A Review of the Book "All Our Relations" by Tanya Talaga

Title: All Our Relations

Author: Tanya Talaga

Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc

Year: 2018

221 pages

From the Back: In this vital and incisive work, bestselling and award-winning author Tanya Talaga explores the alarming rise of youth suicide in Indigenous communities in Canada and beyond. From Northern Ontario to Nunavut, Norway, Brazil, Australia, and the United States, the Indigenous experience in colonized nations is startlingly similar and deeply disturbing. It is an experience marked by the violent separation of individuals from traditional ways of life - all of which has culminated in a spiritual separation that has had an enduring impact on generations of Indigenous children. As a result of this colonial legacy, too may communities today lack access to the basic determinants of health - income, employment, education, a safe environment, health services - leading to a mental health and youth suicide crisis on a global scale. But, Talaga reminds us, First Peoples also share s history of resistance, resilience, and civil rights activism, from the Occupation of Alcatraz led by the Indians of All Tribes, to the Northern Ontario Stirland Lake Quiet Riot, to the Standing Rock Protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which united Indigenous Nations from across Turtle Island in solidarity. Based on Talaga's Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy series, All Our Relations is a powerful call for action, justice, and a better, more equitable world for all Indigenous Peoples.

Personal Thoughts: Every time I read a book on a piece of Indigenous history I shake my head and wonder how I could have been, and sometimes continue to be, so unaware of things happening in my own backyard. All Our Relations provides some powerful reasoning behind the high suicide rate of Indigenous youth. And so much of it was preventable. A lot has happened to Indigenous people that most of us are not aware of or, if we are, the history has been downplayed and/or white-washed. Books like this one by Talaga are necessary reads for anyone interested in reconciling with our past and making changes for the future.