In recognizing the importance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, observed annually on September 30th, this week’s blog is dedicated to highlighting some of the many resources that may be useful in guiding, reflecting, and informing the ways we teach about Indigenous history and reconciliation at this moment. We encourage other history instructors to consider how we may shift our pedagogies in the future and to use as many of these resources as possible in your classroom.
Do you have other suggestions for works that could be included on this list? We’d love to hear them! Let us know by tagging @CndHistAssoc on Twitter and using the hashtag #CHATeachingResourcesChat.
Activities
MCDP, CMHR. Picking Up the Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket, 2020. (With artist Carey Newman) https://vimeo.com/457804808
September 29, 2022 | 1pm – 3:30pm EST (Live)
A YELLOWHEAD INSTITUTE SPECIAL ONLINE EVENT: https://twitter.com/Yellowhead_/status/1570083633766998018/photo/1
A Calls to Action Conversation on Truth & Reconciliation
FEATURING
Cindv Blackstock | Kisha Supernant | Sheila Cote-Meek
Janet Smylie | Scott Franks | Kunuk (Sandra) Inutia
Ginger Gosnell-Mevers | Eva Jewell | lan Mosby
Media Coverage
High, Steven. Media Coverage/Reaction to the Canadian Historical Association’s Canada Day Statement Recognizing the Genocide of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. September 17, 2021.
Guidance and Advice
Justice, Daniel Heath and Sean Carleton “Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism.” Royal Society of Canada, August 25, 2021. https://rsc-src.ca/en/voices/truth-before-reconciliation-8-ways-to-identify-and-confront-residential-school%C2%A0denialism or https://theconversation.com/truth-before-reconciliation-8-ways-to-identify-and-confront-residential-school-denialism-164692
Tuhiwai-Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples* (Second Edition). Zed Publishers, 2013.
Vowel, Chelsea. Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada. HighWater Press, 2016.
Wente, Jess. Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance, Penguin Canada, 2022.
Younging, Gregory. Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples. Edmonton, Alberta: Brush Education, 2018.
Public History
McCracken, Krista. “The Role of Canada’s Museums and Archives in Reconciliation.” ActiveHistory.Ca (blog), June 15, 2015. http://activehistory.ca/2015/06/the-role-of-canadas-museums-and-archives-in- reconciliation/.
#Twitterstorians and Primary Sources
Kris Cromwell (@IngleWitch), June 24, 2021 “This is a non exhaustive but still quite good resource for the USA using data from the US office of Indian Affairs” https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/additional-resources/location-indian-boarding-school-throughout-united-states
Millions, Erin, “Thread: A key argument of residential school deniers is that the schools were ‘products of their time’ & we can’t judge the past by present standards. Persistent and consistent critiques of the schools were made for over a hundred years. Here are the receipts #residentialschools” https://twitter.com/erinmillions/status/1409103124900597761, June 27, 2001
Steve Schwinghamer (@s_schwinghamer) August 18, 2021, “If you’re interested in justice and injustice in Canada @NS_Archives offers a great deal of material related to the 1986-87 Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall Jr. Prosecution. #cdnhist” Nova Scotia Archives, Royal Commission on the prosecution of Donald Marshall Jr. https://archives.novascotia.ca/marshall/
Shekon Neechie @ShekonNeechie
http://ShekonNeechie.ca is a venue for Indigenous historians to gather as an e-community and share their ideas or works in progress.
Storykeepers Podcast @StorykeepersPod
Let’s talk Indigenous books! Storykeepers is a monthly podcast about books by Indigenous authors, hosted by Jennifer David and Waubgeshig Rice.
McCue, Duncan. Kuper Island Podcast, CBC Radio, 2022. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1062-kuper-island
Walker, Connie. Stolen: Surviving St. Michaels, Spotify, 2022. https://open.spotify.com/show/7D4inq4DY144KIZN99Od6t
Blogs
Chilton, Lisa. https://cha-shc.ca/teaching/teachers-blog/a-canadian-genocide-historiographical-debate-and-the-teaching-of-history-2022-05-31, May 31, 2022.
Stevenson, Allyson. https://cha-shc.ca/teaching/teachers-blog/teaching-canadian-history-after-the-united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-undrip-ii-2020-03-09.htm, March 9, 2020.
