Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry: The Deception Behind Indigenous Cultural Preservation

Andrew is a publishing professional based in Toronto, Ontario.

Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry pulls no punches as it argues, not against the Aboriginal peoples of Canada themselves, but against the policies which have failed to bring them prosperity. Authors Frances Widdowson and Albert Howard assert that Aboriginal land claims and demands for self-government were not originally made by First Nations communities, but rather by an expansive and parasitical “Aboriginal Industry,” which includes lawyers, anthropologists, and other “consultants.” These groups, along with certain aboriginal leaders, portray themselves as helping Aboriginals maintain their “sovereignty” and preserve their “traditions,” when in fact they profit from keeping Native peoples in a constant state of dependency and segregation (all with the help of taxpayer funds).

Widdowson and Howard also do not shy away from criticizing the gulf between Natives and Europeans (whose culture and institutions Canada has inherited). They note that when Europeans were making the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the Aboriginal peoples of North America were still living in a Paleolithic stage of development. It is the preservation of cultural “traditions” (including “undisciplined work habits, tribal forms of political identification, animistic beliefs and difficulties in developing abstract reasoning”) by the Aboriginal Industry which Widdowson and Howard try desperately to undermine (with great success, in my opinion).

The authors make it clear, though, that despite the cries of racism they expect to have flung at them for such arguments, they do not mean to demean Native peoples, but to honestly address the causes of Aboriginal cultural and economic stagnation. Throughout the book, the authors demonstrate a sincere concern for the welfare of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, even though they argue that certain “traditions” of theirs should be abandoned in order to provide them with a stable and prosperous future. They conclude that the Canadian government should use a critical eye, rather than a bleeding heart, to ensure the future welfare of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. 

Recommended.