Road trips can lead to all manner of new discoveries and insights- even a rare wildlife sighting such as a pronghorn deer on the Saskatchewan prairie. We were en route to Winnipeg and I was looking forward to visiting the Common Word bookstore at the Canadian Mennonite University. CMU is situated in a prairie city and so its library staff and supporters are attuned to voices in prairie communities, and increasingly First Nations and Metis. Christian researchers and writers of many backgrounds are exposing and writing documented histories and stories, addressing the lamentable clash between Indigenous and settler cultures, historically and still continuing today.
As a result we are seeing more and more books and materials being published to help us understand this reality and learn how to best respond to what are witnessing in our communities and through news media. In a time when Christian publishers and bookstores need very creative business plans to survive, they need our support so they can continue to promote, invest in, and generate the voices that so important to be heard.
I came back with various titles to build on a church library collection that offers “information, insights and resolutions” all challenging our usual thinking of Indigenous peoples. Some of these titles are listed below. Most are written by authors who struggled as Christians in coming to terms with historic and current injustices, as should we.
Book Suggestions:
For readers who like to know the facts behind the scene, Visions of the Heart: Issues Involving Indigenous Peoples in Canada is for you. It’s a scholarly award-winning text recommended by King’s University College President, Melanie Humphreys, while on tour here. Available in our church library or at Amazon and Indigo.
Other readers learn much from real life dramas. Try a story that was first published in 1998 and still speaks to the heart today. Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman is co-authored by prairie author Rudy Wiebe and Yvonne Johnson the native woman in the story. It’s about Yvonne’s own life experiences that put her behind bars for life at age 27 and the healing that came through the collaborative writing of the book. Available in our church library or at Amazon and Indigo.
For children The Honour Drum by Cheryl Bear and Tim Huff is a great starting point for learning and insight of Indigenous cultures. The Parent/Teacher discussion guide is particularly sensitive and respectful. Available in our church library or at Amazon and Indigo.
Magazines:
Others have titles that speak for themselves such as copies from the Intotemak Series, a quarterly magazine that seeks to nurture Indigenous settler relationships of respect, kindness and solidarity and each is accompanied by a study guide. Edited by Steve Heinrich.
- Quest for Respect: The Church and Indigenous Spirituality
- Yours, Mine, Ours: Unraveling the Doctrine of Discovery
- Wrongs to Rights: How Churches Can Engage the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Additional Book Suggestions:
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality by Bob Joseph. Available in our church library or at Amazon and Indigo.
Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry: Conservations on Creation, Land Justice and Life Together edited by Steven Heinrich, director of Indigenous Relations for Mennonite Church Canada. Available in our church library or at Indigo.
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. Now available in our church library. Also on Indigo and Amazon.