Unjust Society

By Harold Cardinal

Aboriginal people in Canada took hope with the election of Trudeau's Liberals in 1968. They were outraged when the Paper introduced by Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Jean Chretien a year later amounted to an assimilation program: repeal of the Indian Act, the transfer of Indian affairs to the provinces, the elimination of separate legal status for native people. The Unjust Society , Cree leader Harold Cardinal's stinging rebuttal, was an immediate best-seller, and it remains one of the most important ever published. Possessed of a wicked gift for satire, Cardinal summed up the government's approach as "The only good Indian is a non-Indian." He coined the term "buckskin curtain" to describe the barriers that indifference, ignorance and bigotry had placed in the way of his people. He insisted on his right to remain "a red tile in the Canadian mosaic. Above all, he called for radical changes in policy on aboriginal rights, education, social programs and economic development.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550544837
• ISBN13: 9781550544831
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Political camouflage regardn' FN fight for justice

A Cree leader named, Harold Cardinal, gives a cutting renunciation to Jean Chretien's White Paper, in his book, "The Unjust Society". Originally published in 1969.This book continues to be one of the most vital books ever published in North America regarding First Nations people struggle for their identity. Radical changes in policy are exemplified in this compelling book that describes the Aboriginal Rights, Social Programs and Economic Development. Continuing, Cardinal gives an account about the Governments assimilation program: Indian Act, Transfer of Indian affairs to the provinces and Elimination of separate legal status for native people. "Cardinal summed up the government's approach as "The only good Indian is a non-Indian." He make up the term "buckskin curtain". This was his way to describe the obstructions that had been positioned in the way of his people. "The Unjust Society" can be a sign of a change in the political camouflage regarding First Nations fight for justice.

Endless Polices On First Nations

In, Harold Cardinal's book, "The Unjust Society", is best summed up in the first chapter on page two. "It sometimes seems to Indians that Canada shows more interest in preserving its rare whooping cranes than its Indians. And Canada, the Indian notes, does not ask its cranes to become Canada geese. It just wants to preserve them as the whooping cranes. Indians hold no grudge against the big, beautiful, nearly extinct birds, but we would like to know how they managed their deal. Whooping cranes can remain whooping cranes, but Indians are to become brown white men." With this in mind, the Canadian government has continued with their double standards towards First Nation across the country. The Canadian government portrayal of having clean hands have dealt the so called, " Indian Problem", on to the Provincial governments. With this attitude, First Nations continue to build a stronger resistant their promises.