Author: coleen

Reading for Reconciliation – Educate Yourself on Residential Schools in Canada

The Canadian population was hit hard last week with the news that the remains of 215 children were found in a mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia – some as young as three years old. The announcement led to reactions of shock and horror across Canada on the weekend, though what is not widely enough known is that more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were placed in residential schools between the 1870s and 1996. Indigenous leaders have said for decades that thousands of children died and were buried in unmarked graves while the schools were in operation, and for decades they have mourned.

It’s past overdue that the rest of us, settlers and visitors on this land of Turtle Island, pay our respect and educate ourselves. With the help of the Indigenous Corporates Training Blog, here are 6 books on residential schools that provide insight and perspective on Indigenous history post contact, issues, myths, facts and paths forward.

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Summer 2021 Anticipated Releases from Authors We Already Love

Need some inspiration for your summer reads? I’ve got you covered, so take a look

Nothing makes me more excited than an anticipated release, but even more so when it’s coming from an author I already know I love! My TBR may be a mile-high, but I’ll be breaking my own 2021 rules (you know, to read my TBR before buying more) when I add these eight new publications to my shelves.

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Local Toronto Review – Missing from the Village by Justin Ling

Missing from the Village: The Story of Serial Killer Bruce McArthur, the Search for Justice, and the System that Failed Toronto’s Queer Community by Justin Ling.

I couldn’t even finish this book before I began writing down my thoughts. Local Toronto reads are great for that ‘close to home’ feeling, but this one was chillingly close:

It’s Summer 2017 and I’m hanging out in the Village with my friends. I’m 25 years old and a night at Crews & Tango’s is our go-to idea for summer fun; that jovial blue building packed with the most talented Drag Queens in the city. We didn’t know that Bruce McArthur was a few doors down with his next victim; another regular of our preferred locale. It had already been almost a decade that too many died, and too many errors were made by Toronto Police. I recalled the stories before opening this book, but the chills set in when I realized just how ‘close to home’ this was; the Toronto serial killer in The Village. This wasn’t something from decades ago to separate myself from, this was now.

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