Complementary+Material

This text is an excellent example of a passionate speech stemming from the oral tradition. To enhance the main message of the speech, Chief Dan George is master of rhetoric, invoking the higher power, making spiritual appeals, and using repetitions, metaphors and similes to express emotions.
 * Chief Dan George (Teswahno), //Lament for Confederation// (1967), ** from: []

Mentioned in Cirriculum.Org’s //Aboriginal Literatures in Canada: Teacher’s Resource Guide//, this poem should be read aloud as a way to use “written texts as a continuation of oral traditions” (Eigenbrod et al.27-28). Can be used to open a discussion around the challenges that First Nations peoples faced after European contact. We used it as a hook for Lesson 12 before our viewing of 8th Fire episode.
 * Cuthand, Beth. “Four Songs for the Fifth Generation.” // An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English. // Third Ed //.//Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie//.// Toronto: Oxford University Press. 2005. Print. **

“This episode discusses Aboriginal communities’ feisty and self-confident youth; the ‘Seventh Generation’ who are taking new pride in their heritage and pointing the way forward to a new relationship.” In our unit plan, we used this video as a springboard for hope and social action, particularly in Lesson 12.
 * Episode 4: At the Crossroads.” 8th Fire. //Aboriginal Peoples, Canada & The Way Forward//. Dir. **Denis Paquet and Paul Morin. Host **Wab Kinew. CBC, 2 Feb 2012.Web. 14 Feb 2012. **


 * King, Thomas. //“Borders.”// //Breaking Free: A Cross -Cultural Anthology//. Ed. John Borovilos. Toronto: Prentis Hall Canada Inc. 1994. .77-86. Print. **

 ---. Borders. Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia.Web. 28 Jan. 2012. < [] >

This fictionalized short story is of a Blackfoot mother who doesn’t recognize her own identity as either American or Canadian while crossing the forty ninth parallel (Alberta-Montana) borders to visit her daughter in Salt Lake City. It can also be used to discuss how the mother’s actions are perceived as post-colonial social activism when her daughter’s migratory exploration is normalized in our globalized age. Both acts cross the same border but are interpreted in very different ways by merely simply choosing different words and identifying oneself outside of the American-Canadian binary. It can also be used in a historical or geographical lesson that shows First Nations settlements that didn’t and, to some extent, still don’t recognize the American- Canadian border. Can also lead to discussions about how identities and borders are both important and arbitrary as an important concept to grasp for further racial, cultural and gender discussions. o discussions about how identities and borders are both important and arbitrary as an important concept to grasp for further racial, cultural and gender discussions.

A brief article describing Saunders Secondary production of //The Rez Sisters// by First Nations students, “many of whom hail from the Oneida and Chippewa reserves”.
 * Israel, Robyn. “ The Rez Sisters.” //The Beat: Arts in London//. 20.p.8-10. May 2011.Web. 16 Jan 2012. http://www.thebeatmagazine.ca/PDFs/TheBeat_May_2011.pdf **

Krasner’s review gives a nice plot summary of the play and could provide students with key ideas and ‘look fors’ during their reading of the play.
 * Krasner, David. “ The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway.” //Theatre Journal 46(3//) 1994:399-400 **. **Print.**

Nelson talks about the importance of the figure of Nanabazhoo (Nanabush) in Aboriginal mythology. This text complements Thomson Highway’s explanation.
 * Nelson, Melissa K. “Lightning the Sun of Our Future – How These Teachings can Provide Illumination.//”// //Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future// ** . **Ed. Melissa K Nelson. Nelson. Portland:Bear & Company, 2008 .1-2.Print.**