of knowledge and storytelling. As Canada moves forward into the future of Reconciliation, one of its greatest leaders guides us to ask the most important and difficult question we can ask of ourselves: Who are we?
-
-
Hidden gem
- By vj on 2024-11-04
Written by: Murray Sinclair, and others
-
Canada's Indigenous Constitution
- Written by: John Borrows
- Narrated by: John Borrows
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Canada's Indigenous Constitution reflects on the nature and sources of law in Canada, beginning with the conviction that the Canadian legal system has helped to engender the high level of wealth and security enjoyed by people across the country. However, longstanding disputes about the origins, legitimacy, and applicability of certain aspects of the legal system have led John Borrows to argue that Canada's constitution is incomplete without a broader acceptance of Indigenous legal traditions.
Written by: John Borrows
-
The Serviceberry
- Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity.
-
-
An excellent read!
- By Gardener Phyl on 2024-11-19
Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
-
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
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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
-
Life Stages and Native Women
- Memory, Teachings, and Story Medicine (Critical Studies in Native History, Book 15)
- Written by: Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell - foreword
- Narrated by: Marsha Knight, Maria Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Life Stages and Native Women, Kim Anderson shares the teachings of fourteen elders from the Canadian prairies and Ontario to illustrate how different life stages were experienced by Metis, Cree, and Anishinaabe girls and women during the mid-twentieth century.
-
-
Heart warming and hopeful
- By Anonymous User on 2023-03-13
Written by: Kim Anderson, and others
-
The Message
- Written by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Ta-Nehisi Coates originally set out to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell’s classic “Politics and the English Language,” but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories—our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking—expose and distort our realities. In the first of the book’s three intertwining essays, Coates, on his first trip to Africa, finds himself in two places at once: in Dakar, a modern city in Senegal, and in a mythic kingdom in his mind.
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Thought-provoking and stirring
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Unreconciled
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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.
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Brilliant Must Listen/Read for all Canadians
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Unsettling Canada
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Unsettling Canada, a Canadian best seller, 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.
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A Canadian reading Requirment!
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True Reconciliation
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- Written by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
- Narrated by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
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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.
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A must read for Canadians
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Written by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
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The North-West Is Our Mother
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- Narrated by: Jean Teillet
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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.
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Fantastic historical account that all Canadians should be acquainted with.
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Unbroken
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Unbroken is an extraordinary work of memoir and investigative journalism focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, written by an award-winning Gitxsan journalist who survived life on the streets against all odds.
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Informative and powerful
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Seven Fallen Feathers
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- Unabridged
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Story
In 1966, 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack froze to death on the railway tracks after running away from residential school. An inquest was called, and four recommendations were made to prevent another tragedy. None of those recommendations were applied. More than a quarter of a century later, from 2000 to 2011, seven Indigenous high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The seven were hundreds of miles away from their families, forced to leave home and live in a foreign and unwelcoming city.
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Essential reading for Canadians
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Written by: Tanya Talaga
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Indigenous Writes
- A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada
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- Unabridged
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Story
Are you familiar with the terms listed above? In Indigenous Writes, Chelsea Vowel, legal scholar, teacher, and intellectual, opens an important dialogue about these (and more) concepts and the wider social beliefs associated with the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada. In 31 essays, Chelsea explores the Indigenous experience from the time of contact to the present, through five categories - Terminology of Relationships; Culture and Identity; Myth-Busting; State Violence; and Land, Learning, Law, and Treaties.
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MUCH Better as a hard copy!
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Written by: Chelsea Vowel
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Indigenous Storywork
- Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit
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Indigenous oral narratives are an important source for, and component of, Coast Salish knowledge systems. Stories are not only to be recounted and passed down; they are also intended as tools for teaching. Jo-ann Archibald worked closely with Elders and storytellers, who shared both traditional and personal life-experience stories, in order to develop ways of bringing storytelling into educational contexts.
Written by: Jo-Ann Archibald
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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
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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.
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Essentially Canadian - Must Read.
- By Marcel Molin on 2019-08-23
Written by: Bob Joseph
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White Tears/Brown Scars
- How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color
- Written by: Ruby Hamad
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Called "powerful and provocative" by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the New York Times best-selling How to Be an Antiracist, this explosive book of history and cultural criticism reveals how White feminism has been used as a weapon of white supremacy and patriarchy deployed against Black and Indigenous women and women of color.
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Really powerful perspective on how race / colour / feminism intersect.
- By Jonny A on 2024-04-22
Written by: Ruby Hamad
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Reclaiming Two-Spirits
- Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America
- Written by: Gregory Smithers, Raven E. Heavy Runner - foreword
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Reclaiming Two-Spirits decolonizes the history of gender and sexuality in Native North America. It honors the generations of Indigenous people who had the foresight to take essential aspects of their cultural life and spiritual beliefs underground in order to save them.
Written by: Gregory Smithers, and others
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Potlatch as Pedagogy
- Learning Through Ceremony
- Written by: Sara Florence Davidson, Robert Davidson
- Narrated by: Sara Florence Davidson, Gary Farmer
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1884, the Canadian government enacted a ban on the potlatch, the foundational ceremony of the Haida people. The tradition, which determined social structure, transmitted cultural knowledge, and redistributed wealth, was seen as a cultural impediment to the government’s aim of assimilation.
Written by: Sara Florence Davidson, and others
What the critics say
"A deep dive into the city of Winnipeg through the lives and worlds of its original inhabitants, Wînipêk is a necessary and important book: profound, difficult and expansive. Niigaan Sinclair accomplishes the near impossible by creating a compelling and nuanced whole out of a series of newspaper columns. Wînipêk unearths histories of colonial violence, grounded in the wisdom and experiences of those who survived and survive it."
—Jordan Abel, Roby Maynard, and Mary Soderstrom, the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction peer assessment committee
“Weaving together a quilt of his work in journalism, Wînipêk is at once eloquent, powerful, thematically rich, and a beacon on this path to reconciliation.”
—David A. Robertson, author of The Theory of Crows
“If you want to understand how Canada came to be and how a reconciled future might be charted, you’ve got to understand Winnipeg. To understand Winnipeg, you have to read Niigaan Sinclair.”
—Shawn Micallef, author of Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness and Stroll
What listeners say about Wînipêk
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Amazon Customer
- 2024-08-10
important learning for all Canadians
Niigaan Sinclair presented thought provoking information that sparked important conversation while we listened together. His insights, presented in a frank but non judgemental way, invited us to be reflective and motivated us to become better allies. we will listen, learn, commit and act.
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Overall
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- Joan Jack
- 2024-06-21
Truth - uncomfortable truth
An absolutely must listen. as an indigenous person myself, my experience was affirmed and I also learned so much!
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