Databases
This database includes citations and abstracts for newspapers, magazines, academic journals, books, reviews, and trade publications covering all aspects of Indigenous culture, history, and life in North America. Sources are from the United States and Canada with expanded content from Great Britain and Australia.
This primary source database enables exploration of the political, social, and cultural history of native peoples from the sixteenth century well into the twentieth century, Indigenous Peoples of North America illustrates the fabric of the North American story with unprecedented depth and breadth. Comprehensive yet personal, the collection covers the history of American Indian tribes and supporting organizations.
Topics of interest include trade and communication, Arctic exploration and tribes, the Iroquois Confederation, Canadian Catholic Indian missions, Indian removal, Indian wars and the frontier army, establishment of the Canadian Indian and Aboriginal Department, Indian delegations and Indian-federal relations, Canadian Indian treaty policy, government boarding and missionary schools and curricula, Dawes Severalty and the allotment system, dances and festivals, Alaskan Indian policies, Indian languages and linguistics, assimilation and the Indian New Deal, relocation, termination, and the Indian Claims Commission, water and fishing rights, civil rights, radicalism, poverty, and the American Indian movement.
This streaming video database includes short first-person accounts from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers. The International Indigenous Speakers Bureau-IISB is about creating opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to connect, and build bridges, by providing access to a wealth of Indigenous Speakers around the world. We come from the world of story-tellers and we understand the power of the spoken word. Stories can heal, inspire and transform lives.
Library Collections
Films/Documentaries
This documentary produced in 2015 illuminates Canada's hidden history of racial segregation. For over 60 years, the Canadian government often denied Indigenous peoples the basic freedom to leave their reserves without a pass. Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Ojibwe and Blackfoot elders of the prairie land where this took place tell their stories of living under and resisting the system, and link their experiences to today.
Two young urban dwellers, one a Blackfoot Aboriginal named Cowboy and the other a Chinese-Canadian newcomer named Chris, embark on a journey across traditional Blackfoot territory. They traverse thousands of years of ancient history mediated by the wisdom of modern day elders. In the process, they begin the long road to reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous people. This documentary from 2015 invites all residents of North America to explore the tragic and hopeful history of their home. Through the journey of two unlikely travel companions, this film uncovers our responsibility as stewards of the land and people yet to come.
It is estimated that over 500 aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing in violent circumstances in Canada in the past 20 years. An Aboriginal woman in Canada is five times more likely to die of violence circumstances than a woman of any other race. These women come from all over the country, and from all walks of life and economic backgrounds. This film from 2007 takes viewers inside this contentious issue, from the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan to the haunting depths of the dark alleys in Vancouver's dangerous Hastings district. You will hear the stories of the missing and witness one family's desperate search for their loved one.
This is an epic journey into the dark heart of Native women's experience in Canada. From Vancouver's skid row, where more than 60 women are missing, we travel to the "Highway of Tears" in northern B.C., and onward to Saskatoon, where the murders of Native women remain unresolved. This film, produced in 2006, illustrates the deep historical, social and economic factors that contribute to the epidemic of violence against Native women in Canada.
Archival Collections
The Canadiana collections are one of the largest collections of digitized Canadian documentary heritage in the world. Available at no charge thanks to the ongoing support of CRKN members through the Heritage Content Access and Preservation (HCAP) fund, the collections offer millions of pages of heritage content to researchers around the globe.
The Héritage project is a 10-year initiative to digitize and make accessible online some of Canada's most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 40 million pages of primary-source documents. Chronicling the country and its people from the 1600s to the mid-1900s, this collection represents a vast and unique resource for Canadian historians, students, and genealogists.
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Archives (NCTR) educates Canadians on the profound injustices inflicted on First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation by the forced removal of children to attend residential schools and the widespread abuse suffered in those schools.
We preserve the record of these human rights abuses, and promote continued research and learning on the legacy of residential schools. Our goal is to honour Survivors and to foster reconciliation and healing on the foundation of truth telling.
Government Websites
This Government of Canada Website includes definitions, maps and census data, as well as key documents and information on governance and reconciliation.
This Government of Canada Website includes resources to learn more about Indigenous history, languages, cultures, and experiences from academic institutions, indigenous groups, and heritage organizations.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis storytellers share personal stories of culture, resilience, and hope embedded in this Government of Canada Website. Their unique perspectives invite reflection on Canada's past and our collective journey toward reconciliation.
Language Learning
A collaborative and interactive platform where Indigenous communities manage, curate and share their languages, oral cultures and linguistic histories. This site contains audio recordings of words, phrases, songs and stories, and offers downloadable apps and keyboards. Operating since 2003, First Voices is a joint initiative of the First Peoples‘ Cultural Council and the First Peoples‘ Cultural Foundation.
This platform is designed to help users learn Inuktut, the Inuit language spoken in Arctic communities throughout Canada. The word Tusaalanga means “let me hear” in Inuktut, reflecting a focus on audio-based language learning. The site contains lessons, grammar guides, glossaries with thousands of sound files to support pronunciation and listening skills in a variety of dialects. Developed by the Pirurvik Centre in collaboration with the Government of Nunavut.