For fans of true crime, an unsolved mystery of missing persons, police conspiracies, and private investigations in an Indigenous community in northern Canada. Métis leader James Brady was one of the most famous Indigenous activists in Canada. A communist, strategist, and bibliophile, he led Métis and First Nations to rebel against government and church oppression. Brady's success made politicians and clergy fear him, and he had enemies everywhere. In 1967, while prospecting in Saskatchewan with Cree Band Councillor and fellow activist Absolom Halkett, both men vanished without a trace from their remote lakeside camp. For 50 years rumours swirled of secret mining interests, political intrigue, assassination, and murder. Cold Case North is the story of how a small team, with the help of a local Indigenous community, exposed police failure in the original investigation, discovered new clues and testimony, and gathered the pieces of the North's most enduring missing persons puzzle. "This engrossing account charts the efforts of three dedicated people to determine the fate of two missing Indigenous men in the north of Canada. [...] Meticulously researched, this smoothly written tale of injustice showcases the authors' tenacity and arouses the reader's indignation. This is a scathing rebuke of the RCMP's failure to take the case of missing Indigenous people seriously." — Publisher's Weekly "Like too many cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people, authorities failed to ensure that Brady and Halkett's deaths were properly investigated. This book helps get to the bottom of the fate of these two men, and demonstrates why investigators should never dismiss the knowledge of Indigenous peoples." — Darren Prefontaine , author of Gabriel Dumont " Cold Case North is an enthralling search for intimate answers and broader social accountability. Essential reading." — David Chariandy , author of I've Been Meaning to Tell You " Cold Case North is part true crime thriller, part gripping mystery about the disappearance of Métis legend James Brady and Absolom Halkett in northern Saskatchewan. It is also about Indigenous knowledge, investigative incompetence, and the stuff of legend." — Paul Seesequasis , author of Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun "A fascinating search for the truth, Cold Case North unravels the layers of a decades' old mystery. It is about how communities hold knowledge for generations, and how missing loved ones are never forgotten." — Katherena Vermette , author of River Woman and The Break
Michael Nest is the award-winning author of three non-fiction books. Corruption, mining and conflict are the theme of the first two. The third, Still a Pygmy, is a collaboration with Congolese activist Isaac Bacirongo, the first Indigenous Pygmy to ever publish his memoir. Michael's 'day job' is preventing corruption in government and in the mining sector. He lives in Montréal. Deanna Reder (Cree-Métis), Associate Professor in the Departments of English and First Nations Studies at Simon Fraser University, teaches Indigenous literatures, especially autobiography. Her SSHRC-funded research project, "The People and the Text" makes extensive use of library and archival methods, in collaboration with Indigenous research networks, to uncover forgotten or lost work by Canadian Indigenous authors. She has worked collaboratively to edit four anthologies and is the series editor of the Indigenous Studies Series for Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Eric Bell is a member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. He has owned and operated La Ronge Emergency Medical Services for 25 years and was a Park Warden for 23 years with Parks Canada. His involvement in this search is personal as he remembers Jim Brady, who was a friend of the family, and Abbie Halkett, a fellow community member. Eric lives in La Ronge, SK.
