The Canada Reads 2022 theme, "One Book to Connect Us," was at the heart of the first round of debates as the five champions talked about the contending books. Forest ecologist and author Suzanne Simard is defending Life in the City of Dirty Water by Clayton Thomas-Müller. The Cree activist tells his life story in this debut memoir, from facing the effects of intergenerational trauma as the son of residential school survivors to becoming a committed leader in the environmental movement. Along the way, Thomas-Müller remained tied to his Cree heritage and spirituality to create a vision of healing within oneself and with the Earth.