Search:

Aki-wayn-zih : a person as worthy as the Earth / by Baxter, Eli,author.; Smith, Matthew Ryan,1983-editor.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Members of Eli Baxter's generation are the last of the hunting and gathering societies living on Turtle Island. They are also among the last fluent speakers of the Anishinaabay language known as Anishinaabaymowin. Aki-wayn-zih is a story about the land and its spiritual relationship with the Anishinaabayg, from the beginning of their life on Miss-koh-tay-sih Minis (Turtle Island) to the present day. Baxter writes about Anishinaabay life before European contact, his childhood memories of trapping, hunting, and fishing with his family on traditional lands in Treaty 9 territory, and his personal experience surviving the residential school system. Examining how Anishinaabay Kih-kayn-daa-soh-win (knowledge) is an elemental concept embedded in the Anishinaabay language, Aki-wayn-zih explores history, science, math, education, philosophy, law, and spiritual teachings, outlining the cultural significance of language to Anishinaabay identity. Recounting traditional Ojibway legends in their original language, fables in which moral virtues double as survival techniques, and detailed guidelines for expertly trapping or ensnaring animals, Baxter reveals how the residential school system shaped him as an individual, transformed his family, and forever disrupted his reserve community and those like it. Through spiritual teachings, historical accounts, and autobiographical anecdotes, Aki-wayn-zih offers a new form of storytelling from the Anishinaabay point of view."--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Baxter, Eli.; First Nations; First Nations; First Nations; First Nations; First Nations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Nishga / by Abel, Jordan,1985-author.;
"From Griffin Poetry Prize winner Jordan Abel comes a groundbreaking and emotionally devastating autobiographical meditation on the complicated legacies that Canada's reservation school system has cast on his grandparents', his parents' and his own generation. NISHGA is a deeply personal and autobiographical book that attempts to address the complications of contemporary Indigenous existence. As a Nisga'a writer, Jordan Abel often finds himself in a position where he is asked to explain his relationship to Nisga'a language, Nisga'a community, and Nisga'a cultural knowledge. However, as an intergenerational survivor of residential school--both of his grandparents attended the same residential school in Chilliwack, British Columbia--his relationship to his own Indigenous identity is complicated to say the least. NISHGA explores those complications and is invested in understanding how the colonial violence originating at the Coqualeetza Indian Residential School impacted his grandparents' generation, then his father's generation, and ultimately his own. The project is rooted in a desire to illuminate the realities of intergenerational survivors of residential school, but sheds light on Indigenous experiences that may not seem to be immediately (or inherently) Indigenous. Drawing on autobiography, a series of interconnected documents (including pieces of memoir, transcriptions of talks, and photography), NISHGA is a book about confronting difficult truths and it is about how both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples engage with a history of colonial violence that is quite often rendered invisible."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Abel, Jordan, 1985-; Indigenous authors; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous children; Indigenous children; Indigenous peoples;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The boy from Buzwah : a life in Indian education / by King, Cecil O.,1932-author.;
"Cecil King's remarkable memoir, from humble beginnings on a reservation to his unparalleled legacy to ensure Indian Control of Indian Education in Canada. Cecil King grew up in the small settlement of Buzwah, Ontario, situated on Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island. King shares memories of life on the reserve in the 1930s and '40s and describes his experiences attending Buzwah Indian Day School and St. Charles Garnier Residential School. But after furthering his education, King returned home to Buzwah as a teacher. He quickly became disillusioned with the Ontario curriculum and how inadequately it resonated with on-reserve youth and the realities of Indigenous life. It was then that King began his unparalleled legacy to ensure Indian Control of Indian Education in Canada. Over his sixty-year career in education, he would found the Indian Teacher Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan, become the first director of the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program at Queen's University, and develop Ojibwe language courses across North America."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; King, Cecil O., 1932-; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Language teachers; Teachers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

