Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of Residential schools. At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, a black-cloaked nun with a hooked nose and bony fingers that resemble claws. She immediately dislikes the strong-willed young Margaret. Intending to humiliate her, the heartless Raven gives gray stockings to all the girls — all except Margaret, who gets red ones. In an instant Margaret is the laughingstock of the entire school. In the face of such cruelty, Margaret refuses to be intimidated and bravely gets rid of the stockings. Although a sympathetic nun stands up for Margaret, in the end it is this brave young girl who gives the Raven a lesson in the power of human dignity. Complemented by archival photos from Margaret Pokiak-Fenton’s collection and striking artworks from Liz Amini-Holmes, this inspiring first-person account of a plucky girl’s determination to confront her tormentor will linger with young readers. *Ten Best Children’s books of the Year, The Globe and Mail USBBY Outstanding International Books Honor List PubWest Book Design Awards, Bronze Nautilus Award, Silver Skipping Stones Honor Book Information Book Award, Honor Book Best Books for Kids & Teens, starred selection, Canadian Children’s Book Centre First Nation Communities Read Selection Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize finalist Book of the Year Award finalist, ForeWord Reviews Cybils, Blogger Literary Award nomination Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Award nomination Hackmatack Award nomination Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award nomination Golden Oak Award nomination, Ontario Library Association Rocky Mountain Book Award nomination Young Readers Choice Award nomination, Pacific Northwest Library Association

This book is the humorous, bitter-sweet autobiography of an Ojibwa who was taken from his family at age ten and placed in Jesuit boarding school in northern Ontario. It was 1939 when the feared Indian agent visited Basil Johnston’s family and removed him and his four-year-old sister to St. Peter Claver School, run by the priests in a community known as Spanish, 75 miles from Sudbury. "Spanish! It was a word synonymous with residential school, penitentiary, reformatory, exile, dungeon, whippings, kicks, slaps, all rolled into one," Johnston recalls. But despite the aching loneliness, the deprivation, the culture shock and the numbing routine, his story is engaging and compassionate. Johnston creates marvelous portraits of the young Indigenous boys who struggled to adapt to strange ways and unthinking, unfeeling discipline. Even the Jesuit teachers, whose flashes of humor occasionally broke through their stern demeanor, are portrayed with an understanding born of hindsight.

Provides a brief history of the marginalization of Indigenous women. Discusses traditional roles and power of Indigenous women and critiques the gendered discrimination of the Indian Act. A fantastic introductory resource giving a detailed yet general picture of the history of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, linked to specific legislation, with an extensive bibliography for further reading.

Several national hotlines for victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking and more. This is an American resource, but some of the numbers are 1-800, and a similar phoneline for Canadian callers is included on this list as well.

The Advocacy Curriculum is a great resource for social workers or teachers. The two part curriculum provides basic and comprehensive information on violence against Indigenous women and is paired with an advocacy skills section. Can also be used for public education, cross training initiatives, in-services and tream building. This is an American resource, but we think the information is still valuable for Canadian teachers.

This book examines the history of the Indian Residential Schools established in Canada and the effects of colonial education on contemporary native cultures. The book recounts the history of colonialism in North America and the foundational beliefs that provided the underpinnings for the creation of the residential system. The author dedicates three chapters to the description of health, infrastructure and academic deficiencies that plagued the system, as well as the abuse of residential school students and the consequent long-term damage they experienced. In closing, Grant offers a perspective on the future of political and educational efforts being made to restore and maintain native culture.

An Indigenous healing journey to find peace, strength and a good mind. A quest of empowerment, self-care and coping with complex emotions. A spiritual awakening and a deeper understanding of purpose. Eahwahewi’ is a survivor of violence, abuse and sexual assault – this is her story.

Speaking Our Truth, Podcast for Change is an original podcast involving a collection of voices that aim to expose and end violence against Indigenous women and girls. Podcasters also cover other subjects like removal of cultural icons of colonization and genocide; land acknowledgements; legislation having to do with Indigenous Peoples, and more.

At ninety years of age, Elinor, a Saskatchewan Cree artist, inveterate roll-your-own smoker, and talker to rivers and stuffed bison, sets out to find something that was stolen almost a lifetime ago. With what little time she has left, she is determined to find the child taken from her when she, only a child herself, survived sexual abuse at a residential school.

This book focuses on the recurring struggle over the meaning of the Anglican Church’s role in the Indian residential schools--a long-running school system designed to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture, in which sexual, psychological, and physical abuse were common. From the end of the nineteenth century until the outset of twenty-first century, the meaning of the Indian residential schools underwent a protracted transformation. Once a symbol of the Church’s sacred mission to Christianize and civilize Indigenous children, they are now associated with colonialism and suffering. In bringing this transformation to light, the book addresses why the Church was so quick to become involved in the Indian residential schools and why acknowledgment of their deleterious impact was so protracted. In doing so, the book adds to our understanding of the sociological process by which perpetrators come to recognize themselves as such.