The following paper presents a comparative examination of shamanism as practised traditionally among a number of British Columbian Northwest Coast Indian groups. Case studies representing groups about which information is readily available, from each of the six major linguistic divisions in the area, have been presented in terms which indicate the ordered relationships between shamanistic beliefs and practises, and an attempt has been made to suggest structural links with other aspects of culture in each case. The major ethnographic works pertaining to each group were examined intensively and as many independent sources as possible were consulted for cross-checking the data. It was found that while in outward appearance patterns of belief and action show considerable similarity from one group to another, the emphasis and structural implications of these beliefs and practises are different for each group. Some of these differences are expressed most clearly by the variations present in the public initiation of novice shamans. At this time principles such as rank, kinship, inheritance or residence are, to varying degrees, recognised or affirmed, counterbalancing the shaman's identification with the supernatural, as spirit intermediary. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of the study was to investigate the reasons underlying the lack of facility in spoken English which occurs in a large proportion of the native Indian population. This lack of facility is considered to be an important factor in preventing them from functioning effectively in the larger society of which they are a part. More specifically, the study is concerned with difficulties in oral communication of Indian adolescents and youth. Opinions of authorities in the field of oral communication were investigated and the findings of educationists who have conducted studies among Indian students were reviewed. Personal interviews were conducted with Indian students and with adult authorities involved with Indian education. The study concluded that personal and cultural factors, in addition to language problems, play an important part in reducing the effectiveness in spoken English of Indian people. It is recommended that a program designed to give training and experience in interactive communication and the fundamental speech skills be made available to Indian high school students in order to reduce those factors which inhibit ease of performance in speech. The rationale for this is developed and an outline of the program is presented. Recommendations for further study are discussed and a questionnaire to assess attitudes toward oral communication is presented. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Northwest Coast gambling paraphernalia are found in many museums and are usually accompanied by very meagre catalogue entries. The Accumulation of a number of sources pertaining to this category of material culture was therefore seen as a worthwhile task. Even a superficial examination of these gambling implements suggests that they were associated, with a very popular and possibly important activity, at least prior to European contact. This paper is an attempt to construct a profile of gambling on the Northwest Coast and to assess its importance in the culture. Three main sources of data were drawn upon for this purpose: (1) the material culture itself and the associated records located in museums; (2) the published ethnographic literature; and (3) the published myths. From these sources the analysis yielded a number of conclusions. The first is that gambling was a very popular activity. Secondly, a large degree of homogeneity can be seen to have existed in the areas considered. With a few exceptions, basically similar games of chance were played throughout the entire area, areal differences being quantitative rather than qualitative. A similar pattern is seen in the themes of gambling stated in the myths: there are a few main themes, but details differ from place to place. A third conclusion is that gambling usually involved very high stakes; and a fourth is that losing much was considered shameful, especially when a gambler lost other people's property. A fifth conclusion, supported by the data, is that serious gambling for high stakes was considered strictly a man's activity. A sixth conclusion is that cheating was common, expected, and accepted as part of the play as long as it was not discovered. The seventh conclusion is that the data stress the link between the supernatural and games of chance. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The thesis examines in detail the histories and customs of Coast Salish gambling games, and looks at the game structure and its attending spirit power affiliations. Three principal sources of data were employed in the explication of the thesis: (1) pertinent ethnographical data recorded in published reference literature and archival documents, (2) information acquired from various museums on the relevant material culture in their collections and the attending documentation, (3) empirical data collected in the field through direct game observation and the interviewing of informants. The study concludes as the circumstance of Coast Salish gambling games suggests that these games are not just a simple set of rules, and that the games discussed here have, on the other hand, meaningful functions and serve as a form of social expression. As a social mechanism, Coast Salish gambling games are a forum for supernatural power. The existence of power is seen as the basic influence in Coast Salish life, and as such, powers are given meaning as ontological expressions. The gambling games are seen to be an expression of man's power affiliations. Power is an element which may affect the outcome of each gambling event, and the gambling games thereby may be an endorsement of power favour. In view of this concept, Coast Salish gambling games appear to be useful devices to measure the differential degrees or strengths of power among players. Further, it can be said that one of the functions of these games is that they give tangible and observable verification of the influence of power. