Canadian Indian Research Articles

Noël DYCK, What is the Indian ’Problem’: Tutelage and Resistance in Canadian Indian Administration. Social and Economic Studies No. 46, Memorial University, St. John’s: Newfoundland, Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1991, 208 p.

Noël DYCK, What is the Indian ’Problem’: Tutelage and Resistance in Canadian Indian Administration. Social and Economic Studies No. 46, Memorial University, St. John’s: Newfoundland, Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1991, 208 p.

The Quest For A Cure: A Case Study in the Use of Health Care Alternatives

This paper examines the use of health care alternatives by a culturally-conservative Canadian Indian man who suffers from statis ulcers, a disorder he has attributed to both natural and unnatural origins. A case study is presented that utilizes a conceptual framework from medical anthropology. This case study illustrates the cultural and social determinants of health seeking; the perceived etiology, degree of impairment, and the efficacy of the treatment and its cultural relevance are all found to be significant factors in the selection of therapeutic resources. Ritualized performances of Native shamans are found to be an integral part of the healing process.

Canadian Indian Act Modernism

The modernist period is a milestone in Canadian history, notably for playing an integral role in Canada’s identity formation as an independent settler colonial state. Since its inception as a nation, Canada has been shaped by the modern/unmodern binary (with the Indian on the “unmodern” side), as explicitly articulated in the Indian Act, 1876. Canada is reliant upon the Indian

Safeguarding Settler Colonialism in Geneva: Canada, Indigenous Rights, and ilo Convention No. 107 on the Protection and Integration of Indigenous Peoples (1957)

This article explores the intersecting of liberal internationalism and settler colonialism by tracing the Canadian governmental response to the emergence of International Labour Organisation (ilo) Convention 107 (1957) and Recommendation 104 (1957), the first international treaties regarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples in independent states. Drawing upon the archives of the ilo, Canada’s Department of External Affairs and Department of Citizenship and Immigration, notably the latter’s Indian Affairs Branch, the article investigates the convergence of mid-twentieth-century notions of Indigenous rights and the global phenomenon of “development.” It also explores how, amid anti-colonial resistance, decolonization, and an emerging international human rights regime, settler states responded, not least by seeking to blunt if not defeat the ilo initiative. In addition to yielding greater understanding of the origins and emergence of the ilo instruments, this analysis contributes to critical interrogations of Canadian liberal internationalism by revealing how Canadian settler preoccupations were projected abroad and shaped the international system’s evolving treatment of Indigenous Peoples. It also offers a different perspective on Canadian Indian policy by revealing the “global” dimension of an allegedly “domestic” question. Finally, the article highlights a parallel history of Indigenous internationalism speaking back to a world order constructed on Indigenous displacement and dispossession.

Indian residential schools: Height and body mass post‐1930

AbstractWe study the effects of Canadian Indian residential schooling on two anthropometric measures of health during childhood: adult height and body weight. We use repeated cross‐sectional data from the 1991 and 2001 Aboriginal Peoples Survey and leverage detailed historical data on school closures and location to make causal inferences. We find evidence that, on average, residential schooling increases adult height and the likelihood of a healthy adult body weight for those who attended. These effects are concentrated after the 1950s, when the schools were subject to tighter health regulations and students were selected to attend residential school based partly on their need for medical care that was otherwise unavailable. Residential schooling is only one policy in Canada that had an impact on the health of status First Nations peoples, so our results must be understood in the broader social context. Taken in context, our results suggest that health interventions in later childhood can have significant impacts on adult health. We also document significant increases in height and body weight for status peoples born after the 1960s, suggesting substantial changes in diet and living conditions during this period.

