Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand

Christine Hughes is a policy analyst at the Ontario Native Affairs
Secretariat.

Andrew Armitage is an associate professor and the director of the School
of Social Work at the University of Victoria. He has worked with First
Nations families and children in Canada. His book provides readers with
a comparative analysis of the social policies that were undertaken in
Australia, Canada, and New Zealand with the aim of assimilating their
indigenous populations.

The book’s introduction offers a good overview of the issues
associated with assimilation; it also clearly describes the benefits of
a comparative approach and the author’s reasons for examining
aboriginal policies in the chosen countries. In the first chapter,
Armitage describes the general structure of the aboriginal policies,
including the origins and rationale for a policy of assimilation.
Chapter 2 focuses specifically on aboriginal child- welfare policies in
the respective countries, and on the extent to which these policies have
separated children and parents. The book’s final two chapters provide
a comparative analysis of the policies and suggest reasons for their
lack of success.

The book is thoroughly researched and includes an extensive
bibliography and index. Interspersed through the text are maps and
demographic tables.