Read Local Month: Doug Knockwood, Mi'kmaw Elder

Read Local Month: Doug Knockwood, Mi’kmaw Elder

By Atlantic Books Today
Publish date: March 4, 2019

March is Read Local Month at public libraries across Nova Scotia. Each week, a new Atlantic Canadian eBook will be featured and all library users will be able to download the book instantly: no wait list! All you need is your free public library card.

Access to the featured Read Local eBooks is specific to where you have your library card. If you are a Halifax Public Libraries user, you can visit the Read Local collection at halifax.overdrive.com, and if you use another Nova Scotia Public Library, head to novascotia.overdrive.com. The featured book will be highlighted at the top of the page all week for both library systems.

Week One (March 4-10)

Doug Knockwood, Mi’kmaw Elder by Doug Knockwood and Friends (Roseway Publishing). Halifax | Nova Scotia

Freeman Douglas Knockwood was a highly respected Elder in Mi’kmaw Territory and one of Canada’s premier addictions recovery counsellors. The story of his life is one of unimaginable colonial trauma, recovery and hope. At age 6, Knockwood was placed in the Shubenacadie Residential School, where he remained for a year and a half. Like hundreds of other Mi’kmaw and Maliseet children, he suffered horrible abuse. By the time he reached his twenties, he was an alcoholic. He contracted tuberculosis in the 1940s, had one lung and several ribs removed. Knockwood gained sobriety in his thirties through Alcoholics Anonymous. He went on to become a much sought after drug and alcohol rehabilitation counsellor in Canada. Many of Doug’s initiatives have been implemented across Canada and used by thousands of people. This book is an in-depth look at Doug Knockwood’s life that also casts a wide and critical glance at the forces that worked to undermine his existence.