Social Justice: Children's Literature as a Source of Information, Transformation, and Hope

Social Justice:Children's Literature as a Source of Information, Transformation, and Hope Janelle Mathis (bio) and Petros Panaou (bio) "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela This issue of Bookbird was conceptualized with the realization of the complexity of this term education and the varied perspectives that situate it across our global readership. We acknowledge that our children need to be "educated" to become part of a global society that strives to build understanding through personal introspection and intercultural competency. However, we also recognize that this is true for us—the adults seeking resources and strategies to nurture readers as they learn to recognize discrimination and equalities. We must also develop a sense of agency to advocate for change in ways that align with the needs of other cultures and to become thoughtful decision makers. This "education" requires resources that inform about and build local and global community through understanding both universal issues and those unique to particular areas or groups. We identified articles that we believe can help to push our understandings as individuals who read and strive to educate through children's literature, a most powerful asset in this process of enlightenment and change. Just as the Call for Manuscripts uses questions to bring forth current contemplation, both personal and scholarly, around children's literature, so the reading of the selected articles elicits questions as readers confront the ideas of others. These questions keep us motivated in our scholarly work around children's literature as we share literature with all ages of readers as well as bring these books to the forefront where they can be recognized globally, synthesized with the current issues they describe, and serve as a catalyst for transformation within and across our communities of learners. So, we will introduce the articles by sharing some of the questions that evolved and remain as we read and reread the scholarship found in this issue. "Boundary Crossings and Social Justice in A Girl Called Genghis Khan" by Tehmina Pirzada shares the story of Maria Toorpakai, a Pakistani squash champion. This story focuses on "Maria's cross-dressing and her [End Page 1] fight for social justice in her native Waziristan, the Taliban-controlled tribal belt of Pakistan" (6). We questioned our awareness of the struggle of Muslim women for equity and justice as we realized stories of Malala and The Breadwinner Trilogy (by Deborah Ellis) were our main sources of information—excellent but limited. What other resources can help expand our awareness of situations as this revealing opposition to the political polarization caused by an "us" versus "them" mentality? "After They Gave the Order: Students Respond to Canadian Indian Residential School Literature for Social Justice" by Lynne Wiltse was inspired by Deborah Ellis's 2018 IBBY keynote speech, "Before They Give the Order," which was printed in Bookbird, issue 57.1. This article shares a focus group conversation with five non-Indigenous elementary students who read a range of picturebooks, memoirs, and novels about the Canadian Indian residential school (IRS) system. We are left wondering how these stories of injustice are being used in classrooms globally that bring attention to situations around Indigenous groups and their long-term effects. In what ways are these stories considered outside of history and in light of current events? "'No Place Like Home': Immigration, Migration, and Loss in Two American Picturebooks" by Colin Haines returns readers to two older American picturebooks, Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say (1993) and Amelia's Road by Linda Jacobs Altman (1993), and discusses these in terms of contrasting idealizations of home using Freud's theory of mourning and melancholia. Familiar with these older books on immigration, the unique contrast here provoked the question of what current titles can be described within the tenets of this theory. How can this discussion support the use of immigration and refugee books in ways to nurture understanding in all readers around the issues that immigrants face when forced or choosing to seek a new home? "The Coin in the Rice in the Spoon: Perspectives within Perspectives in A New Year's Reunion" by Joe Sutliff Sanders and Xia Zhao...

After They Gave the Order: Students Respond to Canadian Indian Residential School Literature for Social Justice

Deborah Ellis's 2018 IBBY keynote speech, "Before They Give the Order," provided the inspiration for this article, which focuses on components from a larger research study designed to engage English language arts teachers and their students in reading and responding to social justice literature for children and young adults. Drawing on a focus group conversation with five non-Indigenous elementary students who read a range of picturebooks, memoirs, and novels about the Canadian Indian residential school (IRS) system, this article reveals the potential of IRS literature for opening up social justice questions of discrimination and inequality with students as well as for motivating young readers to be emerging advocates for change.

Remembrance across Borders: A Dialogue on One Educator’s Experience of Studying Indigenous Education in Germany

This article examines remembrance as an intersecting site for Indigenous and German Studies. Attending to the practice of remembrance, it looks at learners’ relationships with different, difficult pasts as a way of teaching towards better futures. The authors—weaving together the voices of student and instructor—explore a future teacher’s intersectional experience of taking an Indigenous Education course in Canada while simultaneously teaching in an international placement in Germany. Examining her experiences of studying Canadian Indian Residential School history while also visiting Holocaust memorial sites, this educator considers complex questions of pedagogy, memory, and social change through a transdisciplinary dialogue.

