Reading for Canada Day

Fireworks, parades, and picnics are some popular ways Canadians have celebrated July 1st since 1868. While many still celebrate this way, others have begun to look on Canada Day in a different light, especially since the discovery in May 2021 of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site.

Whether you have decided to celebrate or not, it can be useful to learn more about the history of the country we call home. Our understanding of our country is ever evolving, and history is a great way to gain a better understanding of how Canada came to be as it is today. History books, who they are written by, and the stories they tell are reflective of how we grow as a society. In the past the stories and voices of Indigenous people, women, and the working class would go unheard or were suppressed. To quote Shari Peyerl, author of Alberta’s Cornerstone, "...everyone is a part of history, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, age, or social class." 

In the list below, you will find books that look at Canadian history from various regions and perspectives. Read one man's residential school experience and journey to healing, stories from homesteader immigrants in the 1900s, as well as architectural history, geography, and archaeology.