Canada's First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times. 3rd ed.

J.R. (Jim) Miller is Canada Research Chair of History at the University
of Saskatchewan. He is the author of Skyscrapers Hide in the Heavens: A
History of Indian-White Relations in Canada and coeditor of the Canadian
Historical Review.

Widely and rightly praised when it first appeared in 1992, Olive
Dickason’s award-winning examination of Aboriginal peoples in Canada
is now reissued in an updated format. Notable for its strong
ethnographic treatment of a variety of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit,
Canada’s First Nations surveys Native Canada, starting with the Inuit
and Beothuk in the east, proceeding across the country to the west and
north, and concluding with a consideration of contemporary issues such
as constitutional change and the aftermath of the 1996 Royal Commission
on Aboriginal People (RCAP). The volume is lavishly illustrated with
maps, archival images, and news photographs that add to its explanatory
power. Dr. Dickason’s immense knowledge of the history of Aboriginal
peoples shines throughout, as, for example, in the often-detailed
endnotes that occupy 70 pages; some of the references amount to
mini-essays that readers will find enlightening and helpful.

There are very few aspects of the book that warrant criticism. One is
the fact that the coverage of events since the RCAP is thin. The issue
of self-government and important court decisions such as Corbiиre and
Delgamuukw are covered briefly, but their impact gets relatively little
space. In fairness, though, the author has updated material to bring
coverage reasonably close to the date of publication. A continuing
feature of the work that has concerned some previous readers is its
organization, which makes maintenance of a coherent narrative line
impossible for most of the volume. This feature is a consequence of the
author’s choice of providing detailed ethnographic coverage of various
First Nations in the early chapters.

These minor quibbles do not seriously lessen the work’s attraction.
Canada’s First Nations is a volume that belongs on the shelf of every
Canadian interested in the history of the country’s Aboriginal
peoples.