Witnessing Painful Pasts: Understanding Images of Sports at Canadian Indian Residential Schools

AbstractImages are powerful tools for shaping perceptions of the past. In the context of sport at Canadian Indian residential schools, photographic images were consciously constructed and carefully selected and have been subsequently recirculated by contemporary media. Images of smiling, happy children at play at Canadian Indian residential schools have been used to lend credence to notions of sport as an unquestionable force for good without considering the context in which the images were created. In this paper, we explore how media, including online public repositories and newspapers, have taken up images of sport, specifically hockey, at Indian residential schools and how they evoke ideas about the nation and Indigenous–settler relations in Canada. We argue that photographs of residential school sports reinforce colonial narratives that lend ideological weight to settler colonial rule.

From Indian boys to Canadian men? The use of cadet drill in the Canadian Indian residential school system

AbstractFrom the 1870s to the closing of Canada’s Indian residential school system in 1996, cadet corps and military-style drill were the cornerstones to physical education and functioned as a way to assimilate Indigenous students into a subordinate position in Canadian society. The schools’ use of cadet drill is a key legacy found in the historical and contemporary enlistments of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian armed forces. Some students used military drill as a way to survive the abuse they encountered at school by finding relief in opportunities to travel off school grounds to engage in public performances and competitive events. Additionally, students derived meaning from competitions, especially winning against non-Indigenous cadet teams. This time away from school and the competitions increased the student’s self-worth, with some students using it to connect to their people’s military past.RésuméDes années 1870 à la disparition du réseau des pensionnats en 1996, les corps de cadets et l’exercice de style militaire étaient les fondements de l’éducation physique et servait à assimiler les élèves indigènes dans des positions subordonnées dans la société canadienne. L’utilisation de l’exercice des cadets par les pensionnats représente un héritage clé que l’on retrouve dans l’enrôlement passé et contemporain des peuples indigènes dans les forces armées canadiennes. Certains élèves utilisèrent l’exercice militaire comme un moyen de survivre aux violences subies à l’école en trouvant un soulagement dans les opportunités de voyages hors du pensionnat pour participer à des évènements publics et compétitifs. En outre, les élèves trouvaient une valeur dans ces compétitions, surtout en gagnant contre des équipes de cadets non-indigènes. Ces moments passés en dehors de l’école, ainsi que les compétitions, renforçaient l’estime de soi des élèves et certains se servaient de cette expérience pour se reconnecter avec le passé militaire de leur peuple.

Introduction: Reflections on health and the body at Canadian Indian residential schools

