Books, Podcasts & Videos

Racism is a real and present danger. But how can you fight it if you don’t know how it works or where it comes from? Using a compelling mix of memoir, cultural criticism and anti-oppressive theory, Khodi Dill breaks down how white supremacy functions in North America and gives readers tools to understand how racism impacts their lives. From dismantling internalized racism, decolonizing schools, joining social justice movements and more, Dill lays out paths to personal liberation and social transformation. Learn more.

This book is about six principles for leading unequivocally in ways that disrupt inequity at its roots. It offers a deep dive into the leadership values, commitments and practices that help educational leaders create and sustain equitable schools and districts. Drawing from their extensive equity and inclusion work with schools, Paul Gorski and Katy Swalwell introduce key components of the equity literacy framework. They then challenge principals, equity professionals and other K–12 leaders to embrace six guiding principles for meaningful equity. Learn more.

This book for Middle School students is about the story of twelve-year Misko, who seeks a home and spends time with her grandmother on a Canadian reservation. Misko’s journey is one of reconciliation, the importance of multigenerational relationships, individual and family histories, a return to the land and finding oneself. Learn more.

This funny, bittersweet and introspective collection of essays from a celebrated journalist tells the story of one young person’s adjustment to a new home, exploring faith, Blackness and the vital importance of both pop culture and the 401 along the way. Arriving in Kingston, Ontario, from Sudan at the age of 12, Abdelmahmoud’s early years in Canada were a search belonging in a time and place where differences of race, faith, language and origin presented significant barriers to inclusion. Learn more.

This new edition of the landmark work and longtime international bestseller by environmental biologist and academic Wall Kimmerer (Potowatomi) brings the original book’s powerful teachings and world view to young readers. This adaptation by Gray Smith (Cree, Lakota) speaks specifically to young people’s connections to the land and living things, using sidebars, illustrations and reflection prompts to bring the narrative to life. Learn more.

This unique book reveals the kinds of teaching that engages girls intellectually, fosters their creativity and bolsters their confidence. Drawing on descriptions of great lessons written by nearly 2,000 students and teachers, it offers a practical, accessible guide to anyone who wants to find better ways to help young women succeed. The authors review the special qualities of lessons that resonate with girls and show how they meet their developmental needs throughout adolescence. Learn more.

A compelling six-episode On Educating Girls podcast series that offers expert insights into important aspects of girls’ healthy development in a world that can often feel disjointed. Episode 6 with Latricia Barksdale looks at connecting girls to their voice and teaching them how to use and own it. Learn more.

This six-part podcast series, hosted by journalist Garvia Bailey, surfaces and celebrates Black Canadian history by capturing the stories of Black Canadians thriving in and contributing to this country. Episode topics include the earliest Black settlers in Canada, the first Black woman to publish a newspaper in North America and Quebec’s Haitian diaspora, among others.

Unreserved showcases Indigenous voices and experiences from across Turtle Island, covering important issues, celebrating successes and honouring both tradition and transformation. New episodes are released weekly (and broadcast nationally on CBC Radio One). Episode topics include Indigenous innovation in the technology industry, the future of the Land Back movement, the reclamation of facial tattooing and the crisis of MMIWG2S+, among many, many others.

In this podcast episode, Brown speaks with Prof. Ibram X. Kendi, bestselling author and director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. Brown and Kendi discuss Kendi’s groundbreaking book How to Be an Antiracist. Essential listening that will move listeners to action in pursuit of a just and equitable society.

Toronto is a multicultural hotspot. But the diversity that makes the city special isn’t often reflected in the stories we hear and the discussions we have. Black Tea changes that. Dalton Higgins and Melayna Williams bring important and uncomfortable Black community conversations out in the open, and have some laughs while doing it.

The seven episodes of this podcast series explore the Seven Grandfather Teachings of the Anishinaabe—Love, Bravery, Humility, Wisdom, Honesty, Respect, and Truth—through the lives and experiences of seven people who embody those values. According to Talaga, the podcast’s creator, Seven Truths is about “about community and hope, the resiliency of our people and the beauty of our stories, their power to heal and to educate.”

Covering a vast swath of northern Ontario, Treaty No. 9 reflects the often contradictory interpretations of treaties between First Nations and the Crown. To the Canadian government, this treaty represents a surrendering of Indigenous sovereignty, while the descendants of the Cree signatories contend its original purpose to share the land and its resources has been misunderstood and not upheld. Trick or Treaty? succinctly and powerfully portrays one community’s attempts to enforce their treaty rights and protect their lands, while also revealing the complexities of contemporary treaty agreements. Learn more.

The nation, the country, where do we belong in it? In this film, through conversation and poetry, two poets meet for the telling and the listening. Adrienne Rich is a distinguished American feminist poet, and author of numerous books of prose, poetry, essays and speeches. Dionne Brand is a Trinidadian-Canadian feminist poet, writer and filmmaker. Incisive and inquisitive, the two women meet to discuss the world as they each see it. Topics include political issues, feminism, racism and lesbianism. Learn more.

