"I am so privileged to have been friends with Arthur for two decades. During that time, he changed the way I see this country and the world... He helped to lead our movements, and protect the land and water, until his final breath."
- Naomi Klein, on death of Arthur Manuel
"[O]ne of the most important texts on truth and reconciliation ever written. The Reconciliation Manifesto is a cogent step-by-step look at how Canada's colonial past created our present situation, and provides decolonizing strategies for the future.
...well-seasoned with [Manuel's] sense of humour... The Reconciliation Manifesto is an extremely valuable resource for those who are fighting for decolonization. For other readers, it may simply serve to dispel myths about Canada's colonial history. Decolonizing is a massive undertaking, and, fortunately, we've got many great Indigenous minds on the job.
...The Reconciliation Manifesto offer[s] strength and solidarity to Indigenous readers, and a generous guide to ally-ship for non-Indigenous readers. For the latter, these books will unsettle, but to engage in ally-ship is to commit to being unsettled — all the time."
- Carleigh Baker The Globe and Mail
"[E]ffectively puts the current conversation around reconciliation into the rightful context... Manuel is refreshingly pro- active, creative, and importantly, persuasive (not to mention witty)... the tone is generally hopeful... the writing is accessible. The Reconciliation Manifesto can be read as an introductory text for Canadians who have little understanding of colonialism; or, as an intervention into counter-hegemonic theorizing...this is nonetheless a tremendously important book for multiple audiences."
- Hayden King, Beausoleil First Nation, Director of the Centre of Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University IndianandCowboy.ca
"The late Secwepemc Nation activist's blazing final book offers an eloquent analysis of how Canada was built on a racist understanding of property and human rights. Manuel lays it all out; there's nowhere to hide. He also makes it plain that there's no reconciliation until we replace the stinking, unstable mythologies that still support the Canadian state with something more noble and true."
- Robert Everett-Green, The Globe and Mail
What makes the late Manuel a 'true visionary,' as author and activist Naomi Klein describes him in her preface to the book, is his practical vision for fighting the status quo. The only way to really change things, he says, is to exert international pressure on our country's government, taking inspiration from black South Africans during apartheid and African Americans during the civil rights movement. Only then will Indigenous self-determination be possible."
- Julie McGonegal UC Observer
In the conversation about reconciliation that Canadians are having at the moment, there are many voices vying for a hearing. One of the clearest and most emphatic of these voices — sadly stilled by death before the publication of this manifesto — is that of the late Arthur Manuel."
- J.R. Miller BC Booklook
The Reconciliation Manifesto, by Indigenous leaders Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, offers its non-Indigenous readers a bracing dose of truth- telling about Canada's criminal treatment of this territory's first residents... Addressing Indigenous readers, it offers a sharp critique of current federally funded Indigenous leadership and of the compromise deals so far negotiated by that leadership. They spell out the tactics they think can get them these long-delayed rights... They reassure nervous non-Indigenous readers that they and their people continue to be willing to share the Canadian space with settlers, but only in the context of a renewed and just relationship. Highly recommended."
- Tom Sandborn Vancouver Sun
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