For more than fifteen years, Keith Crowe's A History of the Original Peoples of Northern Canada has informed a multitude of residents in and visitors to the Canadian North and has served as a standard text. Now, in a new epilogue, Crowe describes and analyses the changes in the North which have come about since the book's first publication. The success of this book over the years is due in large part to Crowe's approach. While the majority of works on Canadian history are essentially European in perspective, Crowe has endeavoured to interpret the history of the original peoples of northern Canada from a native standpoint. He has attempted to provide a work that native Canadians can use to learn the broad outlines of their cultural and historical development as well as details about their people, places, and events, while giving non-native people a more accurate version of northern Canadian history and ethnology. Crowe begins with the emergence, in prehistoric times, of the three great groups of hunting people -- the Algonkian, Athapaskan, and Inuit -- describing their contribution to the cultural heritage of native peoples today. He devotes particular attention to the various native tribes and some of their outstanding leaders; to the fur trade, its effects, and the emergence of the Métis people; to the devastating consequences of trading and whaling for the Arctic and the Inuit who lived there; to the Yukon Indians and the Gold Rush; to the coming of Christianity; and to the impact of governmental and economic encroachment on the North and the native peoples' response to this -- moving into the boardroom and elected office. In his new epilogue, Crowe surveys the major land claims since 1974 -- some settled, most still under negotiation, and some, like the James Bay hydro-electric project, being challenged. Crowe also explains the complexities of the land-claims process and points out the irony inherent in native peoples having to help create numerous "foreign" laws and institutions in order to protect an essentially simple way of life. He describes the native peoples' movement into and up the ranks of government at all levels and emphasizes the important role played by regional and national native associations, such as the Assembly of First Nations. He outlines the changes and developments in education in the North and provides a detailed assessment of the still very difficult economic situation, stressing the native peoples' concern that economic development in the North not be divorced from environmental considerations. Keith J. Crowe, who served for many years in the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, is now retired but remains privately active in northern and native issues.

Between 1867 and 2000, the Canadian government sent over 150,000 Aboriginal children to residential schools across the country. Government officials and missionaries agreed that in order to “civilize and Christianize” Aboriginal children, it was necessary to separate them from their parents and their home communities. For children, life in these schools was lonely and alien. Discipline was harsh, and daily life was highly regimented. Aboriginal languages and cultures were denigrated and suppressed. Education and technical training too often gave way to the drudgery of doing the chores necessary to make the schools self-sustaining. Child neglect was institutionalized, and the lack of supervision created situations where students were prey to sexual and physical abusers. Legal action by the schools’ former students led to the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2008. The product of over six years of research, the Commission’s final report outlines the history and legacy of the schools, and charts a pathway towards reconciliation. Canada’s Residential Schools: The Inuit and Northern Experience demonstrates that residential schooling followed a unique trajectory in the North. As late as 1950 there were only six residential schools and one hostel north of the sixtieth parallel. Prior to the 1950s, the federal government left northern residential schools in the hands of the missionary societies that operated largely in the Mackenzie Valley and the Yukon. It was only in the 1950s that Inuit children began attending residential schools in large numbers. The tremendous distances that Inuit children had to travel to school meant that, in some cases, they were separated from their parents for years. The establishment of day schools and what were termed small hostels in over a dozen communities in the eastern Arctic led many Inuit parents to settle in those communities on a year-round basis so as not to be separated from their children, contributing to a dramatic transformation of the Inuit economy and way of life. Not all the northern institutions are remembered similarly. The staff at Grandin College in Fort Smith and the Churchill Vocational Centre in northern Manitoba were often cited for the positive roles that they played in developing and encouraging a new generation of Aboriginal leadership. The legacy of other schools, particularly Grollier Hall in Inuvik and Turquetil Hall in Igluligaarjuk (Chesterfield Inlet), is far darker. These schools were marked by prolonged regimes of sexual abuse and harsh discipline that scarred more than one generation of children for life. Since Aboriginal people make up a large proportion of the population in Canada’s northern territories, the impact of the schools has been felt intensely through the region. And because the history of these schools is so recent, the intergenerational impacts and the legacy of the schools are strongly felt in the North.

Designing successfully for people in the world's coldest climates demands a broad understanding of site conditions and their unique social context. Until now such knowledge often lay unarticulated in the minds of a few experienced practitioners or in the disappearing traditions of aboriginal peoples.

Separate but Unequal provides an in-depth critique of the ideology of parallelism—the prevailing view that Indigenous cultures and the wider Canadian society should exist separately from one another in a “nation-to-nation” relationship. Using the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples as an example, this historical and material analysis shows how the single-minded pursuit of parallelism will not result in a more balanced relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. On the contrary, it merely restores archaic economic, political, and ideological forms that will continue to isolate the Indigenous population. This book provides an alternative framework for examining Indigenous dependency. This new perspective—the political economy of neotribal rentierism—shows that Indigenous Peoples’ circumstances have been inextricably linked to the development of capitalism in Canada. While Indigenous Peoples were integral participants in the fur trade, the transition from mercantilism to industrial capitalism led to their marginalization. This book is published in English. - Separate but Unequal fournit une analyse approfondie de l’idéologie du parallélisme – la vision dominante selon laquelle les cultures autochtones et la société canadienne en général devraient vivre séparément les unes des autres dans une relation de nation à nation. En s’appuyant sur le rapport final de la Commission royale sur les peuples autochtones, cette analyse historique et matérielle montre que les propositions parallélistes visant à accroître l’autonomie des Autochtones dans tous les aspects des politiques publiques ne se solderont pas en une relation plus équilibrée entre peuples autochtones et non autochtones, étant donné qu’elles ne font que rétablir des formes économiques, politiques et idéologiques archaïques qui continueront d’isoler la population autochtone. Elle propose de recadrer la question de la dépendance autochtone en ayant recours à la notion de rentiérisme néotribal. Ce cadre d’économie politique met en lumière le fait que les conditions des peuples autochtones ont été inextricablement liées au développement du capitalisme au Canada. Ce livre est publié en anglais.

Accounting for almost two thirds of the country's land-mass, Northern Canada is a vast region, host to rich natural resources and a diverse cultural heritage shared across Indigenous and non-indigenous residents. In this book, Rebecca Schiff and Helle M ller analyse health and healthcare in Northern Canada from a perspective that acknowledges the unique strengths, resilience, and innovation of northerners, while also addressing the challenges aggravated by contemporary manifestations of colonialism. Old and new forms of colonial programs and policies continue to create health and healthcare disparities in the North, which has had a profound impact on northerners. Divided into three sections, Health and Healthcare in Northern Canada paints a broad picture of primary issues that northern peoples face. Several chapters are written by northerners and utilize case studies, quotes, photographs, and other materials to highlight voices and perspectives of people living in northern Canada. In order to maintain resilience, improve the positive outcomes of health determinants, and diminish negative stereotypes, we must ensure that northerners - and their cultures, values, strengths and leadership - are at the centre of the ongoing work to achieve social justice and health equity.

Canada’s Constitution Act (1982) recognises three Indigenous groups: Indians (now referred to as First Nations), Inuit, and Métis. Indigenous peoples make a vital contribution to the culture, heritage and economic development of Canada. Despite improvements in Indigenous well-being in recent decades, significant gaps remain with the non-Indigenous population. This study focuses on four priority issues to maximise the potential of Indigenous economies in Canada.

This discussion of the Canadian North (Northwest Territories and Yukon as well as northern Quebec and northern parts of the provinces) considers perceptions of the north, physical geography, history, economic development, native development, land claims and future prospects.