Introduction
June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada, an opportunity to learn about the unique cultures, traditions and experiences of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. It's a time to honour the stories, achievements and resilience of Indigenous Peoples, who have lived on this land since time immemorial and whose presence continues to impact the evolving Canada.
The House of Commons designated June as National Aboriginal History Month in 2009. The name was changed to National Indigenous History Month in 2017.
In 2023 each week will be dedicated to a different theme to highlight specific aspects of Indigenous history, cultures and perspectives.
Explore learning resources on each theme:
- June 1 to 6: Women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people
- June 5 to 11: Environment, traditional knowledge and territory
- June 10 to 18: Children and youth
- June 19 to 25: Languages, cultures and arts
- June 26 to 30: Reconciliation
Retrieved from: https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1683124800202/1683124846095
Featured e-Resources
Going Back Home
Written by a Mohawk Institute Residential School survivor, this is a fierce and candid story that reveals the heartbreaking trauma of that tragic time in our history. The author portrays how the ongoing impact of the residential schools confinements has affected Indigenous communities over several generations and has contributed to many social problems that continue to exist today. By exploring that devastating history, the author finds and celebrates the resilient and hopeful spirit that many residential school survivors, like herself, have managed to retain in the face of horror and torment. This book is an essential read in understanding the true modern history of this land and in honouring the people who survived it.
Our Voice of Fire
A wildfire of a debut memoir by internationally recognized French/Cree/Iroquois journalist Brandi Morin set to transform the narrative around Indigenous Peoples. Brandi Morin is known for her clear-eyed and empathetic reporting on Indigenous oppression in North America. She is also a survivor of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis and uses her experience to tell the stories of those who did not survive the rampant violence. From her time as a foster kid and runaway who fell victim to predatory men and an oppressive system to her career as an internationally acclaimed journalist, Our Voice of Fire chronicles Morin's journey to overcome enormous adversity and find her purpose, and her power, through journalism. This compelling, honest book is full of self-compassion and the purifying fire of a pursuit for justice.
Claiming Anishinaabe
Denied her Indigenous status, Lynn Gehl has been fighting her entire life to reclaim mino-pimadiziwin--the good life. Exploring Anishinaabeg philosophy and Anishinaabeg conceptions of truth, Gehl shows how she came to locate her spirit and decolonize her identity, thereby becoming, in her words, "fully human." Gehl also provides a harsh critique of Canada and takes on important anti-colonial battles, including sex discrimination in the Indian Act and the destruction of sacred places. "Gehl is at the cutting edge with her concepts and ideas... She is on a journey and documents it well." - Lorelei Anne Lambert, author of Research for Indigenous Survival "[C]lear, insightful, and desperately needed..." - Lorraine F. Mayer, author of Cries from a Métis Heart "[T]he discussion of the heart and mind knowledge, as well as the discussion on the Anishinaabeg Clan System of Governance, [are] major contributions to the research." - Marlyn Bennett, co-editor of Pushing the Margins
Unsettling the Settler Within
In 2008, Canada established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to mend the deep rifts between Aboriginal peoples and the settler society that created Canada's notorious residential school system. Unsettling the Settler Within argues that non-Aboriginal Canadians must undergo their own process of decolonization in order to truly participate in the transformative possibilities of reconciliation. Settlers must relinquish the persistent myth of themselves as peacemakers and acknowledge the destructive legacy of a society that has stubbornly ignored and devalued Indigenous experience. A compassionate call to action, this powerful book offers a new and hopeful path toward healing the wounds of the past.
Hiraeth
Finalist for the 2019 Rasmussen, Rasmussen and Charowsky Indigenous Peoples' Writing Award Hiraeth is about women supporting and lending strength and clarity to other women so they know that moving forward is always possible-- and always necessary. It documents a journey of struggle that pertains to a dark point in Canadian history that few talk about and of which even fewer seem aware. Poems speak to the 1960's "scoop up" of children and how this affected the lives of (one or thousands) of First Nations and Métis girls-- girls who later grew to be women with questions, women with wounds, women who felt like they had no place to call home. That is, until they allowed themselves to be open to the courage others have lived and shared. "Hiraeth" is a word that is Celtic in origin and it means looking for a place to belong that never existed. But this place does exist -- in the heart.
As We Have Always Done
Winner: Native American and Indigenous Studies Association's Best Subsequent Book 2017 Honorable Mention: Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award 2017 Across North America, Indigenous acts of resistance have in recent years opposed the removal of federal protections for forests and waterways in Indigenous lands, halted the expansion of tar sands extraction and the pipeline construction at Standing Rock, and demanded justice for murdered and missing Indigenous women. In As We Have Always Done, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson locates Indigenous political resurgence as a practice rooted in uniquely Indigenous theorizing, writing, organizing, and thinking. Indigenous resistance is a radical rejection of contemporary colonialism focused around the refusal of the dispossession of both Indigenous bodies and land. Simpson makes clear that its goal can no longer be cultural resurgence as a mechanism for inclusion in a multicultural mosaic. Instead, she calls for unapologetic, place-based Indigenous alternatives to the destructive logics of the settler colonial state, including heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalist exploitation.
nipê wânîn: my way back
Moving between Lafond’s own Cree language and her adopted English language, these poems create a kind of cultural dialogue that invests heavily in the close relationship she had with her grandmother and the teachings that were offered to her. Employing the transformation rituals of her Cree culture, Lafond seeks out the universal love of “all people, all animals, all things/my heartbeat slows, my spirit breathes/ in a circle of women I find myself/with my ancestors.” The tone of such adaptation is reflected time and again in the elements of nature that form the life source for understanding her grandmother’s words and for understanding how she can be one with her Cree past. The descriptions of the natural world – the rain and snow, the sage and sweetgrass, and the wind and clouds serve her poems as do the memories of her grandmother’s life and the day-to-day rituals that shaped it. Stylistically emotive but never maudlin, Lafond recreates those energies that now give her strength.