Healing and Reconciliation: Continuing the Journey Reading List

If possible, please choose, at least one book from each category;

1. Non Fiction Book: • 21 Things You May Not Know about The Indian Act by Joseph Bob. The title is self-explanatory since it explains the history of the Act as well helping us to gain a better understanding of it. • “A Knock on the Door” by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. This is an easy to read summary of the work completed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. • Broken Circle by Theodore Fontaine. About the author’s life at Fort Alexander Indian Residential School. It demonstrates the legacy of the schools and as stated in the preface, it allows the reader to gain a better understanding of "Why can't Aboriginal people just get over Residential Schools?". • The Comeback by John Ralston Saul. Although written by a non-Indigenous person, John Ralston Saul, a brilliant writer, explains that history has been uncomfortable. Now we need to rebuild relationships. The book concludes with voices from others that give history to the present situation in Canada. 2. Fiction Book: • “The Break” by Katherena Vermette. This book chronicles the life of a young Metis mother and the surrounding community in Winnipeg’s north end. This book has harsh language but is set in a place where we will be visiting. • “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese. This book is about an Indigenous boy who finds a love and talent for hockey, growing up in a residential school. • The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. This Young Adult book has received excellent reviews including a finalist on Canada Reads 2018. To some extent, it is about dreaming, and the North American Indigenous population are the only people still able to dream. • Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese. The author has written this book about a difficult journey in the backcountry of BC. It follows the life of Eldon and Franklin Starlight. It follows their lives through was and working in various mill towns. • Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden-Taylor. This book is a little lighter than the other books. A stranger comes to town on his motorcycle and turns the community of Otter Lake upside down. It is a book about the stranger, martial arts and raccoons, yes raccoons. 3. Video: • CBC’s: “Colonization Road” Join Anishinaabe comedian, Ryan McMahon as he travels across Ontario learning about Colonization Roads, the ways in which they have dispossessed Indigenous people of land and access to traditional territories while creating space for settlers in the colonial experiment that has become Canada. This video will show you the area and road on which the Cecilia Jeffrey school was located. o http://watch.cbc.ca/firsthand/season-2/colonization-road/38e815a-00b9abca4fc. • Indian Horse, the movie is now on DVD. It is very powerful and is based on the book of the same name. Although it is considered fiction, it portrays very well the life in a residential school. 4. Short Story: • Wenjack by Joseph Boyden OR Secret Path by Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire. Both books are fictionalized accounts of what is known of Chanie Wenjack’s experience as a student at the Cecilia Jeffrey school

Further Reference Material VIDEOS

• CBC’s “8th Fire” series – available online at cbc.ca. This is a 4 part series on Indigenous people in Canada

• CBC: “The Secret Path.” On October 22, 1966 near Kenora, Ontario, Chanie Wenjack died when he walking home to the family he was taken from over 400 miles away. Fifty years later, Gord Downie (Tragically Hip) has taken Wenjack's story and turned it into the Secret Path project, which consists of a solo album, a graphic novel and an animated film. http://watch.cbc.ca/the-secret-path/-/episode-1/38e815a-00b11deb591.

• “Elder in the Making” (6 episodes). Cowboy, a Blackfoot Indigenous man, and Chris, a Chinese- Canadian, road trip across traditional Blackfoot territory (Southern Alberta) and rediscover stories of their shared home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYglFfTG0TE

• “Reserve 107.” The story of a community in rural Saskatchewan confronted with the realization that they were living on a former reserve and the ensuing response from the Mennonite and Lutheran churches in the community. https://www.reserve107thefilm.com/

• TEDxManitoba - “Oppression to Opportunity” by Michael Champagne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXJOQYxxV2Y

• Truth and Reconciliation: Calls to Action for Seminary and Church and refer to the Joyce Johnston and Sheila Robson presentations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwJL4n87oJ4.

