Research guides: Dismantling racism &amp; oppression: Decolonization &amp; Reconciliation

For more information

For additional resources related to reconciliation, decolonization, and Indigenous Knowledge, visit the Indigenous Knowing Guide and the Indigenizing Citations at Camosun Guide.

For resources related to residential schools and the Sixties Scoop, visit the Orange Shirt Day, IST Indigenous Studies: Sixties Scoop and Residential Schools guides.

Caution: Many of the resources in this guide contain discussions or representations of violence and trauma which may be painful for readers – please exercise care.

If you need help: The KUU-US Crisis Line Society provides 24-hour phone support for Indigenous people in BC. The KUU-US Crisis Line can be reached toll-free at 1-800-588-8717. Individuals can also call the Youth Line at 250-723-2040 or the Adult Line at 250-723-4050.

The Indian Residential School Crisis Line 1-866-925-4419 is available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their or a loved one's residential school experience.

Camosun students can access help from the Counselling Centre. For resources related to emergency and after hours support, on-campus support, and other information, visit the Counselling Centre Resources webpage.

Land & Place

Living on the Land: Indigenous Women's Understanding of Place by Nathalie Kermoal & Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez, 2016
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E-book and in print: HQ 1161 L59 2016
No Surrender: The Land Remains Indigenous by Sheldon Krasowski, 2019, foreword by Winona Wheeler
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E-book and in print: E 92 K73 2019
Plants, People, and Places : The Roles of Ethnobotany and Ethnoecology in Indigenous Peoples' Land Rights in Canada and Beyond by Nancy J Turner, 2020
Whose Land Is It Anyway?: A Manual for Decolonization by Peter McFarlane, 2018
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E-book and in print: E 92 W467 2017
The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy by Arthur Manuel & Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, preface by Naomi Klein, 2017
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Call Number: E 92 M347 2017

Decolonization is Not a Metaphor

Decolonization is Not a Metaphor
Tuck, Eve and K. Wayne Yang, In Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. Vol. 1, no.1, (Sept. 2012): pp.1-‐40.
Slavery is a Metaphor: A Critical Commentary on Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang’s “Decolonization is Not a Metaphor”
Garba, Tapji, and Sara‐Maria Sorentino. In Antipode 52, no. 3 (May 2020): 764–82.

Reconciliation

The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-settler Relations by Shirley N. Hager & Gwen Bear, 2021
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Call Number: E 78 M28 H34 2021
ISBN: 9781487508951
The many voices represented in "The Gatherings" offer insights and strategies that can inform change at the individual, group, and systems levels. These voices affirm that authentic relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples - with their attendant anxieties, guilt, anger, embarrassments, and, with time, even laughter and mutual affection -- are key to our shared futures.
A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada by Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Foreword by Phil Fontaine, Afterword by Aimée Craft, 2015
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Call Number: E 96.5 T784 2016
"A Knock on the Door", published in collaboration with the National Research Centre for Truth & Reconciliation, gathers material from the several reports the TRC has produced to present the essential history and legacy of residential schools in a concise and accessible package that includes new materials to help inform and contextualize the journey to reconciliation that Canadians are now embarked upon.
Reconciliation in Practice: A Cross-cultural Perspective by Ranjan Datta, 2020
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Call Number: FC 104 R43 2020
Through essays, personal reflections and poetry, the authors explore what reconciliation is and what it means to live in relationship with Indigenous Peoples. Speaking from their personal experience, contributors share their stories of what reconciliation means in practice. They write about building respectful relationships with Indigenous Peoples, respecting Indigenous Treaties, decolonizing our ways of knowing and acting, learning the role of colonized education processes, protecting our land and environment, creating food security and creating an intercultural space for social interactions.
Pathways of Reconciliation: Indigenous and Settler Approaches to Implementing the TRC's Calls to Action by Aimée Craft & Paulette Regan, 2020
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E-book and in print: E 78 C2 P352 2020
The essays in this book address the themes of reframing, learning and healing, researching, and living. They engage with different approaches to reconciliation (within a variety of reconciliation frameworks, either explicit or implicit) and illustrate the complexities of the reconciliation process itself. They canvass multiple and varied pathways of reconciliation, from Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, reflecting a diversity of approaches to the mandate given to all Canadians by the TRC with its Calls to Action.
Everyday Acts of Resurgence: People, Places, Practices by Jeff Corntassel, et al., 2018
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Call Number: E 78 P2 E94 2018
The twenty-two contributors to this book demonstrate that focusing on everyday actions can be an important emancipatory site for highlighting the relational, experiential and dynamic nature of Indigenous resurgence. Overall, these daily acts of resurgence, at the community, family and personal levels, can be critical sites of resistance, education, and transformative change.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid, 2019
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Call Number: HV 6250.4 W65 M33 2019
Keetsahnak / Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters by Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell & Christi Belcourt, 2018
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E-book and in print: E 98 W8 K448 2018
Honouring the Strength of Indian Women: Plays, Stories, Poetry by Vera Manuel, Michelle Coupal, Deanna Reder, Joanne Arnott, & Emalene Manuel, 2019
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E-book and in print: PS 8576 A576 2019
Violence Against Indigenous Women: Literature, Activism, Resistance by Allison Hargreaves, 2017
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E-book and in print: PS 8089.5 I6 H39 2017
Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside by Carol Muree Martin (Nisga'a - Gitanyow) & Harsha Walia, 2019
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E-book and in print: E 98 W8 R43 2019

lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories

Camosun College is located on the Traditional Territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples. Learn more about where you live and work.

Songhees Nation website
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Website of the Songhees Nation. Provides information about Songhees governance, community, services, news, and more.
Songhees Nation website – lək̓ʷəŋən Traditional Territory
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Information about lək̓ʷəŋən Territory and the Signs of lək̓ʷəŋən site markers, which designate culturally significant sites to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.
W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council website
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W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council Society is a unified, legal governing body comprised of three W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations: Tsartlip, Tseycum, and Tsawout.
W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council – Resources for Settlers
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Settlers who are interested in allyship with W̱SÁNEĆ people will find the resources on this page a great place to support the journey to reconciliation.
Racism in Greater Victoria: A Community Report
Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA), 2021
Community Response Protocol Against Racism and Hate
Greater Victoria Local Immigration Partnership, Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, 2021

Colonialism in Canada

Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada by Emma Battell Lowman & Adam J. Barker, 2015
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Call Number: E 78 C2 B38 2015
Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada by Martin J. Cannon & Lina Sunseri, 2011
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Call Number: E 78 C2 R25 2011
Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada Confronts its History by J.R. Miller, 2017
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Call Number: E 96.5 M53 2017

Racism

Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-up Call by Arthur Manuel & Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson, Foreword by Naomi Klein, 2015
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Call Number: E 78 C2 M3369 2015
Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada by Paulette Regan; Foreword by Taiaiake Alfred, 2010
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Call Number: E 96.5 R44 2010
Canada at a Crossroads: Boundaries, Bridges, and Laissez-faire Racism in Indigenous-settler Relations by Jeffrey S. Denis, 2020
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Call Number: FC 3099 R34 Z7 2020
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott, 2019
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Call Number: E 78 C2 E47 2019

International Links

On an Attempt to Appropriate My Writing Without My Permission | Barbara Boswell | Essay
Barbara Boswell is the author of And Wrote My Story Anyway: Black South African Women's Novels as Feminism, and Grace: A Novel. She is an Associate Professor of English Literary Studies at the University of Cape Town.
Decolonizing the Irish: The International Resistance and Entrenchment of the Global Irish Diaspora
Alderson, Aedan. 2019. "Decolonizing the Irish: The International Resistance and Entrenchment of the Global Irish Diaspora". Studi Irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies, 9(9), 369-386. https://doi.org/10.13128/SIJIS-2239-3978-25580
Decolonization is a Global Project: From Palestine to the Americas
Tabar, Linda & Chandni Desai. 2017. "Decolonization is a global project: From Palestine to the Americas". Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 6(1), i-xix.

Dismantling racism & oppression: Decolonization & Reconciliation

Land & Place

Decolonization is Not a Metaphor

Reconciliation

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories

Recommended Readings from W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America.

Makuk: A New History of Aboriginal-white Relations

Saltwater People: A Resource Book for the Saanich Native Studies Program

21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls

Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-up Call

Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Colonialism in Canada

Racism

International Links