Reading for Truth & Reconciliation

"Based on a viral article, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act is the essential guide to understanding the legal document and its repercussion on generations of Indigenous peoples, written by a leading cultural sensitivity trainer. The Indian Act, after 141 years, continues to shape, control, and constrain the lives and opportunities of Indigenous peoples, and is at the root of many lasting stereotypes. Bob Joseph's book comes at a key...

In Aboriginal Rights Claims and the Making and Remaking of History, a comparative study encompassing five former British colonies (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States), Arthur Ray examines how claims-oriented research is framed by existing Indigenous rights law and claims legislation and how, in turn, it has influenced the development of laws and legislation. Ray also explores the ways in which the procedures and settings...

"Every single year in Canada, one-third of all deaths among Indigenous youth are due to suicide. Studies indicate youth between the ages of ten and nineteen, living on reserve, are five to six times more likely to commit suicide than their peers in the rest of the population. Suicide is a new behaviour for First Nations people. There is no record of any suicide epidemics prior to the establishment of the 130 residential schools across Canada. Bestselling...

Amik loves going to school, but when he shares this with his grandfather, he finds out Moshoom attended residential school. At Moshoom's school, students were forbidden from speaking their language. It sounds very different from Amik's school, so Amik has an idea… In this heartwarming story, an Anishinaabe child shows his grandfather how his school celebrates the culture that residential schools tried to erase. A pronunciation guide for the Anishnaabemowin...

"Written in an accessible style and ideal for classroom use, Arrows in a Quiver provides an overview of Indigenous-settler relations, including how land is central to Indigenous identity and how the Canadian state marginalizes Indigenous people. Illustrating the various 'arrows in a quiver' that Indigenous people use to fight back, such as grassroots organizing, political engagement, and the courts, Frideres situates 'settler colonialism' historically...

"Interrogating the concept of environmental justice in the U.S. as it relates to Indigenous peoples, this book argues that a different framework must apply compared to other marginalized communities, while it also attends to the colonial history and structure of the U.S. and ways Indigenous peoples continue to resist, and ways the mainstream environmental movement has been an impediment to effective organizing and allyship"--Publisher.

From the accomplished memoirist and former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario comes a first novel of incredible heart and spirit. The novel follows Martha, from the Cat Lake First Nation, who is "stolen" from her family at the age of six and flown far away to a residential school. She doesn't speak English but is punished for speaking her native language; she is also "fed" to the school's attendant priest with an attraction to little girls. Ten long years...