Bev Sellars (born 1955) is a Xat'sull writer of the award-winning book, ''They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School'', describing her experiences within the

Canadian Indian residential school system The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The sch ...

. She is also a longtime-serving Chief of the Xat'sull (

Soda Creek Soda Creek is a rural subdivision 38 km north of Williams Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Located on the east bank of the Fraser River, Soda Creek was originally the home of the Xat'sull First Nation. Soda Creek Indian Reserve No. 1 is ...

) First Nations.

Personal life

She was married to Bill Wilson and is the stepmother of

Jody Wilson-Raybould Jody Wilson-Raybould (born March 23, 1971), also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is a Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the British Columbia (BC) ri ...

Education

Sellars was a student at the St. Joseph's Residential School in Williams Lake, British Columbia. She later studied history at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, and law at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. She was named a distinguished alumnus at University of Victoria in 2016-17.

Career

Sellars served as chief of Xat'sull First Nation at

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

,"Chief Bev Sellars shares her story of residential school"
''

The Martlet The ''Martlet'' is a student newspaper published online every two weeks at the University of Victoria (UVic) in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The first edition of the Martlet was printed on December 3, 1948. For much of its history, it ...

'', September 12, 2013. in 1987-1993 and again from 2009-2015. She was also an advisor to the British Columbia Treaty Commission. In 1991, Sellars gave an address to the First National Conference on Residential Schools about her experiences and the long-lasting impact on First Nations peoples. This address is reproduced in its entirety in the book "''Victims of Benevolence: The Dark Legacy of the Williams Lake Residential School''," by Elizabeth Furniss. In 2012, Sellars published "''They Called Me Number One:Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School''" recounting her childhood experience at St Joseph's and how that experience had and continues to have lasting impacts on her and her family's lives. Her

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

exposed the injustices and cruelties of the

Canadian Indian residential school The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The scho ...

system. The book won the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness,"Chief Bev Sellars wins Ryga Award"
''BC Booklook'', April 4, 2014. and was shortlisted for the 2014

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize The Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, established in 1985, is awarded annually as the BC Book Prize for the best non-fiction book by a resident of British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories ...

. In the same year, 2014, the dam breach at the

Mount Polley mine Mount Polley mine is a Canadian List of gold mines in Canada, gold and List of copper mines in Canada, copper mine located in British Columbia near the towns of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Williams Lake and Likely, British Columbia, Likely. ...

happened. Sellars was the Xat'sull acting chief at the time and she has worked since then to bring attention to the conflicts between mining and First Nations communities in B.C. as well as the rest of Canada. In 2016, she published "''Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival"'' that examines the history of Indigenous rights in Canada from an Indigenous perspective. She is involved with First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining and a Senior Leader of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative. She has brought private charges against Mount Polley Mining Corporation and she continues to speak about the effects of the Mount Polley tailings spill on her community, warning other communities of potential risks from mining activities.

Honours and awards

Sellars' book ''They Called Me Number One'', published in 2013, was on the British Columbia Bestsellers list for 44 weeks. The book was also a finalist in both the First Nation Communities READ – Periodical Marketers of Canada Aboriginal Literature award (2017–2018) and

(2014), in addition to being a finalist for the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature (2014). The

, where she earned her degree in history in 1997, declared her a Distinguished Alumni for 2016-2017. CBC Books named ''They Called Me Number One'' as one of 15

s by Indigenous writers you need to read in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellars, Bev Living people Canadian women memoirists First Nations women writers Writers from British Columbia Indigenous leaders in British Columbia Secwepemc people Women in British Columbia politics First Nations women in politics 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century First Nations writers 21st-century Canadian memoirists 1955 births Women Indigenous leaders in Canada