55 Indigenous Resources to Check Out Today
When it comes to understanding the histories, experiences, and values of Indigenous peoples, the best way to learn is by listening to their stories firsthand. By engaging with Indigenous-made resources, we can foster healing, challenge long-held stereotypes, and gain valuable insights to help us grow both individually and collectively.
Many of the works on our list delve into intergenerational trauma, cultural resilience, and the reclamation of Indigenous sovereignty: core themes that resonate across communities and institutions. Whether offering historical context or revealing the ongoing impacts of colonialism, these stories provide not only a path toward personal understanding and healing but also opportunities to achieve meaningful change.
We will explore:
Foundations & Policy, Historical, and Institutional Resources
Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) — 94 Calls to Action
The essential baseline of Truth and Reconciliation work, the 94 Calls to Action serve as a list of must-haves to achieve meaningful change, justice, healing, accountability, and stronger relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Additionally, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) has a number of resources available to continue learning about the specific needs, challenges, and wins of Indigenous communities across Canada.
Yellowhead Institute
Yellowhead Institute is an education centre born from the Toronto Metropolitan University that aims to offer Indigenous perspectives, amplify Indigenous voices, and provide resources, support, and alternatives to colonial views.
Their work includes 6 major objectives, including:
Supporting Indigenous sovereignty
Training and learning from future Indigenous leaders
Translating knowledge into open-source tools for all
Holding governments and institutions accountable for their impacts on Indigenous peoples
Building relationships with Black and racialized communities
Embedding feminist, queer, trans, and 2-spirit leadership in Indigenous politics and policies
Additionally, Yellowhead Institute includes a comprehensive Treaty Map alongside a number of reports and research to consider as you continue learning.
Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada
Created by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in collaboration with a variety of groups and organizations representing Indigenous peoples (the Assembly of First Nations, NCTR, Indspire, and more) the Atlas is an extensive series of online resources.
There are 4 books within the series: Truth and Reconciliation, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.
Resources for Action, Advocacy, and Structural Change
150 Acts of Reconciliation
Written by Crystal Fraser and Sara Komarnisky, this resource offers small, simple ways to support reconciliation efforts on an everyday basis. These include a variety of ways, such as:
Eat at an Indigenous restaurant, cafe, or food truck
Purchase an item from an Indigenous artist
Listen more. Talk less.
Seek to understand your family history, including how it is part of a larger system that aimed to dispossess Indigenous people from their lands.
And these are just a few. Komarnisky and Fraser offer an amazing list here, and though it was written in 2017 it remains relevant today. Plus, they created a downloadable, .pdf version of the list.
Check out their full article here.
Economic Reconciliation & Partnerships
There are a number of organizations that work to improve Indigenous economic progress to enrich and support Indigenous-owned businesses. Some of these include:
The National Indigenous Economic Development Board (NIEDB): Created in 1990, the Board aims to provide strategic advice to the federal government on Indigenous economic development.
All members are part of Indigenous communities with a diversity of knowledge and perspectives available.
View their list of Success Stories to get a further understanding of their work.
Building Together: How Indigenous Economic Reconciliation Can Fuel Canada’s Resurgence: Written by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), this article offers a number of ways Indigenous businesses can help revitalize Canada.
Indigenous Data Sovereignty
This is the fundamental rights of Indigenous Peoples’ to control, access, interpret, manage, and collectively own data about their communities, lands, and cultures.
Indigenous data also includes:
Administrative and social information about demographics, health, employment, and education
Data about collectives and communities, cultural practices, language systems, and ancestral knowledge
Data about non-human relations, including land management, history, geology, animals and wildlife, water, plants, ecosystems, and more.
You can find out more about Indigenous Data Sovereignty rights here.
Indigenous Land Back Organizations
David Suzuki Foundation: Provides detailed information on the history of the Land Back movement, including how treaties were ignored or violated, lack of Indigenous governance over their sovereignty, and ways you can support the movement.
NDN Collective: An Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building influence and power for Indigenous peoples via activism, philanthropy, grants, and capacity-building.
Additionally, they run LANDBACK, a website that explores the movement by shifting narratives and political frameworks when it comes to working towards true, collective liberation.
Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts: Supports the growth of community land trusts across Canada specifically in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples.
Education, Tools & Mapping & Language
Native Land Digital
Native Land Digital is an Indigenous-led not-for-profit organization that maps Indigenous communities via oral histories, maps, and records. They prioritize Indigenous voices, utilizing traditional mapping methodologies that depict land, water, and people as interconnected.
Language Revitalization Resources
Though there are over 60 Indigenous languages and dialects across the country, they are all considered to be endangered, save for Inuktitut. Promoting language teachings helps connect Indigenous peoples, both young and old, to their heritage and preserve their culture.
Resources include:
First Peoples’ Cultural Council: Provides a Language Nest Toolkit, which is a collection of practical resources to provide strategies for language-learning, common challenges, and teaching tools.
