Research & Writing

I study the history and political economy of settler colonialism, capitalism, and education in what is currently Canada. I am also interested in critical pedagogy, comics, and history education.

Selected Publications

Books

• with Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance (Between the Lines, 2024).

• Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia (UBC Press, 2022).

• Dissenting Traditions: Essays on Bryan D. Palmer, Marxism, and History, edited with Ted McCoy and Julia Smith (Athabasca University Press, 2021).

Peer-Reviewed Articles & Book Chapters

• with Adele Perry and Omeasoo Wahpasiw, “The Misuse of Indigenous and Canadian History in Colonialism,” in The Truth About Empire: Real Histories of the British Empire, edited by Alan Lester (Hurst, 2024), 73-92.

• “‘I don’t need any more education’: Senator Lynn Beyak, Residential School Denialism, and Attacks on Truth and Reconciliation,” Settler Colonial Studies 11, no. 4 (2021): 466 –486.

• “‘The children show unmistakable signs of Indian blood’: Indigenous Students Attending Public Schools in British Columbia, 1871-1930,” History of Education 50, no. 3 (2021): 313-337.

• “Settler Anxiety and State Support for Missionary Schooling in Colonial British Columbia, 1849–1871,” Historical Studies in Education 29, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 57–76.

• “Drawn to Change: Comics and Critical Consciousness,” Labour/Le Travail 73 (Spring 2014): 151–177.

• “Rebranding Canada with Comics: Canada 1812: Forged in Fire and the Continuing Co-optation of Tecumseh,” Active History.ca, Reviewed “Papers” Section (14 April 2014).

• “Colonizing Minds: Public Education, the ‘Textbook Indian,’ and Settler Colonialism in British Columbia, 1920–1970,” BC Studies 169 (Spring 2011): 101–130.

Reports & Research Notes

• “Lessons Learned: Reflections on Unsettling British Columbia’s History of Schooling and Settler Capitalism,” BC Studies 222 (Summer 2024): 145-153.

• “Ruling by Schooling: Israel Wood Powell and Settler Colonialism in British Columbia,” The Name Matters. February 5, 2024.

• with Reid Gerbrandt, Debunking the “Mass Grave Hoax”: A Report on Media Coverage and Residential School Denialism in Canada, Centre for Human Rights Research. October 2023.

• “‘Poison for the minds of our pupils’? The 1920 Banning of a History Textbook Controversy in British Columbia,” CHA Intersections 6, no. 1 (2023): 14–15.

• with Wacey Little Light, “Old Sun, New Buffalo: A Siksika School’s Transformation from Residential School to Community College,” Prairie History 4 (Winter 2021): 88-91.

Graphic Books

• Graphic History Collective with Paul Buhle and Iain McIntyre, Mr. Block: The Subversive Comics and Writings of Ernest Riebe (Between the Lines, 2023).

• Graphic History Collective, with Althea Balmes, Gord Hill, Orion Keresztesi, and David Lester, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada (Between the Lines, 2019).

• Graphic History Collective and David Lester, 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike (Between the Lines, 2019).

• Graphic History Collective, with Paul Buhle, eds, Drawn to Change: Graphic Histories of Working-Class Struggle (Between the Lines, 2016).

• Graphic History Collective, May Day: A Graphic History of Protest (Between the Lines, 2012).

Review Articles

• “On Violence and Vengeance: Rhymes for Young Ghouls and the Horrific History of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools,” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education, Society (October 24, 2014).

•  “Illustrating Racism: Confronting Canada’s Racial Amnesia with Comics,” Histoire sociale/Social History 46 (November 2013): 509–522.

Book Reviews

• Review of Nii Ndahlohke: Boys’ and Girls’ Work at Mount Elgin Industrial School, 1890-1915, by Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Labour/Le Travail 90 (Spring 2024): 352-353.

• Review of Iroquois in the West, by Jean Barman, Labour/Le Travail 90 (Fall 2022): 307-308.

• Review of The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land, by Pamela E. Klassen, BC Studies 212 (Winter 2021/22): 209-210.

• Review of 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality, by Bob Joseph and Talking Back to the Indian Act: Critical Readings in Settler Colonial Histories, edited by Mary-Ellen Kelm and Keith D. Smith, Canadian Historical Review, 101, no. 4 (December 2020): 648–649.

• Review of Power through Testimony: Reframing Residential Schools in the Age of Reconciliation, edited by Brieg Capitaine and Karine Vanthuyne, Ontario History 110, no. 2 (Fall 2018): 252–254.

• Review of What We Learned: Two Generations Reflect on Tsimshian Education and the Day Schools, by Helen Raptis, with members of the Tsimshian Nation. BC Studies 194 (Summer 2017): 218–219.

• “Revisiting The Shocking Truth About Indians in Textbooks.” Review of The Shocking Truth About Indians in Textbooks: Textbook Evaluation, by Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures 9, no. 2 (2017): 162–165.

• Review of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, by Gord Hill. Left History 15 (Fall/Winter 2011): 120–122.

Popular Writing

• with Alan Lester, Adele Perry, and Omeasoo Wahpasiw, “Exposing Residential School Denialism’s Transnational Network.” ActiveHistory.ca (December 10, 2024).

