As the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation draws near, the need for education, engagement, and support is – and remains – important. Now Toronto has curated a list of Indigenous Canadian authors whose written works will deepen your understanding ahead of this important annual observance.
From Tanya Talaga’s Seven Fallen Feathers to Richard Wagameses’ Indian Horse, both fiction and non-fiction blend to uncover the lived experiences, histories, and truths of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. While this list is by no means exhaustive, it serves as a starting point for those unfamiliar with Indigenous affairs and history within Canadian context.
Here are 10 essential books written by Indigenous Canadian authors to add to your reading list.
FIRST MUST-READ
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction
Indian Horse follows Saul Indian Horse, a northern Ojibway man battling alcoholism and intergenerational trauma after being taken away from his family and forced into the residential school system. Through his journey in a treatment centre, Saul reflects on his painful past, and finds healing through hockey and learning to tell his story. Set in Northern Ontario, Wagameses’ Indian Horse explores themes of colonialism, cultural loss, resilience, identity, and healing.
Richard Wagamese, Ojibway and member of the Wabaseemoong First Nation, was one of Canada’s leading authors and writers, whose work focused primarily on historical and contemporary socio-economic issues affecting Indigenous communities in Canada. Wagamese was also the recipient of the Arts Molson Prize (2013) and the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Matt Cohen Award (2015).
SECOND MUST-READ
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga – follow-up read: All Our Relations
Genre: Nonfiction
In her novel Seven Fallen Feathers, Investigative Journalist Tanya Talaga explores the deaths of seven Indigenous high school students between 2000 and 2011 in Thunder Bay, ON, shedding light on the history of the small northern city and the systemic racism and human rights violations faced by Indigenous communities in Canada.
Tanya Talaga is an Anishinaabe journalist and speaker, who spent 20 years at the Toronto Star. Her novel Seven Fallen Feathers won various honours, including the RBC Taylor Prize, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and the First Nations Communities READ award. Talaga currently leads Makwa Creative Inc., an Indigenous owned production company that focuses on sharing Indigenous stories and amplifying Indigenous voices.
THIRD MUST-READ
This Place, 100 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and various Indigenous Canadian authors
Genre: Nonfiction
This Place, 100 Years Retold, written in a graphic novel format, blends art and storytelling to explore the experiences of Indigenous Peoples over the last century, featuring the voices of several distinct Indigenous authors and artists. This Place is one of the 200 projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter initiative, supporting the creation and sharing of the arts across Canadian communities.
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, Saugeen Ojibway Nation on the Saugeen Peninsula in Ontario, is a writer and the managing editor of Kegedonce Press, one of four Indigenous-run publishing houses in Canada. Akiwenzie-Damm has also served as Poet Laureate for Owen Sound and North Grey.
FOURTH MUST-READ
Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel
Genre: Nonfiction
Indigenous Writes explores the experience of Indigenous Peoples in Canada from contact to the present, addressing questions and topics such as terminology of relationships, culture and identity, myth-busting, state violence, and land, learning, law, and treaties. Through a collection of 31 essays, Vowel challenges the wider social beliefs about the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canada, sparking conversations in various spaces, such as the classroom, at home, and in the community.
Chelsea Vowel, a Métis from manitow-sâkahikan (Lac Ste. Anne) Alberta, is a writer, public intellectual, and educator whose work focuses on the intersection between gender, Métis self-determination and resurgence.
FIFTH MUST-READ
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph – follow-up read: 21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government
Genre: Nonfiction
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, based on a viral article, is an essential guide breaking down the 1876 Indian Act – a legal document that has governed the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Peoples in Canada– its ongoing impact on several generations, the reconciliation process, and a return to self-governance and self-determination.
Bob Joseph, author, and founder and president of Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., is an initiated member of the Hamatsa Society and has received a Chief’s seat in the Gayaxala (Thunderbird) clan – the first clan of the Gwawa’enuxw Tribe, one of 18 tribes that make up the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation in British Columbia.
SIXTH MUST-READ
Halfbreed by Maria Campbell
Genre: Nonfiction
“I am not bitter. I have passed that stage. I only want to say this is what it was like, this is what it is still like.” In Halfbreed, author Maria Campbell shares her raw account of growing up as a Métis woman in 1940s and 50s northern Saskatchewan and across Canada’s west, where she grapples with poverty, drug addiction, and alcoholism, and offers a personal reflection on the hardships of identity, survival, and belonging.
Maria Campbell is a Métis author, activist, playwright, broadcaster, filmmaker, and Elder whose work has been featured on the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). She also coordinates and acts as a member of Sage Ensemble – a community theatre group of Aboriginal elders – and has focused on teaching Métis history, along with Methods in Oral Tradition Research.
SEVENTH MUST-READ
Islands of Decolonial Love: Stories & Songs by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Genre: Fiction
Islands of Decolonial Love is a collection of short stories to explore the lives of contemporary Indigenous Peoples and communities, particularly those of the author’s Nishnaabeg nation. Betasamosake Simpson offers insight into the challenges of balancing the desire to live tender lives with the ongoing struggle to survive the injustices of racism and colonialism.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a writer, artist, musician, educator, and Nishnaabeg scholar whose work explores the intersections between politics, story and song, earning recognition as a compelling Indigenous voice.
EIGHT MUST-READ
Indian School Days by Basil H. Johnston
Genre: Nonfiction
“Spanish! It was a word synonymous with residential school, penitentiary, reformatory, exile, dungeon, whippings, kicks, slaps, all rolled into one.” Indian School Days is an autobiographical memoir that chronicles Basil H. Joshnston’s childhood experiences in a residential school, where he was taken from his family at the age of 10 and placed in a Jesuit boarding school in northern Ontario.
Basil H. Johnston is an Anishinaabe author, linguist, and teacher, recognized as one of the leading Indigenous authors in Canada. Much of his work focuses on Anishinaabe traditions, language, and modern life.
NINTH MUST-READ
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Genre: Fiction
Five Little Indians follows the lives of five church-run residential school survivors – Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie, and Maisie – exploring themes of colonialism, trauma, and recovery.
Michelle Good, a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, is a writer and advocate who has earned an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, a law degree, and has spent three decades working alongside Indigenous communities and organizations.
TENTH MUST-READ BY A NON-INDIGENOUS AUTHOR
Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women by Jessica McDiarmid
Genre: Nonfiction
Highway of Tears delves into the cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women along Highway 16, an isolated stretch of road in northwestern British Columbia. The novel highlights systemic racism, societal neglect, and an ongoing national crisis. Through interviews with victims’ families, McDiarmid offers an intimate, first-hand account of their loss, resilience, and ongoing fight for justice.
Jessica McDiarmid is a Canadian journalist whose work has appeared in the Associated Press, Harvard Review Online, and Maisonneuve. Highway of Tears was a finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize.
Why was this book added to the list? It brings attention to a persistent issue faced by Indigenous women in Canada, offering greater awareness and education.