Looking for a fun way to engage with National Indigenous History Month?
Use our SVS BINGO card as inspiration for your own activities at the corporate, school or community level.
This month, we celebrate the diverse cultures and contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples across Canada with a fun game of bingo! For the month of June, SVS will be using the bingo card as a way to share information, resources, stories and events.
This week we are sharing our recommendations for books written by Indigenous authors or focused on Indigenous content. Most of them are ones we've read, and a few are on our wish list! Reading one of these novels will fulfill square #8 on our bingo card. To play the game at SVS, names will be entered for each line completed, and twice if you get the whole card. Prizes are from some of our favourite Indigenous businesses: we'll share them in future posts.
Happy June everyone, and enjoy playing bingo along with us!
Recommended by Laura Taylor:
From the Ashes Jesse Thistle
In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is.
Namwayut, A Pathway to Reconciliation Chief Robert Joseph
Reconciliation belongs to everyone. In this profound book, Chief Robert Joseph, globally recognized peacebuilder and Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk People, traces his journey from his childhood surviving residential school to his present-day role as a leader who inspires individual hope, collective change, and global transformation.
(https://www.strongnations.com/store/10024/namwayut-we-are-all-one-a-pathway-to-reconciliation)
Recommended by Beate Schwirtlich:
The incomparable first-hand account of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada told by one of the commissioners who led it.
(https://houseofanansi.com/products/north-of-nowhere)
Recommended by Randy Pitawanakwat:
Edited by Shane Hawke and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: Are you ready to be un-settled? (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75293507-never-whistle-at-night)
Recommended by Alley Amos:
Dancing with a Ghost is Ross’s attempt to give some definition to the cultural gap that bedevils the relationships and distorts the communications between Native peoples and the dominant white Canadian society—and to encourage others to begin their own respectful cross-cultural explorations. As Ross discovered, traditional perspectives have a great deal to offer modern-day Canada, not only in the context of justice but also in terms of the broader concepts of peaceful social organization and personal fulfilment.
(https://www.strongnations.com/store/222/dancing-with-a-ghost)
Medicine Wheel for the Planet Dr. Jennifer Grenz
In Medicine Wheel for the Planet, building on sacred stories, field observations and her own journey, Dr. Grenz invites readers to share in the teachings of the four directions of the medicine wheel: the North, which draws upon the knowledge and wisdom of elders; the East, where we let go of colonial narratives and see with fresh eyes; the South, where we apply new-old worldviews to envision a way forward; and the West, where a relational approach to land reconciliation is realized.
Eloquent, inspiring and disruptive, Medicine Wheel for the Planet circles toward an argument that we need more than a singular worldview to protect the planet and make the significant changes we are running out of time for.
Recommended by Leah Culver:
Following Nimishoomis, The Oral History Dediaayaanimanook Sarah Keesick Olsen
Helen Agger
Following Nimishoomis provides a detailed history of the Namegosibiing Trout Lake community in northwestern Ontario through the life story of Dedibaayaanimanook Sarah Keesick Olsen as told by her daughter. Namegosibiing was Dedibaayaanimanook's ancestral homeland where she was born in 1922 and where she gained firsthand knowledge about traditional teachings and ways of life. The story reveals the many challenges faced by her community in that critical period of change in the early part of the 20th century. Dedibaayaanimanook grew up in a way that was hardly touched by Europeans, witnessed at a young age their increasing encroachment, and lived her adult life coping with the challenging changes by drawing on the worldviews instilled in her by her parents and grandparents. She raised a family of her own in a society dominated by European values and with a European partner, but she never forgot about the values of her own people.
(https://www.theytus.com/Books/F/Following-Nimishoomis)
Injichaag: My Soul in Story, Anishinaabe Poetics in Art and Words Rene Mishake with Kim Anderson
(https://uofmpress.ca/books/injichaag-my-soul-in-story)
Recommended by Marnie Benson:
Claiming Anishinaabe by Lynn Gehl
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.
(https://uofrpress.ca/Books/C/Claiming-Anishinaabe)
Recommended by Nichole Fraser:
The Berry Pickers Amanda Peters
A stunning debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction, The Berry Pickers is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma and the persistence of love across time.
(https://www.strongnations.com/store/item_display.php?i=10344)
We are an Canadian B Corp, and we assist Indigenous communities with support throughout regulatory processes surrounding major development projects like mines, hydroelectric facilities, transmission lines, highway expansions, oil and gas pipelines, natural resource transport applications and nuclear power.
We have deep context and experience behind the recommendations we provide, having worked for our clients on almost every major project in Canada over the last 10 years. For us, it’s all about building long-term relationships with our clients. We want to get to know you and what you want to do so we can help you move your plans forward.