The overall theme of this journal arose some time ago from conversations between many of the contributors about the term 'health' and the different ways researchers have applied it to our understanding of the Indian residential school system in Canada. The more we discussed how the term had been applied, and mulled over the possible implications of those applications, the more we recognised the importance of exploring the boundaries of the term, going beyond its traditional usage referring to hospitalisation and medical treatment. As this special issue demonstrates, health, when used in the context of Canada's Indian residential schools, is linked directly to physical education programming, food and malnutrition, language and intergenerational trauma, extra-curricular programming, military preparedness, and cultural identity. Although this collection represents a small sample of the work being carried out by researchers in Canada, we hope it opens up the possibilities for research and understanding regarding healthrelated matters stemming from the residential school system.All of the contributors to this special issue are also politically engaged in one way or another in their various fields. As such, we paid close attention to the final reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission - a federally mandated body that was responsible for collecting and documenting the history of the Indian residential school system from the perspective of the students. Although the six-year investigation ended in 2015, research into the health aspects of the system continues as Indigenous people and Canadians wrestle with complex matters tied to health. All of the articles in this collection refer to some extent to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.Ian Mosby and Tracey Galloway's article, 'The abiding condition was hunger: assessing the long-term biological and health effects of malnutrition and hunger in Canada's residential schools', explores the present-day effects of historical malnutrition on Indigenous people and Indigenous communities. Citing malnutrition studies from around the world, the authors argue that many of the health problems that Indigenous people in Canada face can be traced to the residential schools. It is a groundbreaking study in that it links food deprivation, and the lack of access to healthy foods, to biological and psychological development, thus challenging typical interventions that aim to address health-related issues, such as obesity prevention and diabetes, among Indigenous people. Their use of evidence also highlights the need for researchers to find parallel examples from history and other parts of the world to understand the implications of the Indian residential school system in Canada better.In 'Archival photographs in perspective: Indian residential school images of health', historian and archivist Krista McCracken explores the photographic evidence of sports and recreation at Spanish Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. Spanish was one of the schools that had a very active sports program, as noted by former student and author Basil Johnston in his book, Indian School Days. She delves into the Father Morice Fonds, held at the Shingwauk Centre at Algoma University in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, to examine photos of sport and recreation at Spanish. Her paper focuses on representations of sport and recreation at that institution and investigates what those representations say about colonialism and health, as well as the practice of archiving and its role in helping Indigenous people reclaim their past through explorations of sport and recreation photographs.Lorena Sekwan Fontaine's article, 'Redress for linguicide: residential schools and assimilation in Canada', discusses the effects and lack of governmental recognition of the loss of Indigenous languages due to the residential school system. …

“A Rink at this School is Almost as Essential as a Classroom”: Hockey and Discipline at Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, 1945–1951

While there is now a considerable body of literature about the Canadian Indian residential school system, few researchers have used sport as the primary lens through which to understand the objectives and legacies of that system. This article examines the disciplinary effects of hockey at Pelican Lake Indian Residential School from 1945 to 1951. Local level school administrators, such as the principals, the Indian Agent, and Church representatives valued hockey because they believed it provided a measure of discipline in, and therefore control over, the students. The boys used the school's hockey team, the Sioux Black Hawks, to provide positive experiences and a level of achievement that had been absent at the school. Of importance beyond the school, government officials and Church administrators leveraged the team's success and glowing media coverage as a useful public relations tool to promote the “success” of residential schooling to the Canadian public.

“Killing the Indian in the Child”: Death, Cruelty, and Subject-formation in the Canadian Indian Residential School System

Provoked by the religious and state ethos for the Canadian Indian Residential Schools, to kill the Indian in the child , this essay engages Lacanian psychoanalysis and theories of biopolitics to conceptualize processes and practices of subject-formation and self-making within the circuitry of the Canadian Indian Residential School System.

