Children of the Broken Treaty

A QUILL & QUIRE and HILL TIMES Book of the Year 
Winner of the Ontario History and Social Sciences Teacher's Award

Children of the Broken Treaty exposes a system of apartheid in Canada that led to the largest youth-driven human rights movement in the country’s history. The movement was inspired by Shannen Koostachin, a young Cree woman whom George Stroumboulopoulos named as one of “five teenage girls who kicked ass in history.”

All Shannen wanted was a decent education. She found an ally in Charlie Angus, who had no idea she was going to change his life and inspire others to change the country.

Based on extensive documentation assembled from Freedom of Information requests, Angus establishes a dark, unbroken line that extends from Sir John A. Macdonald's time to today. He provides chilling insight into how Canada—through breaches of treaties, broken promises, and callous neglect—deliberately denied Indigenous children their basic human rights.

In this new edition of Charlie Angus's award-winning and bestselling book, he brings us up-to-date on the unrelenting epidemic of youth suicides in Indigenous communities, the Thunder Bay inquiry into the shocking deaths of young people there, the powerful impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, and how the Trudeau government's commitment to Indigenous communities continues to be stymied by decades-old policy roadblocks.