Who Are Canada's Aboriginal Peoples?: Recognition, Definition, and Jurisdiction

David Mardiros is a lawyer and anthropological consultant in Terrace,
British Columbia.

Although the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian
state has been continuously debated, negotiated, and litigated over the
past several decades, it is still difficult to locate a single resource
for senior undergraduate students or the general public that sets out
the problems in a clear and comprehensive way. This book, a compilation
of essays from leading scholars in Canada and the United States, not
only provides a useful overview of the issues that continue to test the
relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, but also
provides much useful historical context that informs the reader of how
long and fraught those relations have been.

Although the title indicates that the focus of the book is on
Aboriginal peoples in Canada, the topics included in the book are a
wide-ranging analysis of issues that include discussions of the
situation in the United States as well. Beginning with an analysis of
the Indian Act, John Giokas and Robert Groves detail the insidious
control that a single piece of legislation has had over the lives of
Aboriginal peoples since its inception over 125 years ago. Two chapters
by Russell Barsh and John Giokas outline developments in the United
States and are most useful in providing an analysis of the
often-parallel developments in Aboriginal policy that occurred in Canada
and the United States during the 19th century. An important difference
between this book and many previous works discussing Aboriginal peoples
is the inclusion of several chapters on the Métis—a people who,
despite being recognized as Aboriginal peoples in the Canadian
Constitution, have often been overlooked. The material on the Métis is
among the best in the book and ranges from a discussion of the long
history of discrimination Métis have faced to an important analysis of
the problem of definition. The book persuasively argues that where a
community is defined by its historical, social, and cultural antecedents
rather than by the imprecise (and, as the book points out, quite
useless) concept of “race,” Canada has had problems with defining
and accepting such a community, despite the country’s popular image as
a multicultural society accepting of difference.