• with Reid Gerbrandt. “We Fact-Checked Residential School Denialists and Debunked their ‘Mass Grave Hoax’ Theory,” The Conversation (October 17, 2023).

• with Niigaan Sinclair, “Residential School Denialism is on the Rise. What to Know and How to Confront it,” The Tyee (June 20, 2023).

• “How Public Schools Supported Settler Colonialism in BC,” The Tyee (December 16, 2022).

• with Jackson Pind, “Raising Awareness about Canada’s Indian Day Schools with Digital History,” ActiveHistory.ca (November 29, 2022).

• “Reckoning with the History of Public Schooling and Colonialism,” The Conversation (September 26, 2022).

• with Jackson Pind, “Canada’s Reckoning with Colonialism and Education Must Include Indian Day Schools,” The Conversation (July 12, 2022).

• with Kisha Supernant, “Fighting ‘Denialists’ for the Truth about Unmarked Graves and Residential Schooling,” CBC (June 3, 2022).

• with Andrew Woolford, “Ignore Debaters and Denialists, Canada’s Treatment of Indigenous Peoples Fits the Definition of Genocide,” The Conversation (October 25, 2021).

• with Kathleen McKenzie, “Hiding in Plain Sight: Newspaper Coverage of Dr. Peter Bryce’s 1907 Report on Residential Schools,” ActiveHistory.ca (September 29, 2021).

• with Daniel Heath Justice, “Truth Before Reconciliation: Eight Ways to Identify and Confront Residential School Denialism,” The Conversation (August 5, 2021).

• with Omeasoo Wahpasiw and Adele Perry, “Nostalgia and the Politics of Selective Remembering,” ActiveHistory.ca (May 5, 2021).

• “Lynn Beyak has Retired, but Residential School Denial Remains a Barrier to Reconciliation,” National Observer (January 28, 2021).

• “The Sounds of Solidarity: An Oral History of Rhythm Activism’s Oka and Oka II,” ActiveHistory.ca (August 5, 2020).

• “Black and Indigenous Solidarity: An Oral History of Maestro Fresh Wes’s “Nothing At All,” Canadian Dimension (July 20, 2020).

• “Thirty Years After the Oka Crisis, Canada is Struggling to Learn Vital Lessons from the Clash,” Globe and Mail (July 11, 2020).

• “Decolonizing the Zombie Apocalypse: An Interview with Jeff Barnaby about his New Film Blood Quantum,” Canadian Dimension (April 26, 2020).

• “Coronavirus Colonialism: How the COVID-19 Crisis is Catalyzing Dispossession,” Canadian Dimension (March 23, 2020).

• “Might is Not Right: A Historical Perspective on Coercion as a Colonial Strategy,” Canadian Dimension (February 21, 2020).

• “Putting the RCMP Raid on the Wet’suwet’en in Historical Perspective,” Toronto Star (February 11, 2020).

• “An Oral History of Propagandhi’s ‘Oka Everywhere,” Canadian Dimension (February 4, 2020).

• “All Eyes on Kanehsatake: What You Need to Know About the Hunger Strike to Stop Colonial Land Fraud,” Canadian Dimension (October 16, 2019).

• “The Legacy of Oka in the Era of Supposed Reconciliation,” The Conversation (September 24, 2019).

• ‘“This is Our Land: An Interview with Ellen Gabriel about Ongoing Land Fraud in Kanehsatake” Canadian Dimension (August 7, 2019).

• with Jesse Thistle, “Reconnecting Métis Webs of Wahkootowin,” ActiveHistory.ca (July 26, 2019).

• with Kirk Niergarth, and Julia Smith, “The Workers’ Revolt in Calgary,” ActiveHistory.ca (June 19, 2019).

• “Chanie Wenjack and the Histories of Residential Schooling We Remember,” ActiveHistory.ca (October 26, 2018).

• “The Legacy of ‘Oka’ and the Future of Indigenous Resistance: In Dialogue with Ellen Gabriel,” Canadian Dimension 52, no.2 (Summer 2018): 20–24.

• “Thrashing Colonialism: Skateboarding, History, and the Power of Education,” Canadian Dimension (June 13, 2018).

• “Indian Horse is a Film All Canadians Must See,” Canadian Dimension (April 11, 2018).

• “Confronting Canada 150: Kent Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience,” Canadian Dimension 51, no. 4 (Autumn-Winter 2017): 27–30.

• “John A. Macdonald Was the Real Architect of Residential Schools,” Toronto Star, July 9, 2017: A17.

• “Confronting the Secret Path and the Legacy of Residential Schools,” ActiveHistory.ca (October 26, 2016).

• “Decolonizing Cottage Country: Anishinaabe Art Intervenes in Canada’s Wild Rice War,” Canadian Dimension (September 16, 2016).

• with Crystal Fraser, and John Milloy, “Assessing the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation,” Activehistory.ca (November 26, 2015).

• “‘We Meant War Not Murder’: A Punk Rock History of Klatsassin and the Tsilhqot’in War of 1864,” ActiveHistory.ca (October 24, 2014).

• “Dispossessing Democracy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Consequences of Bill C-45,” Rabble.ca (January 31, 2013).

• “Idle No More: A Longer View,” Canadian Dimension (December 26, 2012).