Each month we will be highlighting new authentic Indigenous resources. These are just suggested recommendations. Reviews of all the print resources have been completed using the FNESC review process. Descriptions are from the publisher websites.
Please find an archive of these resources at the bottom of the page.
The 13 Moons of the Wsanec (The Saanich Moons)
Author: Saanich Indian School Board
Online Link to Resource: Link Here
Grades: K-12, Professional Resource
Cautions: n/a
This collection of teachings around the Saanich Seasonal Rounds will help students make connections to learning on the land. Use the online link to see images of each moon, learn the translation for the moon, understand the activities, weather, cultural activities and economic activities that would occur on the Saanich territory during this time.
The Seasonal Rounds are tied to language, history, Place, and identity. Each First Nations, Inuit and Metis Nation will have their own version of seasonal rounds.
*Teacher Guide Available
On the Trapline
Author: David A Robertson
Illustrator: Julie Flett
Grades: 1-4
Cautions: n/a
A boy and Moshom, his grandpa, take a trip together to visit a place of great meaning to Moshom. A trapline is where people hunt and live off the land, and it was where Moshom grew up. As they embark on their northern journey, the child repeatedly asks his grandfather, "Is this your trapline?" Along the way, the boy finds himself imagining what life was like two generations ago -- a life that appears to be both different from and similar to his life now. This is a heartfelt story about memory, imagination and intergenerational connection that perfectly captures the experience of a young child's wonder as he is introduced to places and stories that hold meaning for his family.
*AVAILABLE IN FRENCH
We All Go Back to the Land: The Who, Why, and How of Land Acknowledgements
Author: Suzanne Keeptwo
Grades: Professional Resource
Cautions: n/a
Land Acknowledgements often begin academic conferences, cultural events, government press gatherings, and even hockey games. They are supposed to be an act of Reconciliation between Indigenous peoples in Canada and non-Indigenous Canadians, but they have become so routine and formulaic that they have sometimes lost meaning. Seen more and more as empty words, some events have dropped Land Acknowledgements altogether.
Wenjack
Author: Joseph Boyden
Grades: Gr 6-10
Cautions: some content may cause emotional distress - focus on IRS and the death of Chanie Wenjack
Note: This is considered an authentic resource - collaboration and permission to share by the Wenjack family.
An Ojibwe boy runs away from a North Ontario Indian School. Too late, he realizes just how far away home is. Along the way he's followed by Manitous, spirits of the forest who comment on his plight, cajoling, taunting, and ultimately offering him a type of comfort on his difficult journey back to the place he was so brutally removed from.