9 Books to Read This Indigenous History Month

Embark on a journey through a rich tapestry of history, storytelling, and resilience as part of National Indigenous History Month. From beguiling memoirs to vital nonfiction, these stories will illuminate the diverse experiences and contributions of Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island. For our young readers, we have carefully selected a number of books that will both educate and inspire. Jump in below for the first in our two-part series of Indigenous books this June!

NONFICTION & MEMOIR

Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother by Norma Dunning (Douglas & McIntyre)

Norma Dunning, winner of the 2021 Governor General’s Award for literature, shares a revelatory and personal journey surrounding an obscured piece of Canadian history still impacting Inuk Peoples today: the Eskimo Identification Tag System, which provided members of the community with a “disc number.” Including years of research, interviews, and personal stories, Kinauvit? provides a critical record and response to this dehumanizing practice employed by the Canadian government for over thirty years—a practice that has yet to be addressed or apologized for.

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From Bear Rock Mountain: The Life and Times of a Dene Residential School Survivor by Antoine Bear Rock Mountain (Touchwood Editions)

In this poetic, poignant memoir, Dene artist and social activist Antoine Mountain paints an unforgettable picture of his journey from residential school to art school—and his path to healing. At the tender age of seven, Mountain was stolen away from his family and home and sent to a residential school three hundred kilometres away. Over the next twelve years, the three residential schools he was forced to attend systematically worked to erase his language and culture. From Bear Rock Mountain shares an “evocative story that winds back and forth from past to present” (Maclean’s), celebrating Mountain’s reclamation of his Dene identity with art and activism.

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Tsqelmucwílc: The Kamloops Indian Residential School—Resistance and a Reckoning by Celia Haig-Brown, Garry Gottfriedson, Randy Fred, and the KIRS Survivors (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Based on Celia Haig-Brown’s Resistance and Renewal (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1988), the first book on residential schools ever published in Canada, Tsqelmucwílc is the story of those who survived the Kamloops Indian Residential School—the site of 215 unmarked children’s graves discovered in May 2021. With essays by Secwépemc poet and KIRS survivor Garry Gottfriedson, Nuu-chah-nulth elder and residential school survivor Randy Fred, as well as first-hand reminiscences by other survivors of KIRS and their children, Tsqelmucwílc is a tragic story, but is also an equally remarkable tale of Indigenous survival, resilience, and courage.

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Okanagan Women’s Voices: Syilx and settler writing and relations, 1870s to 1960s, edited by Jeannette Armstrong, Janet MacArthur and Lally Grauer (Theytus Books)

Turn back time and experience a direct window into the lives of settlers and Indigenous Peoples in eras of upheaval, uncertainty, and reform: Okanagan Women’s Voices is a much-needed Indigenous, woman-centred lens into a history too often told by the colonial state. This unique collection of seven womens’ stories highlights the writing and relations between Syilx women and settler women, largely of European descent, who came to inhabit the British Columbia southern interior prior to the mid-twentieth century.

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The Fire Still Burns: Life In and After Residential School by Sam George, with Jill Yonit Goldberg, Liam Belson, Dylan MacPhee, and Tanis Wilson (UBC Press)

The crimes carried out at St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver scarred untold numbers of Indigenous children and families across generations. Squamish Elder Sam George was one of them. This Fire Still Burns is a candid account of his idyllic childhood growing up on the Eslhá7an (Mission) reserve to a state-run residential school at St. Paul’s, where he weathered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. This unflinching look at the horrors of a childhood in the Indian Residential School system and the long-term effects on survivors also illustrates the healing power of one’s culture and how George’s inner strength helped him rebuild a life and a future.

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Stoneface: A Defiant Dene by Stephen Kakfwi (Caitlin Press)

Stephen Kakfwi was born in a bush camp on the edge of the Arctic Circle in 1950. In a family torn apart by tuberculosis, alcohol, and the traumas endured by generations in residential school, he emerged as a respected Dene elder and eventually the Premier of the Northwest Territories. Stoneface is his own account of his life, from his days of survival to his growth as a leader, civil rights activist, and advocate for Indigenous Peoples. In this candid description of the loneliness of leadership and how he embraced his own Dene spirituality, Kakfwi’s Stoneface transforms politics into philosophy and an intensely personal guide to reconciliation.

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CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Every Child Matters by Phyllis Webstad and illustrated by Karlene Harvey (Medicine Wheel Publishing)

Learn the meaning behind the phrase ‘Every Child Matters’ with acclaimed advocate, author and the founder of Orange Shirt Day, Phyllis Webstad. The flagship book for Orange Shirt Day explains the significance of the ‘Every Child Matters’ message through Webstad’s signature gentle charm, and touching illustrations by Karlene Harvey. Phyllis Webstad (née Jack) is Northern Secwépemc (Shuswap) from Stswecem’c Xget’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band). Every Child Matters has been called a “must read” by Chief Dr. Robert Joseph and essential to helping children “learn the truths of this history and how they can play a part” by Stephanie Scott, Director at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Pre-Order Now; Available August 2023

A Day with Yayah by Nicola Campbell, illustrated by Julie Flett

In this touching story of Indigenous language reclamation by the Thompson River Salish people in the Nicola Valley, A Day with Yayah follows a First Nations family as they go on an outing to gather edible plants and mushrooms. Young readers will be delighted to learn more about foraging from the character Yayah, alongside the Nłeʔkepmxcín names of wild herbs and fungi. Nicola I. Campbell’s books have won many awards, including the TD Book Prize, the Marilyn Baillie Award, and the Anskohk Aboriginal Children’s Book of the Year. Julie Flett’s books and illustrations have also won many prestigious prizes, including the BC Book Prize, and the Aboriginal Literature Award. 

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With Our Orange Hearts by Phyllis Webstad, illustrated by Emily Kewageshig (Medicine Wheel Publishing)

This gentle, lyrical introduction to Orange Shirt Day for young readers has quickly become a mainstay for families and classrooms since its publication in 2022. As the founder of the day of recognition and author of the highly-acclaimed Phyllis’s Orange Shirt, Phyllis Webstad shares her own story to help encourage young children to open their hearts when others share their feelings, while being more comfortable sharing their own, as well. “Every child matters, including you and me. With our orange hearts, we walk in harmony.”

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