Watch short docs on Indigenous Peoples
CBC Docs has compiled a list of must-watch Indigenous documentaries and you can access them all at the above link.
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Read Cindy Blackstock’s Twitter learning series
Cindy Blackstock, executive director of First Nations Child & Family Caring Society, launched a learning series on Twitter for Canadians on “#isitgenocide?” in honour of the Final report of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Understand White Privilege
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack
This powerful exercise was first published in 1989 by Peggy McIntosh. This link will allow you to download the original article, as well as access useful tools and resources for facilitators. An important step in Reconciliation is recognizing where white privilege exists and working to end inequality.
Create Safe Space for Two Spirit People
Two Spirits, One Voice is a community-based initiative that seeks to bolster supports for persons that identify both as LGBTQ and Indigenous: Two Spirit people. Start by watching their 16 minute video!
Find Your Reconciliation Community
Reconciliation in Saskatchewan
Find organizations and communities who share your commitment to work towards Reconciliation and can offer opportunities for engagement.
Listen to CBC Report on the Truth & Reconciliation Commission
CBC’s As It Happens on the Truth & Reconciliation Commission
It’s a call for a nation-wide commitment to Reconciliation. After six years of hearings and testimony, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission put forward 94 recommendations to address the “cultural genocide” of Aboriginal peoples through Canada’s residential school system. Listen to interviews on CBC’s As It Happens to hear from the Commissioners
Watch: Birth of a Family
In the documentary Birth of A Family, three sisters and a brother meet for the first time. Removed from their young Dene mother during the Sixties Scoop, they were separated as infants and adopted into families across North America.
Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie, and Ben were only four of the 20,000 Indigenous Canadian children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or live in foster care. As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, and their family begins to take shape.
Donate to Indigenous Organizations, Artists & Movements
Gordon Tootoosis Nīkānīwin Theatre
National Centre for Truth and Reconcilition
Indigenous Voices Literary Award
Donating is an important mechanism for supporting artists, organizations and movements that promote Reconciliation. Image from str8-up.ca.
Watch Heritage Minutes About Indigenous People
The Heritage Minutes are a collection of bilingual Canadian 60-second short films, each depicting a significant person, event or story in Canadian history. First released in 1991, they have been shown on television, in cinemas and online, and have become a part of Canadian culture.
Discover the Indigenous Group of Seven
The Indigenous Group of Seven in Muskrat Magazine
Jackson Beardy (Cree), Eddy Cobiness (Ojibway), Alex Janvier (Dene, Saulteaux), Norval Morrisseau (Ojibway), Daphne Odjig (Potawatomi, Odawa), Carl Ray (Cree) and Joseph Sanchez (Pueblo, Spanish, German) are the Indigenous visual artists that are now recognized as The Indigenous Group of Seven. Read about their contributions!
Share Your Experiences
When you attend an event, meeting or workshop around Reconciliation, share your journey online with event organizers and your own community. Inspire others to get involved.
Understand Indigenous Historical Leaders of the Past
Harold Cardinal was elected chief of the Sucker Creek band in 1982-83 and was appointed vice-chief for the prairie region of the National Indian Brotherhood. Cardinal published the ‘Red Paper’ (titled Citizens Plus) that argued strongly against the assimilatory goals of the federal government’s White Paper (the Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy).
Harry Daniels was one of the founding members of the Saskatchewan Métis Society. He is most widely known as the man who negotiated the expressed inclusion of “Métis People” in the Canadian Constitution, thereby enshrining Métis rights in the constitution.
Walter Dieter was a Cree person of the Peepeekisis Indian Band in Saskatchewan. He was one of the founders of the National Indian Brotherhood and served as the first National Chief from 1968 to 1970.
Gabriel Dumont rose to political prominence in an age of declining buffalo herds and was concerned about the ongoing economic prosperity and political independence of his people. He is best known for his role in the 1885 North-West Resistance as a key Métis military commander and an ally of Louis Riel.
James Gladstone was Canada’s first Indigenous senator. He was president of the Indian Association of Alta (IAA) and three times was a delegate to Ottawa to discuss proposed changes in the Indian Act. He played a prominent part in the fight for better education, greater respect for treaty rights, and participation of Aboriginals in their own administration.
Elijah Harper was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Manitoba in 1981, in 1986 he was appointed to cabinet as Minister Without Portfolio Responsible for Native Affairs, and in 1987 was appointed as Minister of Northern Affairs. In 1990, while sitting as an opposition member in the Manitoba Legislature, he blocked the Canadian constitutional amendment known as the Meech Lake Accord due to a lack of participation of Indigenous peoples in the process.
Louis Riel led the Métis in two resistances during 1869-70 in Red River and in 1885 in the Saskatchewan District of the North-West Territories. He was instrumental in the creation of Manitoba as a province and is a centrally important figure in Métis history.
John Tootoosis was an influential First Nations leader in Saskatchewan. He was appointed chief of Poundmaker at the age of 20, and in 1959 he was elected as the first President of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians.
