Creekstone Press News
McCreary, Hoffman, and Joseph are co-winners of the Jeanne Clark Local History Award
Here's what the judges said about the books:
Shared Histories : Witsuwit'en-settler relations in Smithers, British Columbia, 1913-1973: Tyler McCreary
Shared Histories is a well written, laid out and presented book that reminds us of the standard historic account, but with an amazing sociological and anthropological twist. It has accomplished a marriage in words between academics and the personal stories of the Witsuwit’en and settlers, an accomplishment for the author. This book accomplishes in its ability to show how the marginalization and displacement of the Witsuwit’en people established a still existing social gap as created by Smithers and the disappearance of “Indian Town”.
McCreary’s work shows us a town’s desire to establish itself as a gateway to a country’s economic sustainability. It shares stories about the displacement of First Peoples and shows how the lack of funds of one group was a major factor in losing to the battle of developments – something we still witness to today.
With his collection of oral stories from both Witsuwit’en people and settlers in the area, McCreary takes the reader on a journey that shows the impacts of colonialization and socioeconomic segregation, the detrimental effects of the Indian Act on the Witsuwit’en people, and the shaping of the physical town of Smithers that we know today.
Beyond a doubt, what McCreary has accomplished is an open and honest account of marginalization through first-hand stories. In a lot of respects it is a heartbreaking read, but one that every reader and lover of history should examine under the eyes of a settlers dream and hopes while taking in the harsh account of the Witsuwit’en’s reality, a journey not only accomplished in words but poignant pictures.
Song of the Earth: The Life of Alfred Joseph by Ross Hoffman and Alfred Joseph
Song of the Earth chronicles the life of Alfred Joseph, a Witsuwit’en hereditary chief who grew up in Hagwilget, on the Bulkley River near Hazleton. In a conversational tone that captures Joseph’s wit and fondness for storytelling, author Ross Hoffman allows Joseph’s own words, transcribed from a series of one-on-one interviews, to tell this remarkable story. Hoffman’s book outlines the Witsuwit’en traditional ways instilled by Joseph’s grandmother in the 1930s, moving through his travels around Canada working in various resource industries, to his central role in the landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision in Delgamuukw vs. British Columbia, which relied on the testimony of Joseph and other hereditary chiefs to establish Indigenous right to land title.