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Warrior Life: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence
In a moment where unlawful pipelines are built on Indigenous territories, the RCMP make illegal arrests of land defenders on unceded lands, and anti-Indigenous racism permeates social media, the renowned lawyer, author, speaker and activist Pamela Palmater returns to wade through media misinformation and government propaganda and get to the heart of key issues lost in the noise.
Warrior Life is the second collection of writings by Palmater. In keeping with her previous works, numerous op-eds, media commentaries, YouTube channel videos, and podcasts, Palmater is fiercely anticolonial, antiracist, and more crucial than ever before. Palmater addresses a range of Indigenous issues―empty political promises, ongoing racism, sexualized genocide, government lawlessness and the lie that is reconciliation―making complex political and legal implications accessible to all of us.
From one of the most important, inspiring, and fearless voices on Indigenous rights, decolonization, Canadian politics, social justice, earth justice, and beyond, Warrior Life is an unflinching critique of the colonial project that is Canada and a rallying cry for Indigenous Peoples and allies alike to forge a path toward a decolonial future through resistance and resurgence.
Warrior Life is the second collection of writings by Palmater. In keeping with her previous works, numerous op-eds, media commentaries, YouTube channel videos, and podcasts, Palmater is fiercely anticolonial, antiracist, and more crucial than ever before. Palmater addresses a range of Indigenous issues―empty political promises, ongoing racism, sexualized genocide, government lawlessness and the lie that is reconciliation―making complex political and legal implications accessible to all of us.
From one of the most important, inspiring, and fearless voices on Indigenous rights, decolonization, Canadian politics, social justice, earth justice, and beyond, Warrior Life is an unflinching critique of the colonial project that is Canada and a rallying cry for Indigenous Peoples and allies alike to forge a path toward a decolonial future through resistance and resurgence.
274 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2020
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394 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 2, 2023
Ariela's review:
Warrior Life fit perfectly in the terms of the order that I read my books in. After reading Living in Indigenous Sovereignty, you familiarize yourself with the terms and the types of things that Indigenous have to deal with. All of that language and terms and everything in Living in Indigenous Sovereignty was all addressed in Warrior Life. It provided the evidence and statistics that I wanted to see, but most of all, the proof. The proof that Indigenous Peoples are being misrepresented and mistreated, and discriminated against on their own lands. The proof that Indigenous women have been and still are mistreated. Unequal rights for Indigenous women, and the discrimination that they face. Warrior Life is a plea, a call to action, and contains much needed evidence and proof. This book is a powerful speech on what Indigenous Peoples have to face. I really hope that you check out Warrior Life, and that you can find it informational, educational, and eye-opening on the problems with Canada when it comes to the Indigenous.
From one of the most important, inspiring and fearless voices in Indigenous rights, decolonization, Canadian politics, social justice, earth justice and beyond, Warrior Life is an unflinching critique of the colonial project that is Canada and a rallying cry for Indigenous peoples and allies alike to forge a path toward a decolonial future through resistance and resurgence.
Warrior Life fit perfectly in the terms of the order that I read my books in. After reading Living in Indigenous Sovereignty, you familiarize yourself with the terms and the types of things that Indigenous have to deal with. All of that language and terms and everything in Living in Indigenous Sovereignty was all addressed in Warrior Life. It provided the evidence and statistics that I wanted to see, but most of all, the proof. The proof that Indigenous Peoples are being misrepresented and mistreated, and discriminated against on their own lands. The proof that Indigenous women have been and still are mistreated. Unequal rights for Indigenous women, and the discrimination that they face. Warrior Life is a plea, a call to action, and contains much needed evidence and proof. This book is a powerful speech on what Indigenous Peoples have to face. I really hope that you check out Warrior Life, and that you can find it informational, educational, and eye-opening on the problems with Canada when it comes to the Indigenous.
From one of the most important, inspiring and fearless voices in Indigenous rights, decolonization, Canadian politics, social justice, earth justice and beyond, Warrior Life is an unflinching critique of the colonial project that is Canada and a rallying cry for Indigenous peoples and allies alike to forge a path toward a decolonial future through resistance and resurgence.
September 30, 2024
CW: murder, sexual assault, suicide, suicide attempts, poverty, starvation, forced removal, gender based violence and discrimination, colonization, rights violations, genocide
Pamela Palmater is a voice I need to hear. Her work is decisive and clear. She does not mince words. Her understanding of the law and its impact is profound. She will not let you feel comfortable or assuaged for engaging in minimalist “reconciliation” performances. Since this is largely republished article and blog length writing, there is a lot of repetition. However this overlap speaks to the importance of the issues. The book is wide ranging, focused on indigenous sovereignty, and the role Canada plays in its continued oppression and genocide of indigenous peoples. She points to the murdered and missing indigenous women, massive population of indigenous youth in care, mass incarceration, teen suicide, clean water, lack of investment in language, schools and children, and refusal to consult or hear no from Indigenous governments.
