Best Left as Indians: Native-White Relations in the Yukon Territory, 1840-1973

Steven R. Hewitt is a graduate history student at the University of
Saskatchewan.

With Native-Canadian land claims and other grievances near the forefront
of current political discourse, Coates offers a timely insight into a
less-well-known chapter in the history of Native-white relations in
Canada. The book, which represents a major reworking of Coates’s 1984
Ph.D. thesis, examines the interaction between the two groups through
several broad themes, including the economy, religion, and education.
The latter category examines the Yukon’s version of the controversial
residential school system. Included in the monograph is a fleshed-out
portrait of Native society and its adjustments and adaptations in a
world of erratic change. Frequent use of statistics enhance this vision.
White society, the second half of the equation, is dealt with in a much
less dynamic and comprehensive way. Whites appear only in the form of
their institutions, such as the government and the church. This
portrayal is entirely appropriate, however, since it represents the
transient nature of the white experience in the Yukon. Native society
has remained the constant. For a general audience this book could appear
tedious at times. Fact after fact is provided in a mundane writing style
that eventually overwhelms the reader. This particular drawback reduces
one’s enjoyment of the book but it in no way diminishes the importance
of the subject matter.