Indigenous Peoples within Canada: A Concise History by Olive Patricia Dickason and William Newbigging (review)

This fourth edition of Olive Dickason and William Newbigging's survey of Indigenous history in what is now Canada represents a continuation of Dickason's life-long work to promote the importance of Indigenous history and to challenge colonial myths. Although she died in 2011 at the age of ninety-one, her presence is still felt throughout the work. One key example of this is the new title: Indigenous Peoples within Canada, a phrasing that subtly questions the legitimacy of boundaries established by settler–colonial nation-states in relation to Indigenous peoples. Earlier editions contained the possessive phrase "Canada's First Nations," terminology that situated the nation-state as a key lens for separating and categorizing Indigenous peoples and for determining their political and social identities.

Despite this significant change, the work still situates Indigenous history as a narrower aspect of Canadian national history. This is most apparent in the book's conclusion, which describes Indigenous people as "a vital part of Canada's persona" (369) and a people who should be valued due to their contributions to the development of the Canadian nation-state. Though this is a consequence of the work's focus on Indigenous peoples within the modern geographical borders of Canada, it produces an ahistorical interpretation of the vast Indigenous experience that preceded the establishment of the modern colonial state. Though these shortcomings persist, this edition takes significant steps in pushing the boundaries of textbooks on Indigenous history by revising its approach to terminology and through the inclusion and privileging of Indigenous voices.

These changes are clear in the expanded and more accessible table of contents that now includes detailed section headings. The change in language reflected in the book's title is echoed throughout the chapter titles and their new organization. For example, the chapter heading "Time of Troubles as the Old Ways Fade" has been changed to "Time of Troubles," thus removing the implication that traditional culture and lifeways vanished or fell into decline. This is in keeping with the central theme of the persistence and adaptability of Indigenous identities throughout history.

To support the theme of Indigenous resilience, Indigenous Peoples within Canadaprivileges Indigenous voices through a critical reading of textual sources and the inclusion of community-engaged research and oral knowledge, much of which had been absent in earlier editions. In addition, by replacing many anthropological photographs, maps, and diagrams with works by Indigenous artists and photographers, this edition takes a significant step towards Indigenizing historical textbooks as a genre.

One of the most important changes to this edition is a major overhaul of the language used to identify Indigenous peoples. In keeping with recent post-colonial and Indigenous studies scholarship, the phrases "Aboriginal peoples" and "First peoples" have been replaced with "Indigenous peoples," as illustrated in the book's revised title. Rather than a simple cosmetic change, the use of "Indigenous" challenges Canadian legal barriers that conceptually separate Metis, Inuit, First Nations, and Native American peoples into state-defined classifications.

A much-needed change is the use of Indigenous autonyms over the more popularly recognized, though problematic, exonyms assigned by settler governments, traders, or explorers. Where previous editions employed the terms Huron and Five Nations or Iroquois, this edition refers to them as the Wendat and Haudenosaunee Confederacies. The relationships between different autonyms, exonyms, and linguistic groups are explained in a new "Autonym Chart" included in the front matter. In its display of the linguistic, cultural, and historical diversity of Indigenous peoples, this chart alone is a powerful and accessible resource for students of Indigenous history. In addition, while the previous editions of this work employed the term Metis to mean people of mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous ancestry, Indigenous Peoples within Canadamoves away from this troubling racial definition, a change that reflects the influence of Indigenous studies scholars like Chris Andersen, who argue that Metis identity is defined by its historically and...