Even though this book was published in 2020, it feels older because it all is prepandemic and much is centred around the 2015 election. I’m compelled to see how she is responding to more recent events and to the health crises exacerbated by the pandemic. She really is a warrior and I hope she lives to see the reparations and sovereignty her people deserve.
Pamela Palmater is a voice I need to hear. Her work is decisive and clear. She does not mince words. Her understanding of the law and its impact is profound. She will not let you feel comfortable or assuaged for engaging in minimalist “reconciliation” performances. Since this is largely republished article and blog length writing, there is a lot of repetition. However this overlap speaks to the importance of the issues. The book is wide ranging, focused on indigenous sovereignty, and the role Canada plays in its continued oppression and genocide of indigenous peoples. She points to the murdered and missing indigenous women, massive population of indigenous youth in care, mass incarceration, teen suicide, clean water, lack of investment in language, schools and children, and refusal to consult or hear no from Indigenous governments.
Even though this book was published in 2020, it feels older because it all is prepandemic and much is centred around the 2015 election. I’m compelled to see how she is responding to more recent events and to the health crises exacerbated by the pandemic. She really is a warrior and I hope she lives to see the reparations and sovereignty her people deserve.
January 4, 2021
a collection of articles and speeches - Palmater has an amazing skill at being able to clearly summarize complex histories and laws to get to the heart of the issues that face Indigenous peoples in Canada - a must read for settlers - looking at current issues of land rights, treaties, genocide, MMIW, pipelines, politics and more - giving insight beyond what is generally fed to canadian's through the news and our politicians
May 7, 2025
A phenomenal anthology of short essays surrounding the most relevant and pressing issues for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Palmater provides a concise yet insightful background on the resistances of Indigenous peoples to genocidal policies, actions and attitudes of Canada/ians stemming from colonialism. Great book for the foundations of Indigenous resistance and decolonization in Canada.
December 5, 2020
The only reason I'm not giving this five stars is because it gets repetitive if you read it for hours at a time. If you read it one or two essays at a time, it's a brilliant and necessary read.
December 16, 2020
Pretty timely seeing as the MP for my municipality has yet again come out as a residential school apologist. Please, let’s all do our research and fight the right enemies!
January 29, 2021
Such a great book filled with real, concrete examples of State inaction and failures which can be -- and are -- used to inform real action/resistance.
August 7, 2021
Very informative
February 27, 2025
A nice update from a previous Palmater book, unfortunately the updates are disappointing due to a lack of government action
February 11, 2021
Warrior Life Review
While reading Pam Palmater’s latest book, Warrior Life: Indigenous Resistance & Resurgence, I was provided with ample opportunities to reflect on a brief correspondence I recently shared with an Alberta police detective. “Bill” had made an impassioned defense of “the brave front line officers [who] often take the brunt of all criticism and are the fall guys in most cases,” on a social media post concerning the violence committed against Mi’kmaw fishermen exercising their legal right to a moderate livelihood in Nova Scotia and I saw his comments as a chance to engage with someone who held a wildly divergent opinion on the matter than myself.
During the ensuing exchange, Bill would dismiss any suggestion that a genocide against Indigenous people occurred in Canada and would dredge up the age old arguments that the “issues” currently confronting Indigenous Peoples are mainly a result of “corrupt chiefs” and that racism in Canada’s police services has been confined solely to “a few bad apples.” That a seemingly otherwise intelligent and dedicated police officer would maintain opinions which so wholeheartedly, and brazenly, fly in the face of the mountains of evidence accumulating to the contrary didn’t come as much of a surprise to me as, over the past thirty years, I’ve encountered the exact same “misconceptions” coveted by the vast majority of our citizenry, regardless of which side the individual adherents might fall on the political spectrum.
