2015 Speaker's Book Award — ShortlistedCity planning in the GTHA has been mired in political grandstanding for the past decade, The New Urban Agenda offers a plain language solution to the issues plaguing the GTHA.Politics in the Greater Toronto, Hamilton Area (GTHA) have become increasingly divisive over the past decade, and solutions to the city’s problems have become hot-topic issues debated in council and the press, but never finding r...

The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017What are the limits of Canadian democracy and how are they being expanded by a revolution in participatory democracy?The Brexit vote in Britain and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States illustrate that our system of representative democracy is in deep trouble.There are signs of political alienation everywhere. Most believe that government is run by a few big interests. Wealthy corpo...

Set in the 19th century against the rugged backdrop of the British Columbia Rockies and the building of Canada’s first transcontinental railway, teen siblings Kate and Robbie lead pack horses across treacherous mountain terrain to deliver supplies to workers building the transcontinental railroad. Along the way, they befriend Lee, a young Chinese labourer with his own secret reasons for working to build the railway.The adventure takes a dramatic turn when Kate must disguise herself...

In the winter of 1840, the night of the full moon is approaching. Nothing will stop Libby Mitchell from visiting her best friend, Fawn, during a special ceremony at the nearby wigwam camp. But Libby’s adventure takes an unexpected turn when soldiers suddenly rush in. They order everyone at the camp, including Libby, to move off the land—immediately! With each passing day, the displaced people must move farther away from home. Will Libby ever see her family again?History Stepping St...

Isobel thinks that she and her family will find their fortune in Canada. But Isobel's mother dies before they even cross the ocean, and other misfortunes follow their every step. Isobel's family and the other Selkirk Settlers, caught in the fur-trading rivalry between the Hudson's Bay Company, cannot even start to build when they do reach their destination. The harsh climate, and escalating threats against the settlers, make it impossible to start a new life. Only through perserverance and...

In the 1870s, a teenage thief from New York, in search of his show business mother, gets collared by a keen-eyed cop from Canada’s newly created national police force — the North West Mounted Police. Following the encounter, he unwillingly finds himself hired on, with a cantankerous wagon master, to accompany the Mounties on their 1874 expedition into Canada’s untamed and lawless west. The March West, as it became known, was a horrendous trek involving 275 men, 340 horses, 142 oxen, and 75...

When 13-year-old Olive Oatman's wagon train is raided by outlaw Yavapai Indians, she and her sister are captured. After enduring harsh treatment, they are ransomed by a band of Mohaves. Olive struggles to adjust to her new life, but finds comfort in her faith and in an unexpected friendship. When the time comes for her to return to the white world, she is afraid she will never fit in. But she learns to see the Mohave design tattooed on her chin as a sign of God's love and deliverence, a ma...

In "A Texas Cow Boy or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony, Taken from Real Life," Charles A. Siringo embarks on a vivid and authentic exploration of cowboy life during the late 19th century. Through a masterful blend of personal narrative and regional folklore, Siringo paints a lively portrait of the American West, detailing both the hardships and the camaraderie encountered on the open range. His engaging prose employs a conversational style that draws readers into his...

Edward Mallandaine was there! To prove it he thrust himself into the historic photograph of the "Last Spike" being driven to mark the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Surrounded by the railway dignitaries of the time, his young face peers out amid their frosty beards.Edward had just turned eighteen when he left his home in Victoria, British Columbia, to join the Canadian militia to fight Louis Riel in the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Hired to ride dispatches over the un...

A pioneer adventure perfect for fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series!On Libby Mitchell’s tenth birthday, she and her parents climb into a covered wagon and set off on a journey that takes them two months and a thousand miles. Their trip from Virginia to the deep woods of Michigan is hard, but it is exciting, too. And at its end lies their new home—a place that is rugged, wild, and full of promise.History Stepping Stones now feature updated con...

Miranda and her mama have always agreed about everything. So when Mama is offered a job with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show painting scenery, she and Miranda certainly agree that it is time to get out of Fort Lincoln, where they've been doing soldiers' laundry for as long as Miranda can remember.But while Miranda blossoms on the road--meeting Annie Oakley, making friends with an Indian girl, and even participating in the show herself--Mama stews in her hatred of the Indians; she bla...

With careful research and imagination, author Linda Goyette has created a collection of 25 stories based on the true stories of named children of the past and present.Too often the youngest Canadians are erased from our historical memory. Rocky Mountain Kids provides firstperson creative non-fiction narratives from the region's children, many of whom went on to be influential adults. In the style of its successful predecessor, Kidmonton, ...