Remembering Greg Younging (1961–2019)

The ABPBC is devastated by the death of Greg Younging, publisher at Theytus Books and member of the ABPBC board of directors, who died in Penticton on May 3, 2019. A member of Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, Greg previously served as managing editor at Theytus Books—the first Indigenous-owned publishing house in Canada—from 1990 to 2004, and returned as publisher in 2015. Greg was Assistant Director of Research for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and led the Canadian publishing industry in responding to their calls to action, advocating for Indigenous editorial agency and serving as a trusted resource for publishers of Indigenous texts. The ABPBC honoured him in 2018 with the Gray Campbell Award Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of his work as an advocate for Indigenizing Canadian publishing. Greg was a generous, kind, and thoughtful colleague who inspired us to do better, as he did through his 2018 book, The Elements of Indigenous Style: “Indigenous publishing is about finding your way through, grounded in respect for Indigenous ways of being in the world and for Indigenous Peoples as distinct from one another. Finding your way through requires thought, care, attention, and dialogue. It requires working with people. It requires the engagement and inclusion needed for a new conversation between Indigenous people and settler society.” —Gregory Younging Greg Younging had agreed to remain as Member at Large with the ABPBC in 2019–20, and his seat will remain vacant in his honour at this time.

The following motion, brought to the May 11, 2019, ABPBC AGM, was unanimously approved by the ABPBC membership:

WHEREAS the work of publishers is all about engaging imagination, BE IT RESOLVED that BC publishers commit to being vigilant in ensuring that imagination is deployed in a culturally sensitive manner (including sensitivity to other religious, gendered and LGBTQ+ communities); and to acknowledge that the basis of an editing and/or publishing relationship is respecting differences, as well as common ground; and that publishers are responsible for the integrity of the work within the context of community from which it is sourced. AND WHEREAS the members of the ABPBC recognize that Indigenous people and racialized Canadians are vastly underrepresented in the Canadian publishing industry; AND WHEREAS change must be pursued actively and thoughtfully; and given that the ABPBC is indebted to the lifework and inspiration of Gregory Younging, publisher at Theytus Books; be it resolved that the ABPBC membership agree to work together and individually with the goal of finding solutions to this underrepresentation such as publishing Indigenous works, hiring Indigenous staff and consulting and collaborating with Indigenous and racialized communities to find ways to achieve inclusion and reconciliation in our publishing houses. This motion follows the wording of a motion Greg brought to the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP). The ACP, where Greg also served on the board, has posted a remembrance.