Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice is a fictional novel that looks at how an Anishinaabe First Nation, in northern Ontario, deals with an unknown event that leaves the community isolated, without power or phone service, and limited food sources as winter sets in. In 2018, Dr. Anna Rodrigues approached author Waubgeshig Rice with the idea of collaborating on an open educational guide for his novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, when she discovered that OERs for books written by Indigenous authors were lacking. That collaboration resulted in an online educational guide launching in 2019 that was well received by educators across Canada. In early 2021, Waubgeshig and Anna decided to update the guide and, at that time, Dr. Kaitlyn Watson, from the Teaching and Learning Centre at Ontario Tech University, joined the project. As part of this update, themes from the original resource have been expanded and a new theme which explores connections between the novel and the global pandemic have been added.

The Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre (SRSC) holds letter books of the first principal of the Shingwauk Residential School, Rev. Edward F. Wilson, and the fourth principal Rev. George L. King. The letters range in date from 1875-1904, and include a wealth of information about the early history of Shingwauk and Wawanosh. Descriptions and links to digitized versions of the 10 books included in this collection can be found here on the Algoma Archives Website. The letter books incorporate topics such as funding, staffing, student life, religious missions to aboriginal communities, and more which is not known to the wider public. By digitizing this information we are able to provide both physical and intellectual access to the information, preserve the information for future generations, and teach people about the early history of the Residential School system. Education about the Residential School system in the elementary and high school curriculum is part of the TRC’s Calls to Action (all 94 can be viewed here). However, this education should not stop once students graduate high school. As Canadian citizens we need to continue to educate ourselves about the history of the Residential School system in order to better understand Survivors and First Nations communities. According to the TRC, “ongoing public education and dialogue are essential to reconciliation.” As part of this education process we are sharing stories compiled from the information in the letter books in this open educational resource. The SRSC has more in depth information on the topics covered in these stories and we encourage visits from those wishing to learn more.