The Canadian Language Museum: Their platform has over 350 Indigenous language resources, including articles, apps, archival records, audio, maps, videos, and more.
Plus, a number of apps designed to assist with language-learning. Such as:
Nēhinawēwin: An app based on the N dialect of Swampy Cree, who reside in Treaty 5 Territory in Northern Manitoba. Available for iOS.
Ogoki Learning Systems: A series of language-learning apps that include flash cards for youth from K-12, games, dictionaries and more. Their suite of apps is available on Android and iOS.
FirstVoices: An online platform where Indigenous communities manage, curate, and share languages.
Podcasts by Indigenous Creators
All My Relations
Hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip peoples) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), this podcast explores a variety of Native-focused topics, including mascots, fashion, food sovereignty, relationships, and politics.
Coffee With My Ma
Actress Kaniehtiio “Tiio” Horn and her mother Kahentinetha Horn are a dynamic mother-daughter duo. With deep roots in Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) Nation, the pair explore activism, arts, culture, and politics. They tell stories and share resources related to the struggles, victories, and beauty that is Native American culture throughout Canada and the United States.
The Red Gaze
Every week, The Red Gaze brings you movies and TV shows through an Indigenous lens. They discuss everything from Native classics like Thunderheart to mainstream films like Avatar.
Teachings In The Air
Hosted by Elder Gerry Oldman, this podcast explores how Indigenous people can be empowered in body and spirit through cultural teachings and personal experiences.
First-Voice News Sources
Native Hope
Native hope addresses injustices faced by Native American communities by dismantling barriers through storytelling. They partner with Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and tribal leaders and listen to community challenges and needs to help create solutions to empower and inspire. Their work helps heal historical wounds and achieve sustainability.
High Country News (HCN)
HCN is an award winning source for information on the most crucial social, political, and ecological issues affecting Native aAmerican and Indigenous peoples throughout North America. They have over 220,000 readers, operate as a nonprofit organization, and are supported by donations.
IndigiNews
Featuring Indigenous-led journalism, IndigiNews aims to tell stories from across all Indigenous lands. They practice respectful journalism, and tell stories and share news from a trauma-informed, culturally sensitive perspective.
Windspeaker
Windspeaker has been around for four decades, and is owned and operated by the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta. They publish news, updates, and opinion pieces directly from an Indigenous perspective, and seek to provide greater lessons through this unique lens.
Indigenous Representation and Storytelling in Media
Documentaries
Though they may not have always been in the spotlight, there are a number of Indigenous-focused documentary series that provide insight into culture, practices, and values.
We Shall Remain (2009)
This five-part documentary series explores pivotal events in Native American history, such as the Trail of Tears and the Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973.
Against the Current (2022)
This 25-minute documentary focuses on the culture of Indigenous peoples through the eyes of Daunnette Moniz-Reyome, a 17-year-old member of the Winnebago Ho-Chunk tribe. She explores her family’s journey to reclaim and retain their sacred rituals and cultural values after centuries of loss, war, and aggressive government policies.
Reel Injun (2009)
This documentary explores how classic and contemporary movies and shows have portrayed Native peoples in Hollywood. Created by Canadian-Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, Reel Injun explores how Native peoples have been portrayed in both contemporary and classic Hollywood films. It explores the effects of stereotypes on Indigenous children, including Diamond.
Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty (2020)
This documentary focuses on the Crow Indian Reservation. Approximately 8,000 Crow (Apsáalooke) tribe members live on the reservation, with many struggling. In response, they have been working to reclaim their food sovereignty. This describes the right of a community to identify, create, and utilize their own food systems in an effort to return to tradition, and create employment while simultaneously sustaining their people.
imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
Taking place from June 2-7, 2026 (Toronto) and June 8-14, 2026 (online), the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the largest presenter of Indigenous-created media content on the screen. All audiences are welcome, as well as Indigenous creators from all levels of experience from all over the world.
They also offer year-round events via the imagineNATIVE Tour.
Additionally, the National Film Board of Canada has an entire page dedicated to free Indigenous documentaries from all around North America.
Indigenous Films & TV
The following shows and films feature largely Indigenous casts and positive portrayals of history, culture, and values. While they may center around fictional characters and scenarios, they weave Indigenous culture, history, trauma, and even humor, blending entertainment and education.
Reservation Dogs (2021-2023)
Reservation Dogs (known as “Rez Dogs”) is a comedy-drama with a nearly entirely Indigenous cast and crew. Created by Taika Watiti in partnership with Indigenous American Sterlin Harjo, Rez Dogs explores the lives of 4 teenagers living in the Muscogee Nation. It combines humor with cultural traditions, spiritual guidance, generational trauma, and more, and brings authentic voices to mainstream audiences.
Prey (2022)
While Prey is a science fiction/horror film (and the seventh film in the Predator franchise, funnily enough) that takes place on the Northern Great Plains in 1719 focusing on the Comache peoples. It cleverly reimagines a genre classic through Indigenous perspectives, and has a largely Indigenous American cast and crew. Throughout the film, there is a huge emphasis on portraying Indigenous peoples positively and historically accurately.