North of nowhere : song of a Truth and Reconciliation commissioner / by Wilson, Marie(Journalist),author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The incomparable first-hand account of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada told by one of the commissioners who led it. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to record the previously hidden history of more than a century of forced residential schooling for Indigenous children. Marie Wilson helped lead that work as one of just three commissioners. With the skills of a journalist, the heart of a mother and grandmother, and the insights of a life as the spouse of a residential school survivor, Commissioner Wilson guides readers through her years witnessing survivor testimony across the country, providing her unique perspective on the personal toll and enduring public value of the commission. In this unparalleled account, she honours the voices of survivors who have called Canada to attention, determined to heal, reclaim, and thrive. Part vital public documentary, part probing memoir, North of Nowhere breathes fresh air into the possibilities of reconciliation amid the persistent legacy of residential schools. It is a call to everyone to view the important and continuing work of reconciliation not as an obligation but as a gift."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Wilson, Marie (Journalist); Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Truth commissions;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Truth and reconciliation / by Rose, Simon,1961-;
Includes bibliographical references, Internet addresses and index.Discusses the impact of residential schools on the indigenous peoples of Canada as well as attempts by the Canadian government to fix the damaged relationships caused by these schools.LSC
Subjects: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada; Native peoples; Native peoples; Indians, Treatment of;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân = The way I remember / by Ratt, Solomon,author,translator.; Ogg, Arden C.(Arden Catherine),1960-editor,writer of introduction.; container of (expression):Ratt, Solomon.Kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân.English.; container of (work):Ratt, Solomon.Kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân.;
"A residential school survivor finds his way back to his language and culture through his family's traditional stories. When reflecting on forces that have shaped his life, Solomon Ratt says his education was interrupted by his schooling. Torn from his family at the age of six, Ratt was placed into the residential school system--far from the love and comfort of home and family. In The Way I Remember, Ratt reflects on these memories and the life-long challenges he endured through his telling of autobiographical stories and traditional tales. In many ways, these stories reflect the experience of thousands of other Indigenous children across Canada, but Ratt's stories also stand apart in a significant way: despite the destruction wrought by colonialism, he managed to retain his mother language of Cree by returning home to his parents each summer. Ratt then shifts from the âcimisowina (personal, autobiographical stories) to âcathôhkîwina (sacred stories), the more formal and commonly recognized style of traditional Cree literature, to illustrate how, in a world uninterrupted by colonialism and its agenda of genocide, these traditional stories would have formed the winter curriculum of a Cree child's education. Presented in Cree th-dialect standard roman orthography, syllabics, and English, Ratt's particularly Cree sense of humour shines, making kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân / The Way I Remember an important and unique memoir that emphasizes and celebrates Solomon Ratt's perseverance and life after residential school."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Ratt, Solomon; Ratt, Solomon.; Cree language; Cree language; First Nations; First Nations; First Nations; First Nations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The secret pocket / by Janicki, Peggy.; Victor, Carrielynn,1982-;
The true story of how Indigenous girls at a Canadian residential school sewed secret pockets into their dresses to hide food and survive. Mary was four years old when she was first taken away to the Lejac Indian Residential School. It was far away from her home and family. Always hungry and cold, there was little comfort for young Mary. Speaking Dakelh was forbidden and the nuns and priest were always watching, ready to punish. Mary and the other girls had a genius idea: drawing on the knowledge from their mothers, aunts and grandmothers who were all master sewers, the girls would sew hidden pockets in their clothes to hide food. They secretly gathered materials and sewed at nighttime, then used their pockets to hide apples, carrots and pieces of bread to share with the younger girls. Based on the author's mother's experience at residential school, The Secret Pocket is a story of survival and resilience in the face of genocide and cruelty. But it's also a celebration of quiet resistance to the injustice of residential schools and how the sewing skills passed down through generations of Indigenous women gave these girls a future, stitch by stitch.
Subjects: Illustrated works.; Off-reservation boarding schools; Carrier Indians; Carrier Indians; Dakelh; Indigenous students; Indigenous peoples;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
unAPI

Secret path / by Lemire, Jeff.; Downie, Gordon,1964-2017.;
In Secret Path, Gord Downie's lyrics and Jeff Lemire's illustrations tell the story of twelve-year-old Chanie "Charlie" Wenjack, who died on October 22, 1966, after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School and attempting to make his way back to his home, more than 600 km away.LSC
Subjects: Graphic novels.; Wenjack, Charlie, 1954-1966; Ojibwa Indians; Runaway children; Native peoples; Songs, English; Popular music;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Medicine river : a story of survival and the legacy of Indian boarding schools / by Pember, Mary Annette,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A sweeping and trenchant exploration of the history of Native American boarding schools in the U.S., and the legacy of abuse wrought by systemic attempts to use education as a tool through which to destroy Native culture. From the mid-19th century to the late 1930s, tens of thousands of Native children were pulled from their families to attend boarding schools that claimed to help create opportunity for these children to pursue professions outside their communities and otherwise "assimilate" into American life. In reality, these boarding schools -- sponsored by the US Government but often run by various religious orders with little to no regulation -- were an insidious attempt to destroy tribes, break up families, and stamp out the traditions of generations of Native people. Children were beaten for speaking their native languages, forced to complete menial tasks in terrible conditions, and utterly deprived of love and affection. Ojibwe journalist Mary Pember's mother was forced to attend one of these institutions -- a seminary in Wisconsin, and the impacts of her experience have cast a pall over Mary's own childhood, and her relationship with her mother. Highlighting both her mother's experience and the experiences of countless other students at such schools, their families, and their children, Medicine River paints a stark portrait of communities still reckoning with the legacy of acculturation that has affected generations of Native communities. Through searing interviews and assiduous historical reporting, Pember traces the evolution and continued rebirth of a culture whose country has been seemingly intent upon destroying it"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Pember, Bernice Rabideaux, 1925-2011.; Pember, Mary Annette; Robidou family.; St. Mary's Indian Boarding School (Odanah, Wis.); Indigenous children; Ojibwe; Ojibwe women; Residential schools;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Spirit Bear : honouring memories, planting dreams : based on a true story / by Blackstock, Cindy.; Strong, Amanda,1984-;
Spirit Bear learns about residential schools and their impact on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report and its 94 calls to action, and the paper hearts planted after the report's release to honour the children who went to residential schools.LSC
Subjects: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada; Native peoples; Native peoples; Native peoples; Native peoples; Indians, Treatment of;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI