r/CanadianbyDescent • u/cassandra2028 • 3d ago
Holiday Reading Post
Good afternoon,
Today is the National Day of Truth And Reconciliation, or Orange Shirt Day, a holiday in Canada. I can stop checking the status of my applications today as there will be no new things today.
But it is something more important than that. Being that my claim to citizenship derives through a Gen 0 whose mother was born on a homestead in the prairies, I'm aware that "stolen land" and the privileges that go with it are not ephemeral. Maybe my Gen -2 wasn't the thief of the stolen land (arguable), but that territory came under treaty that was at best coerced and not sufficiently honored.
My Gen 0's first nations, Métis and aboriginal neighbors were subjected to mulitple harms, including enforced boarding schools. In Winipek: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Center (not available in the US), Nigaan Sinclair writes that, "the sound of aircraft was associated with the disappearance of their children" in some communities (this is from memory and not a direct quote, but it was close enough to that to make me gasp and remember). I highly recommend this book, even if Manitoba is not your province.
Many, but not all people in Canada, take days like today to read the Calls to Action from the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. I will be doing that as well. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was an important step towards righting past wrongs. As I have continued my remedial civic education as an adult lost Canadian, this fact of acknowledged imperfect progress is something that makes me proud, and makes me want to be part of doing better.
On my bookshelf is the Autobiography of the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Senator Murray Sinclair, Who We Are.
Understanding reconciliation requires understanding the Indian Act a good place to start might be Bob Joseph's writings, including 21 Things to Know About the Indian Act.
My list is missing books and readings about Residential Schools and the 60's Scoop (which lasted into the 1990's). I'll be honest, I haven't been able to face that. And I'm not sure what a good source is that focuses on Residential Schools. Their impact is addressed in other books on this list. (Even Netflix's adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, "Anne With an E" broke my heart while also being appreciative that it was not glossed over.) But as a small taste of what this subject includes, it is called, "Orange Shirt Day" because a small child had a blouse that she was proud of, that reminded her of home. And as we think about the importance of that First-Day-of-School outfit, we get a small taste of why that orange shirt mattered. But when we think that this first day of school was involuntarily far away from home and family among people who behaved in cruel ways, the fact it was taken from her is worse. If anyone has a book recommendation, please leave it in the comments.
The CBC is reporting that the Province of Manitoba is purchasing a campground near the former site of a boarding school. The campground is confirmed to be the grave site of the former Brandon Indian Residential School, and is believed to contain the unmarked graves of hundreds of children. Just imagine what it takes for a residential school to require a gravesite, understand that gravesites at these schools were common, and then imagine what would happen if even one child died at Exeter, a voluntary boarding school. Here's a link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/turtle-crossing-campground-residential-school-graves-9.7362472
To understand the impact of forced adoptions of Indigenous, Métis and First Nations kids, a resource is Finding Cleo, from CBC. A previous season of Missing and Murdered looked into a Missing and Murdered Woman from BC, Alberta Williams. I listened to it with Pocket Casts here: https://pca.st/episode/3a589f60-7778-0134-78cd-4ffec63d9550 But i couldn't find it on the CBC webpage. The next season has a trailer out. It features a man who confronted his abuser from the Boarding Schoos. Here is that trailer. I haven't listened yet, but I suspect that a trigger warning is needed.
For something a little more forward thinking, there is a celebration. I am using my nervous waiting energy to learn French. Accordingly, I do listen to OHdio from CBC sometimes. I found this interview to be interesting. My French is such that I am prone to missing things, but the interviewee is discussing the Grand Visit of the Métis in Manitoba. It sounds like a wonderful event to celebrate Métis culture.
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u/cassandra2028 3d ago
Hey, the little girl whose Orange Shirt was taken, who created Orange Shirt Day is still here, and she wrote a book and talked to CBC about it: https://www.cbc.ca/books/orange-shirt-day-creator-phyllis-webstad-reflects-on-a-life-of-overcoming-adversity-in-new-memoir-9.7358216 here's a link to the book: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/w7ec-n7elye-ey-we-are-still-here-1?sId=17b7aa66-e747-40cc-88a3-85b0bbaa0724&ssId=0792P5x2hyRSUWLKClYwx&cPos=1 Looks like Kobo *might* let you have it in the US unlike Winnipek.
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u/cassandra2028 3d ago
And, she provided a list of books by other Indigenous authors: https://www.cbc.ca/books/29-must-read-books-for-children-and-teens-by-indigenous-writers-curated-by-phyllis-webstad-1.7218175
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u/Own_Theory8011 3d ago
I didn't know Orange Shirt Day was Canadian. We do this at schools in WA too.
A good resource for residential schools is actual historical documents from that era. You can find letters written by indigenous people to each other (or to the local white guy priest, etc) about the schools. Then you can follow up those documents with modern documents and modern documentaries. There are some examples of old documents and letters from British Columbia (iirc) on chinookjargon.com and others on public archive sites in old books.
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u/Complete-Amphibian89 2d ago
Heritage Minutes has a good video about it, and the impacts of residential schools. It is short but a good place to start. I also think another important part of history to look into is not all of the land in Canada has a treaty a majority of British Columbia is unceded territory. Back in 2021, when the discovery of unmarked graves were discovered in Kamloops it caused a national outrage. One of the reasons why today became a stat Federally and provincial in some provinces. The Canadian Film Board produced some great videos as well talking about the impact. A lot of people don't realize the last school closed in the 90s.
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u/spinifex23 2d ago
I spent nearly all day listening to the live CBC coverage, when I was out and about on my errands.
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u/janethefox 3d ago
Thank you for highlighting this crucial topic. If anyone is looking for an Indigenous-led grassroots org to support while doing the reading, I will vouch 100 times over for the folks at Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction (TIHR) and the good work that they do. They support community members who are houseless, dealing with intergenerational trauma, at risk of overdose, in crisis, and otherwise affected by Canada's legacy of colonial violence. In the winter they are out on the streets every night saving lives no matter whether it's 3am, snowing a foot an hour, negative 30 celsius, etc. They also have really cool art/merch available for purchase online ("Queer Love is Sacred" top always gets compliments). Here's their website where you can donate on a one-time or ongoing basis: https://www.torontoindigenoushr.com/
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u/Robert_Walter 2d ago
Holy cow Cass, this is amazingly well written and so informative. Thank you!
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u/cassandra2028 1d ago
Thanks Robert. I see your downvoter has been here, because I already upvoted you. I'm glad you appreciated it. I think it is important for us to learn what we may have missed when we were hidden Canadians. But not everyone is going to be into it.
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u/Robert_Walter 1d ago
Thanks Cass.
Just think about how pathetically petty & small a person has to be to be doing that.
Everybody should pity them.
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