Law & History

"Aboriginal Ontario: Historical Perspectives on the First Nations contains seventeen essays on aspects of the history of the First Nations living within the present-day boundaries of Ontario. This volume reviews the experience of both the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples in Southern Ontario, as well as the Algonquians in Northern Ontario. The first section describes the climate and landforms of Ontario thousands of years ago.

“In this book, Professor D. N. Sprague tells why the Métis did not receive the land that was supposed to be theirs under the Manitoba Act. ... Sprague offers many examples of the methods used, such as legislation justifying the sale of the land allotted to Métis children without any of the safeguards ordinarily required in connection with transactions with infants. Then there were powers of attorney, tax sales—any number of stratagems could be used, and were—to see that the land intended for the Métis and their families went to others. All branches of the government participated.

Consists of: Letters of Transmittal, Secretary's introduction, Organizational Chart, Programs and other Activity Areas: Lands, Resources and Administration, Indian Economic Development Program, Native Business Development Program, Special Agricultural and Rural Development Agreement, Native Career Development Program

"‘Wendat’ was the word used by the five confederated nations of Wendake, the Wendat name for Huronia, the Ontario territory that the French -- mainly the Jesuits -- knew and described between 1615, when the Recollet Joseph Le Caron and Samuel de Champlain arrived, and 1649, when the Wendat confederacy collapsed. Champlain was the first to make consistent use of the disparaging term ‘Huron’ in naming the Wendats, and until recently that was still the name used by scholars and others in referring to these indigenous people.

"Most writing on Métis history has concentrated on the Resistance of 1869-70 and the Rebellion of 1885, without adequately explaining the social and economic origins of the Métis that shaped those conflicts. Historians have often emphasized the aboriginal aspect of the Métis heritage, stereotyping the Métis as a primitive people unable or unwilling to adjust to civilized life and capitalist society.

"From Talking Chiefs to a Native Corporate Elite traces the development of class relations and collective identity among Canadian Inuit over several centuries of contact with Western capitalism. Marybelle Mitchell provides a complete history of Inuit-white relations, starting with the first contact with European explorers in the sixteenth century and ending with ratification of the Nunavut proposal to create an Inuit homeland through division of the Northwest Territories.

"For over 100 years, thousands of Aboriginal children passed through the Canadian residential school system. Begun in the 1870s, it was intended, in the words of government officials, to bring these children into the “circle of civilization,” the results, however, were far different. More often, the schools provided an inferior education in an atmosphere of neglect, disease, and often abuse.

"In this compelling second edition, respected lawyer and Native rights advocate Thomas Berger surveys the history of the Americas since their 'discovery' by Christopher Columbus in 1492. His accounts of the slaughter and disenfranchisement of indigenous people throughout North, Central and South American reveal a searing pattern of almost unimaginable duplicity and inhumanity. But as A Long and Terrible Shadow makes clear, Native peoples have defied the odds, waging a tenacious struggle to survive and to re-emerge as distinct cultures.

"The story of the Beothuk, the aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland, is tragic. Their population steadily declined with the influx of European settlement in the 1700s and by 1829 Shanawdithit, the last of the Beothuk, had died. Conflict with other native groups and disease played a role in their demise, but it was “ruthlessness and brutality” by the English that ultimately led to their extinction. The outcome of twenty years of research, this award-winning book illuminates the origins, history, and fate of the Beothuk." -- Provided by Publisher

"Earth, Water, Air and Fire: Studies in Canadian Ethnohistory is a collection of 17 articles that resulted from a conference sponsored by Nin.D.Waab.Jig. and Wilfred Laurier University in 1994. The conference addressed the status of ethnohistory in Canada as it related to Aboriginal People and was designed as multidisciplinary and holistic. Two of the contributors reflect the Aboriginal Perspective and the essays by Dean Jacobs of Walpole Island and renowned historian Olive P. Dickason are important contributions. The remaining topics are wide-ranging and a few are noteworthy.