First Nations? Second Thoughts

John Stanley Senior Policy Advisor Corporate Policy Branch Management
Board Secretariat

This polemical work by Tom Flanagan, a member of the Calgary School of
right-wing academics, was underwritten by the Donner Canadian
Foundation, a funder of conservative causes. Once readers are privy to
this information, the book’s framework for analyzing Aboriginal
affairs is predictable. Flanagan, a professor of political science, does
not hide his proclivities, but rather trumpets them in his introduction,
privileging the “free market” as the “only economic system that
has brought a high standard of living to a complex society.” This bald
statement is typical of his ahistorical and unashamedly ideological
approach. He writes within a self-referential world that has only one
right side and—surprise!—it’s on the Right.

In 10 chapters, the author challenges the predominant views—which he
terms “orthodoxies”—regarding Aboriginal primacy, sovereignty,
nationhood, self-government, and treaties. Such important topics are
familiar to all who work with Aboriginal peoples, and Flanagan’s
analysis often forces us to re-examine assumptions. However, he covers
no new ground. His approach to Aboriginal life is systematic but relies
entirely on secondary materials. Often, he seems out of his depth in
this complex field of study. For example, he is not above citing
authorities long considered passé by specialists. Definitions that he
himself has developed morph into “facts,” and readers witness the
transformation of carefully delineated assumptions into an unalterable
construct before they put the book down.

Flanagan’s views allow for no exception and little flexibility. In
his insistence on universal rules that apply to all cultures at all
times, he competes only with Karl Marx himself. More manifesto than
analysis, his work, in many ways, does not go beyond the prejudices of
white settlers of a century ago. Students of Canada’s right wing will
find this book to be of great value because of its clear outline of
conservative attitudes toward Canada’s First Nations. Those interested
in Native affairs will find little of importance.