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis examines the cultural education programs that have been developed over the past two decades by Canada's First Peoples. These programs are designed to strengthen and maintain indigenous cultures by promoting cultural identity and by developing cultural curriculum materials for a broad range of education programs. This thesis gives particular emphasis to cultural education centres and their unique integration of a characteristic set of programs which have been designed to systematically collect, preserve and communicate indigenous cultural knowledge. Despite the effects of more than a century of colonization, and against all expectation. Native cultures have persisted. Native people are now actively communicating a renewed confidence in their own cultures, their values and their ways of doing things. Community-based self-government and the maintenance of a land base are ideologically inseparable from the retention of culture and language, and Native people today view these as integral to their survival and self-determination as distinct peoples within the fabric of the majority society. Cultural education programs and centres perform a significant communication function in the agenda of self-determination by both ensuring and affirming the continuing viability of Native cultures. This thesis explores the ideology of cultural survival and examines its current expression as a program of action directed at the damaging effects of cultural disruption. The background to the emergence of cultural goals is discussed, with reference to their central place in the socio-economic development strategies and education policies developed by Native organizations in the 1970's. A variety of cultural education programs are described with a specific focus on two cultural education centres in British Columbia. Cultural education programs, as they are defined and carried out by various Native agencies, are presented as significant innovations in the definition and management, overall, of cultural heritage. The organizational integration of these programs also represents a significant innovation in the area of community development. In this context, museological themes are explored. Native concepts of culture are contrasted to non-Native concepts of heritage, with particular attention given to some of the problems in the way non-Native museums have traditionally represented Native cultures. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Native Indian bands in British Columbia continue to assert rights to participation in the West Coast fisheries. Numerous attempts to have legal and aboriginal fishery rights recognised by the courts have failed and pleas to the federal government for political resolution have not yet produced results. Various bands in the province have, over the last few years, been testing in the courts a new means of securing reserve fisheries for themselves. There is a provision in the Indian Act which allows band councils to pass by-laws relating to a number of subjects, among them the "preservation, protection and management of... fish...on the reserve". The provision has been little-used in the past but, recently, by-laws have been drawn which purport to give band councils authority to fully manage their reserve fisheries. The issue is nascent in the courts as by-laws are now being tendered in defence to prosecutions under the Fisheries Act. The predominant argument in defence to the charges is that, where a fisheries by-law is in place, its terms apply to fishing which takes place on the reserve, in precedence to the terms of the Fisheries Act and Regulations. The defence has been given some credence by some courts but has not yet been fully argued. It is an issue which still remains at the County Court level. Still to be determined are the interpretation to be given the enabling provision of the Indian Act and the validity of the by-laws, including the extent to which they might preclude application of the federal Fisheries Act on the reserve. A clear ruling by a higher court would assist bands in determining what value these bylaws might be in securing the control they desire over reserve fisheries. Other factors affecting the value of the by-laws to the natives are the amount of control which can practically be exerted over the resource, given most bands' reserve locations upstream from the sites of the commercial and sport-fishing effort but downstream from the spawning grounds, and the level of fisheries management expertise of the various bands. This paper investigates the potential of band fisheries by-laws to assist natives in their struggle for some control of their fisheries, as well as the implication of these by-laws for other user groups of the fisheries. The historical context of the native Indian fisheries claims is provided, and a description of the current by-laws. Against that background is an analysis of the case law to date. A discussion of the validity of the by-laws reveals their weakness for the intended purpose of excluding the federal fisheries department from any managerial control over reserve fisheries and the necessity for a more viable solution to the problem. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

The purpose of this work is to construct the argument for the continuing application of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 to British Columbia and to examine its legal force and effect in relation to pre-Confederation colonial legislation. This has important implications as to the continued existence of aboriginal title in British Columbia. In Canada the existence of a sui generis, aboriginal legal interest ("aboriginal title") is no longer in doubt.(1) Scattered judicial statements have not fully addressed the sui generis nature of the interest but have focused solely on its 'common law' source(2) and have held it, like other common law rights, to be subject to legislative abrogation.(3) That is not to say extinguishment will be lightly implied.(4) Aboriginal rights are now recognized and confirmed in the Constitution Act.(5) To the extent that the aboriginal right is declared and confirmed in the Royal Proclamation of 1763(6) a different argument can be made.(7) The Royal Proclamation is a Prerogative instrument. The "Indian provisions" come towards the end of the Proclamation and address a series of diverse issues. Confusion exists as to the geographic scope of the provisions concerning Indian lands and particularly regarding their application to British Columbia. It is here argued that it is misleading to focus solely on the geographic scope as explained in the document itself. