The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day are crucial moments for reflection and learning about the true history of Canada and the ongoing impacts of residential schools. To support you on your journey toward reconciliation, DWF has compiled a list of recommended readings to deepen your understanding. Each book offers unique perspective and insight into Indigenous cultures and experiences.
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
Author: Tanya Talaga
Description: Over the span of eleven years, seven Indigenous high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. They were hundreds of kilometres away from their families, forced to leave home because there was no adequate high school on their reserves. Five were found dead in the rivers surrounding Lake Superior, below a sacred Indigenous site. Using a sweeping narrative focusing on the lives of the students, award-winning author Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this northern city that has come to manifest Canada’s long struggle with human rights violations against Indigenous communities.
Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations
Author: Richard Wagamese
Description: In this carefully curated selection of everyday reflections, Richard Wagamese offers readers profound reflections on life, healing, and spirituality from an Ojibway perspective. This book invites readers to connect with Indigenous wisdom, making it a gentle yet powerful resource for those seeking to deepen their understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing.
Rekindling the Sacred Fire: Métis Ancestry and Anishinaabe Spirituality
Author: Chantal Fiola
Description: In Rekindling the Sacred Fire, Chantal Fiola investigates the relationship between Red River Métis ancestry, Anishinaabe spirituality, and identity, bringing into focus the ongoing historical impacts of colonization upon Métis relationships with spirituality on the Canadian prairies. Using a methodology rooted in an Indigenous worldview, Fiola interviews eighteen people with Métis ancestry, or a historic familial connection to the Red River Métis, who participate in Anishinaabe ceremonies, sharing stories about family history, self-identification, and their relationships with Aboriginal and Euro-Canadian cultures and spiritualities.
Halfbreed
Author: Maria Campbell
Description: An unflinchingly honest memoir of her experience as a Métis woman in Canada, Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed depicts the realities that she endured and, above all, overcame. This extraordinary account bravely explores the poverty, oppression, alcoholism, addiction, and tragedy Maria endured throughout her childhood and into her early adult life, underscored by living in the margins of a country pervaded by hatred, discrimination, and mistrust. Laced with spare moments of love and joy, this is a memoir of family ties and finding an identity in a heritage that is neither wholly Indigenous or Anglo; of strength and resilience; of indomitable spirit.
The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet
Author: Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Description: In this culmination of Watt-Cloutier’s regional, national, and international work over the last twenty-five years, The Right to Be Cold explores the parallels between safeguarding the Arctic and the survival of Inuit culture, of which her own background is such an extraordinary example. This is a human story of resilience, commitment, and survival told from the unique vantage point of an Inuk woman who, in spite of many obstacles, rose from humble beginnings in the Arctic to become one of the most influential and decorated environmental, cultural, and human rights advocates in the world.
Every Child Matters
Author: Phyllis Webstad
Description: “Every Child Matters” is a collection of stories, including Phyllis Webstad’s personal account, that inspired the Orange Shirt Day movement. This book serves as a powerful reminder of the legacy of residential schools and the importance of acknowledging and honoring the experiences of survivors and their families.
This list is just a starting point for continued learning and reflection. We encourage everyone to read, reflect, and take meaningful action this Truth and Reconciliation Week.
