The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation is committed to advancing reconciliation within all the programs and partnerships we facilitate. While the books we provide help achieve this goal, many of the schools, parents and even students we work with reach out regularly for support in selecting Indigenous texts that will support them in their own goals of promoting reconciliation, education, and cultural reclamation. It is for this reason that we sought out partnerships with Native Child and Family Services of Toronto as well as the artist Jordan Stranger to create a resource guide for students and educators that highlights 50 book titles for children and youth.
These books are just a starting point – and do not represent a comprehensive curriculum nor do they reflect all backgrounds, perspectives, or worldviews. Nevertheless, they were carefully and thoughtfully selected with the goal of supporting young people, parents and educators in building knowledge and understanding. We encourage anyone with recommendations of new titles that they would like to see added to email us at loveofreading@indigo.ca so we can continue to update and revise this list in the year(s) to come.
The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation’s partnership with Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (NCFST) first partnered with the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in Spring 2020 as a recipient of the foundation’s Community Response Fund, created as a $1M initiative to help keep kids reading in high-needs communities amidst the nationwide closure of schools and public libraries caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through subsequent summer reading program initiatives with the foundation in 2021-22 , NCFST selected and acquired books written by Indigenous authors and illustrators to help meet the needs and requests of their community members who desired culturally relevant books that support various teachings, self-esteem, and have characters that are representative of their families and are relatable to their everyday lives. Through this three-year partnership, over 3,000 children and families throughout the NCFST network in the Greater Toronto Area have been provided with over 4,000 books to read and enjoy in the home.
After years of damage to our ways of life and having our stories and practices stopped from being passed down generations through story-telling, the funding that allows us to continuously find new ways to pass down our stories is fundamental to the well being of our children, youth and their families and the continuous progress of the Culture as a whole.”
A quote from a NCFST parent on the impact of these books on their community