Bev Sellars, February 16
"They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School" is the first full-length memoir about life in St. Joseph's Mission at Williams Lake, British Columbia.\n\nAlong with other Aboriginal, Inuit and M\xe9tis children across Canada, Sellars was removed from her community and forced to attend a church-run residential school whose aim it was to \u201ccivilize\u201d Native children through Christian teachings, forced separation from family and culture, and strict discipline. \n\nIn addition, beginning at the age of five, Sellars was isolated for two years at Coqualeetza Indian Tuberculosis Hospital in Sardis, B.C.\n\nBev Sellars was first elected chief of the Xat\u2019sull (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, BC in 1987. She earned degrees in history and law, and served as adviser for the B.C. Treaty Commission. Chief Sellars has spoken out on behalf of her community on racism and residential schools and on the environmental and social threats of mineral resource exploitation in her region.