Leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, Selkirk College is launching Selkirk Reads! It is part of an initiative to further our collective understanding of the harms of colonization and the actions we can all take together to lead us toward reconciliation.
Loosely based on Canada Reads, in which five notable Canadians champion a book they feel every Canadian should read, Selkirk Reads! invites book champions to advocate for a book related to truth and reconciliation.
Become a Book Champion
Champions will pitch their book to the rest of the college community through a short video and invite people to join a mini book club for their book. Champions will facilitate small groups that will meet to discuss the book. It’s up to each champion to determine the schedule and frequency of their club’s meetings. Browse the long list and choose a book to champion!
Selkirk Reads! Long List
Fiction
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice *Championed!
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel *Championed!
Moccasin Square Gardens by Richard Van Camp *Championed!
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
Memoir
The Outside Circle by Patti Laboucane-Benson
On/Me by Francine Cunningham
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi'kmaq Poet by Rita Joe
Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman by Yvonne Johnson & Rudy Wiebe
In My Own Moccasins by Helen Knott
Mamaskatch by Darrel J. McLeod
The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty
Take the Indian Out of the Child: Syilx Okanagan Experiences in the Violent and Forced Assimilation of Indian Residential Schools by Okanagan Nation Alliance
Bones by Tyler Pennock
Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential Schools to Becoming the NHL’s First Indigenous Player by Fred Sasakamoose
Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun by Paul Seesequasis *Championed!
They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
Life in the City of Dirty Water by Clayton Thomas-Muller
Graphic novels
This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, et al.
If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose, art by Nshannacappo
Poetry
Hope Matters by Lee Maracle, Columpa Bobb and Tania Carter
Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist
River Woman by Katherena Vermette
The Red Files by Lisa Bird-Wilson
Treaty # by Armand Garnet Ruffo
Non-fiction
Decolonizing Education: Nurturing the Learning Spirit by Marie Battiste
In this Together: 15 Stories of Truth & Reconciliation by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail
The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy by Arthur Manuel & Grand-Chief Ronald Derrickson
Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec & Nick Estes
Finding My Talk: How Fourteen Native Women Reclaimed their Lives After Residential School by Agnes Grant
Behind Closed Doors: Testimonials from the Kamloops Indian Residential School Ed. Agnes Jack
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph *Championed
Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call by Grand-Chief Ronald Derrickson & Arthur Manuel
Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It by Bruce McIvor
Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada by Paulette Regan
Pathways of Reconciliation: Indigenous & Settler Approaches to Implementing the TRC’s Calls to Action Eds. Aimee Kraft & Paulette Regan
Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga *Championed!
Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel
Beyond the Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad
True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change by Jody Wilson-Raybould
Making Love with the Land by Joshua Whitehead *Championed
Reports
What We Have Learned: The Final Report of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada by Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Children's literature
The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad
Phyllis's Orange Shirt by Phyllis Webstad
15 Books that Teach Children about Residential Schools compiled by Today's Parent
Everyone’s a Winner!
In September, Selkirk Reads! will host an event for each book club to present their book and facilitate a short discussion. Everyone’s a winner! The goal is to support each other to stretch and keep learning together as we build a more inclusive, compassionate, and just society.
If you are interested in becoming a book champion, please contact Jennie Barron with the title of the book that you would like to promote and read, together, in a small group of your colleagues.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all