Canada's First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times

By Olive Patricia Dickason

Book Overview

Canada's First Nations uses an interdisciplinary approach--drawing on research in archaeology, anthropology, biology, sociology, political science, and history--to give an account of Canada's past. Olive Dickason's widely acclaimed history of Canada's founding peoples is augmented by David McNab's updates and in-depth examination of recent events, including the Ipperwash inquiry and global warming's effect on Innu of Canada's the north.

This text describes how Canada's Aboriginal peoples were radically altered by the arrival of Europeans. They fought as allies beside the French and English during the battles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; they were hunted to the point of extermination in Newfoundland; and their numbers were decimated by European diseases. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Canada tried to legislate Aboriginal cultures out of existence, as the official assumption remained that assimilation would bring an end to any Indian "Problem."

From Nescambiouit and Potiac, to Pound Maker, Abe Okpik, and Elijah Harper, Amerindians and Inuit have responded to persistent colonial pressure in various ways, including attempts at co-operation, episodes of resistances, and politically sophisticated efforts to preserve their territory and culture. The revitalization of today's Aboriginal communities--dramatically expressed by the Mohawk at Oka in 1990 and by members of the six nations in Caledonia in 2005--reminds us that accurate perception of the past is essential to a just shaping of Canada's future.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195428927
• ISBN13: 9780195428926
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 1.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A solid overview

Canada's First Nations is a solid piece of scholarship detailed enough to satisfy advanced historians and well written in order to please a greater audience. Make no mistake, this is a vast topic covering 15.000 years in history and pre-history that had to be shrunk to 560 pages only. Of course there are a few omissions, of course there needed to be some sort of selection of incidents and sources. Most of the author's choice regarding her focus can be understood easily and makes the book a good read. The only grave criticism of which the author cannot be spared is that at some places Dickason does not sufficiently question her ancient written sources, but rather takes for granted what has been said about amerindian behavioural patterns in the 16th and 17th century. While this can be attributed to the vast undertaking itsself, it nonetheless may be one wrong approach to sources leading to a perhaps distorted picture of amerindian ancient culture. One example: "All Iroquoians practised torture and cannibalism"...[56]. While the first can be regarded as proven, sources related to the alledged latter behaviour are definetely not to be taken at face value, as Heidi Peter-Röcher (Kannibalismus in der Prähistorischen Forschung, Studien zu einer paradigmatischen Deutung und ihren Grundlagen.) in her doctoral thesis of 1994 (University FU Berlin) quite convincingly points out. In fact, as Peter-Röcher succeeded to show, remarks related to cannibalism have to be taken with utmost care. Peter-Röcher goes as far as questioning the existence of such a practise in history at all and relates that there is not one single case in history when such a practise has been positively witnessed, that is neurotic missionaries - themselves living under a constant threat of getting slain - made up these stories of "Gog and Magog" in order to illustrate their braveness among the barbarians, to put it short. Despite these flaws Canada's First Nations is a solid piece of work well worth the time it takes to read it.

An Encyclopedia of Canadian Natives

This is an excellent book, which can be used as an encyclopedia for the history, traditional names, and geographical location of the Canadian Native peoples. The author has used numerous primary sources and maps and her style is very readable. Dickason gave also the aboriginal perspective of many events but in a very balanced account. The book can grasp the attention not only to professional historians dealing with Native history but also to all readers who have some general interest in the past of Canada's Amerindians.

A Great Contribution to Canadian Popular History

This book is a wonderful synthesis of Canadian aboriginal history. I was impressed by the author's detailed and well-balanced approach. It is neither a moral fable nor a panegyric of conquerors' exploits, but rather history as it should be told. The only downside is the book's episodic style but that is necessitated by its ambitious goal. Olive Dickason did an especially good job highlighting the different histories of Canada's natives both pre- and post-contact.