Canada's First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times

Canada's First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times by McNab, David T.. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780195428926.

Canadas First Nations uses an interdisciplinary approach--drawing on research in archaeology, anthropology, biology, sociology, political science, and history--to give an account of Canadas past. Olive Dickasons widely acclaimed history of Canadas founding peoples is augmented by David McNabs updates and in-depth examination of recent events, including the Ipperwash inquiry and global warmings effect on Innu of Canadas the north. This text describes how Canadas Aboriginal peoples were radically altered by the arrival of Europeans. They fought as allies beside the French and English during the battles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; they were hunted to the point of extermination in Newfoundland; and their numbers were decimated by European diseases. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Canada tried to legislate Aboriginal cultures out of existence, as the official assumption remained that assimilation would bring an end to any Indian "Problem." From Nescambiouit and Potiac, to Pound Maker, Abe Okpik, and Elijah Harper, Amerindians and Inuit have responded to persistent colonial pressure in various ways, including attempts at co-operation, episodes of resistances, and politically sophisticated efforts to preserve their territory and culture. The revitalization of todays Aboriginal communities--dramatically expressed by the Mohawk at Oka in 1990 and by members of the six nations in Caledonia in 2005--reminds us that accurate perception of the past is essential to a just shaping of Canadas future.