After They Gave the Order: Students Respond to Canadian Indian Residential School Literature for Social Justice

Deborah Ellis's 2018 IBBY keynote speech, "Before They Give the Order," provided the inspiration for this article, which focuses on components from a larger research study designed to engage English language arts teachers and their students in reading and responding to social justice literature for children and young adults. Drawing on a focus group conversation with five non-Indigenous elementary students who read a range of picturebooks, memoirs, and novels about the Canadian Indian residential school (IRS) system, this article reveals the potential of IRS literature for opening up social justice questions of discrimination and inequality with students as well as for motivating young readers to be emerging advocates for change.