RADIO, PODCASTS, BLOGS & MULTIMEDIA

• Âpihtawikosisân by Chelsea Vowel. This blog is written by a Métis writer and lawyer. The section “Indigenous Issues 101” offers good primers including posts on Indian status, taxation, language, etc. http://apihtawikosisan.com/aboriginal-issue-primers/

• CBC: “Unreserved.” Browse past episodes online to listen to Indigenous perspectives on a variety of topics. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved

• CBC: “Missing and Murdered.” This project is part of CBC's ongoing investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women. They continue to expand their database of all unsolved cases. Use their Case Explorer to search more than 250 of those cases. You can also listen to their podcast: “Who Killed Alberta Williams” http://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/ 2

http://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/podcast

• “Indigenous Nationhood” by Pam Palmater. Palmater is an Indigenous lawyer. Her blog posts debunk myths and stereotypes about Indigenous people and critique Canadian law and policy. http://www.pampalmater.com/

BOOKS (* Indigenous author ** Indigenous and Non-Indigenous contributing authors) Fiction • * The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King • * North End Love Songs by Katherena Vermette. Award winning poetry from a Winnipeg author. • * Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese • Take Us to Your Chief by Drew Hayden Taylor • Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson • Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson • Keeper’n Me by Richard Wagamese • Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese • Starlight by Richard Wagamese

Memoirs • * Broken Circle by Theodore Fontaine. A survivor’s memoir of residential school. • * The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew. The author writes about reconnecting with his father. • * Up Ghost River by Edmund Metatawabin. A memoir from a residential school survivor.

Non-Fiction • Children of the Broken Treaty by Charlie Angus • Indian School Road by Chris Benjamin • Citizens Plus by Alan C. Cairns • Clearing the Plains by James Daschuk. A chilling and methodical record of how infectious disease and state-supported starvation combined to create an ongoing crisis for Indigenous people. • Buffalo Shoot, Salmon Cry by Heinrichs, Steve (ed.) • * The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King. A hilarious (often biting) comprehensive overview of policy and attitudes toward Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada. You’ll laugh and cry. • Tecumseh and Brock by James Laxer • Native Peoples: The Canadian Experience by Bruce Morrison and Roderick Wilson • Starlight Tour by Susanne Reber and Robert Renaud • Unsettling the Settler Within by Paulette Regan. An academic consideration of how non- Indigenous (largely of Western European descent) people can begin to recognize and question their power and privilege in Canadian society. • A Fair Country by John Ralston Saul • The Comeback by John Ralston Saul • Price Paid by Bev Sellars • Anishnaabe World by Roger Spielmann 3

• On Being here To Stay by Michael Asch, • A Matter of Conscience by James Bartleman • Seasons of Hope by James Bartleman • First Nations? Second Thoughts by Tom Flanagan • The Power of Kindness: Pages 140-156: Games of Empathy by Brian Goldman • Speaking our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith • Firewater by Harold R. Johnson • Approaching Dawn by Nancy Morrison • Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese • The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad (Children’s book)

Anthologies & Compilations • ** Realizing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Triumph, hope and action by Jackie Hartley, Paul Joffe and Jennifer Preston. A series of essays, including prominent Indigenous academics, politicians and activists outline the importance of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in Canada. • * Residential Schools with the words and images of survivors by Larry Loyie. A compilation of many survivor’s experiences at residential school. • From Recognition to Reconciliation by Patrick Macklem and Douglas Sanderson (editors) • * Memory Serves and Other Essays by Lee Maracle. Lee Maracle is an Indigenous academic. This is an anthology of talks she’s given over twenty years. • ** In This Together by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail (ed). A collection of essays from a wide swath of Canadian Indigenous and non-Indigenous people reflecting on the impacts of colonization. • ** Reconciliation & the Way Forward (Essays & Reflections) by Shelagh Rogers, et al. (editors). A collection of essays outlining the connections between the residential school system and current issues for Indigenous people, written by residential school survivors, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous academic, politicians and journalists.

Church Materials • The Presbyterian Church in Canada: Confession to Aboriginal People presbyterian.ca/resources/resources-hr/

• The Presbyterian Church in Canada: Photo Archives presbyterianarchives.ca/2016/10/25/residential-schools-photographs-from-the-archives/

• A New Covenant: Towards the Constitutional Recognition and Protection of Aboriginal Self- Government in Canada – A Pastoral Statement by the Leaders of the Christian Churches on Aboriginal Rights and the Canadian Constitution kairoscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/A-New-Covenant-Pastoral-Statement-1987.pdf

• Special report TD Economics (Debunking Aboriginal Myths) https://www.td.com/document/PDF/economics/special/sg0612_aboriginal_myth.pdf.

• The Presbyterian Church in Canada: Archives

http://presbyterianarchives.ca/2016/10/25/residential-schools-photographs-from-the- archives/.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Documents • Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Calls to Action trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf.

• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission: They Came for the Children. Summary of interim findings and reconstruction of the history of residential schools in Canada by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. www.myrobust.com/websites/trcinstitution/File/2039_T&R_eng_web%5B1%5D.pdf

• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission: What We Have Learned