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, as a law of constitutional significance and manifestly universal application, it is argued, applied to British Columbia, if not as of its enactment in 1763, then either upon the assertion of British Sovereignty over that area or by virtue of the Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865. Further it is argued that the Proclamation enjoyed the force and effect of an Imperial statute in the colonies to which it applied. The Indian rights therein declared or confirmed thus became statutory rights. This has important implications regarding the susceptibility of the articulated rights to colonial legislative derogation. In order to understand fully the import of the Royal Proclamation in the colonies it is necessary to understand British constitutional rules governing the nature and exercise of the Sovereign's prerogative legislative and executive powers in newly acquired territories and the rules governing the Imperial laws to which the colonies are subject. Whether or not the Royal Proclamation extends to after acquired colonies depends in part upon the category of Prerogative to which the Proclamation belongs. Basically "minor" prerogatives operate in those territories in which the British common law operates and are freely alterable by the colonial legislative bodies. "Major" Prerogatives, however, exist in all British territories whether or not the British common law is in force and operate to bind and limit colonial legislatures. The argument is made that the Indian land provisions of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 should be classified as major Prerogative legislation on the grounds that: (1) they are constitutional in nature having to do principally with limitations on the powers of Governors to acquire unsurrendered tribal lands, or (2) as legislation governing the procedure to be adopted for Crown alienation of Indian lands they fall within the King's peculiar authority. Further that as major Prerogative legislation the Indian Land provisions enjoyed the force and effect of an Imperial statute with the necessary intendment for the colonies within the meaning of the Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865. Further that by virtue of such Act the provisions of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (at least up until the passing of the Statute of Westminster, 1931) operated to void colonial legislation (or for that matter Dominion or Provincial legislation) repugnant to any of its provisions to the extent of any such repugnancy. (1) Guerin v. R^, [1984] 6 W.W.R. 481 (S.C.C.). (2) Hamlet of Baker Lake v. Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, [1980] 1 F.C. 518 (F.C.T.D. 1979) at p. 568. (3) A.G. of Ontario v. Bear Island Foundation (1984), 15 D.L.R. (4th) 321 (Ont. H.C.). (4) Simon v. The Queen (1985), 23 C.C.C. (3d) 238 (S.C.C.). (5) Constitution Act, 1867 30 & 31 Vict., c. 3 as am. by item 1 of Sched. to the Constitution Act, 1982, Sched. B of the Canada Act, 1982, c. 11 (U.K.). (6) R. v. White and Bob (1965), 52 W.W.R. 193 (B.C.C.A.). (7) v. White and Bob (1965), 52 D.L.R. (2d) 481 (S.C.C.). / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

For many Indian bands across Canada, community development planning has emerged as an important approach to change. By forging close economic and political links with one another, small bands can accelerate their development through new economies of scale, heightened political influence, more innovative capacities and other advantages of cooperation. In practical terms, however, the initiation, formalization and consolidation of close inter-band cooperation presents several problems. Native culture lacks traditions in institutionalized inter-community cooperation, internal disharmony in many Indian villages frustrates unity on such Important decisions as whether or not to cooperate, and many. Indian communities are poor in organizational skills essential to planning and implementing cooperative strategies. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the factors responsible for apparently successful cooperation in the case of five Indian bands in the Nicola Valley and to assess the applicability of findings to other groups of Indian communities across the country. A literature review guides the selection of research questions and criteria used in assessing the case. Fifteen factors for effective inter-communlty cooperation are isolated from a literature review and grouped into three general categories: those Important to the initiation of cooperation, those relating to the delivery of the rewards of cooperation, and those affecting the capability of the cooperative organization. Six factors for Initiation include the presence of a common crisis or threat, inter-community similarity and familiarity, consensus, committed leadership, a propensity to cooperate and preliminary planning. Successful cooperation was also found to be linked to the capture by cooperating communities of four types of rewards, each representing a factor: Improved resource acquisition, adaptabli1ity to change, efficiency in community resource use and ability to achieve common goals. Finally, ongoing success was found to be reflected in the capability of inter-community cooperative organizations to accomplish five tasks: build community and staff commitment, plan harmonious inter-community relations, manage its environment, exploit common geography and culture, and solve problems. Case research focuses on five Indian bands in the Nicola Valley of southern British Columbia and is based on forty-one Interviews held in the valley. These bands are represented by the Nicola Valley Indian Administration CNVIA), a centralized bureaucracy which coordinates on behalf of the five communities a wide range of administrative services. Fifteen questions - each corresponding to a success factor derived from the literature - were asked in Interviews with people representing a broad spectrum of the native communities. Responses were compiled and analyzed to assess the degree to which inter-band cooperation conformed to expectations from the literature on successful inter-community cooperation. Analysis led to the conclusion that despite deficiencies in preliminary planning, ongoing planning and problem-solving, NVIA is a successful inter-community cooperative enterprise which has delivered many significant benefits to its member communities. While NVIA's existence suggests a successful initiation process, better planning in the formative years would likely have avoided several problems