Stevenson, Allyson. https://cha-shc.ca/teaching/teachers-blog/teaching-canadian-history-after-the-united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-undrip-i-2020-03-02.htm, March 2, 2020.
Nielson, Carmen. https://cha-shc.ca/teaching/teachers-blog/unsettling-settler-narratives-in-the-pre-confederation-canada-survey-what-ive-learned-part-iii-2019-10-14.htm, October 14, 2019.
Nielson, Carmen, https://cha-shc.ca/teaching/teachers-blog/unsettling-settler-narratives-in-the-pre-confederation-canada-survey-what-ive-learned-part-ii-2019-10-07.htm, October 7, 2019.
Nielson, Carmen, https://cha-shc.ca/teaching/teachers-blog/unsettling-settler-narratives-in-the-pre-confederation-canada-survey-what-ive-learned-part-i-2019-09-30.htm, September 30, 2019.
Fraser, Crystal and Mosby, Ian. “Setting Canadian History Right?: A Response to Ken Coates’ ‘Second Thoughts about Residential Schools’”. April 7, 2015
Roundtable discussion (recorded)
Speakers: Dr. Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Dr. Roland Bohr, Dr. Jason Yaremko, Dr. Karen Froman, and Dr. Ben Nobbs-Thiessen – as well as Dr. Sean Carleton as moderator. https://cha-shc.ca/teaching/teachers-blog/like-paddling-upstream-indigenous-history-and-curriculum-structures-in-canadian-university-history-departments-2022-03-01
Films
Goulet, Danis. Night Raiders, 2021. https://www.nightraidersmovie.com/
Hubbard, Tasha. Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up. National Film Board of Canada. Accessed September 10, 2021. https://www.nfb.ca/film/nipawistamasowin-we-will-stand-up/.
Noyce, Phillip, Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, and Kenneth Branagh. Rabbit-Proof Fence. Biography, Drama. Rumbalara Films, The Australian Film Commission, Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), 2002.
Williams, Alex. The Pass System. Tamarack Productions, 2015. https://vimeo.com/125253802.
Wolochatiuk, Tim. We Were Children (2012). National Film Board of Canada. Accessed September 14, 2022. https://www.nfb.ca/film/we_were_children/ (Warning: The NFB suggests that his film is suited for audiences 16 years of age or older).
Resources for Elementary, Middle and High School Teaching and Learning
CBC Kids, “KN Explains: Renaming Elementary Schools” John A. Macdonald and other school names are being changed, here’s why | CBC Kids News, September 6, 2022.
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is hosting an online event “Truth and Reconciliation Week” from September 27th to October 1st. The event is open to all Canadian schools for youth grades 5-12.
In Memoriam, works by Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton https://49thshelf.com/Lists/Members/2021-22/In-Memoriam-Margaret-Olemaun-Pokiak-Fenton
Teaching
Lynn Hunt: Why History Matters | The Hedgehog and the Fox.1 Accessed September 15, 2021. https://shows.acast.com/5e957b9f339fe2a164bb4536/episodes/5e957bbc3bd94228345c18ad.
Nickle, Sarah, Adele Perry, Alison Norman and Jo McCutcheon. A Syllabus for History After the TRC, September 2018.
Rawle, Fiona. THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect. “A Pedagogy of Kindness: The Cornerstone for Student Learning and Wellness,” August 20, 2021. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/pedagogy-kindness-cornerstone-student-learning-and-wellness.
International Contexts
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States Beacon’s Press, 2014.
Jacobs, Margaret. “Indian Boarding Schools in Comparative Perspective: The Removal of Indigenous Children in the United States and Australia, 1880 – 1940” in Clifford E. Trafzer, Jean A. Keller and Lorene Sisquoc (editors) Boarding School Blues: Revisiting American Indian Experiences (University of Nebraska Press, 2006.)
Trafzer, Clifford E., Jean A. Keller, and Lorene Sisquoc, Introduction “Origin and Development of the American Indian Boarding School System” in Clifford E. Trafzer, Jean A. Keller and Lorene Sisquoc (editors) Boarding School Blues: Revisiting American Indian Experiences (University of Nebraska Press, 2006.)