All Our Relations

The world's Indigenous communities are fighting to live and dying too young. In this vital and incisive work, Tanya Talaga explores intergenerational trauma and the alarming rise of youth suicide.

From Northern Ontario to Nunavut, Norway, Brazil, Australia, and the United States, the Indigenous experience in colonised nations is startlingly similar and deeply disturbing. It is an experience marked by the violent separation of Peoples from the land, the separation of families, and the separation of individuals from traditional ways of life—all of which has culminated in a spiritual separation that has had an enduring impact on generations of Indigenous children.

As a result of this colonial legacy, too many communities today lack access to the basic determinants of health—income, employment, education, a safe environment, health services—leading to a mental health and youth suicide crisis on a global scale. But, Talaga reminds us, First Peoples also share a history of resistance, resilience, and civil rights activism, from the Occupation of Alcatraz led by the Indians of All Tribes, to the Northern Ontario Stirland Lake Quiet Riot, to the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which united Indigenous Nations from across Turtle Island in solidarity.

All Our Relations is a powerful call for action, justice, and a better, more equitable world for all Indigenous Peoples.

‘While drawing on academic studies, All Our Relations is a burning missive about what is happening now, on the ground, and what needs to be done to make for safe and healthy Indigenous communities.’
—Fiona Capp, The Age

‘Talaga's treatment and explanation of Indigenous people's trauma is essential reading.’
—Rosaleen McDonagh, The Irish Times

‘All Our Relations is an impeccably researched and unflinching documentation of how both colonial histories and ongoing genocidal practices have created the suicide crisis among Indigenous youth across the globe. Tanya Talaga expertly folds together interviews, storytelling, and statistics to bring us directly to the startling truth that Indigenous youth are fighting to find themselves through the multiple separations forced on them by settler states—separation of parents from children, separation of peoples from their land, and separation of tongues and hearts from their languages and traditions. All Our Relations is a call to action and a testament to the strength and tenacity of Indigenous people around the world.’
—2019 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction jury citation