Reading and discussing stories can help us further our collective understanding of the harms of colonization and inform the actions we can all take together to lead us toward reconciliation.
Highlighting Indigenous Voices
Selkirk Reads! aims to highlight Indigenous authors, voices and stories to help lead us toward greater understanding, truth and reconciliation.
Long List
Looking for a book to read independently? Browse the Selkirk Reads! long list.
Legacy of Hope Foundation Exhibit: Indian Day Schools in Canada
Books
What We Learned: Two Generations Reflect on Tsimshian Education and the Day Schools by By Helen Raptis, with members of the Tsimshian Nation
Students by Day: Colonialism and Resistance at the Curve Lake Indian Day School by Jackson Pind
Spirit of the Grassroots People: Seeking Justice for Indigenous Survivors of Canada's Colonial Education System by Raymond Mason, edited by Jackson Pind and Theodore Michael Christou
Podcast
Articles and Dissertations
"Canada’s Indian Day Schools: The Case of Massett, Haida Gwaii, 1909–1924" by Alan L. Hayes, Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto
"Silencing Voices: Indigenous Day Schools and the Education Section of Hawthorn's 1958 Report for British Columbia" by Stefan Dollinger, Veronika Larsen and Emilie Jones, British Journal of Canadian Studies
"'The New Generation' Cooperative Education at the Day School on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, 1890-1910" by Brittany Luby and Kathryn Labelle, Ontario History
"Part of that Whole System': Maritime Day and Residential Schooling and Federal Culpability" by Martha Walls, St. Francis Xavier University
"'True to my own noble race': Six Nations Women Teachers at Grand River in the Early Twentieth Century" by Alison Norman, Ontario History
"'[T]he Teacher that Cannot Understand their Language Should Not Be Allowed': Colonialism, Resistance, and Female Mi’kmaw Teachers in New Brunswick Day Schools, 1900–1923" by Martha E. Wall, Journal of the Canadian Historical Association
Fiction
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese
Empty Spaces by Jordan Abel
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac
Birdie by Tracey Lindberg
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer
Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel
Moccasin Square Gardens by Richard Van Camp
The Strangers by Katherena Vermette
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp
Short stories
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology Eds. Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr.
Memoirs
All the Way: My Life on Ice by Jordin Tootoo
The Outside Circle by Patti Laboucane-Benson
On/Me by Francine Cunningham
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi'kmaq Poet by Rita Joe
Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman by Yvonne Johnson & Rudy Wiebe
In My Own Moccasins by Helen Knott
Mamaskatch by Darrel J. McLeod
The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty
Take the Indian Out of the Child: Syilx Okanagan Experiences in the Violent and Forced Assimilation of Indian Residential Schools by Okanagan Nation Alliance
Bones by Tyler Pennock
Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential Schools to Becoming the NHL’s First Indigenous Player by Fred Sasakamoose
Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun by Paul Seesequasis
They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by Angela Sterritt
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
Life in the City of Dirty Water by Clayton Thomas-Muller
The Shoe Boy by Duncan McCue
Graphic novels
This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, et al.
If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose, art by Nshannacappo
Poetry
The All + Flesh by Brandi Bird
Treaty # by Armand Garnet Ruffo
Hope Matters by Lee Maracle, Columpa Bobb and Tania Carter
Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist
River Woman by Katherena Vermette
The Red Files by Lisa Bird-Wilsonn
Non-fiction
White Benevolence: Racism and Colonial Violence in the Helping Professions Eds. Amanda Gebhard, Sheelah McLean & Verna St. Denis
Decolonizing Education: Nurturing the Learning Spirit by Marie Battiste
In this Together: 15 Stories of Truth & Reconciliation by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail
The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy by Arthur Manuel & Grand-Chief Ronald Derrickson
Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec & Nick Estes
Finding My Talk: How Fourteen Native Women Reclaimed their Lives After Residential School by Agnes Grant
Behind Closed Doors: Testimonials from the Kamloops Indian Residential School Ed. Agnes Jack
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph
Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call by Grand-Chief Ronald Derrickson & Arthur Manuel
Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It by Bruce McIvor
Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada by Paulette Regan
Pathways of Reconciliation: Indigenous & Settler Approaches to Implementing the TRC’s Calls to Action Eds. Aimee Kraft & Paulette Regan
Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel
Beyond the Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad
True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change by Jody Wilson-Raybould
Making Love with the Land by Joshua Whitehead
Braiding Legal Orders: Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Eds. John Burrows, Larry N. Chartrand, Oonagh E. Fitzgerald, Risa Schwartz & Centre for International Governance Innovation
Reports
What We Have Learned: The Final Report of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada by Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada
UNDRIP Implementation More Reflections on the Braiding of International, Domestic and Indigenous Laws by the Centre for International Governance Innovation in partnership with Wiyasiwewin Mikiwahp Native Law Centre of the University of Saskatchewan College of Law
Children's literature
The Barren Grounds: The Misewa Saga #1 by David Alexander Robertson
The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad
Phyllis's Orange Shirt by Phyllis Webstad
15 Books that Teach Children about Residential Schools compiled by Today's Parent