This collection of timely essays by Canadian scholars explores the fundamental link between the development of aboriginal culture and economic patterns. The contributors draw on original research to discuss Megaprojects in the North, the changing role of native women, reserves and devices for assimilation, the rebirth of the Canadian Metis, aboriginal rights in Newfoundland, the role of slave-raiding, and epidemics and firearms in native history.
Aims to provide the context for a better understanding of the political issues in the Northwest Territories, where a majority of the residents are native. The author discusses such issues as land claims, division, constitutional development, self-government and economic development.
A Companion to American Indian History captures the thematic breadth of Native American history over the last forty years. Twenty-five original essays by leading scholars in the field, both American Indian and non-American Indian, bring an exciting modern perspective to Native American histories that were at one time related exclusively by Euro-American settlers. Contains 25 original essays by leading experts in Native American history. Covers the breadth of American Indian history, including contacts with settlers, religion, family, economy, law, education, gender issues, and culture. Surveys and evaluates the best scholarship on every important era and topic. Summarizes current debates and anticipates future concerns.
Just as dahshaa – a rare type of dried, rotted spruce wood – is essential to the moosehide-tanning process in Dene culture, self-determination and the alleviation of social suffering are necessary to Indigenous survival in Northwest Territories. But is self-government an effective path to self-determination? Finding Dahshaa shows where self-government negotiations between Canada and the Dehcho, Délînê, and Inuvialuit and Gwich'in peoples have gone wrong and offers, through descriptions of tanning practices that embody principles and values central to self-determination, an alternative model for negotiations. This book, which includes a foreword by Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus, is the first ethnographic study of self-government negotiations in Canada.
While the Klondike Gold Rush is one of the most widely known events in Canadian history, particularly outside Canada, the rest of the Yukon's long and diverse history attracts little attention. Important developments such as Herschel Island whaling, pre-1900 fur trading, the post-World War II resource boom, a lengthy struggle for responsible government, and the emergence of Aboriginal political protest remain poorly understood. Placing well-known historical episodes within the broader sweep of the past, Land of the Midnight Sun gives particular emphasis to the role of First Nations people and the lengthy struggle of Yukoners to find their place within Confederation. This broader story incorporates the introduction of mammoth dredges that scoured the Klondike creeks, the impressive Elsa-Keno Hill silver mines, the impact of residential schools on Aboriginal children, the devastation caused by the sinking of the Princess Sophia, the Yukon's remarkable contributions to the national World War I effort, and the sweeping transformations associated with the American occupation during World War II. Completely revised with a new epilogue, the bestselling Land of the Midnight Sun was first published in 1988 and became the standard source for understanding the history of the Yukon. Ken Coates and William Morrison have published ten books together, including Strange Things Done: A History of Murder in the Yukon and the forthcoming Trailmarkers: A History of Landmark Aboriginal Rights Cases in Canada. Land of the Midnight Sun was their first collaboration.
While the Klondike Gold Rush is one of the most widely known events in Canadian history, particularly outside Canada, the rest of the Yukon’s long and diverse history attracts little attention. Important developments such as Herschel Island whaling, pre-1900 fur trading, the post-Second World War resource boom, a lengthy struggle for responsible government, and the emergence of Indigenous political protest remain poorly understood. Placing well-known historical episodes within the broader sweep of the past, Land of the Midnight Sun gives particular emphasis to the role of First Nations people and the lengthy struggle of Yukoners to find their place within Confederation. This broader story incorporates the introduction of mammoth dredges that scoured the Klondike creeks, the impressive Elsa-Keno Hill silver mines, the impact of residential schools on Aboriginal children, the devastation caused by the sinking of the Princess Sophia, the Yukon’s remarkable contributions to the national First World War effort, and the sweeping transformations associated with the American occupation during the Second World War. Land of the Midnight Sun has long been the standard source for understanding the history of the territory. This third edition includes a new preface to update readers on developments in the Yukon’s economy, culture, and politics, including Indigenous self-government.
Drawing on a vast array of primary and secondary sources, Roger L. Nichols traces the changing relationships between Native peoples and whites in the United States and Canada from colonial times to the present. Dividing this history into five stages, beginning with Native supremacy over European settlers and concluding with Native peoples’ political, economic, and cultural resurgence, Nichols carefully compares and contrasts the effects of each stage on Native populations in the United States and Canada. This second edition includes new chapters on major transformations from 1945 to the present, focusing on social issues such as transracial adoption of Native children, the uses of national and international media to gain public awareness, and demands for increasing respect for tribal religious practices, burial sites, and historic and funerary remains.
For more than fifteen years, Keith Crowe's A History of the Original Peoples of Northern Canada has informed a multitude of residents in and visitors to the Canadian North and has served as a standard text. Now, in a new epilogue, Crowe describes and analyses the changes in the North which have come about since the book's first publication. The success of this book over the years is due in large part to Crowe's approach. While the majority of works on Canadian history are essentially European in perspective, Crowe has endeavoured to interpret the history of the original peoples of northern Canada from a native standpoint. He has attempted to provide a work that native Canadians can use to learn the broad outlines of their cultural and historical development as well as details about their people, places, and events, while giving non-native people a more accurate version of northern Canadian history and ethnology. Crowe begins with the emergence, in prehistoric times, of the three great groups of hunting people -- the Algonkian, Athapaskan, and Inuit -- describing their contribution to the cultural heritage of native peoples today. He devotes particular attention to the various native tribes and some of their outstanding leaders; to the fur trade, its effects, and the emergence of the Métis people; to the devastating consequences of trading and whaling for the Arctic and the Inuit who lived there; to the Yukon Indians and the Gold Rush; to the coming of Christianity; and to the impact of governmental and economic encroachment on the North and the native peoples' response to this -- moving into the boardroom and elected office. In his new epilogue, Crowe surveys the major land claims since 1974 -- some settled, most still under negotiation, and some, like the James Bay hydro-electric project, being challenged. Crowe also explains the complexities of the land-claims process and points out the irony inherent in native peoples having to help create numerous "foreign" laws and institutions in order to protect an essentially simple way of life. He describes the native peoples' movement into and up the ranks of government at all levels and emphasizes the important role played by regional and national native associations, such as the Assembly of First Nations. He outlines the changes and developments in education in the North and provides a detailed assessment of the still very difficult economic situation, stressing the native peoples' concern that economic development in the North not be divorced from environmental considerations. Keith J. Crowe, who served for many years in the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, is now retired but remains privately active in northern and native issues.
