Indigenous Issues and Reconciliation Resources

Prepared by Isabella Johnson

Below are resources and learnings to help local electeds further the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action in their communities across British Columbia and Canada.

Truth and Reconciliation

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
  • Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future – Summary
  What We Have Learned – Principles of Truth and Reconciliation
• National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
• Beyond 94 – Truth and Reconciliation in Canada (CBC)
• Truth and Reconciliation – City of Vancouver
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action – Government of BC
• Reconciliation Canada
• Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
• Indigenous Foundations, UBC
• Indigenous Canada, University of Alberta (Free on-line course on Indigenous perspectives and history)
• The Survivors Speak
• Truth and Reconciliation: Calls To Action
• Canada’s Residential Schools: Missing Children and Unmarked Burials

Residential Schools

• Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, UBC
• Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS)

MMIWG

• National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

UNDRIP / DRIPA

• UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• City of Vancouver’s UNDRIP Strategy
• City of Vancouver’s UNDRIP Action Plan
• Government of British Columbia – Annual report updates collective efforts to achieve objectives of UN Declaration

Racism and Discrimination in Health Care

• In Plain Sight – Independent Review of Indigenous Specific Racism in B.C. Health Care (November 2020)

Child Welfare Agreement

• Federal government, AFN reach $20B final settlement on First Nations child welfare agreement

Statements on Unmarked Graves

• Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Statement on Kamloops Indian Residential School
• Statement from the Office of the Chief, Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc
• How to support Tḱemlúps te Secwepemc
• ʔaq̓am Statement on Discovery of Unmarked Graves
• First Nations leaders on the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at Saskatchewan residential school

Grave Detection:

• Canadian Archeological Association – Recommended Pathway for Locating Unmarked Graves Around Residential Schools
• Remote Sensing and Grave Detection
• Resources for Indigenous Communities Considering Investigating Unmarked Graves

Indigenous Voices:

• We were Children – In this feature film, the profound impact of the Canadian government’s residential school system is conveyed through the eyes of two children who were forced to face hardships beyond their years. 
• Canadian Shame: A History of Residential Schools, Ginger Gosnell-Myers of Nisga’a and Kwakwaka’wakw heritage
• The decades-long battle to achieve fairness for Indigenous kids in Canada from Indigenous children’s advocate Cindy Blackstock
• Wawahte – Stories of Indian Residential School Survivors
• The National Campus and Community Radio Association – Resonating Reconciliation Documentaries
• #IndigenousReads
• The Indigenous Storyteller in Residence, VPL

Steps to Act on the 94 Calls to Action:

• The TRC Calls to Action in BC Municipalities – Women Transforming Cities
• Canada must face its deep systemic racism against Indigenous people, The Globe & Mail
• Indigenous children who died at Canada’s residential schools, The Guardian
• Indigenous People Advance a Dramatic Goal: Reversing Colonialism, The New York Times
• From truth to reconciliation: How to Move Forward with the TRC’s Calls to Action, Global News

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