National Indigenous History Month

Updated: June 2023

There are many ways to honour and learn more about National Indigenous History Month and National Indigenous Peoples’ Day in June 2023 and throughout the year. Here are a few suggestions.

 Just released: Sacred Responsibility: Searching for the Missing Children and Unmarked Burials Interim Report by the Special Interlocutor. June 2023.
“For the child taken, For the parent left behind.” This Interim Report examines the current Canadian legal framework and identifies significant limitations and gaps that create barriers for Survivors, Indigenous families, and communities as they lead search and recovery efforts to find the missing children and unmarked burials.
https://osi-bis.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/OSI_InterimReport_June-2023_WEB.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0V3R-bgMy0xGfuqPGBXKLhcNG-vfMUgebKju85RXAmEyYFgMF5AigXgSY_aem_th_AdaTEkZqedyQeJSEQgUj__6PDtnE3WUZX0_vfEb61vzGT_wPpkWQNFP50kUJ7XS9UdI

If you acknowledge the traditional territory of Indigenous peoples in Ontario, this is current news you need to know:
The governments of Canada and Ontario have reached a proposed $10 billion settlement with the Robinson Huron Treaty Litigation Fund, representing the 21 Robinson Huron First Nations in litigation with the governments of Ontario and Canada for failing to increase annuities payments as the resource revenue in the treaty territory grew.
https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/northern-ontario/2023/6/17/1_6445331.amp.html

 The 21 Robinson Huron Treaty First Nations are: https://www.thespec.com/local-huntsville/news/2023/04/11/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-robinson-huron-treaty.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=thespec_recommended_for_you

Videos/Music

Buffy St. Marie and Tanya Tagaq “You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5zb0WTSLsY&list=RDTw7EPXtfT3w&index=4

Countering Online Hate Against Indigenous Peoples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgNfo0H5tsE

Performance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women with music by A Tribe Called Red. No More Stolen Sisters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_vqlZJofo0

The Power of the Land with poetry by Duke Redbird and music by Sultans of String and Twin Flames. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw7EPXtfT3w&list=RDTw7EPXtfT3w&start_radio=1

Moose Hide Campaign

Moose Hide Campaign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTjcEnna7gQ

Moose Hide Campaign 101 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlGkSu58_m4

Moose Hide as Medicine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNssYKUU40g

Sites/Events

Tkaronto Music Festival June 21-24 at the Stackt Market in downtown Toronto http://tkmf.ca/tkmf/

Woodland Cultural Centre. Explore, learn, and share the rich histories and contemporary cultures of Indigenous people of the Great Lakes region.  https://woodlandculturalcentre.ca/

Silent No More: A Virtual Tour of the Former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School. https://woodlandculturalcentre.ca/silent-no-more/

Powwows in Ontario

https://northernontario.travel/indigenous/pow-wows-ontario-complete-list

Respect powwow etiquette: https://canadianpowwows.ca/dos-and-donts/

Ermineskin Powwow Power Hour 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neTfwoeggDc

Podcasts

Kuper Island. 8 part series about the Kuper Island residential school by broadcaster Duncan McCue. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1062-kuper-island?gclid=CjwKCAjw-b-kBhB-EiwA4fvKrPYGYkwnwyDb1L8ZJvB3RTVq4WtTEWZb9S1r55BqdYCXUeXa7z1bWRoC1hwQAvD_BwE

Spirit to Soar: Mashkawi-manidoo bimaadiziwin. By Tanya Talaga https://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/episodes/spirit-to-soar

Spirit to Soar: Where We Come From.  A companion podcast to Tanya Talaga’s first podcat. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1021-spirit-to-soar-where-we-come-from

Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s Residential School.  Cree Journalist Connie Walker uncovers the family story   https://gimletmedia.com/shows/stolen

Blog posts

By Sandi Boucher https://sandiboucher.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwsvujBhAXEiwA_UXnAI6j4LgCnDF-QrADACwc5b_K5In3NoKUQy8bhsZKjRod2-uKwqpLFhoC5CcQAvD_BwE

Who SHOULD you ask about reconciliation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5vpoC0X3nI

Recommended books

Our Home and Treaty Land: Walking Our Creation Story by Raymond Aldred and Matthew Anderson. Woodlake, 2022.

True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change by Jody Wilson-Raybould. McClelland & Stewart, 2022.

Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada by Michelle Good. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. , 2023.

Words have a Past: English language colonialism and the newspapers of Indian boarding schools https://cityoftoronto.myshopify.com/collections/books/products/words-have-a-past-the-english-language-colonialism-and-the-newspapers-of-indian-boarding-schools

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