Dr. Joseph Couture (1930–2007), known affectionately as“Dr. Joe,” stood at the centre of some of the greatestpolitical, social, and intellectual struggles of Aboriginal peoples incontemporary Canada. A profound thinker and writer, as well as a giftedorator, he easily walked two paths, as a respected Elder andtraditional healer and as an educational psychologist, one of the firstAboriginal people in Canada to receive a PhD. His work challenged andtransformed long-held views of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, andhis vision and leadership gave direction to many of the current fieldsof Aboriginal scholarship. His influence extended into numerousareas—education, addictions and mental health treatment,community development, restorative justice, and federal correctionalprogramming for Aboriginal peoples.


With a foreword by Aboriginal rights activist Lewis Cardinal, AMetaphoric Mind brings together for the first time key worksselected from among Dr. Joe’s writings, published andunpublished. Spanning nearly thirty years, the essays invite us toshare in his transformative legacy through a series of encounters, withAboriginal spirituality and ancestral ways of knowing, with Elders andtheir teachings, with education and its role in politicization,self-determination, and social change, and with the restorative processand the meaning of Native healing. Shaped by his social sciencetraining but also by his apprenticeship in Medicine Ways, his writingsallow us to experience the richness and power of fully functionalIndigenous culture.

Foreword by: Lewis Cardinal