Unfinished Dreams: Community Healing and the Reality of Aboriginal Self-Government

Kerry Abel is a professor of history at Carleton University. She is the author of Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History, co-editor of Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects, and co-editor of Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

In this book, anthropologist Wayne Warry explores the connection between
self-government and cultural identity. For Warry, aboriginal
powerlessness is inextricably bound with such problems as poor health,
alcoholism, violence, and conflicts with the law. His central premise is
that if people get more involved with their communities through the
exercise of self-government, they will become more self-reliant and
better able to cope; as individuals heal, so too will their communities.


Unfinished Dreams is essentially an extended essay in which the author
explores different aspects of that “healing” process. Unfortunately,
although Warry correctly points out that many Canadians see aboriginal
self-government as vaguely threatening to their ideas about equality
before the law, he does not provide any convincing counterarguments.
Instead, he provides examples of a range of positive initiatives among
Native communities along the north shore of Lake Huron between Sudbury
and Sault Ste. Marie. These initiatives constitute a healthy antidote to
the usual portrayal of Native people as passive victims of colonialism,
but there is little else in Warry’s book that will convert the truly
entrenched opponent of Native self-government.

That said, Unfinished Dreams is still a worthwhile addition to the
literature. There is an excellent bibliography and insightful
discussions of health-care and justice issues. Those who believe that
the most effective path to self-government is one that originates at the
grass-roots level (as opposed to the top-down approach once promoted by
the Assembly of First Nations) will find in this book an interesting
defence of their position.