They Made Me an Outlaw!: That's When I Became a Freedom Fighter

Bill came into the world April 14, 1927. Denied Indian Status because his Kutenai mother married a non-native man, Bill's experiences of discrimination and displacement were many, varied, confusing, dangerous, and - ultimately - unending. His determination for freedom appeared at age eighteen, when freedom was abruptly taken away from him. When found criminally guilty of vagrancy (visibly being an Indian in an alley at night), he was sentenced to six months in prison. After breaking out of Oakalla, and then Vancouver City Jail, he was sentenced to two years in BC Penitentiary for the crime of escaping.Endowed with a matrilineal gift for self-reliance, autonomy, and confidence that justice must eventually prevail, Bill got to work and went on to make a life and a family. Life and family was often entwined with the struggle for freedom and self-determination engaged by many Aboriginal people in Canada.He worked with the BC Association of Non-Status Indians and helped transform it into the United Native Nations. As UNNPresident, he was involved in the Constitutional process to enshrine Aboriginal self-government. He co-founded Vancouver Native Housing; made diplomatic missions across Canada; spoke out for the Ts'peten Defenders in 1995; joined the Aboriginal Healing Foundation; and served the public-at-large by broadcasting the plight of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination on Vancouver Co-op Radio. At the age of 90 he has never been more convinced of the importance and inevitability of the original nations' liberation. The book includes news clippings and images of documents from 1927-2007, as well as excerpts from key historical texts as appendices.

Author: Bill Lightbown
Publisher: Electromagnetic Print
Published: 08/17/2017
Pages: 268
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.61d
ISBN13: 9780995935419
ISBN10: 0995935416
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional | Native American & Aboriginal

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