From the authors: "Decolonizing Gender: A Curriculum is a guided reflection on gender identity, race, and colonialism. Designed for both individuals and groups, this zine asks deep and probing questions about why the gender binary is seen as the "norm", despite people who choose to exist outside of the binary having existed forever."

In the 1930s two young brothers are sent to a government-run Indian residential school -- an experience shared by generations of Native American children. At these schools, children are forbidden to speak their native tongue and are taught to abandon their Indian ways. Native American artist Judith Lowry's illustrations are inspired by the stories she heard from her father and uncle. The lyrical narrative and compelling paintings blend memory and myth in this bittersweet story of the boys' journey home one summer and the healing power of their culture.

Honouring the Buffalo is the story of how the Buffalo gifted themselves so freely through the Creator to the Plains Cree people to help them survive. Discover how every part of the buffalo was used to provide shelter, food, clothing, tools, hunting, spiritual ceremonies and many other necessities. The legend is shared by Raymond Lavallee, Wisdom Keeper and Medicine Man of the Piapot First Nation. The narrative is written by Judith Silverthorne. Artwork is created by Mike Keepness. Link includes access to Educational Resources, including study guides and audio recordings. *2017 Silver Medal Winner, Independent Publisher Book awards – Best Regional Non-Fiction; 2017 Silver Medal Winner, Independent Publisher Book awards – Best Regional Non-Fiction; 2016 Winner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards – Children’s Picture Book (6 years and up); 2015 Winner, Silver Medal, Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards – Environmental Issues; 2016 Shortlisted, High Plains Award for Children’s Literature (Oct); 2016 Shortlisted, High Plains Award for Art & Photography (Oct); 2016 Shortlisted, Saskatchewan Book Award – Children’s Literature; 2016 Shortlisted, Saskatchewan Book Award – Aboriginal Peoples’ Writing (storyteller, Ray Lavallee); 2016 Shortlisted, Saskatchewan Book Award – Aboriginal Peoples’ Publishing (Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing); 2015/16, Our Choice List, Canadian Children’s Book Centre

From the creators: "We join forces with two amazing Indigenous writers and scholars who are making waves in the literary scene with their poetry, prose, and fiction. They weave words and worlds to help us see and understand queer indigenous identities and bodies, the ways that settler colonialism has disrupted and distorted our relationships, and the power of asserting voice in spaces not meant for us." Interviewees are Joshua Whitehead (who is Ojibwe & Cree, from the Peguis First Nation, located in Treaty 1 territory, and is Two Spirit IndigiQueer) and Billiy-Ray Belcourt (who is from the Driftpile Cree Nation and is a PhD student in the Department of English & Film Studies at the University of Alberta); work from both of these authors is featured in this resource list.There is a small mention of sexual assault about halfway through the episode, so teachers should listen through first, warn their classes and be prepared with resources for survivors.

Kookum's Red Shoes is a children's picture book from well-known children's author Peter Eyvindson. In this story, an Elder, Kookum, tells about her experiences as a child attending a Catholic-run residential school. As a child growing up in a loving family, Kookum recalls seeing a movie called The Wizard of Oz. Like Dorothy, Kookum is taken up into a wild and scary tornado as she is whisked away from her home into a foreign residential school. She had to leave her lovely red shoes behind. The story follows Kookum's at residential school and she finds her beautiful red shoes are too small when she eventually returned to her home community. This story makes a fine introduction for elementary students into the experience of one Elder who endured the trauma of residential school. By introducing the reader to the magical story of Oz the author creates a new approach to this difficult subject.

From the author: "This presentation will share an understanding of Cree traditional law and discuss its contemporary application in relation to gender and sexual diversity. I will offer a brief history of how the sexuality and bodies of Indigenous, specifically Cree two spirit (LGBTQ) people became regulated through governmental and church policy and discuss how the social movement Idle No More has validated traditional understandings and practices. Through research and examples, personal observations, stories and experiences, the meaning and importance of body sovereignty and gender self-determination and expression will be presented as necessary aspects of undoing systemic forms of oppression and revisioning as a positive ‘coming in’ process."

Canada's residential school system for aboriginal young people is now recognized as a grievous historic wrong committed against First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples. This book documents this subject in a format that will give all young people access to this painful part of Canadian history. In 1857, the Gradual Civilization Act was passed by the Legislature of the Province of Canada with the aim of assimilating First Nations people. In 1879, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald commissioned the "Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds." This report led to native residential schools across Canada. First Nations and Inuit children aged seven to fifteen years old were taken from their families, sometimes by force, and sent to residential schools where they were made to abandon their culture. They were dressed in uniforms, their hair was cut, they were forbidden to speak their native language, and they were often subjected to physical and psychological abuse. The schools were run by the churches and funded by the federal government. About 150,000 Indigenous children went to 130 residential schools across Canada. The last federally funded residential school closed in 1996 in Saskatchewan. The horrors that many children endured at residential schools did not go away. It took decades for people to speak out, but with the support of the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit organizations, former residential school students took the federal government and the churches to court. Their cases led to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history. In 2008, Prime Minister Harper formally apologized to former native residential school students for the atrocities they suffered and the role the government played in setting up the school system. The agreement included the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has since worked to document this experience and toward reconciliation. Through historical photographs, documents, and first-person narratives from First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people who survived residential schools, this book offers an account of the injustice of this period in Canadian history. It documents how this official racism was confronted and finally acknowledged.

The story of the beautiful relationship between a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks her grandfather how to say something in his language – Cree – he admits that his language was stolen from him when he was a boy. The little girl then sets out to help her grandfather find his language again. This sensitive and warmly illustrated picture book explores the intergenerational impact of the residential school system that separated young Indigenous children from their families. The story recognizes the pain of those whose culture and language were taken from them, how that pain is passed down, and how healing can also be shared.

A young girl discovers her Cayuga heritage when she finds a mask that sings to her. Cass and her mom have always stood on their own against the world. Then Cass learns she had a grandmother, one who was never part of her life, one who has just died and left her and her mother the first house they could call their own. But with it comes more questions than answers: Why is her Mom so determined not to live there? Why was this relative kept so secret? And what is the unusual mask, hidden in a drawer, trying to tell her? Strange dreams, strange voices, and strange incidents all lead Cass closer to solving the mystery and making connections she never dreamed she had.

En utilisant ce guide d’enseignement, l’élève sera amené à découvrir l’historique des pensionnats au Canada, à découvrir certains problèmes importants liés aux pensionnats et à constater les conséquences des pensionnats sur les Survivants et Surivantes, et leurs familles.