Employee
Picks

FULL LIST OF STAFF PICKS

BOOKS:

VPL Picks: Asian Canadian Fiction - A select list of new, popular and acclaimed fiction titles by Canadian writers of Asian descent.

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice - Care Work is a mapping of access as radical love, a celebration of the work that sick and disabled queer/people of color are doing to find each other.

Son of Elsewhere - Elamin Abdelmahmoud - From one of the most beloved media personalities of his generation comes a one-of-a-kind reflection on Blackness, faith, language, pop culture, and the challenges and rewards of finding your way in the world.

Seven Fallen Feathers - Tanya Talaga  - The groundbreaking and multiple award-winning national bestseller work about systemic racism, education, the failure of the policing and justice systems, and Indigenous rights by Tanya Talaga.

35 books for Pride month by writers in Canada  - CBC has curated a list of the latest fiction, nonfiction, poetry and comics by 2SLGBTQ+ writers in Canada to read throughout the year.

Lead From The Outside by Stacey  - Lead from the Outside is a necessary guide to harnessing the strengths of being an outsider by Stacey Abrams, one of the most prominent black female politicians in the U.S.

Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong by Louisa Lim - An award-winning journalist and longtime Hong Konger indelibly captures the place, its people, and the untold history they are claiming, just as it is being erased.

We Two Alone by Jack Wang  - Set on five continents and spanning nearly a century, We Two Alone traces the long arc and evolution of the Chinese immigrant experience. From the vulnerable and disenfranchised to the educated and elite, the characters in this extraordinary collection embody the diversity of the diaspora at key moments in history and in contemporary times.

Have You Eaten Yet? by Cheuk Kwan - From small-town Saskatchewan to Cape Town, South Africa, family-run Chinese restaurants are global icons of immigration, community and delicious food. The cultural outposts of far-flung settlers, bringers of dim sum, Peking duck and creative culinary hybrids, Chinese restaurants are a microcosm of greater social forces—an insight into time, history and place.

Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui - The Surprising History and Vibrant Present of Small-Town Chinese Restaurants from Victoria, BC to Fogo Island, NL. 

So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life.

Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice - Filling a significant gap in the field, Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice is the first work to synthesize classic and contemporary studies on the evolutionary, ideological, and cognitive-emotional sources of ableism. 

The Skin We're In - Celebrated writer and activist Desmond Cole punctures the naive assumptions of Canadians who believe we live in a post-racial nation. 

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning - A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents -  The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

We Can't Talk about That at Work! -  Instead of shutting down any mention of taboo topics, Mary-Frances Winters shows how to structure intentional conversations about them, so people can safely confront biases and stereotypes and create stronger, more inclusive organizations.

Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice - is an important resource for social, community and rehabilitation psychologists, scholars and researchers of disability studies, and students, activists, and academics across political, sociological, and humanistic disciplines.

PODCASTS:

ADHD Diversified:  MJ is a Canadian-born Asian who grew up in Alberta, Canada. Her diagnosis of ADHD in 2019 marked a new chapter of her life, immersing herself in the world of ADHD and mental health. Through her engagement, collaboration, and open conversations with experts in the field, she recognized a lack of representation for the greater Asian community in the domains of mental health and ADHD.

Code Switch - NPR - What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. 

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard: Robert Livingston (Podcast) - Robert Livingston is a social psychologist at the Harvard Kennedy School, he studies the science underlying implicit bias and racism. Robert joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the science behind racism, how to synthesize and assemble it into something people can digest, and the ways to make profound and sustainable change around it.

The Distractables - your ADHD friends -A show for ADHDers by ADHDers - a casual conversation amongst ADHD friends, focusing on practical ADHD tips/tricks/hacks to get through daily life. Consultant Andrew Gurza.

Disability After Dark - This is a podcast that looks at disability stories. it's like sitting down with a really close friend to have real conversations about disability, sexuality and everything else about the disability experience that we don't talk about; the things about being disabled we keep in the dark. The show is hosted by Disability Awareness Consultant Andrew Gurza.

Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild - Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous voices – our cousins, our aunties, our elders, our heroes. Rosanna Deerchild guides us on the path to better understand our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations.

