Reconciliation, treaties and Indigenous history in Canada: A reading list

April 26, 2017 we hosted a live, interactive roundtable on treaties, reconciliation and Indigenous history in Canada, featuring Indigenous community leaders, educators and advocates. We had a lively conversation with our panel, who answered some of your smart questions.

One viewer asked for a reading list that can help us better educate ourselves about treaties. Cynthia Esquimaux listed a few (her long list of recommendations is below). Post-broadcast we reached out to the rest of the panel to get their reading recommendations.

Scroll down for the reading list: 

Ry Moran

Director, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR)

• The Royal Commission on Aboriginal People's reports: "They're very comprehensive and told from the Indigenous perspective. They cover it all:  relocation, dispossession, residential school, treaties, you name it."

• The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: "There are a lot of resources available there, including the survivor statements and other materials collected by the TRC." 

Duncan McCue 

Host of Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio

• The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King

Eldon Yellowhorn

Archeologist, Chair of First Nations Studies, Simon Fraser University

• First Peoples in Canada  by ​Alan D. McMillan and Eldon Yellowhorn

Cynthia Wesley-Eskuimaux

Indigenous Chair on Truth and Reconciliation, Lakehead University

Angus, Charlie (2015) Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada's Lost Promise and One Girl's Dream, University of Regina Press.

Barreiro, Jose (2010) Thinking in Indian: A John Mohawk Reader, Fulcrum Press, Colorado.

Belanger, Yale (ed.) (2014) Ways of Knowing: An Introduction to Native Studies in Canada, Nelson Education Limited

Bussidor, Ila and Ustun Bilgen-Reinhart (1997) Night Spirits: the Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene, University of Manitoba Press: Manitoba.

Cardinal, Harold (1969/1999) The Unjust Society, The Red Paper, Douglas & McIntyre, University of Washington Press: USA.

Coates, Ken (2015) #IDLENOMORE: And the Remaking of Canada, University of Regina Press.

Daschuk, James (2014) Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the loss of Aboriginal Life, University of Regina Press.

Deloria, Vine Jr. (2006) The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men, Fulcrum Publishing, Golden Colorado.

Dennis, Darrell (2014) Peace Pipe Dreams: The Truth about Lies and Indians, Douglas & McIntyre

Dickason, Oliva P. (2006) A Concise History of Canada's First Nations, Oxford University Press: Canada.

Fiddler, Thomas and James R. Stevens (2003) Killing of the Shaman, Penumbra Press: Canada.

Friesen, Joe (2016) The Ballad of Danny Wolfe: Life of a Modern Outlaw, Signal Publications.

Gallagher, Bill (2012) Resource Rulers: Fortune and Folly on Canada's Rod to Resources, Bill Gallagher Publishing.

Helin, Calvin (2006) Dances with Dependency: Indigenous Success through Self-Reliance. Orca Spirit Publishing: Vancouver.

Highway, Tomson (1998) Kiss of the Fur Queen, Double Day: Canada.

Hollow Water (Video) (2000) The Story of Hollow Water: When an Individual confronts the spectre of abuse, we consider it an act of courage.  When an entire community attempts the same thing, we call it a miracle, National Film Board.

Hughes, Lotte 1st and 2nd editions (2003 & 2012) the NO-NONSENSE guide to Indigenous Peoples, New International Publications: Canada.

Jiles, Paulette (1996) North Spirit: Travels Among the Cree and Ojibway Nations and Their Star Maps, Doubleday: Canada.

Kaefer, Florence and Edward Gamblin (2014) Back to the Red Road: A Story of Survival, Redemption and Love, Caitlin Press.

Kimmerer, Robin Wall (2013) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of the Plains, Milkweed Editions

Kinew, Wab (2015) The Reason You Walk, Penguin Books

King, Thomas (2013) The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, Anchor Canada; Nineth edition (Aug. 13 2013).

King, Thomas (2005) The Truth About Stories, Massey Lecture Series, Dead Dog Café Productions, Inc.

Kino-nda-niimi-Collective (2014) The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future and the Idle No More Movement, Arp Books: Winnipeg

LaDuke, Winona (2002) The Winona LaDuke Reader: A Collection of Essential Writings, Theytus Books

Lear, J. (2006) Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation, Cambridge Press: Massachusetts.

Mails, Thomas E. (1979) Fools Crow, University of Nebraska Press

Mann, Charles C. (2006) 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, Vintage Books: New York.

Manual, Arthur (2015) Unsettling Canada, Between the Lines Publishing.

McMillan, Alan D. and Eldon Yellowhorn (2009) First Peoples in Canada, D & M Publishers

Merasty, Joseph Auguste (2015) The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir, University of Regina Press

Miller, J.R. (2000) Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A History of Indian-White Relations in Canada, 3rd Edition, University of Toronto Press: Canada.

Miller, J.R. (2006) Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools, University of Toronto Press: Toronto.

Mohawk, John (2010) Thinking in Indian: A John Mohawk Reader, Fulcrum Publishing (October 19, 2010)

Mohawk, John C. (2000) Utopian Legacies: A History of Conquest and Oppression in the Western World, Clear Light Publishers: New Mexico.

Niezen, Ronald (2013) Truth & Indignation: Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools, University of Toronto Press.

Peacock, Thomas and Marlene Wisuri (2006) The Four Hills of Life: Ojibwe Wisdom, Minnesota Historical Press.

Peacock, Thomas and Marlene Wisuri (2002) Ojibwe Waasa Inaabidaa: We Look in all

Directions, Afton Historical Society Press: Minnesota.

Phare, Merrell-Ann (2009) Denying the Source: The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights, RMB: Victoria, B.C.

Porter, Tom (2008) And Grandma Said...Iroquois Teachings, as passed down through the oral tradition, Xlibris Corporation: United States.

Razack, Sherene (2015) Dying From Improvement: Inquests and Inquiries into Indigenous Deaths in Custody, University of Toronto Press.

Reber, Susanne and Robert Renaud (2006) Starlight Tour: The Last Lonely Night of Neil Stonechild, Vintage Canada.

Ross, Rupert (2014) Indigenous Healing: Exploring Traditional Paths, Penguin Canada.

Ross, Rupert (2006) Dancing with a Ghost: Exploring Indian Reality, Penguin Canada

Ross, Rupert (2006) Return to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice, Penguin Canada.

Sandford, Robert William and Merrell-Ann Phare (2011) Ethical Water: Learning to Value what Matters Most, RMB, Victoria, Canada.

Saul, John Ralston (2014) The Comeback: How Aboriginals Are Reclaiming Power And Influence, Viking; First Edition (Oct. 28 2014)

Sinclair, Raven, Michael A. Hart and Gord Bruyere (2009) Wicihitowin: Aboriginal Social Work in Canada, Fernwood Publishing: Winnipeg.

Spielmann, Roger (2009) Anishnaabe World: A Survival Guide for Building Bridges between Canada and First Nations, Your Scrivener Press: Sudbury.  

ISBN: 978-1-896350-37-0

Tatz, Colin (2003) With Intent to Destroy: Reflecting on Genocide, Verson: New York.

Vowel, Chelsea (2016) Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Metis and Inuit Issues in Canada, Highwater Press.

Wadden, Marie (2008) Where the Pavement Ends: Canada's Aboriginal Recovery Movement and the urgent need for reconciliation, Douglas & McIntyre Limited: British Columbia.

Wagamese, Richard (1994) Keeper'n Me, Anchor Canada

Wagamese, Richard (2002) for Joshua: An Ojibway Father Teaches his Son, Pengin Random House and Anchor Canada

Wagamese, Richard (2006) Dream Wheels, Anchor Canada

Wagamese, Richard (2008) One Native Life, Douglas & McIntyre

Waldram, James B. (2004) Revenge of the Windigo: The Construction of the Mind and Mental Health of North American Peoples, University of Toronto Press: Canada.

Waldrum, James B. (1997) The Way of the Pipe: Aboriginal Spirituality and Symbolic Healing in Canadian Prisons, Broadview Press: Ontario.

Weatherford, Jack (1988) Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World, Crown/Archetype.

Wesley-Esquimaux, Cynthia and Magdalena Smolewski (2004) Historic Trauma and Aboriginal Healing, Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Ottawa.  www.ahf.ca

Wesley-Esquimaux, Cynthia, Ronan MacParland and David Berkal (2009) "Shielded Minds" a video documentary of an eight-day journey across the Canadian Shield with twenty Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth to explore identity, truth and reconciliation, and to discover the Aboriginal truth and reality that Canadian have been shielded from in their education. www.canadianroots.ca  

Wesley-Esquimaux, Cynthia, Ronan MacParland and David Berkal (2010) "Journey to Oz" a video documentary of a nine-day visit to the Mishkeegogamang First Nation in Northern Ontario, Nishnaabe-Aski Nation Territory, with 12 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth to explore "what is right about this community" in the face of negative media representation. www.canadianroots.ca

Wheatley, Margaret J. (2006) Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: San Francisco.

Widdowson, Frances and Albert Howard (2008) Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry: The Deception behind Indigenous Cultural Preservation, McGill-Queen's University Press: Kingston.  (Please get this one from the library we are NOT supportive of purchasing this text and endorsing racism).

Wiebe, Rudy and Yvonne Johnson (1998) Stolen Life: Journey of a Cree Woman, Alfred A. Knopf: Canada.

Williamson, Pamela and John Roberts (2004) First Nations Peoples, 2nd Edition, Emond Montgomery Publications Limited: Toronto.