Avenues of Criminal Justice: The Blackfoot Confederacy from 1877 to 1889

Avenues of Criminal JusticeThe Blackfoot Confederacy from 1877 to 1889 Alvina Pillai (bio) and Jeffrey Velez (bio) Keywords Blackfeet, Kainai, Siksika, Piegan, Montana Territory, North West Mounted Police In the late nineteenth century, the United States and Canada held different views on policy making with respect to the Blackfoot tribe in the Great Plains. Canada’s consistent policies and the North West Mounted Police’s consistent reluctance to enforce them afforded the Blackfoot a level of independence, although their American counterparts during this period arguably had more jurisdiction over intra-Indian crimes. US policy in 1877 allowed the Blackfeet on the Montana reservation the freedom to judge their internal affairs. This freedom was especially alive during John Young’s tenure as Indian agent; his continued use of the Code of Laws and tendency to defer to tribal leaders set him apart from his successors. As time passed, policy changes and decisive US Supreme Court cases slowly eroded sovereignty from tribes across the nation. By 1889 their situation closely resembled that of Canadian Blackfoot—one in which the laws of the dominant society had stripped the tribe of their sovereignty. What both nations failed to realize was that poorly devised broad policies failed to address the needs of local Indian communities. As a consequence, the administrative changes that took place in 1885 did more damage than good to the Blackfoot. The more important determination is not which tribe had more sovereignty by 1889, but rather, that neither nation’s course of action was more beneficial than the other’s in maintaining tribal sovereignty. Nevertheless, an overwhelming sentiment spread at this time which proclaimed the superiority of Canadian Indian policy in allowing Indian self-determination. After 1877, policy makers and the general public began envisioning Canadian and American Indian policies as opposites. Commissioners of Indian affairs routinely cited Canadian policies and practices as ones they wished to mimic. This perception continued to gain support over time with US [End Page 123] government-sanctioned reports on Indian affairs, such as Abbott’s 1914 “The Administration of Indian Affairs” and the Meriam Report in 1928. These reports further branded this view among the American public, vilifying American policies in a way that ignored the faults of Canadian Indian policy. This notion continues to be highly regarded and prevents a clear understanding of the differences between the two sets of policies. Given these sentiments, understanding the ways in which both nations undermined Native sovereignty becomes increasingly relevant. In Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History, Roger L. Nichols supports the conclusion that Canadian Indian policy had different outcomes than American Indian policy.1 Nichols goes one step further to assert that First Nations had better outcomes than American Indians. Hana Samek disagrees with this view and asserts that outcomes were relatively constant in both nations. In The Blackfoot Confederacy, 1880–1920: A Comparative Study of Canadian and US Indian Policy, Samek analyzes the impact of these two sets of policies on the Blackfoot people. The Blackfoot Confederacy, which spans present-day Montana and Alberta, and thus is subject to both American and Canadian policy, serves as an effective unit of analysis for a case study. Samek argues that despite the different sets of policies, both were implemented in such a way that the outcomes on both sides of the border were similar, implying that the differences in policies had minimal impact. Despite her comprehensiveness, Samek’s analysis fails to address the implications of each nation’s legal system for the Blackfoot. Scholars MacLeod and Rollason, in their study of criminal justice in the Northwest Territories, found that Native populations were treated more leniently than whites; however, they did not look at this question comparatively. Our research fills this gap in current scholarship on comparative Canadian and American Indian policy of the late nineteenth century. Our findings add further support to Samek’s conclusion that the different sets of policies resulted in similar outcomes on both sides of the border. Between 1877 and 1889 in the Blackfoot Confederacy, several legal systems existed in conjunction—US, Canadian, and tribal—making the concept of legal pluralism especially relevant to our argument. For example, on...

Protecting Indian Lands by Defining Indian: 1850-76

In 1850, the government of the Province of Canada defined Indian for the first time. In the twentieth century, the legal provisions by which generations of status Indian women in Canada lost their status when they married non-status men became among the most controversial aspects of Canadian legislation relating to First Nations peoples. The government’s decision to define Indian, and its actual definitions, came to exemplify the coercive nature of Canadian Indian policy. This essay challenges many assumptions regarding the history of Canada’s definition of Indian. A close examination shows that officials only reluctantly decided to define Indian in law in 1850 in efforts to protect Indian land in Lower Canada. The evidence also shows that the first legal definition of Indian was intended to conform to the “ancient customs and traditions” of these Indigenous communities. Furthermore, government officials consulted meaningfully with Aboriginal leaders when they revised the definition between 1851 and 1876. During the entire period, the Aboriginal political elite were effective advocates for their own interests.

Radix paraentomolaris- A rarest of rare structural entity

The mandibular first molars ( primary and permanent) usually have 2 roots located mesially and distally, but occasionally they have an additional root located distolingually requiring special attention when root canal treatment is being considered . The additional root is regarded as a normal racial and morphological variation rather than as an abnormality. It appears to be more common in races of Mongoloid origin, including Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Eskimo, and American and Canadian Indian populations. 1 To study about the rarest root and root canal anatomy using spiral ct and r.v.g. Computed tomography and radio visiography has long been used as a diagnostic aid in dentistry .With the advent of new diagnostic aids like spiral computed tomography it has become very easy for the dentist to diagnose different root and root canal anatomy and accordingly plan the treatment.

