Today, September 30, 2021 honours the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. We have curated a list of twenty books you can read to learn about indigenous people, their history, residential schools and why a day of truth, healing and reconciliation is important nationally.
Here are 20 books you can read:
- Indian in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power written by Jody Wilson-Raybould
- Phyllis’s Orange Shirt written by Phyllis Webstad
- The Strangers by Katherine Vermette
- 5 Little Indians: A Novel by Michelle Good
- Probably Ruby: A Novel by Lisa Bird-Wilson
- Unreconciled: Family, Truth and Indigenous Resistance by Jesse Wente
- A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliot
- The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
- NDN Coping Mechanisms by Billy-ray Belcourt
- On/Me by Francine Cunningham
- Peace and Good Order by Harold R.Johnson
- If I go Missing by Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose
- The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina
- Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
- The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson
- Black Water by David A. Robertson
- Highway of Tears by Jessica McDiarmid
- Our Story: Aboriginal Voices on Canada’s Past by Thomas King
- From the Ashes: My Story of Being Metis, Homeless, and Finding My Way by Jesse Thistle
- The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King
Another idea is taking part in events like this: Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society.
This event will include honour songs, prayers, residential school survivor stories, circle talks and crafts.
The idea is to find activities or events which helps your understanding of the trauma indigenous people have gone through.
If you are affected or triggered in any way by the events going on today, please call: 1-866-925-4419. This number is the Indian Residential Schools Crises Line. It is available 24-hours a day for any one experiencing pain or distress as a result of his or her Residential school experience.
