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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