"And the Last Shall be First": Native Policy in an Era of Cutbacks. Rev. ed.

Franзois Boudreau is a sociology professor at Laurentian University in
Sudbury.

Angus’s book is a well-considered reflection on Canada’s policies
regarding Native people. Divided into three parts, the book appraises
the Natives’ current position in terms of their struggles for
political rights and regaining their self-respect. The first part deals
with the context in which the Canadian welfare state was created.
Although somewhat theoretical, it shows how, from cyclical crises to
structural ones, we have come almost full circle—from a continued
extension of services to a corporate agenda of restraint and cutbacks.
This section is of major interest for its conciseness and clarity,
particularly around the question of the composition and the role of the
middle class in setting up and/or influencing the political agenda in
Canada.

The second section, the core of the book, shows how Native people were
the last group of Canadians to benefit from the advantages of social
wealth-sharing and among the very first to experience cutbacks in their
funding. The strategy of the Conservative government is remarkably well
exposed, supported by an abundance of references. The argument for
Natives’ political rights is, again, well articulated, concise, and
precise. This section contains a formidable account of Native politics
of the last 50 years, the phases it has gone through (struggle through
the Ministry of Indian Affairs, through the courts, through
constitutional negotiations, and finally involving guns) and the
treatment of Natives by the Canadian state (from paternalism to
disrespect and contempt).

The third section is a call for solidarity with Native people in their
struggle to regain self-respect. It calls on aboriginal-rights
coalitions— composed particularly of the middle class, Church groups,
and organized labor—to help other Canadians understand that an attack
against one minority is an attack against the integrity of Canadian
culture. The book asserts that without the solidarity of the middle
class for such basic human-rights causes, the whole of the welfare state
and the civility it implies are in danger of disappearing in Canada.