Decolonizing Public Places - (The City Project) by Alex Judge & Sadie Lavoie (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Through acts of resistance and resurgence, Indigenous people are reclaiming public places in Winnipeg.

In Decolonizing Public Places, Sadie Lavoie explores the history of Indigenous resistance within Winnipeg since Idle No More in 2012, and how that protest played a pivotal role in the Indigenous cultural resurgence of reclaiming space within the city. Lavoie uses their experience to uncover how Indigenous people used places and spaces to revive their decolonial narratives from Indigenous ways of living, knowing and being. As public space in Winnipeg is reclaimed, Lavoie discovers how this newfound inclusion is shaping relationships within Indigenous communities, as well as how this movement connects Indigenous nations with their co-existing treaty partners.

Decolonizing Public Places is part of The City Project, a series edited by Emma and Michel Durand-Wood.

About the Author

Michel lives in the Winnipeg neighbourhood of Elmwood with his wife and three children, and he writes about infrastructure and municipal finance at DearWinnipeg.com. His writing has been featured extensively online and in print, including Strong Towns, Streetsblog USA, CBC, The Winnipeg Free Press and La Liberté.

Sadie Lavoie is an Anishinaabe Two-Spirit from Sagkeeng First Nation located on Treaty 1 territory, and member of the Turtle Clan. A winner of the Dr. Tobasonakwut Kinew Leadership Award and the Next Generation Peacemaker Award from the Peace and Social Justice Studies Association of Canada, they have a Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Studies and Political Science from the University of Winnipeg. Sadie worked on numerous student-led initiatives including the Indigenous Course Requirement and the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign, as well attended the UN COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco on behalf of the Canadian Climate Youth Coalition. In 2015, they co-founded Red Rising Magazine, an Indigenous-led uncensored magazine featuring Indigenous youth writers and artists.