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Wordfest Presents Jody Wilson-Raybould & Roshan Danesh
Wordfest is honorued to welcome back lawyer, politician, and best-selling author Jody Wilson-Raybould with her new book, Reconciling History: A Story of Canada. We're thrilled to announce that she'll be joined onstage with her co-author: lawyer and educator Roshan Danesh, who has been on the frontlines of advancing Indigenous rights and reconciliation in Canada. Reconciling History is a continuation of the vital conversation fuelled by the history shared in True Reconciliation, which sparked one of Wordfest’s most meaningful in-person experiences in 2022. The conversation, hosted by Wordfest's Shelley Youngblut, includes an audience Q&A and book signing.
We are grateful to Penguin Random House Canada for making it possible to connect you with Jody Wilson-Raybould and Roshan Danesh.
About Reconciling History: A Story of Canada
From the #1 national bestselling author of 'Indian' in the Cabinet and True Reconciliation, a truly unique history of our land—powerful, devastating, remarkable—as told through the voices of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
The totem pole forms the foundation for this unique and important oral history of Canada. Its goal is both toweringly ambitious and beautifully direct: To tell the story of this country in a way that prompts readers to look from different angles, to see its dimensions, its curves, and its cuts. To see that history has an arc, just as the totem pole rises, but to realize that it is also in the details along the way that important meanings are to be found. To recognize that the story of the past is always there to be retold and recast and must be conveyed to generations to come. That in the act of re-telling, meaning is found, and strength is built.
When it comes to telling the history of Canada, and in particular the history of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, we need to accept that the way in which our history has traditionally been told has not been a common or shared enterprise. In many ways, it has been an exclusive and siloed one. Among the countless peoples and groups that make up this vast country, the voices and experiences of a few have too often dominated those of many others.
Reconciling History shares voices that have seldom been heard, and in this ground-breaking book they are telling and re-telling history from their perspectives. Born out of the oral history in True Reconciliation, and complemented throughout with stunning photography and art, Reconciling History takes this approach to telling our collective story to an entirely different level.
About Jody Wilson-Raybould
The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, P.C., O.B.C., K.C., served as the Independent Member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence until her resignation in 2019. Wilson-Raybould is a Principal of JWR Group, a lawyer, an advocate and leader among Canada’s Indigenous Peoples with a strong reputation as a bridge builder between communities, and a champion of good governance and accountability. She has been a provincial crown prosecutor, a councillor for the We Wai Kai Nation, a chair of the First Nations Finance Authority and has served as the BC regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
Wilson-Raybould has written two bestselling books, “Indian” in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power (2021) and From Where I Stand: Rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a Stronger Canada (2019). Wilson-Raybould is a descendant of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and Laich-Kwil-Tach peoples, which are part of the Kwakwaka’wakw, also known as the Kwak’wala-speaking peoples. She is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation. Her traditional name, Puglaas, means “woman born to noble people.”
About Roshan Danesh
Dr. Roshan Danesh, K.C., is an internationally renowned lawyer and educator who for over two decades has been on the frontlines of advancing Indigenous rights and reconciliation in Canada. Danesh's reconciliation work has included representing Indigenous Nations and political organizations in complex negotiations, serving as the special counsel on reconciliation to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and advising the Government of British Columbia on the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Alongside his work in Canada on Indigenous rights, Danesh has worked around the globe on issues of peacebuilding and conflict resolution, including helping design and implement cutting-edge peace education initiatives that have involved hundreds of thousands of people, including as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts. Educated at Harvard Law School, Danesh has taught at universities across Europe and North America, and is a widely published author, including Dimensions of Bahá’í Law.
About Host Shelley Youngblut
Shelley Youngblut is the CEO & Creative Ringleader of Wordfest. She was the recipient of the 2020 Calgary Award for Community Achievement in the Arts and the 2018 Rozsa Award for Arts Leadership. She also won the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Western Magazine Awards. Youngblut was the founding editor of Calgary’s award-winning Swerve magazine and has created magazines for ESPN, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Nickelodeon, Western Living, and The Globe and Mail. She was also a former pop-culture correspondent for ABC World News Now and Canada AM. Follow her on Facebook @ShelleyYoungblut and Instagram/Threads @youngblutshelley