Further reading and resources
National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation YouTube channel hosts many useful educational videos.
University of Alberta, Indigenous Canada (free registration) Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada,from an Indigenous perspective.
Museum of Ontario Archeology
1600 Attawandaron Rd., London
Discover the history of archaeology and rich heritage of Southwestern Ontario. Featuring over 12,000 years of Ontario’s history, the Museum also cares for the Canadian heritage Site of the Lawson Village adjacent to the Museum.
Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada v.1-4, published by Canadian Geographic. Maps and timely articles by indigenous contributors. (Expensive to purchase but check your local library).
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) Report, Canada Communication Group Publishing, 1996. The RCAP was established following the Oka Crisis in the summer of 1990. In her explanation of Indigenous ways of knowing during the Mapping the Ground workshop, Esther Wesley quotes from 1:622-623 “The need to walk on the land in order to know…” Find five volumes in .pdf format at
**Doctrine of Discovery – Stolen Lands, Strong Hearts (video resource):
The film and study guide are one response of the Anglican Church’s Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice to the TRC’s calls to action. They provide education and insight into the racist foundations of many property laws and other laws still in existence.
Why do Land Acknowledgments?
A helpful animated presentation of a rationale for land acknowledgements by Ryan Mathesonand Jessie Longboat of the University of Guelph.
Joseph, Bob, 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act, 2016. An essential guide to understanding the 1876 legal document – how it shaped, controlled, and constrained the lives and opportunities of generations of Indigenous Peoples and is a source of many enduring stereotypes.
Vowel, Chelsea, Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Metis & Inuit Issues in Canada, 2016
Other Reading and research:
WHOSE LAND app
A web-based version is also accessible from a computer. Gives the traditional peoples and any treaty for a location
Government of Canada maps
Government of Ontario maps
Manitoba Treaty Relations Commission – treaties today and background understanding of treaties
Indigenous owned and operated Goodminds on-line Bookstore with authentically vetted adult and children’s resources.
Smith, Donald B., Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Calgary, Seen but Not Seen, University of Toronto Press; 2021.
The Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (International framework):
As you read it, notice how many times the provision for Free, Prior and Informed Consent is included (Articles, 10, 11, 19, 20, 29 and 32).
The Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Canadian road map):
Notice how many times the document references the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the number of times and ways the churches are called upon to take action particularly under the section on reconciliation.
An Action in Solidarity with the Indigenous People of Canada (Worship). Created by the Rev. Canon Greg Smith, this worship resource was offered as a response to the Primate’s 2016 call for every parish in Canada to read the UNDRIP on the Sunday closest to June 21, National Aboriginal Day.
June 21st, 2021: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act received Royal Assent and came into force. It provides a roadmap for the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples to work together in a consultative and cooperative manner to implement the Declaration and respect Aboriginal and Treaty rights recognized and affirmed by the Constitution, Section 35. explanation and next steps
Archbishop Michael Peers’ 1993 Apology (Response from the Anglican Church of Canada)
The Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) document, “Where We Are Today: Twenty Years after the Covenant, an Indigenous Call to the Wider Church” (Response to the ACC)
Report to General Synod 2016 of the Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice (Response by the ACC to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples):
The Road to Warm Springs – The National Consultation on Indigenous Anglican Self-Determination, Pinawa, Manitoba, September 14-17, 2017 (Consultation documents), “A Call to the Church from The National Consultation on Indigenous Self-Determination,” and videos from and about the consultation can be found here.
Reconciliation Toolkit, Anglican Church of Canada From commemorations, walks and feast to study groups and social action groups, more and more people are getting involved in this ongoing healing journey. Reconciliation, right relationship, justice-seeking – these are all part of a “trajectory of grace. “ There are many places to enter into this journey. Wherever you are at, these resources will help you either enter into this journey for the first time, or take the next step.
An Apology for Spiritual Harm (The Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada) At General Synod 2019 in Vancouver, B.C., the Primate issued the Apology “at the desire of many across the Church, at the call of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, and at the request and with the authority of the Council of the General Synod.”