Also, it is the first film ever to be dubbed in Comache!
Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)
Set in 1976, this film centers on Alia, a Mi'kmaq teenager, as she confronts the trauma caused by the Residential School system and the intergenerational impacts it continues to have on her community.
Video Games
While many may not immediately think about video games as a platform for cultural storytelling, these interactive experiences are increasingly being used to share Indigenous storytelling. This format offers new ways to explore the richness of Indigenous storytelling and cultural narratives, while also offering a way for different people to engage in ways that work best for them.
For non-Indigenous allies who want new ways to engage Indigenous storytelling, these games present a great starting point.
Indigenous Game Devs:
This website is a comprehensive database of Indigenous-created video games, both big and small. It is independent and self-determined, and also includes a number of resources, terminology, articles, and more.
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
Developed with the Iñupiat people of Alaska, this game shares traditional stories through the journey of a young girl and her fox companion, blending storytelling, folklore, insights from Elders, and puzzle-solving.
Thunderbird Strike
Thunderbird Strike is a short game where the player takes the role of a thunderbird—a mythological bird-like symbol representing power, protection, and strength—to protect Turtle Island (North America).
Books & Storytelling
Non-Fiction
Ally Is a Verb: A Guide to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples (2025) by Rose LeMay
LeMay offers insight on how allies can truly work towards reconciliation on an everyday basis, such as ways to deepen your practice of allyship, create change, ways to respond to emotions that come up during allyship work, and more.
Heart Berries (2018) by Terese Marie Mailhot
A memoir that delves into the complexities of identity, trauma, healing, and motherhood. Mailhot reflects on her life as an Indigenous woman and a survivor of colonialism’s effects.
Braiding Sweetgrass (2013) by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Kimmerer’s novel blends Indigenous wisdom and science. As a botanist and member of the Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer weaves personal stories and ecological insights to highlight the importance of the reciprocal nature we have with the earth. Her work aims to lead readers to rethink their relationship with nature and its gifts.
Fiction
Sisters in the Wind (2025) by Angeline Boulley
This novel follows the story of Lucy Smith, a seventeen-year-old Ojibwe woman who has run away from her current foster home. The novel explores the foster care system, Indigenous ancestry, abuse, and more.
Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories (2025) by Cynthia Leitich Smith, Kate Hart, Eric Gansworth, et al.
This is a modern, young adult anthology story collection written by a number of Indigenous authors. Stories fall into a number of categories, including magical realism, romance, poetry, and more.
The Misewa Saga: The Sleeping Giant (2025) by David. A Robertson
Robertson’s Narnia-inspired Misewa Saga novels (misewa is Cree for “all that is”) follows the stories of Morgan and Eli, Indigenous children who find a portal at their foster home that leads them to the world of Askī.
The Sleeping Giant is the 5th book in the series, which began in 2021. Great for readers 10 and up who love fantasy and adventure.
a beautiful rebellion (2023) by Rita Bouvier
Bouvier’s poetry collection explores her life on the banks of the Churchill River. It navigates loss and change that children face collectively, but also the pain caused by the effects of the residential school system and lack of progress towards self-determination as a whole for Indigenous peoples.
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (2023) edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
This collection of unsettling stories features Indigenous authors exploring ghosts, curses, and creatures through the lens of Indigenous culture and legacies. It features a number of prolific Indigenous authors including Waubgeshig Rice, Mona Susan Power, D.H. Trujillo, and more.
Indigenous-Owned Shops and Boutiques
Beyond Buckskin Boutique: Based out of North Dakota, Beyond Buckskin was created by Jessica R. Metcalfe, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa woman who aims to share her culture through fashion. They are currently displaying the work of 40 artists and small businesses.
RESIST Clothing Company: Founded in 2020 by Mitch Gegwetch, RESIST Clothing Co. are a streetwear brand based out of Tkaronto (Toronto, Canada). It is Indigenous-owned, but they are passionate about creating clothing that everyone, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike.
Nikikw (Neh-Geek) Designs: In Summer 2022, Rita Bear opened Nikikw Designs with the goal of creating apparel that is size-inclusive, stylish, and expressed Indigenous culture. In addition to swimwear, Nikikw Designs sells candles, throw blankets, jewelry, mugs, and more.
Eighth Generation: A Seattle-based art and lifestyle brand owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe, Eighth Generation was founded by Louie Gong in 2008. His work blends traditional Coast Salish art with urban environments to create up-to-date, unique designs. Their Inspired Natives Project builds capacity by partnering with Native artists who need additional help building their audience.
For more lists of Indigenous-owned shops, visit:
We hope that by exploring these Indigenous resources, you can open yourself to perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of history, resilience, and healing. Whether this is shared in personal conversations, in the workplace, or in your community, these stories offer an opportunity to foster mutual understanding and contribute to a more supportive and equitable future.
