Earth, Water, Air and Fire: Studies in Canadian Ethnohistory

John Steckley teaches in the Human Studies Program at Humber College in
Toronto.

This book is a collection of papers that were presented at a 1994
conference at Bkejwanong, or Walpole Island First Nation. Most of the
articles deal with that community, which accounts for the book’s
well-developed sense of place. The editor, a respected scholar in the
area of Native land claims and treaty rights issues, works for the
community as a claims adviser.

The collection is intended to serve as “a barometer of what has been
happening to aboriginal scholarship over the last decade” and, more
specifically, to explore “the emphasis that is given to First
Nations’ perspectives on Earth, Water, Air and Fire and the potential
influence of these perspectives on nonaboriginal research.” Among the
book’s most insightful and solidly researched articles are “Water Is
Her Life Blood: The Waters of Bkejwanong and the Treaty-Making
Process” by the editor, “Under the Earth: The Expropriation and
Attempted Sale of the Oil and Gas rights of the Walpole Island First
Nation During World War I” by Rhonda Telford, and “Colonizing a
People: Mennonite Settlement in Waterloo Township” by E. Reginald
Good.

Less satisfying is the treatment of Rev. Simpson Brigham, a man from
Walpole Island who was “one of the earliest aboriginal people to be
ordained an Anglican deacon.” The discussion of Brigham’s role would
have benefited from a greater degree of analytic distance.