Over those same years, it’s been rare to encounter individuals willing to speak with a voice of genuine dissent against this country’s prevailing narrative and rarer still that they’ve managed to commit these voices to the page (the most notable exceptions which spring to mind being Daniel N. Paul in his We Were Not The Savages and Stephen Henighan in his When Words Deny The World). Few “activists” have articulated with such passion their own brand of dissent better than Ms. Palmater and those already familiar with her through her blog, Indigenous Nationhood, and podcasts, which also run under the banner of Warrior Life, will find her latest collection of essays a welcome companion to her online activities. For those unfamiliar with her ongoing efforts to “wade through media misinformation and government propaganda to get to the heart of key issues lost in the noise”, and who are also bound by the colonial mindset she so incisively deconstructs will at times no doubt experience a sensation not unlike the one encountered when the human dissidents in They Live take off their sunglasses after viewing a world they thought they knew so radically transformed.
It can be a disorienting experience, for sure, but those willing to truly engage with Ms. Palmater will discover that her words serve a deeper purpose than to merely unsettle the reader. James Baldwin once wrote “if you alter, by even a millimetre, the way people look at reality, then you can change it” and that seems to be her goal here as well. While she does spend much of the book shredding the prevailing myths expressed by the likes of our Alberta police detective, and to great effect I might add, her efforts are rooted, as if by a tether, to the conviction that at this moment in time, the very survival of “settler” culture itself is dependent on not only listening to but, more importantly, learning how to live a balanced life from those cultures which place the wellbeing of the land and the people who reside upon it above the drive for short term enrichment, regardless of how many billions of dollars are at stake.
It’s certainly an idea whose time has come and it’s one that we, regardless of race, creed, or colour, ignore only at our own gravest peril.
(Note: This review first appeared in Issue 1 at www.canneryrowpress.com)
While reading Pam Palmater’s latest book, Warrior Life: Indigenous Resistance & Resurgence, I was provided with ample opportunities to reflect on a brief correspondence I recently shared with an Alberta police detective. “Bill” had made an impassioned defense of “the brave front line officers [who] often take the brunt of all criticism and are the fall guys in most cases,” on a social media post concerning the violence committed against Mi’kmaw fishermen exercising their legal right to a moderate livelihood in Nova Scotia and I saw his comments as a chance to engage with someone who held a wildly divergent opinion on the matter than myself.
During the ensuing exchange, Bill would dismiss any suggestion that a genocide against Indigenous people occurred in Canada and would dredge up the age old arguments that the “issues” currently confronting Indigenous Peoples are mainly a result of “corrupt chiefs” and that racism in Canada’s police services has been confined solely to “a few bad apples.” That a seemingly otherwise intelligent and dedicated police officer would maintain opinions which so wholeheartedly, and brazenly, fly in the face of the mountains of evidence accumulating to the contrary didn’t come as much of a surprise to me as, over the past thirty years, I’ve encountered the exact same “misconceptions” coveted by the vast majority of our citizenry, regardless of which side the individual adherents might fall on the political spectrum.
Over those same years, it’s been rare to encounter individuals willing to speak with a voice of genuine dissent against this country’s prevailing narrative and rarer still that they’ve managed to commit these voices to the page (the most notable exceptions which spring to mind being Daniel N. Paul in his We Were Not The Savages and Stephen Henighan in his When Words Deny The World). Few “activists” have articulated with such passion their own brand of dissent better than Ms. Palmater and those already familiar with her through her blog, Indigenous Nationhood, and podcasts, which also run under the banner of Warrior Life, will find her latest collection of essays a welcome companion to her online activities. For those unfamiliar with her ongoing efforts to “wade through media misinformation and government propaganda to get to the heart of key issues lost in the noise”, and who are also bound by the colonial mindset she so incisively deconstructs will at times no doubt experience a sensation not unlike the one encountered when the human dissidents in They Live take off their sunglasses after viewing a world they thought they knew so radically transformed.
It can be a disorienting experience, for sure, but those willing to truly engage with Ms. Palmater will discover that her words serve a deeper purpose than to merely unsettle the reader. James Baldwin once wrote “if you alter, by even a millimetre, the way people look at reality, then you can change it” and that seems to be her goal here as well. While she does spend much of the book shredding the prevailing myths expressed by the likes of our Alberta police detective, and to great effect I might add, her efforts are rooted, as if by a tether, to the conviction that at this moment in time, the very survival of “settler” culture itself is dependent on not only listening to but, more importantly, learning how to live a balanced life from those cultures which place the wellbeing of the land and the people who reside upon it above the drive for short term enrichment, regardless of how many billions of dollars are at stake.
It’s certainly an idea whose time has come and it’s one that we, regardless of race, creed, or colour, ignore only at our own gravest peril.
(Note: This review first appeared in Issue 1 at www.canneryrowpress.com)
February 28, 2023
great information and extremely informative :) definitely recommend to anyone who wants to start and or further their learning surrounding indigenous life/peoples/culture.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews