Red Deer Polytechnic recognizes that our campus is situated on Treaty 7 land, the traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Tsuu T’ina and Stoney Nakoda peoples, and that the central Alberta region we serve falls under Treaty 6, traditional Métis, Cree and Saulteaux territory.
We honour the First Peoples who have lived here since time immemorial, and we give thanks for the land where Red Deer Polytechnic sits. This is where we will strive to honour and transform our relationships with one another.
Indigenous Resources Guide
Visit the RDP Library Indigenous Resources Guide.
Indigenous Book Club Month
June is Indigenous Book Club Month!
This initiative was launched in 2016 by previous Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, who encouraged the reading of books by Indigenous authors "to provide an opportunity to learn and begin those difficult conversations about the stories, history and cultures which we never learned about in school." (via CICON)
The Quiet Book Club marked the first year of the Indigenous Book Club Month by featuring The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King.
Indigenous Fiction
Firekeeper's Daughter
by Angeline Boulley
Borders
by Thomas King with illustration by Natasha Donovan
Empire of Wild
by Cherie Dimaline
Moon of the Crusted Snow: A Novel
by Waubgeshig Rice
Strangers
by David A. Robertson
Jonny Appleseed: A Novel
by Joshua Whitehead
Indigenous Picture Books
Treaty Words: For As Long As The Rivers Flow
by Aimée Craft with illustrations by Luke Swinson
We Are Water Protectors
by Carole Lindstrom with illustrations by Michaela Goade
Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes
by Wab Kinew with pictures by Joe Morse
I Sang You Down from the Stars
by Tasha Spillett-Sumner with illustrations by Michaela Goade
On the Trapline
by David A. Robertson with illustrations by Julie Flett
Indigenous Non-Fiction
Life in the City of Dirty Water: A Memoir of Healing
by Clayton Thomas-Muller
Teaching Each Other: Nehinuw Concepts and Indigenous Pedagogies
by Linda M. Goulet and Keith N. Goulet
Turtle Island: The Story of North America's First People
by Eldon Yellowhorn & Kathy Lowinger
This Place: 150 Years Retold
foreword by Alicia Elliott
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground
by Alicia Elliott
Previous Indigenous Book Club Selections
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America
“Most of us think history is the past. It’s Not. History is the stories we tell about the past.” - Thomas King
In Search of April Raintree
"'Oh, I’ve read about Indians. Beautiful people they are. But you’re not exactly Indians, are you? What’s the proper word for people like you?' one asked." - Beatrice Culleton Mosionier
The Reason You Walk
“To be hurt, yet forgive. To do wrong, but forgive yourself. To depart from this world leaving only love. This is the reason you walk.” - Wab Kinew
Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL’s First Treaty Indigenous Player
"Don’t call me that,” I said. “Call me Indian. That’s the name white people gave us hundreds of years ago. You might as well keep using it.” - Fred Sasakamoose
Previous Book Talk Event
To honour Indigenous Book Club Month, the Library partnered with the Centre for Teaching and Learning's Quiet Book Club and held our first Book Talk event to highlight Indigenous authors.
Panelists presented a variety of must-read Indigenous titles:
- All the Way: My Life on Ice by Jordan Tootoo (memoir)
- Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit by Marie Battiste (nonfiction)
- Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead (fiction)
- A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott (memoir)
- The Missing by Melanie Florence (young adult fiction)
- The Round House by Louise Erdrich (fiction)
- The Sharing Circle by Theresa “Corky” Larsen-Jonasson (children’s literature)
- They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School by Bev Sellars (memoir)
- Ways of Knowing: An Introduction to Native Studies in Canada by Yale Deron Belanger (textbook)
And these titles were suggested by Book Talk attendees:
- Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (request via NEOS)
- Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival by Velma Wallis (request via NEOS)
These books are available at RDP Library. Add them to your summer reading list and check them out!
#IndigenousReads
