Valley of the Birdtail

Accompanying Resources

Click the following links to explore supporting resources for each section of the book

Before Reading Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four

Before Reading

Understanding and Finding Our Way: Decolonizing Canadian Education

All Canadians are responsible for reconciliation. Teachers have a unique opportunity to contribute by advocating for change to eliminate inequity and racism. Understanding and Finding Our Way – Decolonizing Canadian Education is a powerful film that exposes education inequities within public education in Canada.

Part One: "Masters of their Own Destiny"

Waywayseecappo Traditional Knowledge Study.pdf

Waywayseecappo Traditional Knowledge Study

Learn about Waywayseecappo from community elders

Brandon Indian Residential School History

Michael Twovoice: "An Indian Thinks---With Pride" in The Native Voice, November, 1951 (Page 12)

Wahbung: Our Tomorrows Policy Document by the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood (Education Policy p. 22)

This document reports on the dire situation facing Indigenous children in provincially integrated schooling in Manitoba.

Indian Control of Indian Education Policy Paper (1972) by the National Indian Brotherhood

This document outlined the terms of independent educational control First Nations were demanding. "The hope was seperate and equal" (p. 79)

Part Two: "The Cunning of the Whiteman"

Bounty_and_Benevolence_A_History_of_Saskatchewan_QuAppelle_Treaty_or_Treaty_4.pdf

History of Treaty 4

From Bounty and Benevolence by Arthur J. Ray, Frank Tough, and J. R. Miller

"Christian Statesmanship" Editorial on the cover of Grip Magazine April 1888 (satirical publication)

Media Indigena Podcast: One-on-One with "Clearing the Plains" Author James Daschuk. Explores how disease and starvation were tools of Indigenous erasure on the plains

An excerpt demonstrating early relations between Rossburn and Waywayseecappo. From "Reminiscences" a Local Rossburn History Book

Watch The Pass System Online | Vimeo On DemandSegregation. In Canada. For over 60 years, the Canadian government denied many Indigenous peoples the basic freedom to leave their reserves without a pass. Nehiyaw,…

Racialization of Early Settlers- A series of primary documents depicting the experiences and treatment of Ukrainian immigrants. From the Critical Thinking Consortium.

Racialization of Early Settlers- Who Counted as "White" in the Early Twentieth Century?

Sarah Carter details the repressive agricultural policies and practices imposed on First Nations people; she demonstrates how these policies deliberately hampered the success and economic competitiveness of First Nations farmers to the benefit of white settlers.

Social Darwinism was the racial theory used by the government to deny Indigenous people access to modern technology.

"...And They Told Us Their Stories" - Firsthand accounts of life under the Indian Act from Treaty 6 Territory. All Treaty Kits should have this book.

Dick Patrick was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the Second World War, but back home in British Columbia he was refused restaurant service because he was Indigenous. He became a local legend for repeatedly demanding to be served and then getting arrested, in a year‐long act of civil disobedience that saw him thrown in jail 11 times.

Part Three: "Sifton's Pets"

McLean We Built a Life From Nothing.pdf

"We Built a Life From Nothing"

This text explores how settlers are socialized in ways that erase, forget and cover over the production of vast racial inequality in Canada. The myth of meritocracy common to Canada's national narrative serves to rationalize and maintain ongoing racism. (p. 198)

"Analyzing the Social Operation of Racism"

Analyzing Operation of Racism.pdf

"This story is built on stereotypes, is the kind of story that explains and justifies. For someone like Nelson, the inequality between the two sides of the Birdtail, stark and long-standing, was a fact of life...Nelson did what most people instinctively do when confronted with a disparity between groups: he blamed individuals. The decades of government policies that had held reserves back were largely invisible to outsiders, while the shortcomings of particular [Indigenous peoples] were on clear display" (p. 199)

This analytical model is useful for determining how racist ideologies justify particular practices and policies that produce racially inequitable outcomes. When people encounter unequal social and material outcomes, they often don't trace their observations back to policies and practices, but rather allow what they see to reinforce and rationalize racist theories already dominant in the social discourse.

"Can we do Better? Erasure and Myths of Ukrainian-Indigenous Relations in Canada" by Leah Hrycun

Ukrainian immigrants have made Canada their home since 1891 and many relied on the kindness of the Indigenous peoples they encountered to make it through their first winter and beyond. But somehow, in making Canada our home, we erased the Indigenous peoples whose knowledge and lands were integral to our ancestors’ survival and success from our stories. This presentation will share some of the stories of Ukrainians and Indigenous peoples that have been recovered and seeks to answer the question, can we do better when we tell our stories of these lands?

Enemy Alien: A True Story of Life Behind Barbed Wire by Kassandra Luciuk

This graphic history tells the story of Canada’s first national internment operations through the eyes of John Boychuk, an internee held in Kapuskasing from 1914 to 1917. The story is based on Boychuk’s actual memoir, which is the only comprehensive internee testimony in existence.

The novel follows Boychuk from his arrest in Toronto to Kapuskasing, where he spends just over three years. It details the everyday struggle of the internees in the camp, including forced labour and exploitation, abuse from guards, malnutrition, and homesickness. It also documents moments of internee agency and resistance, such as work slowdowns and stoppages, hunger strikes, escape attempts, and riots.

Little is known about the lives of the incarcerated once the paper trail stops, but Enemy Alien subsequently traces Boychuk’s parole, his search for work, his attempts to organize a union, and his ultimate settlement in Winnipeg. Boychuk’s reflections emphasize the much broader context in which internment takes place. This was not an isolated incident, but rather part and parcel of Canadian nation building and the directives of Canada’s settler colonial project.