Aboriginal Peoples of Canada: A Short Introduction (review)

The essays in Aboriginal Peoples of Canada: A Short Introduction were originally composed and compiled for inclusion in the Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples (1999), but, as editor Paul Magocsi points out in his preface, the prohibitive cost of that weighty tome encouraged the independent production of the section on Native people. Given this history, the subsequent volume probably should have been released only as a paperback, for as its title suggests, it is a brief introduction that would make a fine contribution to any undergraduate student's dormitory bookshelf.

Aboriginal People's of Canada is organized according to indigenous language families. While such divisions hold little real world meaning for Aboriginal people themselves, they serve to compress the plethora of historic and contemporary Native political and social groupings into a manageable series of academic categories. Listed alphabetically for easy referencing, the volume consists of twelve essays by a diverse group of anthropologists, linguists, curators, historians, and Native intellectuals. While lay readers may not recognize the names of the various languages, most students will have no trouble negotiating their way through the nomenclature: Algonquians/Eastern Woodlands, Algonquians/Plains, Algonquians/Subarctic, Inuit, Iroquoians, Ktunaxa, Métis, Na-dene, Salish, Siouans, Tsimshian, and Wakashans.

Reflecting the contemporary state of ethnohistorical enquiry and anthropological theory, this collection of essays has little in common with the salvage ethnography typical of similar efforts by scholars of earlier generations. Instead of Boasian categories describing the rules of allegedly pristine pre-contact societies, descriptions of cultural traits are presented alongside discussions of genuine people living in a host of historical circumstances. Contemporary events and personalities are introduced not simply within the now familiar paradigm of Native resistance and renewal, but as part of the complex story of multiple community histories. Through discussions of such matters as 'communications,' 'education,' 'politics,' and 'group maintenance,' the indigenous people of Canada are shown to be much more than anachronistic elements of marginalized and colonized societies. Indeed, human faces are given to indigenous actors who possess agency and who live in a modern world where their ancestral traditions continue to provide inspiration and guidance. If undergraduate readers come away with nothing else, this aspect alone justifies the publication. It is unlikely that any student, after reading this book, could be satisfied in thinking of indigenous people and culture as remnants of the past.

The decision to organize a discussion of Aboriginal people around language family groupings, however, does have certain drawbacks. Inevitably people are discussed as products of particular geographies. The fact that there are more Plains Cree and Métis people living in British Columbia's lower Fraser Valley than there are indigenous Salish people, for example, is overlooked in all three of the chapters on these groups simply because a linguistic-focused analysis does not easily accommodate recent migrations that are the product of individual family decisions - especially when such migrations do not result in the formation of formal political oranizations. As such, readers may be left with the impression that Aboriginal identity is intrinsically linked to place in a way that is not necessarily the case for a significant minority of Canada's contemporary indigenous population. Olive Dickason's discussion of the difficulties in defining and discussing Canada's 'Métis' people makes especially clear the limitations of the book's organizational structure. Despite her best efforts (as well as those of newer independent 'Métis' associations across Canada such as the Labrador Métis Nation), she finds it difficult to avoid turning a general discussion of people of mixed blood ancestry into a rehashing of the story of the legacy of Louis Riel at Red River and Saskatchewan.

A national survey of the likes of Aboriginal People of Canada will never please everyone, but this one is sure to appeal to a broad spectrum of the general public, students and scholars alike. Inevitably...