Indigenous land stewardship leader Valérie Courtois highlights the values, insights and strategies of Indigenous land guardians, trained experts who work to protect the plants and animals of traditional territories and waters. She argues that their knowledge has never been more critical, and that it may help lands and people alike heal from ecological crises and from the legacy of colonialism.

Nearly fifteen percent of the world's population—over 1 billion people—lives with some form of disability, and yet this huge number of people are still routinely excluded from meaningful participation in a range of activities. Based on her own experience growing up with an intellectually disabled and autistic sister, and on years of work on disability inclusion in international development, advocate Meghan Hussey shares four straightforward ways to make the future disability-friendly, starting with a re-evaluation of our own prejudices.

This one-hour documentary follows journalist Desmond Cole as he researches his book by the same name, travelling across Canada gathering stories about Black identity, knowledge and experience. A specifically Canadian contribution to an urgent conversation, The Skin We’re In shows the deep entrenchment of anti-Black racism in this country and seeks answers to a difficult question: how much do Black Lives Matter in Canada?

Shakil Choudhury, diversity, equity, and inclusion educator and author of Deep Diversity: Overcoming Us vs. Them, contends that we all harbour biases, including racial ones, which affect our decision-making and actions in subtle and complex ways. In this interview, Choudhury addresses the concept of implicit bias and offers insight into what we can do to combat it.

GLSEN shares this rich resource that demonstrates for students what allyship to gender nonconforming students should include. It covers the use of pronouns, respecting expression and advocacy. Learn more.

This is an exhaustive volume of leading scholarship in the field of Black Canadian history, it highlights the diverse experiences of persons of African descent within the chronicles of Canada’s past. Working to interrupt the myth of benign whiteness that has been deeply implanted into the country’s imagination, Unsettling the Great White North uncovers new narratives of Black life in Canada. Learn more.

Showcasing the work of seven Black artists at Toronto’s Union Station this spring, I Am Still Here explores the notion of Black joy as an act of resistance, rejecting the common equation of Black history and identity with sadness and tragedy. In works of photography, digital artwork, AI and traditional painting, the works evoke disparate aspects of Black culture: its history, its enduring presence and its many futures.

Assembly is a digital newsletter and platform co-founded by activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. It’s intended as a space for young women from around the world to share and discuss their own stories, accomplishments and challenges. Articles are all youth-authored and offer both a personal lens and a global perspective, exploring racial justice, gender equity, girls’ education, climate change and other related issues.

On Canada Project is a digital social justice information-sharing platform for millennials and Gen Z. It aims to centre marginalized experiences while highlighting systemic Canadian and global inequities and issues.

An introductory educational resource for peers, parents and educators of transgender and nonbinary young people. Includes resources and links, discussion about definitions and pronouns, and tips for increasing understanding and handling mistakes. 

The work of Mohamoud, a Toronto-based African-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, addresses sports, Black identity, slavery, freedom, and their legacies, and gender; it’s also about the ways those subjects interact, often to powerful and challenging effect. Mohamoud’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across North America. Read the article here.

Indigenous Ally Toolkit, Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network (2019): Practical resources to help Indigenous allies understand the profound impact of historical context and everyday interactions as we work to achieve reconciliation in Canada. Specific vocabulary, behaviours, dynamics, and approaches are addressed. Learn more here.

Practical resources to help Indigenous allies understand the profound impact of historical context and everyday interactions as we work to achieve reconciliation in Canada. Specific vocabulary, behaviours, dynamics and approaches are addressed. Learn more.

Curated by Robertson, an award-winning Winnipeg-based Cree writer, this list of books by Indigenous writers on the subject of residential schools offers something for readers of any age. In Robertson’s own words, “Stories have been, and always will be, the best way to educate ourselves about the truth.”

This roundup features works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short stories, and essays that foreground what it means to be Black in Canada in a contemporary context. Includes works by Dionne Brand and George Elliott Clarke, Desmond Cole and Robyn Maynard, Eternity Martis and Zalika Reid-Benta.

An extensive resource list originally created for employees of a U.S. tech company. Features a wide variety of recommended articles, books, podcasts, video, and family resources designed to improve allyship toward the Black community, and antiracist activism more broadly.

Offered by the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, this free 12-lesson online course explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. It offers both historical and critical Indigenous perspectives on key issues such as land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, economic and political conflicts and alliances, activism, and contemporary Indigenous life.

Following the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) in 2015, the TRC published a six-volume report of its findings on residential schools in Canada, along with 94 Calls to Action, recommendations to redress the schools’ legacy and to help further the process of reconciliation among former students, their families and communities, and all Canadians. Read more.

These parent-focused articles make the case for regular family dialogue, action, and activism around issues of racism, colonialism, and oppression:

• Having the Difficult (and Necessary) Conversations: Talking to Kids about Colonization, Colonialism, and Decolonization (as a White Settler Parent), antiviolenceproject.org (2019)
• Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, 8 Tips for Talking to Your Child About Racial Injustice, embracerace.org
• Margaret A. Hagerman, Why White Parents Need to Do More Than Talk to Their Kids About Racism, TIME (2018)