Nations to Nations: Indigenous Voices at Library and Archives Canada

Nations to Nations: Indigenous Voices at Library and Archives Canada is a free multimedia e-book featuring 28 essays and over 140 images. Indigenous staff at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) wrote the essays to offer personal interpretations of collection items such as journals, maps, artwork, photographs, publications and audiovisual recordings. This e-book provides unique perspectives of First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation, and it shows the diversity of the histories, languages and cultures of Indigenous peoples.

 
Apple BooksEPUB
 
 
  • About the EPUB Format

    Download Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.11 (Windows) for the best experience in viewing the interactive features. Once downloaded, double click on the EPUB icon.

    • Click on “Save file”
    • Open Adobe Digital Editions on your desktop
    • Click “File”
    • Click “Add to library” - it will post the cover of the e-Book
    • Double click on Nations to Nations: Indigenous Voices at Library and Archives Canada

About the content

The format and functions are different for each of the essays, reflecting the diversity of the authors. Most of the collection items featured were digitized through the We Are Here: Sharing Stories initiative (see Digitized and described Indigenous heritage content). Each image is linked to a record describing the item.

About the authors

The authors are Indigenous archivists, curators and advisors at LAC who have a personal connection to the collection items they chose for their essays. The essays feature different voices, multiple perspectives and personal interpretations of records. Each of the texts is unique, presenting a variety of archival and published material.

Languages

Where possible, text or audio is provided in one of the following Indigenous languages and dialects. English and French are also available.

  • First Nations:
    • Anishinaabemowin spoken at Bawaating (Ontario)
    • Anishinabemowin spoken at Kitigan Zibi (Quebec)
    • Denesųłiné spoken by the Sayisi Dene First Nation (Manitoba)
    • Kanien’kéha spoken at Kanehsatà:ke (Quebec)
    • Mi’kmaq spoken by the Eskasoni First Nation (Nova Scotia)
    • nêhiyawêwin spoken by the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (Saskatchewan)
    • Nishnaabemowin spoken by the Curve Lake First Nation (Ontario)
  • Inuit: Inuttut and Inuktitut (Roman orthography and syllabics)
  • Métis Nation: Heritage Michif

Interactive features

  • videos and audio recordings
  • links to descriptions of items in the collection at LAC
  • links to LAC resources (blogs, podcasts, Flickr albums) and other online material
  • photos that expand to full size when clicked

You will need an Internet connection to see online resources such as websites, blogs, Flickr albums and collection item descriptions. You do not need an Internet connection for podcasts, videos and audio recordings.

We respect the wishes of First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation about how they would like their languages and identities expressed in English and French. This may mean that some conventional rules of grammar are not applied.


Screenshot of an e-book page with three black-and-white photos. The photo on the left shows a man standing in a large pot half-buried in the ground. The top-right photo is a woman seated on the ground holding a large low dish on her lap. The bottom-right photo is from a film and shows a woman and a man in a canoe holding paddles. In the e-book, you may click on this photo to see a silent film.
 

Page from Anna Heffernan’s essay “Manoominikewin, the wild rice harvest, a Nishnaabe tradition”


Screenshot of an e-book page showing a book cover with artwork of two people, a page with an artwork of four people and two pages with text. A paragraph written in Inuktut (Roman orthography) appears on the centre right. In the e-book, you may click on a button to see a translation in syllabics, or click on another button to see an English translation.
 

Page from Heather Campbell’s essay “Inuktut Publications”

Screenshot of an e-book page showing a sheet from a musical score on the left side. On the right side, there are the titles of four English songs. In the e-book, you may click on the arrow below each song to listen to a recording. There are also web links in the e-book for more information.
 

Page from Delia Chartrand’s essay “Music of the Métis”

For any questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or if you are having issues accessing the e-book, send an email to Autochtones-Indigenous@bac-lac.gc.ca.