Resources to dive into Indigenous People’s history and reality. AND Actions you can take.
Reflect, learn, appreciate, and listen to truths that have been shared for decades and acknowledge the contribution OF Indigenous peoples and their communities.
Educate yourself on Indigenous history, the residential school system, and the ongoing legacy of colonization. We must learn to work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples, and in Canada, we have the blueprint ready.
Gain insight with the YouMeWe Conscious-Contribution Panel Series: candid conversation to promote diversity, equity and inclusion at work and beyond. On June 30th, YouMeWe hosted a panel with these three Indigenous activists, business and community leaders. To purchase the recording visit: https://youmewe.ca/diversity-equity-inclusion-series/
Steps you can take to make your contribution count:
➡️ Read the Truth & Reconciliation Commission Report
➡️ Learn About Whose Land You Live On
➡️ Another resource- Whose Land do you occupy: https://www.whose.land/en/
➡️ Check out It’s Our Time Educational Toolkit by Assembly First Nations
➡️ Purchase and work through the Decolonize First workbook
➡️ Educate yourself through books, movies and podcasts (see Platform)
➡️ Check out The On Canada Project Settlers Take Action page
➡️ Register for University of Alberta’s Indigenous Canada online course
➡️ Donate to Indigenous led and run organizations such as the Indian Residential School Survivors Society among many others
➡️ Support Indigenous owned and led businesses
➡️ Join company Indigenous Employee Resource Group and engage in solidarity
➡️ Contact your elected officials to ask them about actions being taken
National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
Sources:
Decolonize Everything
The On Canada Project
The Platform
Resources:
➡️ University of Alberta Indigenous Course, fee or certified.
➡️Indigenous Ally Tool kit: https://segalcentre.org/common/sitemedia/201819_Shows/ENG_AllyTookit.pdf
➡️ Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
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- 94 calls to action
- Of the 94
- 10 Calls to Action have been completed;
- 0 Calls regarding child welfare, education, and health care have been completed;
- 1 Call has been completed regarding language and culture;
- 2 Calls have been completed regarding justice;
- and 7 Calls have been completed regarding Reconciliation
➡️ The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
➡️ Language is powerful. Indigenous or Aboriginal: Which is correct?
➡️National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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- 231 calls for justice
- There have been approximately 4,000 or more murders or missing women and girls in the last 30 years.
- Safe Passage is an initiative by the Native Women’s Association of Canada. Launched June 2021. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/f545d93082d24547b5100784b709c303
- https://safe-passage.ca/training/
Learn about:
Support Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs:
Donate to organizations working with and run by Indigenous peoples and communities:
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- Indian Residential School Survivors Society
- Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society
- Atlohsa Family Healing Services
- The Art For Aid Project
- Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
- Native Women’s Association of Canada
- Legacy of Hope Foundation
- Anishnaabe Kwewag Gamig Women’s Shelter
- Donations to Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc will be used toward further investigating the site and memorializing the children. https://tkemlups.ca/contact/
- To support residential school causes, donate to https://www.orangeshirtday.org
- Blackstock’s organization, First Nations Child & Family Caring Society,
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Listen to Indigenous podcasts:
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- Media Indigena: Indigenous Current Affairs
- All My Relations
- Coffee With My Ma
- Métis in Space
- The Truth Sharing Podcasts
- Connie Walker’s award-winning CBC podcast, Finding Cleo.
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Read Indigenous News
For even more, consume Indigenous media, such as APTN and IndigiNews, and follow Indigenous journalists on social media.
Follow Some Indigenous Journalists:
@TanyaTalaga (Globe)
@Candiscallison (Media Indigena, Narwhal +)
@Annamary_mck (Indiginews)
@AndreaDS27 (Tyee
@Wawmeesh (CBC),
@AndreaCrossan (CBC)
@CaraMck (INdigninews+++)
Study Indigenous texts:
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- “Decolonizing Trauma Work” by Renee Linklater
- “Justice As Healing: Indigenous Ways” by Wanda D. McCaslin
- “The Moon of the Crusted Snow” by Waubgeshig Rice
- “21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act” by Bob Joseph
- “Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies” by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Split Tooth
- “Truth and Bright Water” by Thomas King
- “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- “Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City” by Tanya Talaga
- Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian
- A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
- For kids, check out the book When We Were Alone by David Robertson.
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Resource: Feminuity.org
Tools:
Solidarity commitment statement
A great way to determine if your commitments shift past performative gestures—beyond words of empathy and flag-lowering—is to input your obligations into this template.
As a ___ this week I can work in solidarity with ___ by ______________.
As a ___ this month I can work in solidarity with ___ by ______________.
As a ___ in the future, I can work in solidarity with ___ by ____________.
Here’s an example: As a settler, this week, I can work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples by donating to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
Resource: Feminuity.org
Sample letter to your MP
Ask the government for an accelerated response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (CTAs). Write your local MP –
{TitleAbbEng} {ParlFirstName} {ParlLastName}
Member of Parliament
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
{SalutationLtrE} {SalutationEng} {ParlLastName},
As a constituent of yours, I am writing to voice my support for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (CTAs), the importance of which has been devastatingly underscored by recent events. As a member/employee/citizen, I recognize that the fabric of our communities is interwoven and historically rooted in complex ways. The recent discoveries of the bodies of children buried on the sites of former residential schools have been a heartbreaking reminder that there is much work to be done to confront the deep and pervasive legacy of colonialism. The terrible news renews my belief in the importance of working to listen, understand, and take meaningful steps toward Truth and Reconciliation.
Individual and organizational efforts are critical, but they are not enough. I look to the government for an accelerated response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (CTAs), including making available the funding that is essential to this work. Six of the 94 CTAs specifically concern missing children and burial information. CTAs 71-76 ask the federal government to accurately detail the number of children who died, to establish a National Residential School Student Death Register and to locate the bodies of children who died so that they can be properly memorialized. In the years since the release of the Commission’s report in 2015, the bulk of the Calls to Action (CTAs) have not been completed. Implementing the CTAs is crucial to Reconciliation and to honouring those children who never made it home.
Thank you for your time, and I hope I can count on your support to move this work forward.
{name}
{address}
{email}
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