Read for Reconcilation

The Read for Reconciliation book list is meant to create opportunities for learning, discussion and reflection about Truth and Reconciliation. The titles included reflect various Indigenous experiences and share concrete actions to take on the path to Reconciliation.

Updated September 9, 2025
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Who we are : four questions for a life and a nation
—Sinclair, Murray, 1951-2024 author.
Paper Book
Named a Book to Read This Fall by CBC Books and the Toronto Star . One of Indigo's Most Anticipated Books and Top 100 Books of the 2024 . An Audible Best Book of 2024 . One of Kobo CA's Best Biography and Memoir Ebooks of the Year . One of CBC's Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2024 Judge...
The knowing
—Talaga, Tanya
Paper Book
From Tanya Talaga, the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of Seven Fallen Feathers, comes a riveting exploration of her family's story and a retelling of the history of the country we now call Canada For generations, Indigenous People have known that their family members...
Wînipêk : visions of Canada from an Indigenous centre
—Sinclair, Niigaanwewidam James
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Winner of the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of 2024 by Audible, Spotify, and Winnipeg Free Press * One of CBC's Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2024 From ground zero of this country's most...
Surviving Canada : indigenous peoples celebrate 150 years of betrayal
Ladner, Kiera L.
Paper Book
Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal is a collection of elegant, thoughtful, and powerful reflections about Indigenous Peoples' complicated, and often frustrating, relationship with Canada, and how--even 150 years after Confederation--the fight for recognition of...
52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing
David A. Robertson
Paper Book
From bestselling author of the Misewa Saga series David A. Robertson, this is the essential guide for all Canadians to understand how small and attainable acts towards reconciliation can make an enormous difference in our collective efforts to build a reconciled country. 52...
All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward
Tanya Talaga
Paper Book
Winner, 2024 Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize, for the whole of her work Finalist, 2018 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding Finalist, 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction Tanya Talaga, the bestselling author of Seven Fallen...
Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools
Theodore Fontaine
Paper Book
A new commemorative edition of Theodore Fontaine's powerful, groundbreaking memoir of survival and healing after years of residential school abuse. Originally published in 2010, Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools chronicles the impact of Theodore...
Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player
Fred Sasakamoose
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Fred Sasakamoose played in the NHL before First Nations people had the right to vote in Canada. This page turner will have you cheering for 'Fast Freddy' as he faces off against huge challenges both on and off the ice--a great gift to every proud hockey fan,...
From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way
Jesse Thistle
Paper Book
*#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER *Winner, Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Nonfiction *Winner, Indigenous Voices Awards *Winner, High Plains Book Awards *Finalist, CBC Canada Reads *A Globe and Mail Book of the Year *An Indigo Book of the...
Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality
Bob Joseph
Paper Book
A timely sequel to the bestselling 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act--and an invaluable guide for anyone seeking to work more effectively with Indigenous Peoples. We are all treaty people. But what are the everyday impacts of treaties, and how can we...
A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Edited and Abridged (Perceptions on Truth and Reconciliation)
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Paper Book
"It can start with a knock on the door one morning. It is the local Indian agent, or the parish priest, or, perhaps, a Mounted Police officer." So began the school experience of many Indigenous children in Canada for more than a hundred years, and so begins the history of residential schools...
True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change
Jody Wilson-Raybould
Paper Book
There is one question Canadians have asked Jody Wilson-Raybould more than any other: What can I do to help advance reconciliation? This has been true from her time as a leader of British Columbia's First Nations, as a Member of Parliament, as Minister of Justice and Attorney General,...
Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada
Michelle Good
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER High Plains Book Award FINALIST for the Writers' Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy FINALIST for the Indigenous Voices Award Longlisted for the First Nation Communities READ A bold, provocative collection of essays exploring...
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
Angela Sterritt
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER: A Globe and Mail and Toronto Star Bestseller A finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award and the Writers' Trust Hilary Weston Prize for Nonfiction. "A remarkable life story. . . Angela Sterritt is a formidable storyteller...
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality
Bob Joseph
Paper Book
Since its creation in 1876, the Indian Act has dictated and constrained the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Peoples, and is at the root of many enduring stereotypes. Bob Joseph's book comes at a key time in the reconciliation process, when awareness from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous...
The education of Augie Merasty : a residential school memoir
Merasty, Joseph Auguste
Paper Book
The Education of Augie Merasty offers a courageous and intimate chronicle of life in a residential school. Now a retired fisherman and trapper, Joseph A. (Augie) Merasty was one of an estimated 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children who were...
Picking Up the Pieces: Residential School Memories and the Making of the Witness Blanket
Carey Newman
Paper Book
"Will educate and enlighten Canadians for generations to come. It's a must-read for anyone seeking to understand Canada's residential-school saga. Most importantly, it's a touchstone of community for those survivors and their families still on the path to healing."--Waubgeshig Rice, journalist...
Legacy : trauma, story, and Indigenous healing
—Methot, Suzanne, 1968- author.
Paper Book
Winner of the 2019-20 Huguenot Society of Canada Award "Powerful ... A deeply empathetic and inspiring work with insights of value to anyone struggling to overcome personal or communal trauma." -- Library Journal "[A] beautifully written book about...
In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience (The Regina Collection, 11)
Helen Knott
Paper Book
An unflinching memoir of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the wounds of sexual assault from a resilient, emerging Indigenous voice. Helen Knott, a highly accomplished Indigenous woman, seems to have it all. But in her memoir, she offers a different perspective. In My Own...
kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân / The Way I Remember
Solomon Ratt
Paper Book
A residential school survivor finds his way back to his language and culture through his family's traditional stories. When reflecting on forces that have shaped his life, Solomon Ratt says his education was interrupted by his schooling. Torn from his family at the age of six,...
Intimate integration : a history of the Sixties Scoop and the colonization of Indigenous kinship
Stevenson, Allyson D.
Paper Book
Privileging Indigenous voices and experiences, Intimate Integration documents the rise and fall of North American transracial adoption projects, including the Adopt Indian and Métis Project and the Indian Adoption Project. Allyson D. Stevenson argues that the integration of adopted Indian...

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