“Our Story of Self-Determination” produced for distribution at General Synod 2019, is a compilation of foundational and historical documents of The National Indigenous Ministry. It was compiled to offer the whole church the history of the spiritual journey of Indigenous peoples to self-determination.
Pikangikum FN Clean Water Project to 2019, Water First 2020, Mishamikoweesh Water projects 2021 onward with support from Pimatisiwin Nipi (Living Waters Group). Subscribe for bi-monthly updates.
Qallunaat! Nungak, Zebedee (Inuit writer and satirist), and Sandiford, Mark (filmmaker). 2006, 52 minutes, The documentary pokes fun at the ways in which Inuit people have been treated as “exotic” documentary subjects by turning the lens onto the strange behaviours of Qallunaat (the Inuit word for white people). The term refers less to skin colour than to a certain state of mind
One of the most acclaimed Indigenous directors in the world, Alanis Obomsawin joined the NFB in 1967. Among the more than 60 films to her credit are documentaries such as Incident at Restigouche (1984) and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993). The Abenaki director says “My main interest all my life has been education … you learn to hate, or to love.”
Listening to Indigenous Voices: A Dialogue Guide on Justice and Right Relationships, Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice, 2021. A 12-session program with online videos, music, art and other material. Bulk pricing is available on orders of 10 or more copies. Suitable for group study.
www.resilientinukcreations.ca Vanessa is an advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit.
SMOKE SIGNALS
Join Mary Lou and Dan Some as they host this First Nations radio program on Radio Western.
Books:
Taillet, Jean,The Northwest is our Mother: the story of Louis Riel’s people, the Metis Nation, 2019 (Getting a sense of colonizing, settling and displacement in the Canadian West)
Brown, Chester, Louis Riel; A Comic Strip Biography, Drawn and Quarterly Publications, Montreal, 1999-2003.
Daschuk, James, Clearing the Plains, 2019 (roles that Old World diseases, climate, Canadian politics of ethnocide played in deaths and subjugation of Indigenous peoples in the realization of Sir J A MacDonald’s National Dream)
Campbell, Maria, Halfbreed, McLelland and Stewart, new edition 2019.
Trottier, Maxine, Blood Upon Our Land: The North West Resistance Diary of Josephine Bouvier, Scholastic Books, Children 9-12
Heinrichs, Steve, editor, Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization, 2018. Over 60 Indigenous and Settler re-read and re-imagine the ancient texts for the sake of reparative futures.
Highway, Thompson, Permanent Astonishment, 2021, Doubleday Canada. Memoir of his early life offering insights, both hilarious and profound, into the Cree experience of culture, conquest, and survival. Winner: 2021 Hilary Weston Writers” Trust Prize For Nonfiction Available- audio
Kimmerer, Robin Wall, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants.From milkweed.org: “As a botanist, the author has been trained to examine nature with the tools of science; as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our teachers. Here she brings these two lenses together, showing how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.
Ross,Rupert, Dancing with a Ghost: Exploring Aboriginal Reality, 1992, reprinted 2006. Dancing with a Ghost is Ross’s attempt to give some definition to the cultural gap that bedevils the relationships and distorts the communications between Native peoples and the dominant white Canadian society—and to encourage others to begin their own respectful cross-cultural explorations. As Ross discovered, traditional perspectives have a great deal to offer modern-day Canada, not only in the context of justice but also in terms of the broader concepts of peaceful social organization and personal fulfilment.
Shoalts, Adam, A History of Canada in Ten Maps. An entertaining read that gives aselective survey of European arrival in what we now know as “Canada” from the perspective of map making by Europeans. Stories from pre-industrialization detail the complex and important relationships between “explorers” and new “arrivees” with Indigenous nations.
Twiss, Richard, Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way. From goodreads.com: “Twiss gives voice to the stories of Native followers of Jesus, with perspectives on theology and spirituality plus concrete models for intercultural ministry. Future generations of Native followers of Jesus, and those working cross-culturally with them, will be indebted to this work.’