Hidden Brain: Revealing Your Unconscious -  Would you consider yourself to be prejudiced against people who are different from you? Most of us would say no. But in the late 1990s, researchers created a test to measure biases that may be hidden from our conscious minds. Millions of people have taken it since, and not everyone likes what they’ve discovered. This week, we launch a two-part look at implicit bias with psychologist Mahzarin Banaji.

Disability Visibility Project - Conversations on disability politics, culture, and media.

Kuper Island - Long after the Kuper Island Residential School was torn down, the survivors are still haunted by what happened there. Duncan McCue exposes buried police investigations, confronts Catholic priests who got away with it and witnesses a community trying to rebuild. 

VIDEOS:

Racism has a cost for everyone | Heather C. McGhee - Racism makes our economy worse -- and not just in ways that harm people of color, says public policy expert Heather C. McGhee. From her research and travels across the US, McGhee shares startling insights into how racism fuels bad policymaking and drains our economic potential -- and offers a crucial rethink on what we can do to create a more prosperous nation for all. "Our fates are linked," she says. "It costs us so much to remain divided." misunderstanding.

The danger of a single story (TED Talk) - Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

Riceboy Sleeps (Film) - Set in the 90s, a Korean single mother raises her young son in the suburbs of Canada determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind.

American Born Chinese (TV Series)  - The story of Jin Wang, an average teenager juggling his high-school social life with his immigrant home life. When he meets a new foreign student on the first day of the school year, even more worlds collide as Jin is unwittingly entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods. The action-comedy explores issues of identity, culture, and family.

You Can't Ask That (TV Series) - You Can’t Ask asks the misunderstood, judged, or stigmatised people in society, the questions you've always wanted to know the answers to. It's about breaking down stereotypes and offering genuine insight into the lives of people who live with labels.

Racism has a cost for everyone - Heather C. McGhee TED Talk - C. McGhee shares startling insights into how racism fuels bad policymaking and drains our economic potential -- and offers a crucial rethink on what we can do to create a more prosperous nation for all. 

Spirit of A Nation: The places we Belong (Documentary) - Journey with the Fort McKay people to lands held sacred, as they walk the balance between the modern world, while honouring the teachings of their ancestors.

Bimibatoo-win: Where I Ran (Documentary) - In 1967, Charlie Bittern was forced to run 80 km through a blizzard by a residential school principal. 55 years later, he’s embarking on the same journey — this time, surrounded by his family.

Nipawistamasowin: We Will Stand Up (Documentary) - The death of a young Cree man, Colten Boushie captures international attention and raises disturbing questions about racism in Canada's legal system.

I am not your inspiration, thank you very much: TED Talk by Stella Young -  Stella Young is a comedian and journalist who happens to go about her day in a wheelchair — a fact that doesn't, she'd like to make clear, automatically turn her into a noble inspiration to all humanity.

COURSES, TOOLS AND MORE:

How to Support Neurodiversity in the Workplace:  Workplaces thrive when they embrace diversity. Diversity reflects both what’s immediately apparent and how people think, process information, and approach challenges. 

The Micropedia of Microaggressions: The Micropedia of Microaggressions is a comprehensive tool to learn about the different microaggressions people experience and unlearn the behaviours that cause them to create more inclusive workplaces, schools and social interactions. 

Indigenous Peoples Language Guide - Provides information on how to navigate the terminology and meanings associated with Indigenous peoples in order to produce the best — and most respectful — communication results.

Microsoft ELesson: Unconscious Bias - This course introduces unconscious bias, and how it affects the workplace and decisions we make.

University of Alberta Indigenous Canada Course  - From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.

CCDI Glossary of Terms for Inclusion - A reference tool for inclusion, diversity, equity and accesiblity terminology.

Microsoft: Raising the bar on accessibility - In today’s connected world, access to technology is central to the way we operate, and it is fundamental to a more equitable future. Accessibility is the vehicle for inclusion of people with disabilities.

Google Accessibility  - Guides and resources committed to making the web more accessible. 

Adobe: Check and verify PDF accessibility - Tips to help you create PDFs that are more accessible.