A Glimmer of Hope: A Review of Recent Works on the Relations between Indigenous Peoples and Settler Society

The weeks during which this essay was prepared were witness to unprecedented levels of involvement by Indigenous peoples in the ceremonies surrounding the 2010 winter Olympics. During the same period, a federal throne speech committed Stephen Harper’s Conservative government to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Governor General 2010). Whether or not these public displays are indicative of an increased awareness of the significance of Indigenous communities in the social, cultural, political, and economic fabric of Canada and a growing consciousness of historical and present-day inequities will remain for scholars and Indigenous communities of the future to determine. One thing is certain, however: current activities in the courts, at negotiating tables, and on the land have ensured that popular and official attention focussed on these communities is growing. Further, it is clear that this increased attention is mirrored by a concurrent growth in the diversity and depth of scholarly material concerning these issues. Taken together, the nine books reviewed here illustrate that growing depth and diversity.

While the authors of these works come at their subjects from different starting points and have varied motivations and agendas, they all speak at least in part to some aspect of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and settler society. Most seek to revise or correct the cultural distortions and assumptions of older narratives that serve to downplay the importance of Indigenous peoples to the history and current social landscape of Canada. All would likely see themselves as sympathetic to Indigenous peoples’ struggles to prosper while at the same time maintaining their identity.

Attorney Peggy Blair, for example, has served in a variety of capacities: from policy advisor to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples to membership in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, to her involvement in resolving disputes flowing from residential school abuse claims. She has worked for a variety of clients, including both Indigenous groups and the federal government, and has published both technical reports and scholarly material on Indigenous resource issues and on the rights of Indigenous women. In her Lament for a First Nation: The Williams Treaties of Southern Ontario (2008), Blair explores the meaning and significance of the 1923 Williams Treaties and the 1994 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Howard.

In 1984, George Henry...