Bev Sellars 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. 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 is currently married to Bill Wilson.

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 or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

, and law at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

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

Career

Sellars served as chief of

Xat'sull First Nation Xatśūll First Nation formerly known as Soda Creek Indian Band, is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Cariboo region of the Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was c ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

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

The Martlet The ''Martlet'' is a bi-weekly student newspaper at the University of Victoria (UVic) in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. There are about 10 employees on the payroll, but significant work is done by student volunteers (writing, taking photos ...

'', September 12, 2013. in 1987-1993 and again from 2009-2015. She was also an advisor to the

British Columbia Treaty Commission The British Columbia Treaty Process (BCTP) is a land claims negotiation process started in 1993 to resolve outstanding issues, including claims to un-extinguished indigenous rights, with British Columbia's First Nations. Two treaties have been ...

. 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 exposed the injustices and cruelties of the

Canadian Indian residential school In Canada, the 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 Christian churches. The school sy ...

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 ten provinces and three ...

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

Mount Polley mine The 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, Like ...

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 memoirs 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