Bev Sellars

Bev Sellars is a Xat'sull writer of the award-winning book, They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School, describing her experiences within the Canadian Indian residential school system. She is also a longtime-serving Chief of the Xat'sull (Soda Creek) First Nations.

Bev Sellars
Born1955
Soda Creek, British Columbia
OccupationFirst Nations chief, writer
NationalityCanadian
Period1980s-present
Notable worksThey Called Me Number One
SpouseBill Wilson

Personal life

She is currently married to Bill Wilson.[1][2]

Education

Sellars was a student at the St. Joseph's Residential School in Williams Lake, British Columbia.[3] She later studied history at the University of Victoria, and law at the University of British Columbia.[3] She was named a distinguished alumnus at University of Victoria in 2016-17.[4]

Career

Sellars served as chief of Xat'sull First Nation at Soda Creek, British Columbia,[5] in 1987-1993 and again from 2009-2015.[3][6] She was also an advisor to the British Columbia Treaty Commission.[3]

In 1991, Sellars gave an address to the First National Conference on Residential Schools about her experiences and the long-lasting impact on First Nations peoples. This address is reproduced in its entirety[7] in the book "Victims of Benevolence: The Dark Legacy of the Williams Lake Residential School," by Elizabeth Furniss.[8]

In 2012,[9] Sellars published "They Called Me Number One:Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School" recounting her childhood experience at St Joseph's and how that experience had and continues to have lasting impacts on her and her family's lives. Her memoir exposed the injustices and cruelties of the Canadian Indian residential school system.[10] The book won the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness,[3] and was shortlisted for the 2014 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize.[11]

In the same year, 2014, the dam breach at the Mount Polley mine happened. Sellars was the Xat'sull acting chief at the time[12] and she has worked since then to bring attention to the conflicts between mining and First Nations communities in B.C. as well as the rest of Canada.

In 2016, she published "Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival" that examines the history of Indigenous rights in Canada from an Indigenous perspective.[6]

She is involved with First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining [13] and a Senior Leader of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative.[14]

She has brought private charges against Mount Polley Mining Corporation[12] and she continues to speak about the effects of the Mount Polley tailings spill on her community,[15] warning other communities of potential risks from mining activities.

Honours and awards

Sellars' book They Called Me Number One, published in 2013, was on the British Columbia Bestsellers list for 44 weeks. The book was also a finalist in both the First Nation Communities READ – Periodical Marketers of Canada Aboriginal Literature award (2017–2018) and Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize (2014), in addition to being a finalist for the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature (2014).[16][17]

The University of Victoria, where she earned her degree in history in 1997, declared her a Distinguished Alumni for 2016-2017.[16]

CBC Books named They Called Me Number One as one of 15 memoirs by Indigenous writers you need to read in 2017.[18]

References
  1. Sellars, Bev (2013). They called me number one : secrets and survival at an Indian residential school. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ISBN 978-0-88922-741-5. OCLC 829421924.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. Peter A. Allard School of Law (Fall 2011). "Wilson Family" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2016.
  3. "Chief Bev Sellars wins Ryga Award". BC Booklook, April 4, 2014.
  4. "Chief Bev Sellars - University of Victoria". UVic.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  5. "Chief Bev Sellars shares her story of residential school". The Martlet, September 12, 2013.
  6. "Bev Sellars". Indigenous Leadership Initiative. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  7. Dian Million (2009). "Felt Theory: An Indigenous Feminist Approach to Affect and History". Wíčazo Ša Review. 24 (2): 53–76. doi:10.1353/wic.0.0043. ISSN 1533-7901. S2CID 143929791.
  8. Furniss, Elizabeth (1995). Victims of Benevolence: The Dark Legacy of the Williams Lake Residential School. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press. pp. Appendix. ISBN 978-1-55152-015-5.
  9. "They Called Me Number One". Talon Books Publishers. Archived from the original on 2020-06-25.
  10. "They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School , 2013) - Indigenous & First Nations Books - Strong Nations". www.strongnations.com. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  11. "B.C. Book Prizes nominees announced". Quill & Quire, March 12, 2014.
  12. "Indigenous Advocate Seeks Justice - Files charges against Imperial Metals Over Biggest Mining Spill in Canada - Wilderness Committee". www.wildernesscommittee.org. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  13. "First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining » Contact". Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  14. "Bev Sellars". Indigenous Leadership Initiative. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  15. "First Nations oppose mining work - Wilderness Committee". www.wildernesscommittee.org. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  16. "Chief Bev Sellars - University of Victoria". UVic.ca. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  17. "Bev Sellars » Authors » Talonbooks". talonbooks.com. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  18. "15 memoirs by Indigenous writers you need to read". CBC Books. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
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