Description
Indigenous Life in Canada: Past, Present, Future; Search For Clean Water, is part of a set of 32-page books by Coast2Coast2Coast and published by Beech Street Books. Designed for elementary students from grades 4 to 7 the books offer an introduction to Indigenous life in Canada in the past, present and future. The content consultant for Search For Clean Water is Dennis McPherson, band member of Couchiching First Nation and Associate Professor of Indigenous Learning, Lakehead University. Over six chapters Search For Clean Water is discussed as follows: Chapter 1: The Water Crisis contextualizes the everyday use of water and how many Indigenous communities have very poor water quality often causing health problems for residents. Topics include water treatment systems, contamination, septic tanks and infrastructure. Chapter 2, Water Systems includes a diagram of a water purification plant and how and why clean water is not always available in Indigenous communities. Chapter 3 describes water and health and how access to clean water is critical to well-being. Topics include parasites, landfill, health and food issues when water is of poor quality, hygiene and water advisories. Water protectors are also introduced. Chapter 4, Indigenous Voices focuses on the need of the media to focus on more than emergencies and preventative topics and report more on the challenges of water access. Indigenous communities are using international platforms and social media to highlight water and climate change issues. An example is Autumn Peltier and the Water Walker movement. Chapter 5 Working with Government discusses the work of the Indigenous Services Canada for solid waste management, sewage and water infrastructure. Chapter 6, The Future highlights the importance of clean water and that this is a human right. The book contains simply written text illustrated with maps, charts, images and photos. Each book has brief sidebars of additional information about a topic as well as suggested framing questions to assist students in critical thinking. Includes an index, information about the author, additional resources and a glossary. Levelled Guided Reading: V. Recommended.