The Native Imprint, Vol. 1-to 1815: The Contribution of First Peoples to Canada's Character

Martin Nicolai teaches history at York College.

This collection of articles taken from academic journals, conference
proceedings, and magazines examines Native history from a number of
perspectives. Articles range from modern Native poetry and thoughts
about the past to insightful social science reports and superb essays by
experts in Native history and ethnohistory.

One especially good article counters the long-standing theory that
Asians with sophisticated Upper-Paleolithic hunting technology moved
through the Yukon–Alberta gap in the ice sheet in about 12,000 B.P.
The author uses linguistic and archeological evidence to argue that
Asians with unspecialized lithic technologies had moved along the
Alaskan and B.C. coasts to the American west coast, Mexico, and Central
America by at least 35,000 B.P., spreading out from these areas of
oldest habitation at a later date and developing Clovis point technology
in America itself.

Dickason, Trigger, Upton, Eccles, and Richter contribute excellent
articles on Native–European interaction; while these essays are not
new to scholars in the field, they have much to offer students who are
learning about Native history. Other noteworthy articles are Diamond’s
study of the impact of disease on Native populations, and Ronda’s
article on Native reactions to missionary activity. Paul’s article on
British–Micmac relations indicates appropriate outrage at the
near-genocidal policies of the British toward the Micmac, but he also
attributes moral and political ideas to mid-18th-century British
governors and Micmac leaders that do not make much sense in the context
of the time.

With its array of primary and secondary sources, The Native Imprint
would be an ideal text for use in Native Canadian history courses.