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A HISTORY OF THE ORIGINAL PEOPLES OF NORTHERN CANADA

Crowe, Keith J.
Montréal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991. 248pp, paper, $17.95
ISBN 0-77350880-5. CIP


Reviewed by Brenda Reed

Volume 20 Number 3
1992 May


The first 217 pages of this "revised editions" are reprinted unchanged from the original edition. The revision is a nineteen-page "Epilogue, 1974-1990," which summarizes recent developments affecting Canada's northern native people in four areas: land claims, political participation, education, and economic conditions. Given the complexity of land claims, the summaries of the eight major land claims included here will be a useful source of reference. Crowe also wrote the entry on "Land Claims" for The Canadian Encyclopedia (Hurtig, 1988), and that article, together with the epilogue from this book, provides a good starting point for students investigating land claims.

In the preface Crowe notes that he wrote this book as a "text for northern native students," but adds that "it may serve a wider audience." A wider audience will be interested in this text, because it is a straightforward account of northern native peoples from prehistory to recent years. However, if you already have the original edition, the limited new materials in the revised edition may not make its purchase worthwhile.

Although several areas have been updated, other major developments have not. For example, in a discussion of the Indian Act Crowe notes that "if a woman marries a non-lndian man she and her children are not officially Indian any more." Crowe notes that Jeanette Corbiere-Lavell is trying to change this law, but he does not go on to mention the controversial results of her case, nor does he mention the 1985 amendments to the Indian Act. A thorough revision would surely have dealt with this major topic.

Appendix A, however, has been updated (as of February 1991) and provides a "List by location of associations serving northern native northern people." Complete addresses and telephone numbers are included. Approximately twenty items have been added to the seven-page bibliography.

Unfortunately, for a book covering such a large period of history, there is no index. Readers unfamiliar with Canada's northern geography will be frustrated by the absence of a well-drawn, well-labelled map. The maps that are included are in black and white, and are difficult to decipher. This is an important book, and it is too bad that its use as a reference source will be limited by the lack of an index and helpful maps.

Grades 10 and up / Ages 15 and up


Brenda Reed, Bishop's College School, Lennoxville, Que.

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