This is not a comprehensive offering of topics or resources that could be included on this page. It is intended as a starting place. Hopefully it leads to more searching and learning. Topics are primarily connected to Indigenous-settler and/or government relations -- specifically the Indian Act, Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), and Jordan's Principle. To learn more about the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and land acknowledgements, please visit those specific tabs.
It is important to note that information included here only represents pieces of stories, and most often painful pieces. With this, we encourage you to visit the More Resources tab to explore personal and community stories connected to these topics. Stories that more fully represent the "complex and dynamic understanding of what one, or a community, comes to know in (a) lived life" (Tuck & Yang, 2014, p. 231).
A warning that some of the resources linked on this page contain content that some may find distressing. In regard to residential schools specifically, a 24 Hour Residential School Crisis Line has been set up by the First Nations Health Authority to provide support for former students and those affected 1-866-925-4419.
Filmmaker Tasha Hubbard narrates a history of Indigenous Peoples in the prairies and their relationship with the government, focusing on the events of the late nineteenth century. These include treaties (specifically Treaty 6), the Indian Act, and events leading up to Frog Lake and Fort Pitt.
"Between 1831 and 1996, residential schools operated in Canada through arrangements between the Government of Canada and the church. One common objective defined this period — the assimilation of Aboriginal children" (Where are the Children?, n.d., para. 1)
Phyllis Webstad explains the story of her experience at Residential School and the origination of Orange Shirt Day in Canada. She discusses the present situation and her hopes for the future.
"The “Sixties Scoop” refers to the large-scale removal or “scooping” of Indigenous children from their homes, communities and families of birth through the 1960s, and their subsequent adoption into predominantly non-Indigenous, middle-class families across the United States and Canada. This experience left many adoptees with a lost sense of cultural identity. The physical and emotional separation from their birth families continues to affect adult adoptees and Indigenous communities to this day" (Niigaanwewidam & Dainard, 2016, para. 1).
"The Indian Act is a Canadian federal law that governs in matters pertaining to Indian status, bands, and Indian reserves. Throughout history it has been highly invasive and paternalistic, as it authorizes the Canadian federal government to regulate and administer in the affairs and day-to-day lives of registered Indians and reserve communities" (Indigenous Foundations, 2009, para. 3)
21 things you may not know about the Indian Act by "Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada (MMIWG) refers to a human rights crisis that has only recently become a topic of discussion within national media." It refers to "the high and disproportionate rates of violence and the appalling numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. . .In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada supported the call for a national public inquiry into the disproportionate victimization of Indigenous women and girls. The National Inquiry’s Final Report was completed and presented to the public on 3 June 2019" (Brant, 2017, para. 1)
"Jordan’s Principle is a child-first principle that aims to eliminate service inequities and delays for First Nations children. Jordan’s Principle states that any public service ordinarily available to all other children must be made available to First Nations children without delay or denial" (Assembly of First Nations, n.d., para. 2)
Assembly of First Nations. (n.d.). Jordan's Principle. https://www.afn.ca/policy-sectors/social-secretariat/jordans-principle/
Brant, J. (2017). Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls-in-canada
Indigenous Foundations. (2009). The Indian Act. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/
Niigaanwewidam, J. S., & Dainard, S. (2016). Sixties Scoop. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop
Tuck, E., & and Yang, K. W. (2014). R-Words: Refusing Research. In P. Django & M. T. Winn (Eds.), Humanizing Research: Decolonizing Qualitative Inquiry with Youth and Communities (pp. 223-248). Sage.
Where are the Children. (n.d.). Where are the children?: Healing the impacts of Residential School. https://legacyofhope.ca/wherearethechildren/