Life in the City of Dirty Water

Paperback, 240 pages

English language

Published Jan. 29, 2022 by Penguin Canada.

ISBN:: 978-0-7352-4008-7

(1 review)

A gritty and inspiring memoir from renowned Cree environmental activist Clayton Thomas-Muller, who escaped the world of drugs and gang life to take up the warrior’s fight against the assault on Indigenous peoples’ lands—and eventually the warrior’s spirituality.

There have been many Clayton Thomas-Mullers: The child who played with toy planes as an escape from domestic and sexual abuse, enduring the intergenerational trauma of Canada's residential school system; the angry youngster who defended himself with fists and sharp wit against racism and violence, at school and on the streets of Winnipeg and small-town British Columbia; the tough teenager who, at 17, managed a drug house run by members of his family, and slipped in and out of juvie, operating in a world of violence and pain.

But behind them all, there was another Clayton: the one who remained immersed in Cree spirituality, and who embraced the rituals and ways of …

A gritty and inspiring memoir from renowned Cree environmental activist Clayton Thomas-Muller, who escaped the world of drugs and gang life to take up the warrior’s fight against the assault on Indigenous peoples’ lands—and eventually the warrior’s spirituality.

There have been many Clayton Thomas-Mullers: The child who played with toy planes as an escape from domestic and sexual abuse, enduring the intergenerational trauma of Canada's residential school system; the angry youngster who defended himself with fists and sharp wit against racism and violence, at school and on the streets of Winnipeg and small-town British Columbia; the tough teenager who, at 17, managed a drug house run by members of his family, and slipped in and out of juvie, operating in a world of violence and pain.

But behind them all, there was another Clayton: the one who remained immersed in Cree spirituality, and who embraced the rituals and ways of thinking vital to his heritage; the one who reconnected with the land during summer visits to his great-grandparents' trapline in his home territory of Pukatawagan in northern Manitoba.

And it's this version of Clayton that ultimately triumphed, finding healing by directly facing the trauma that he shares with Indigenous peoples around the world. Now a leading organizer and activist on the frontlines of environmental resistance, Clayton brings his warrior spirit to the fight against the ongoing assault on Indigenous peoples' lands by Big Oil.

Tying together personal stories of survival that bring the realities of the First Nations of this land into sharp focus, and lessons learned from a career as a frontline activist committed to addressing environmental injustice at a global scale, Thomas-Muller offers a narrative and vision of healing and responsibility.

2 editions

Taylor Drew reviewed Life in the City of Dirty Water by Clayton Thomas-Muller

A powerful and honest narrative

4 stars

I grew up in Nova Scotia and I'm not Indigenous, but listening to Clayton's story was nonetheless empowering and healing for me. Within the not so linear narrative, there were many things that were familiar to me from reading other memoirs of Indigenous people who grew up in the same region, but this is the first of such books that I've listened to--narrated by the author himself!

I really enjoyed listening to him talk about his experiences as they were written in his book. The things he talks about are raw and difficult, yet the way he described these events and spoke in the narration somehow maintained a level of softness I wouldn't expect. But I guess that's where the healing comes in, and the product of the healing that he's been able to do so far in his life is that this book can exist and he can read …

I grew up in Nova Scotia and I'm not Indigenous, but listening to Clayton's story was nonetheless empowering and healing for me. Within the not so linear narrative, there were many things that were familiar to me from reading other memoirs of Indigenous people who grew up in the same region, but this is the first of such books that I've listened to--narrated by the author himself!

I really enjoyed listening to him talk about his experiences as they were written in his book. The things he talks about are raw and difficult, yet the way he described these events and spoke in the narration somehow maintained a level of softness I wouldn't expect. But I guess that's where the healing comes in, and the product of the healing that he's been able to do so far in his life is that this book can exist and he can read it for us in that soft way that takes off the edge of the difficult bits somewhat.

I really liked this book and I'm really glad that it came up as a suggestion from my library. And I really hope that I can see at least the beginning of the world that he dreams of because it seems like a beautiful and wonderful place.