Honestly I think it be cool to have children books about different cultures. Being 31 now I must admit I know nothing really about their culture besides the selected stuff they teach you in school. It’s a great way to educate kids on different cultures and I didn’t read the cbc article. This is just my thought

 

What do you want to know @silvertonebetty ?

 

I’m will to listen to what ever someone is willing to me know .

 

The only people I’ve ever met that claimed to be experts on FNMI culture were all white female professors.

It’s nice to see literature and stories being told in first person for a change.

 

Why is it “for a change”? There are plenty of indigenous authors who have published many books. Sounds like you just need to expand your circle if your really that interested.

Richard Van Camp immediately comes to mind and is an amazing story teller with different writings for all ages.

Ironic to your post he’s married to Professor Keavy Martin who teaches Indigenous literature at U of A, but Mr. Van Camp doesn’t seem to hold the color of her skin against her.

 

There is wikipedia. History in america is well documented since the Mayflower landing.

 

I'm for it.

 

Natives roll their eyes when they hear Metis. 🤣

 

Why?

 

Yes they do, most of the First Nation people I know have French Last names and reddish tinges and blue green eyes, maybe hazel.

I live in SK and the Cree, Dena, Scottish, Ukrainian, Mennonite, French, Blackfoot, German, Engish and Polish. Somehow all these cultures fell in love and there is now up to 4 generations of this mixed cultures

 

Somehow all these cultures fell in love

They just wanted to stay warm mate.

 

It sure is. As much am I as dismayed at the fundamental learning decline I notice in what they bring home compared to when I was a child, they are gaining a wealth of, forgive me, civil education and a much different perspective outlook than I received. Being inclusive of more cultural experiences is a positive movement.
We had "multicultural days" I recall when I was a child and it was a week long celebration of "Its a small world", or at least that is my recollection. So 30 years ago we made caricatures out of peoples cultures, now at least we are trying to include them.

My favorite is the folks that harp on about it not being Canadian culture... or some other such bologna, and that we need our kids to learn about our culture.... except, wait for it, it is our culture

 

Great post …

 

I highly recommend This Place: 150 Years Retold. A graphic novel made by eleven Indigenous writers/illustrators. This is a must read!

This Place

 

Nishnawbe Health in Toronto is a nice place.
Elders and Healers come in.

 

That's great. I had the opportunity to listen to an Elder tell some stories about his life not too long ago. I was humbled and proud at the same time. What an interesting culture that we could learn so much from.

 

I have heard every single teacher and principle ive had tell me this exact line.

 

An interesting story from Wiki that may educate people of all ages:

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a buffalo jump located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the prairie, 18Km west of Fort Macleod, Alberta on highway 785.
The buffalo jump was used for 5,500 years by the indigenous peoples of the plains to kill bison by driving them off the 11m high cliff. Before the late introduction of horses, the Blackfoot drove the bison from a grazing area in the Porcupine Hills about 3Km west of the site to the "drive lanes", lined by hundreds of cairns, by dressing up as coyotes and wolves. These specialized "buffalo runners" were young men trained in animal behavior to guide the bison into the drive lanes. Then, at full gallop, the bison would fall from the weight of the herd pressing behind them, breaking their legs and rendering them immobile. The cliff itself is about 300m long and at its highest point drops 10m into the valley below. The site was in use at least 6,000 years ago and the bone deposits are 12m deep. After falling off the cliff, the injured bison were finished off by other Blackfoot warriors at the cliff base armed with spears and clubs. The carcasses were then processed at a nearby camp. The camp at the foot of the cliffs provided the people with everything they needed to process a bison carcass, including fresh water. The bison carcass was used for a variety of purposes, from tools made from the bone, to the hide used to make dwellings and clothing. The importance of the site goes beyond just providing food and supplies. After a successful hunt, the wealth of food allowed the people to enjoy leisure time and pursue artistic and spiritual interests. This increased the cultural complexity of the society.

In Blackfoot, the name for the site is Estipah-skikikini-kots. According to legend, a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the bison plunge off the cliff from below but was buried underneath the falling animals. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses, where he had his head smashed in.

 

Any tour guide will tell you that story.

 

When you’re done with children’s literature, try these on for size. My father is mentioned in one of them.

 

When you’re done with children’s literature, try these on for size. My father is mentioned in one of them.

View attachment 400174

Which book is your father mentioned in?

I used the concept of the Indigenous children's literature as a way of trying to be supportive while avoiding politics and the likely subsequent closing of my thread.

Mrs. Greco has been studying Indigenous issues and reading novels, etc. by Aboriginal authors for many years now.
We have at least 50+ books on this topic...including "Children of the Broken Treaty"

She is reading this book at present...VERY powerful!

I now likely risk having this thread banned. However, I hope that it has been read, enjoyed and educational.

 

Here is a wonderful video story made by school kids in Tulita, NT where my son has been teaching for five years

 

EXCELLENT! Thank You.
CONGRATS to all of the children who participated in the making of it.

 

The narrows:

 

There are a lot of young people who don't live anywhere where they would regularly come into contact with people - agemates or grownups - not like themselves in some manner. If they were older and in the workforce, they might. But as children, they only run into other kids in their neighbourhood and school. Some are fortunate enough to live in very diverse places, but most will live somewhere that is maybe not deliberately segregated, but incidentally so, perhaps simply by virtue of housing costs or proximity/distance to services relevant to a minority group.

There's two aspects to that. One is simply gaining familiarity with, and a sense of normalcy about, how other groups live their daily lives. Another is the broader economic struggle that impose conditions on those daily lives that one may not be aware of unless you get exposed to it. I remember so well when my dad made a point of driving me through Kahnawake as a young teen, to show me what life was like for Mohawks in the region. It was dismaying to see the housing conditions at that time, given all the shiny tony Montreal suburbs we had to drive through to get there. The contrast in living conditions was pretty stark.

So, while such books for children may not necessarily expose them to the bigger issues (and it would be hard for a 7 year-old to appreciate them, anyway), it does a service by making people often depicted as "different" feel maybe not so different at all. At least not so different as to be strange and hard to understand.