Purich Publishing was founded by Don Purich and Karen Bolstad in 1992. Together, they built an influential and enduring list of books in Indigenous studies and law, and about Western Canadian issues. On December 1, 2015, Purich Publishing’s list was acquired by UBC Press, whose existing strengths in the fields of Indigenous studies and law made it an ideal home for Purich.
UBC Press will continue to build on this significant legacy under a new imprint, Purich Books. We are moving forward with a clear purpose: to publish impassioned and experienced voices that will ignite understanding and champion change. Informed by substantive knowledge and written with the vigor of direct engagement, these are the books, the authors, and the ideas that readers will come to know as essential.
Once upon This Land
Archaeology in British Columbia and the Stories It Tells
Once upon This Land is a much-needed overview of archaeology in British Columbia that introduces readers to the fascinating evidence of human activities in this region from the last ice age up to the present day.
- Copyright year: 2025
Unceded
Understanding British Columbia’s Colonial Past and Why It Matters Now
Unceded reveals the BC government’s history of injustice toward First Nations, providing the context for Indigenous land claims and the province’s ongoing reconciliation efforts.
- Copyright year: 2025
Unearthing Forgotten Values
Toward a Meaningful Archaeological Practice
Unearthing Forgotten Values offers a practical corrective that restores human values to commercial archaeology by putting Indigenous communities first.
- Copyright year: 2025
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage, New Edition
A Canadian Obligation
Against the backdrop of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage examines past and emerging issues in the recognition of Indigenous inherent human rights and knowledge within a Canadian legal context.
- Copyright year: 2024
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
Under the White Gaze
Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism
Blending research with a reporter’s journey through the industry, Under the White Gaze takes a pointed look at how people of colour are routinely missing, marginalized, or misrepresented in Canadian journalism, and explores what can be done to make our media more inclusive.
- Copyright year: 2024
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
Geographies of the Heart
Stories from Newcomers to Canada
In Geographies of the Heart, eighteen newcomers to Canada share their journeys, reveal the conditions that necessitated them leaving their homes, and challenge assumptions about newcomers’ lives in Canada.
- Copyright year: 2024
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
One Second at a Time
My Story of Pain and Reclamation
A deeply personal history of colonialism’s corrosive effects on an Ojibway-Anishinabe woman who survives a traumatic childhood, becomes a teen mother, and eventually escapes unrelenting domestic violence to find hope and healing, dedicating herself to helping women and children like her former self.
- Copyright year: 2024
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
Canada and Colonialism
An Unfinished History
Canada and Colonialism presents the history Canadians must reckon with before decolonization is possible, from the nation’s establishment as a settler colony to the discriminatory legacies still at work in our institutions and culture.
- Copyright year: 2024
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
A Healthy Future
Lessons from the Frontlines of a Crisis
This riveting insider’s account of how the COVID-19 pandemic unfurled in one of Canada’s hardest-hit provinces draws on the lessons learned to provide a hopeful vision for building a healthier future.
- Copyright year: 2023
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
The Fire Still Burns
Life In and After Residential School
The Fire Still Burns is a tale of survival and redemption through which Squamish Elder Sam George recounts his residential school experience and how it led to a life of addiction, violence, and imprisonment until he found the courage to face his past and begin healing.
- Copyright year: 2023
- Add to basket
- Add to basket
Upstream Medicine
Doctors for a Healthy Society
Upstream Medicine features interviews with physicians who are identifying and addressing the upstream conditions that lead to good health and long lives, thus avoiding more complex, painful, and expensive downstream medical problems later on. By transforming how we imagine the practice of medicine, this book will help us build a healthier society.
- Copyright year: 2017
The Honour and Dishonour of the Crown
Making Sense of Aboriginal Law in Canada
Unique within Canadian legal writing, this book unpacks the complex conceptual differences between the fiduciary duty of the Crown and the honour of the Crown.
- Copyright year: 2015
More Indian Ernie
Insights from the Streets
Retired Police Sergeant Ernie Louttit heads back to the streets in his second book, giving readers a rare glimpse of the realities a street cop faces dealing with prostitutes, street gangs, drunk drivers, and other offenders.
- Copyright year: 2015
Nationhood Interrupted
Revitalizing nêhiyaw Legal Systems
Co-founder of the international movement Idle No More, Sylvia McAdam shares nêhiyaw (Cree) laws so that future generations may understand and live by them, revitalizing Indigenous nationhood.
- Copyright year: 2015
Moving Aboriginal Health Forward
Discarding Canada’s Legal Barriers
This comprehensive analysis of Aboriginal health statistics, historical practices, and legal principles in Canadian law provides a practical framework for the reconciliation of Aboriginal health and healing practices within Canadian society.
- Copyright year: 2014
Revisiting the Duty to Consult Aboriginal Peoples
The duty to consult has a fundamental importance for all Canadians, yet misunderstandings of the doctrine remain widespread; this book addresses those misconceptions.
- Copyright year: 2014
Indian Ernie
Perspectives on Policing and Leadership by Ernie Louttit
Retired police sergeant Ernie Louttit shares stories from the streets of Saskatoon, struggling to bring justice to communities where the lines between criminal and victim often blurred.
- Copyright year: 2013
Decolonizing Education
Nourishing the Learning Spirit
An impassioned argument for Aboriginal education and critical engagement with Indigenous knowledges and traditions.
- Copyright year: 2013
Breathing Life into the Stone Fort Treaty
An Anishnabe Understanding of Treaty One
A comprehensive evaluation of how negotiations for Treaty One were shaped by Aboriginal Anishinabe laws
- Copyright year: 2013
Aboriginal Law, Fourth Edition
Commentary and Analysis
Now in its 4th edition, this definitive text discusses and clarifies Canadian laws impacting Aboriginal peoples.
- Copyright year: 2012