This statement was written in amiskwacîwâskahikan on Treaty 6, and Room’s collective members live on stolen lands all across so-called Canada, labouring in Moh’kinstsis, Tkaronto, Wînipêk, and on the traditional and stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sʔəl̀ilwətaʔɬ, (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, colonially known as “Vancouver”. While it is important to acknowledge the land and its stewards, as we said in our 2025 Indigenous History Month statement, land acknowledgments are just one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, and have not resulted in true accountability or true reconciliation, from our government, media, healthcare systems, or educational institutions.
In fact, last month, the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) found that–as has long been documented–Canada’s actions against Indigenous peoples in residential schools rose to the level of genocide and crimes against humanity–and yet just days ago, an amendment that would have criminalized residential school denialism was shot down in Senate. Late 2025 saw more genocide-deniers reach new political heights. And in April 2026, an inquest was opened into the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, an Afro-Indigenous woman who lived in Tkaronto until a fatal 2020 encounter with the police.
As the Korchinski-Paquet family grieves and continues to fight for justice and for the truth to win out, we remember Regis, alongside other Indigenous folks, especially MMIWG2S, who have been killed by the police or had their murders underinvestigated for being women, girls, and Two-Spirit; we uplift the voices of water-protectors taking aim at the profit-worshipping governments across this country; we reflect upon the importance of Indigenous histories, futurism, and art-making; and we propose that the settlers in our readership take assessment: find where you can materially, socially, and humbly support the Indigenous peoples in your communities, especially those at the intersections, across the country and Turtle Island, and worldwide.
Reading List
Excerpt from Rehearsals for Living by Robyn Maynard & Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, via Brick, A Literary Journal
“Our starting point was simple: land and place-making, although perhaps different, were and remain important to both Black and Indigenous peoples.
Our starting point was a refusal of the nation-state and racial capitalism, colonialism, and heteropatriarchy embodied in those structures.
Our starting point was a recognition that transatlantic slavery and, as Saidiya Hartman says, “its afterlives” in colonialism, mean we have distinctive and intertwined histories, presences, theory, and world-building practices.
We imagined the synergistic potential of Black land politics and Indigenous land politics towards liberated lands and bodies.”
2025 Indigenous History Month Reading List
Indigenous Authors to Add to Your Reading List
Indigenous Women, Two Spirit, & Indigiqueer Writers to Read
Writing and interviews by Indigenous creators
Get a digital copy of Room 44.3 Indigenous Brilliance
Resources:
- Track the progress of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action via Indigenous Watchdog, dedicated to monitoring and reporting on how reconciliation is advancing on the critical issues that are impacting the Indigenous world
- The Yellowhead Institute’s Interactive Treaty Map: Learn about Indigenous perspectives around “Canadian” treaties from the Pre-Confederation, Confederation, and Modern eras.
- The Yellowhead Institute’s Community Resource Library: Access open-source tools, toolkits, infographics, policy briefs, fact sheets, and other resources around Indigenous sovereignty, social policy, and more.
Actions to take and organizations to support:
- Donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, which provides Indigenous‑led wellness, emotional, and crisis support services to Indian Residential School Survivors, intergenerational families, and communities across British Columbia.
- Donate to or partner with the Native Women’s Association of Canada, which advocates for the social, economic, cultural, and political wellbeing of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, transgender, and gender-diverse people across Turtle Island and Inuit Nunangat.
- Donate to Indspire, which invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
- Donate to Indigenous Youth Roots, a national Indigenous youth-led organization which empowers and uplifts Indigenous youth through programs, grants and opportunities grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
- Donate to True North Aid, which supports northern and remote Indigenous communities through humanitarian support and self-determination projects.
- Donate to Vancouver Aboriginal Health Society, which provides Indigenous-led health and social services to the urban Indigenous community in Metro Vancouver.
- Donate to the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, which provides support to Indigenous women and their children in the Greater Toronto Area
- Support The Indigenous Brilliance Collective, which is centred in celebrating Indigenous women/trans/2S/queer storytellers.