The Psychological Cost of Restitution: Supportive Intervention with Canadian Indian Residential School Survivors

This article describes intervention with Indian residential school survivors during the Canadian government financial compensation process. This highly charged and multifaceted process requires a systemic perspective when considering context, culture, and intervention. Following a brief historical overview of the Canadian Indian residential school era, this article outlines the independent assessment process, reviews implications associated with abuse disclosure, and discusses stages of supportive intervention.

Sport Psychology Consulting With Indigenous Athletes: The Case of New Zealand Māori

Sport psychology consulting with athletes who are from an indigenous ethnic group presents some challenges and opportunities that do not typically need to be considered when consulting with nonindigenous athletes. Māori1 are the indigenous ethnic group of New Zealand. To work as a sport psychology consultant with Māori athletes and indeed any indigenous athletes (e.g., Tahitian, First Nation Canadian Indian) it is important for the sport psychologist to have an understanding of Te Ao o Nga Tāngata Whenua (indigenous worldview) and tīkanga Tāngata Whenua (indigenous cultural practices; Hanrahan, 2004; Schinke & Hanrahan, 2009; Tuhiwai-Smith, 1999). Both research and practice in the social sciences regarding Māori people seek to use a Kaupapa Māori (Māori research and practice platform) approach. Kaupapa Māori attempts to ensure that cultural sensitivity is infused from the conceptualization of an intervention (e.g., psychological skills training, psychological intervention) through to the design, delivery, evaluation, final analysis, and presentation of the intervention or research project. A Kaupapa Māori approach to sport psychology consulting attempts to ensure that key Māori aspirations are honored and celebrated, as many Māori do not wish to follow a non-Māori ideology that depersonalizes the whānau (family) perspective and seeks individuality in its place (Durie, 1998a; Mead, 2003). Therefore, an effective sport psychology consulting program for an athlete who lives her or his life from a Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) and tīkanga Māori (Māori cultural practices) perspective needs to be constructed as a Māori-for-Māori intervention based within a Kaupapa Māori framework.

The Politics and Power in Caregiving for Identity: Insights for Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation

The authors examine the politics of caregiving for identity to enrich scholarship about power. They report on a qualitative study with Aboriginal mothers who parent in the wake of the Canadian Indian residential schools (IRS). Just as this system disrupted familial caregiving to assimilate Aboriginal Peoples, data show some mothers now strive to organize their caregiving in ways that serve decolonization and community empowerment. Building on their expertise, the authors argue that counter-colonial family policy investments to support such caregiving should factor in any just compensation for the IRS system if its population, and not just individual, costs are to be redressed.

Trickster’s Girl (review)

Reviewed by: White Girl Karen Coats Olsen, Sylvia White Girl. Sononis, 2005235p Paper ed. ISBN 1-55039-147-X$8.95 R Gr. 7-10 Josie never thought of herself as anything unusual until her mother married Martin and they moved to his house on a Canadian Indian reserve. Suddenly, she is an unwelcome white girl, a target of curious stares and violent bullies. Josie's first instinct is to retreat, but with the help of a girl named Rosie, who is both tired of the bullying behavior and in need of a friend, she gradually opens her eyes to the beauty of the reserve and learns to adapt to the rhythms of her new family, even helping Martin lay some of his own demons to rest. Each chapter begins with a reflective passage in which Josie looks back on her first year on the reserve; trying to write an essay about why she likes to draw, she comes to the conclusion that she must figure out where she's from and how that has heightened her awareness of perspective. Though these headers are purposive, they frame a story that is well plotted and emotionally engrossing. Josie's depression upon being forced to move, her reluctance to open herself up to a new friend, her determination not to become like her mother, and her tentative desire to embrace the possibility of having a real home for the first time in her life create a credible trajectory of developing maturity that culminates in her finding a definitive place in Martin's extended family. Olsen doesn't shy away from the gritty realities of life on the reserve, but she strategically places characters in Josie's story who challenge easy stereotypes even while giving assent to cultural differences. As in her previous offering (The Girl with a Baby, BCCB 5/04), Olsen quietly champions the ability of teens to triumph over difficult circumstances, making this an absorbing and uplifting read for young adults forced into tough situations. Copyright © 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois