Achilles Gentle, the Owner

Award-winning author Tanya Talaga (middle-Seven Fallen Feathers & All Our Relations) with Achilles Gentle (right) and Sandra Samatte (left) of GoodMinds.com. Achilles is from Skownan First Nation, Manitoba.

Under new ownership, GoodMinds.com continues the traditions of community philanthropy and exceptional customer service-established over the last 20 years. GoodMinds.com will remain on the Six Nations of the Grand River in Brantford and a First Nations family owned business. We maintain our passion for First Nations, Métis and Inuit authorship and education.

New owner Achilles Gentle and his family are respected Ojibwe members of Skownan First Nation, Treaty 2 Territory in Manitoba. Achilles is the founder of The Teacher's Crate, a subscription box service specializing in supplies for teachers.

Achilles’ mother, Sandra Samatte, has been an educator for the past 22 years and has committed her personal and career aspirations to the enhancement of Indigenous Education and the well-being of First Nations children. Sandra’s focus is centered on creating Indigenous educational resources that assist teachers on implementing Indigenous education in the classroom in a way that is respectful and culturally appropriate.

Sandra is an authentic First Nations author, having published several children's books promoting First Nations cultures and languages. She has dedicated many years to developing curriculum support material with First Nations themes. Together Achilles and Sandra will provide experienced book selection services, offering carefully chosen resources for all classroom and library settings.

GoodMinds.com remains a leading source of Indigenous educational resources for schools and libraries in North America, while continuing to promote Indigenous authors, illustrators and translators. Our French Collection of resources will continue to expand.

GoodMinds.com will also continue to donate 5% of sales to The SILT FUND, GoodMinds.com’s goal is to support Indigenous Communities that do not currently have a public library, and to help existing First Nations public libraries to enhance and expand.

GoodMinds.com publishes Indigenous authors through GoodMinds Publishing. We also accept invitations to book fairs. We offer webinars and through GoodMinds.com Consulting, we are also available to present at workshops, conferences and school professional development days.

Achilles, Sandra, and the staff of GoodMinds.com look forward to meeting and working with you to reach your Indigenous Educational Resource and Library needs!

Dr. Alison Frayne PhD. LIS Selection and Sales Consultant

Alison joined GoodMinds.com in 2019, She has a Masters degree in Information and Library Studies and a PhD in Library and Information Science. She has worked in and volunteered in many libraries in Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Canada. Her PhD thesis focused on the rights of First Nations people with respect to public libraries and specifically focused on Six Nations Public Library. in her research she interpreted the UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rightsof Indigenous Peoples) and UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) in the context of freedom of expression and the right to access information - a right supported by international law through the ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) and ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). Indigenous public libraries are not part of the federal service delivery mechanisms and the lack of support for libraries to deliver information services in the 21st century within a digital landscape affects wellbeing and Charter rights including section 35 of the Constitution.

GoodMinds.com is delighted to have Dr. Frayne as a member of the team. Her interests, experiences and high level of education, combined with her strong desire to enthusiastically support the reason for the SALT fund, make her a valuable resource to our devoted customers. Customers can always count on her to make appropriate recommendations for your book selection needs.

Sandi Nagy

Sandi manages our shipping and receiving area and customer communications.

tel: 519-753-1185 ext. 118 email: helpme@goodminds.com

Shipping and Receiving

Three terrific employees work in this busy department, ensuring that your orders are assembled and shipped promptly. As a result, you can enjoy and share your book choices as rapidly as possible. Well organized, these employees handle the ongoing incoming new books so that our shelves are always stocked to fulfill your outgoing shipments. experience behind him, he is an expert at keeping GoodMinds.com ahead of the ever-changing technological curve of the book sales industry.