Books to Celebrate Indigenous History Month

June is National Indigenous History Month and we are celebrating the unique heritage and culture across this nation known as Canada. This #IndigenousHistoryMonth is also an opportunity to acknowledge the work still needed on the journey to reconciliation. It is important to reflect on the devastating loss of 1,323 children found in many unmarked graves at former Residential School sites across the country. We hold all Indigenous communities in our thoughts and stand by you through this grief and renewed trauma. 

We are committed to learning and deepening our understanding of the injustices and ongoing history of the Indigenous communities. Today we would like to share six books written by indigenous authors or about indigenous personalities. Please feel free to share other book recommendations in the comment section. 

Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

Michelle Good is a writer of Cree ancestry and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. (Kent Wong, Harper Perennial)

“Five Little Indians” is the story of Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Masie who were taken from their families when they were very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school. They are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention. Most of them head to Vancouver and each of them choses a different path. With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past, and ultimately, find a way forward. 

It’s the debut novel of Michelle Good, who was born in Kitimat, BC, to a Cree mother and a French and English father. As a lawyer, she has been a tireless advocate for Indigenous people – in particular, survivors of residential schools. 

Call me Indian - From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player by Fred Sasakamoose

Fred Sasakamoose was a residential school survivor and the first treaty indigenous player in the NHL - he played in the NHL before First Nations people had the right to vote in Canada. Fred Sasakamoose died in November 2020 and the book was published in 2021.

Fred Sasakamoose, torn from his home at the age of seven, endured the horrors of residential school for a decade before becoming one of 120 players in the most elite hockey league in the world. He has been heralded as the first Indigenous player with Treaty status in the NHL, making his official debut as a 1954 Chicago Black Hawks player. After a dozen games, he returned home. When people tell Sasakamoose's story, this is usually where they end it. They say he left the NHL to return to the family and culture that the Canadian government had ripped away from him. That returning to his family and home was more important to him than an NHL career. But there was much more to his decision than that. Understanding Sasakamoose's choice means acknowledging the dislocation and treatment of generations of Indigenous peoples.

Sasakamoose's story was far from over once his NHL days concluded. He continued to play for another decade in leagues around Western Canada. He became a band councillor, served as Chief, and established athletic programs for kids. He paved a way for youth to find solace and meaning in sports for generations to come. Yet, threaded through these impressive accomplishments were periods of heartbreak and unimaginable tragedy--as well moments of passion and great joy.

One Native Life by Richard Wagamese

In 2005, award-winning writer Richard Wagamese moved with his partner to a cabin outside Kamloops, B.C. In the crisp mountain air Wagamese felt a peace he’d seldom known before. Abused and abandoned as a kid, he’d grown up feeling there was nowhere he belonged. For years, only alcohol and moves from town to town seemed to ease the pain.

In One Native Life , Wagamese looks back down the road he has travelled in reclaiming his identity and talks about the things he has learned as a human being, a man and an Ojibway in his fifty-two years. Whether he’s writing about playing baseball, running away with the circus, attending a sacred bundle ceremony or meeting Pierre Trudeau, he tells these stories in a healing spirit. Through them, Wagamese celebrates the learning journey his life has been.

Richard Wagamese was one of Canada's foremost Native authors and storytellers. He has worked as a professional writer since 1979. He was a newspaper columnist and reporter, radio and television broadcaster and producer, documentary producer and the author of twelve titles from major Canadian publishers.

If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose, art by Nshannacapppo

If I Go Missing is a graphic novel inspired by a letter Brianna Jonnie wrote to the Winnipeg chief of police. (CBC, Lorimer Children & Teens)

When Brianna Jonnie was 14 years old, she wrote a letter to the Winnipeg chief of police, asking him what he would do if she, a young Ojibwe woman, went missing. Would she get the same treatment as a young white boy who went missing? Or would her disappearance be ignored? The letter went viral online and sparked an important conversation about missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
If I Go Missing is a graphic novel adaptation of Jonnie's letter, featuring artwork by Nshannacappo, a poet and artist from Ditibineya-ziibiing (Rolling River First Nation).

In My Own Moccasins by Helen Knott

In My Own Moccasins is a memoir by Helen Knott. (Tenille K. Campbell/sweetmoonphotography.ca, University of Regina Press)

Helen Knott is a poet and writer of Dane Zaa, Nehiyaw and European descent. Her memoir, In My Own Moccasins, is a story of addiction, sexual violence and intergenerational trauma. It explores how colonization has affected her family over generations. But it is also a story of hope and redemption, celebrating the resilience and history of her family.

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline

Cherie Dimaline is the author of Empire of Wild. (CBC, Random House Canada)

Though he has been missing for nearly a year, Joan hasn't given up on finding her husband Victor, who disappeared after their first serious fight. One morning, hungover Joan finds herself in a packed preacher's tent on a Walmart parking lot. The charismatic Reverend Wolff is none other than Victor, who claims to have no memory of Joan or their life together.

Cherie Dimaline is a Métis author and editor whose award-winning fiction has been published and anthologized internationally. In 2017, her novel The Marrow Thieves won the Governor General's Literary Award for Young people's literature — text and the Kirkus Prize for young readers' literature. It is currently being adapted for television.

Make sure to buy the books in one of your local bookstores. Iron Dog Books in East Vancouver for example is an indigenous bookstore and has a tremendous selection of books by indigenous authors. 

Iron Dog Books is an Indigenous-owned bookshop and booktruck dedicated to bringing low cost reading to Səl̓ilwətaɁɬ, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territories (metro Vancouver).

If you are seeking more learning opportunities, the University of Alberta is offering a free Course Indigenous Canada course. You can find out more information here.

Podcast fans can check out relevant episodes from The Secret Life of Canada, a podcast that explores the unauthorized history of a complicated country. 

If you need support, The Indian Residential School Survivors Society Crisis Line is available to support former students and anyone else affected, at 1.866.925.4419.

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Blog Post by Nina Bader, Diversity & Inclusion Facilitator at Young Women in Business Vancouver.