encountered in later years. Some of the rewards of cooperative effort have been inequitably distributed to member bands and various cooperative programs have been adversely affected by political interference. Perhaps most seriously, NVIA itself was found to be deficient in building broad commitment and designing mutually acceptable solutions to internal difficulties. Effective planning in the early stages is vital to establishing and, more importantly, ultimately maintaining inter-community cooperation. Incomplete planning during the formation of NVIA led to lack of clear consensus on the purpose of cooperation, the nature of inter-band power relations, the obligations of each band, and ways of distributing rewards and minimizing risks to participant bands. NVIA provides evidence that Indian communities can establish close formal relations with each other and thus capture certain Important benefits. Problems encountered suggest, however, that bands ought to temper enthusiasm with deliberation when considering formal copperatlve relations. Analysis of the Nicola Valley story confirmed that consensus, early planning, reward delivery, ongoing planning and problem-solving capacity are especially Important factors in establishing and maintaining lnter-communlty cooperation. The case makes a key contribution to interorganizational relations theory by highlighting the importance of Informal cooperation as a means of preparing Indian bands for more structured cooperation. It also reveals the critical role of persistent and far-sighted leadership in the formalization of inter-band cooperative relations. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

While Canada is often called a pluralist state, there are no sustained studies by political scientists in which aboriginal self-government is discussed specifically in terms of the analytical tradition of pluralist thought. Aboriginal self-government is usually discussed as an issue of cultural preservation or national self-determination. Aboriginal identity is framed in terms of cultural and national traits that are unique to an aboriginal community and selfgovernment is taken to represent the aboriginal communal desire to protect and preserve those traits. Is such an understanding of what motivates aboriginal self-government accurate, or does it yield an incomplete understanding of the complex phenomenon that aboriginal selfgovernment in Canada represents? The political tradition of pluralism allows for analysis of aboriginal self-government that addresses questions left unattended by the cultural and nationalist frameworks. Pluralism is often viewed as a public arrangement in which distinct groups are given room to live side by side, characterized by mutual recognition and affirmation. At the same time, there are different faces of pluralist theory and each addresses questions about the recognition and affirmation of aboriginal self-government in different ways. Those three contemporary faces can be distinguished by the labels communitarian, individualist, and relational. The major hypothesis advanced is that aboriginal self-government is better understood if an "identification" perspective on aboriginal identity is adopted as opposed to a "cultural" or "national" one and if that perspective is linked to a relational theory of pluralism as opposed to a communitarian or individualist one. The identification approach examines aboriginal identity not in terms of cultural and political traits, but in terms of identification with, and political commitment to, an aboriginal community. Relational pluralism in turn, examines the challenge of aboriginal self-government in terms of power differences within aboriginal communities and between aboriginal and Canadian governments. Applying these approaches to aboriginal politics in Canada confirms their suitability. Contrary to what previous scholarship has assumed, aboriginal self-government should not be seen primarily as a tool to preserve cultural and national differences as goods in and of themselves. The politics of aboriginal self-government should be seen as involving demands to equalize current imbalances in power so that aboriginal communities and the individuals within them can construct aboriginal identities according to their own design. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The nation-state has for a long time appeared to have eluded the attempts of scholars to encapsulate its essence in theory. Rather than propose another attempt at encapsulation, this dissertation represents a form of geographical supplementation to these efforts. As a work of geography it focuses on the negotiation of nation-states, and, in doing so, traces a double displacement of encapsulation. Primarily, the four major studies comprising the dissertation represent geographical research which, using a wide range of archival and contemporary media material, makes manifest the irreducible complexity of the negotiations in, over and between nation-states at the end of the twentieth century. Focused on Canada and the USA, these studies trace how a diversity of cultural as well as political-economic processes come together in the inherently geographical negotiations of First Nations struggles, Canadian constitutional politics, continental free trade developments, and American patriotism. These are negotiations where no one process fully encapsulates an explanation of the events and where their collective but contested territorialization calls out for an open-ended and anti-essentialist analysis. Secondarily, while the dissertation's first and more central work of displacement is enabled by poststructuralist critiques of essentialist explanation, its other displacing effect comes in the form of a geographical deconstruction of so-called poststructuralist theory itself. This represents an attempt to turn the elusive nature of the nation-state vis-a-vis theory into a living and politicized site for investigating the limits of poststructuralist theorizing. Overall, the geographical investigations of the dissertation illustrate the value of anti-essentialist arguments for furthering geographical research into the nation-state while simultaneously calling these epistemological innovations into geographical question. Using such questioning to critique the limited geographical representation of the nationstate, it is concluded that geographers cannot not persistently examine such limits. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate