National Indigenous History Month
Celebrate the heritage, cultures, and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in Canada!
Alex shares his wampum belt
Crawford, Kelly, 1978- author.
2017
Alex explains what Wampum belts are, and their significance with respect to treaties.
Bearskin diary : a novel
Daniels, Carol, 1963- author
2015
Taken from the arms of her mother as soon as she was born, Sandy was only one of over twenty thousand Aboriginal children scooped up by the federal government between the 1960s and 1980s. Sandy was adopted by a Ukrainian family and grew up as the only First Nations child in a town of white people. From this tragic period in her personal life and in Canadian history, Sandy does not emerge unscathed, but she emerges strong--finding her way by embracing the First Nations culture that the Sixties Scoop had tried to deny.
Becoming kin : an indigenous call to unforgetting the past and reimagining our future
Krawec, Patty, author
2022
Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and disappearance, Krawec helps readers see settler colonialism through the eyes of an Indigenous writer. Settler colonialism tried to force us into one particular way of living, but the old ways of kinship can help us imagine a different future. Krawec asks, What would it look like to remember that we are all related? How might we become better relatives to the land, to one another, and to Indigenous movements for solidarity? Braiding together historical, scientific, and cultural analysis, Indigenous ways of knowing, and the vivid threads of communal memory, Krawec crafts a stunning, forceful call to 'unforget' our history.
A bounded land : reflections on settler colonialism in Canada
Harris, Cole, 1936- author
2020
"Canada is a bounded land - a nation situated between rock and cold to the north and a border to the south. Cole Harris traces how society was reorganized - for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike - when Europeans resettled this distinctive land. Through a series of vignettes that focus on people's experiences on the ground, he exposes the underlying architecture of colonialism, from first contacts, to the immigrant experience in early Canada, to the dispossession of First Nations. In the process, he unearths fresh insights on the influence of Indigenous Peoples and argues that Canada's boundedness is ultimately drawing it towards its Indigenous roots."-- Provided by publisher.
Clearing the plains : disease, politics of starvation, and the loss of Indigenous life
Daschuk, James W. (James William), 1961- author
2019
For king and Kanata : Canadian Indians and the First World War
Winegard, Timothy C. (Timothy Charles), 1977- author
2012
From where I stand : rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a stronger Canada
Wilson-Raybould, Jody, 1971- author
2019
"From Where I Stand is a timely, forthright, and optimistic book for all Canadians. Drawn from speeches made over a ten-year period both at home and abroad, Jody Wilson-Raybould reveals why true reconciliation will occur only when Canada moves beyond denial, recognizes Indigenous Rights, and replaces the Indian Act. We have the solutions. Now is the time to end the legacy of colonialism and replace it with a future built on foundations of trust, cooperation, and Indigenous self-government."-- Provided by publisher.
Gaawin gindaaswin ndaawsii = I am not a number
Dupuis, Jenny Kay, author.
2019
When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school she is confused, frightened, and terribly homesick. She tries to remember who she is and where she came from despite the efforts of the nuns to force her to do otherwise. Based on the life of Jenny Kay Dupuis' own grandmother, I Am Not a Number brings a terrible part of Canada's history to light in a way that children can learn from and relate to.
The inconvenient Indian : a curious account of native people in North America
King, Thomas, 1943-, author
2012
At once a "history" and the complete subversion of a history--this is a critical and personal meditation that Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be "Indian" in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other. In the process, King refashions old stories about historical events and figures, takes a sideways look at film and pop culture, relates his own complex experiences with activism, and articulates a deep and revolutionary understanding of the cumulative effects of ever-shifting laws and treaties on Native peoples and lands.
Indian Horse : a novel
Wagamese, Richard, author
2012
Saul Indian Horse is a child when his family retreats into the woods. But when winter approaches, Saul loses everything: his brother, his parents, his beloved grandmother--and then his home itself. Alone in the world and placed in a horrific boarding school, Saul is surrounded by violence and cruelty. At the urging of a priest, he finds a tentative salvation in hockey. His intuition and vision are unmatched. His speed is remarkable. Together they open doors for him: away from the school, into an all-Ojibway amateur circuit, and finally within grasp of a professional career. Yet as Saul's victories mount, so do the indignities and the taunts, the racism and the hatred--the harshness of a world that will never welcome him, tied inexorably to the sport he loves.
Indigenous firsts : a history of Native American achievements and events
Dennis, Yvonne Wakim, author
2023
"Indigenous Firsts: A History of Native American Achievement and Events recognizes and honors 2,000 barrier-breaking trailblazers and history-making events in multiple fields-arts, entertainment, business, sovereignty, education, government, religion, science, sports, music, and more"-- Provided by publisher.
The marrow thieves
Dimaline, Cherie, 1975- author
2018
Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden - but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.
Medicine that walks : disease, medicine and Canadian Plains native people, 1880-1940
Lux, Maureen K. (Maureen Katherine), 1956-
2001
Seven fallen feathers : racism, death, and hard truths in a northern city
Talaga, Tanya, author
2017
Over the span of ten years, seven high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The seven were hundreds of miles away from their families, forced to leave their reserve because there was no high school there for them to attend. Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this northern city that has come to manifest, and struggle with, human rights violations past and present against aboriginal communities.
Split tooth
Tagaq, 1975- author
2018
Fact can be as strange as fiction. It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them. A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents' love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us. When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this. Veering back and forth between the grittiest features of a small arctic town, the electrifying proximity of the world of animals, and ravishing world of myth, Tanya Tagaq explores a world where the distinctions between good and evil, animal and human, victim and transgressor, real and imagined lose their meaning, but the guiding power of love remains. Haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once, Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction and memoir, myth and reality, poetry and prose, and conjures a world and a heroine readers will never forget.
This benevolent experiment : Indigenous boarding schools, genocide, and redress in the Canada and the United States
Woolford, Andrew John, 1971- author
2015
This place : 150 years retold
2019
Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.
Wayi wah! Indigenous pedagogies : an act for reconciliation and anti-racist education
Chrona, Jo, author
2022