Geddes, G. (2017). Medicine Unbundled: A Journey Through the Minefields of Indigenous Healthcare. Victoria, BC. Heritage House Publishing Company.

Gary Geddes’ book highlights the horrific treatment and discriminatory healthcare Indigenous peoples in Canadian residential schools and segregated hospitals endured between the 1920s and the 1980s. Based on an interview with a Songhees Indigenous woman in Victoria named Joan Morris, this book details Morris’s own experiences with institutionalized racism and discrimination in the BC health care system. This book touches on issues of systemic racism, discrimination against Indigenous peoples in Canada, discriminatory health care, Canadian identity, and the oppression faced by Indigenous people in Canada for many years. This text is an excellent resource for teachers to bring into a BC First Peoples 12, Social Justice 12, History 12, and/or an English First Peoples 11 or 12 class. It touches on, and exposes many serious issues and instances of discrimination and racism in our own communities. This text is beneficial to students as they may be able to resonate with the local context, and thus greater recognize the realities of this systemic, institutionalized racism. This text, or segments of it, can also be taught alongside Vanmala Subramaniam’s article, “Before You Declare Canada is Not a racist Country, Do Your Homework”, in order to demonstrate to students how Canada was, and continues to be a country built on racism.

Reynolds, J. & Kendi, I. X. (2020). Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You is a non-fiction book that explores the history of racism in America, the concept of antiracism, and the reasons why racism continues to exist today.  This book is a dynamic text written specifically for a young adult viewership, in order to teach and explain these continuing issues, conflicts, and injustices to young students. Kendi and Reynolds purpose in writing this book for a younger readership was to empower students and provide them with the tools and skills to acknowledge, and combat, racism in our society. This book is divided into five chronological sections that explore the history behind the many issues, conflicts, and injustices related to anti-black racism that continue to exist today. This book provides hope to young students that although racism continues to exist, they have the power to make a change and practice anti racism in their everyday lives. Teachers can bring this text into the classroom as a guide for students to learn about the history of racism in the United States, including historical philosophers and how they contributed to the growth of racism in our Western world specifically. While this text primarily focuses on America’s racist history, and racism in American society today, the ideas, values, histories, and mindsets described are still very powerful, important, and relevant to Canadian students. Teachers may ask students to use this text and apply it to an instance of racism, discrimination, or racial oppression in our local Canadian context.

Saad, L. F. (2020) Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.

Layla F. Saad is a renowned author whose intersectional identity as a black Muslim woman growing up in the West and now living in the Middle East has led her to shed light on systemic anti-black racism and become an anti-racist educator herself. Me and White Supremacy originally began as an Instagram challenge for individuals who acknowledge their own white privilege. Following the unexpected popularity of this challenge, Saad transformed her message, story, and words into this book which is aimed at teaching individuals about the meaning of anti-racism, and how it is vastly different from simply being ‘non-racist’. Saad’s book is aimed at readers who wish to be allies to the black community and other racial minority groups, as it emphasizes the need for people to commit to being anti-racist allies every single day, and not just when it is convenient or is popularized in the media. Me and White Supremacy is a powerful non-fiction book for teachers adamant about teaching through an anti-racist pedagogy. As this book is written for an adult audience, it is best suited for teachers to use in developing their own understanding of the subject matter and further their anti-racist pedagogy, rather than using it as a classroom resource.