Truth for reconciliation

With truth comes a heavy heart and a responsibility to learn more and to act.

A vital part of that ongoing journey is reckoning with our past. Reconciliation requires us to acknowledge the harms of Canada’s colonial history and the harms done to Indigenous communities across the country—a legacy still with us today.

United Way Winnipeg is committed to listening, learning, and challenging ourselves with the essential work of moving towards Truth and Reconciliation. We have assembled a starting list of resources for our community to explore as we continue on our learning journey.

Additionally, a national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide 24/7 support for former students of residential schools and those affected. You can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling 1-866-925-4419.

Together, let’s keep the conversation going—today, tomorrow, and always.

Books  

To increase your knowledge about residential schools, check out this list of 48 books (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s books) by Indigenous writers, as well as the list of books below:

• Genocidal Love: A Life After Residential School by BevAnn Fox
• Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
• In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton
• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
• When We Were Alone by David Robertson
• 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act by Bob Joseph
• The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King
• Orange Shirt Day by Phyllis Webstad and Joan Sorley
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports
  Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
• From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
• Children of the Broken Treaty by Charlie Angus
• A Knock on the Door by Phil Fontaine, Aimée Craft, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
• The Reconciliation Manifesto by Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson
  Did You See Us? by Survivors of the Assiniboia Indian Residential School

TV & Films

The National Film Board has an extensive Indigenous cinema. Highlights include The Freedom Road series, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, and We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice

• The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)
• The Secret Path documentary includes a panel discussion with Ry Moran, Jesse Wente and Tasha Hubbard
• Colonization Road
  Thunder Bay (Crave)
• Little Bird (Crave)
• Reservations Dogs (Disney+)
• Indian Horse (Netflix)
• The Grizzlies (Netflix)
• For Love (Netflix)
• Holy Angels (Prime)
• Our People Will Be Healed (Prime)
• Crazywater (Prime)
• Kikkik (Vimeo)
• The Ink Runs Deep (CBC Gem)
• Atanarjuat (CTV)

Podcasts

• Finding Cleo
• Thunder Bay
• MediaIndigena
• Secret Life of Canada
• STOLEN, Surviving St. Michael’s
• Stolen Sisters
• Telling Our Twisted Histories
• Unreserved
• Indigenous Land Rights and Reconciliation Podcast

Musical Artists

• National Indigenous Peoples Day (Apple Music playlist)
• William Prince
• Indian City
• Buffy Sainte-Marie
• The Trade-Offs
• Wolf Castle
• Tagaq
• Zoon

Organizations

The Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba is a wealth of information. In addition to their high-quality Speaker’s Bureau, their website hosts archived public talks as well as past episodes of their radio spots called Let’s Talk Treaty.

Online Courses

• Indigenous Canada from University of Alberta.
• Land Acknowledgement learning series from Can-Solve Network.

Local Agencies

Since 1965, generous United Way Winnipeg donors have invested in Indigenous-led agency partners.

Today, we are one of the top 10 funders of Indigenous-led organizations in Canada. We are building partnerships with Indigenous (First Nation, Inuit, and Metis) individuals and groups across all parts of United Way Winnipeg’s work.

Explore this list of Indigenous-led agency partners to learn more about the transformative working happening right here in Winnipeg.