Truth and Reconciliation Resources

Truth and reconciliation 

• Watch the TRC Mini Documentary with Senator Murray Sinclair on Reconciliation (2:55). View on YouTube.
• c̓əsnaʔəm: The city before the city (6:39). View on YouTube.
• Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline (5:39). Watch on YouTube.
• Langara student talks about settler responsibility to learn Indigenous history (2:16). Watch on Global News.

Impacts of harm 

• Residential Schools: Intergenerational Trauma (2:19). Watch on YouTube.
• UBC Dialogue: The History and Legacy of the Indian Residential Schools. Watch on Indigenous Foundations, UBC. Fast forward to 2:13:00.

Resistance and resilience 

• Savage (short film). Watch on Vimeo.
• Chanie Wenjack Heritage Minute. Watch on YouTube.

The Secret Life of Canada (CBC)

• A podcast about the country you know and the stories you don't. Join hosts Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson as they reveal the beautiful, terrible and weird histories of this land. Some episodes of interest:
  • Shanawdithit – Looking into the history of the Beothuk, the Indigenous people of Newfoundland
  • The Indian Act
  • Bay Blanket
  • Crash Course on Friendship Centres
  • The Mounties Always Get Their Land
    • Part 1
    • Part 2

Unreserved

• Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous voices — our cousins, our aunties, our elders, our heroes. Rosanna Deerchild guides us on the path to better understand our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations. Some episodes of interest:
  • Retelling history from Indigenous perspectives
  • What it means to be an elder
  • How Indigenous architects are resisting colonial legacies and reshaping spaces
  • What does it mean to give land back to Indigenous communities? 

All My Relations

• Discussions from the hosts around what it means to be Indigenous with super-smart and relatable experts to join them on topics like Native American mascots, Indigenous food and feeding the spirit, sexuality, and whether DNA test results should be linked to identity. Some episodes of interest:
  • Indigiqueer
  • Native Appropriations
  • The Border Crossed Us
  • Protect Indigenous Women

Henceforward

• Mutually respectful conversations about the relationship between Indigenous and Black people in Canada, touching on topics like reparations, Black Lives Matter, reconciliation, and gentrification. Some episodes of interest:
  • Black Indigenous Identity in Canada
  • Multiculturalism: A Performative Distraction
  • Reconciliation?

Telling Our Twisted Histories

• Words connect us. Words hurt us. Indigenous histories have been twisted by centuries of colonization. Host Kaniehti:io Horn brings us together to decolonize our minds– one word, one concept, one story at a time. Some episodes of interest:
  • Reconciliation
  • Discovery
  • School 

Missing and Murdered: Finding Cleo

• Where is Cleo? Taken by child welfare workers in the 1970’s and adopted in the U.S., the young Cree girl’s family believes she was raped and murdered while hitchhiking back home to Saskatchewan. CBC news investigative reporter Connie Walker joins the search to find out what really happened to Cleo.

Senator Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

• Senator Murray Sinclair on reconciliation.
• Senator Murray Sinclair on how Canadians can work toward reconciliation.

Every Child Matters: Reconcilitation – Act One & Two

• Act One
• Act Two

Documentary: nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up

• On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands.

Documentary: Highway of Tears

• Highway of Tears is about the missing or murdered women along a 724 kilometer stretch of highway in northern British Columbia. You can rent the film here.

Documentary: We Know the Truth: Stories to Inspire Reconciliation

• A CBC Manitoba documentary that recasts Canada's history and future through the empowerment of Indigenous people. Meet Indigenous people who are telling the true history of Canada and residential schools and creating change on their own terms. Reflect with residential school survivors and be inspired by those who are working hard to keep their culture and languages alive.

Namwayut: we are all one. Truth and reconciliation in Canada

• Chief Robert Joseph shares his experience as a residential school survivor and the importance of truth and reconciliation in Canada in this documentary.

Indian Day Schools

• Learn more.

Library Guides

• Guides for Indigenizing.
• Resources for Learning About Canada's Residential School System

• Indigenous Residential School Survivors Society
• Urban Native Youth Association
• Spirit of the Children Society
• Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society
• True North Aid
• Reconciliation Canada
• On Canada Project: Settlers Take Action
• Indigenous Gift Guide for Shopping Local