Short Description

Grand Chief Derrickson is one of the most successful Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada and used his business experience to lift his community out of poverty, making it one of the wealthiest bands in the country. He tells of how he’s always tried to do the right thing in the face of hatred and violence.

Sales and Market Bullets

• Derrickson’s previous books have won the Canadian History Association Literary Award, B.C. Book Prize for non-fiction, and been named a best book by the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire, and the Writers’ Trust.


• Indspire, a national Indigenous registered charity that invests in the education of Indigenous peoples, awarded Grand Chief Derrickson with a Business and Commerce Award in 2019.


• Each copy of the book includes a copy of a Kelly Derrickson musical download code.

Publishing Diverse Voices

• Content and Author: Okanagan people & territory, Westbank First Nation, Indigenous voices, Coyote clan

Audience

• Followers of the Idle No More movement and network


• Entrepreneurs and readers of leadership books

Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson is one of the most successful Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada. He also served as Chief of the Westbank First Nation for a dozen years and led his community from poverty to prosperity while surviving an assassination attempt and a Royal Commission on his business and political activities. He lives in Westbank First Nation, close to Kelowna, B.C.

“Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson has captured a vivid and arresting account of the challenges he confronted and surmounted as an Indigenous leader in a society dominated by racism. Providing insightful commentary on Indigenous politics and the various communal and interpersonal conflicts that he encountered as Chief of West Bank First Nation, Grand Chief Derrickson’s tenacity, resourcefulness, and inner drive for justice shines through.” — Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs