No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Although the rest of Canada has a long history of treaty making, British Columbia has refused to negotiate treaties with Natives since 1854. In 1991, B.C. reversed this position. Events across Canada in the years 1990 and 1991 provide a case study to explain why this decision was made. Quebec’s Oka crisis catalyzed the decision making process underway in B.C. First, during the Oka crisis, B.C. agreed to cooperate with the federal government on a strategy to settle Indian land claims. Second, following the Oka crisis, the First Nations and the federal and provincial governments set up the B.C. Claims Task Force to recommend how these negotiations should proceed. Third, the Task Force made recommendations to address numerous Native grievances and to prevent “another Oka.” Fourth, because of the changed political environment in B.C., both governments accepted all the Task Force’s recommendations by December 10, 1991. It can be argued that B.C. took a rational approach in making this decision to negotiate. The B.C. comprehensive claims conflict can be viewed as part of the evolution of the Native/non—Native relationship in Canada. In early Canada, the two parties initially cooperated through trading and military alliances. Next, in the coercive phase of their relationship, the parties interacted through treaty making and assimilation attempts. Starting in 1969, Natives used protests, lobbying, and legal cases to confront non—Natives. Although B.C. followed a similar pattern, this province’s most notable difference is that no major treaties were signed here. Now, by agreeing to negotiate comprehensive land claims, B.C. is starting to re—establish the cooperative relationship that Natives and non—Natives initially had.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a sample of First Nations high school students holds the beliefs of an involuntary minority and to determine whether a curriculum which demonstrates that First Nations people can succeed will lead to an increase in the rejection of the beliefs of an involuntary minority, and an increase in self- esteem and pride in heritage. This study is a quasi- experimental design carried out in a natural setting. One experimental group and one control group from a Lower Mainland high school participated in the study. The experimental group consisted of 10 subjects and the control group consisted of 9 subjects. The groups, which were not randomly selected, were pre- and post- tested using the Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory by Battle (1981) and the Pride in Heritage Measure by Kehoe and Echols (1986). All subjects also participated in an interview, which consisted of 13 questions aimed at yielding responses indicating whether or not the subjects hold the beliefs of an involuntary minority. These interviews took place prior to, and following, the treatment. Subjects in the experimental group participated in a treatment, which consisted of a multicultural curriculum demonstrating that First Nations people can succeed. Due to the numerous threats to the design validity of the study, it is not possible to assess the efficacy of the treatment. However, pre-test measures did provide information about the measures and the sample. The self-esteem of the subjects was found to be in the intermediate range. The mean for 19 subjects was 17.7 out of a possible score of 25. Their mean on the Pride in Heritage Measure was 41.6 (n=19) out of a possible score of 48; thus, their score was high. The results of the interviews suggest that 13 subjects do hold the beliefs of an involuntary minority. Although many difficulties were encountered during the conduct of this study, it did accomplish some things. Furthermore, it may have contributed to the development of an interview schedule to determine whether or not individuals from a group known as an involuntary minority do in fact hold the beliefs attributed to an involuntary minority.

This study explores the conditions that contribute to teacher success in First Nations communities by focusing on the experiences of educators and community members from the Ermineskin Reserve, which is located in central Alberta. The study addresses the question: what factors do educators and community members identify as being major contributors to the success of teachers in First Nations communities? The study is based on a review and analysis of data obtained through semi-structured interviews conducted with twelve teachers, six administrators, six Native students and six parents of Native children. These educators and community members share their experiences and ideas about how teacher success can be optimized in First Nations settings. The study identifies a number of interrelated factors that positively and negatively influence the work of teachers in First Nations communities. Educators and community members emphasize the importance of educators and community members working together to create a school system that not only meets the needs of students but also nurtures and validates educators, parents and the larger First Nations community. Recommendations are provided for educators, Native communities, Native school boards, and post-secondary institutions who are interested in developing, nurturing and supporting teacher success in First Nations settings.

This study explores the facilitation of healing for First Nations people living in the province of British Columbia. The purpose of the study is to develop a reasonably comprehensive scheme of categories that will describe, from the perspective of First Nations people, what facilitates healing. The research method involved interviews with 50 adult First Nations volunteers who were long-term residents of British Columbia and also in a position to observe what facilitated their own healing for them . The Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) was utilized to elicit 437 incidents from 50 participants. Fourteen categories emerged from an analysis of the incidents reported. Several procedures were used to examine the soundness and trustworthiness of the categories. The results indicate that healing can be facilitated in the following ways: participation in ceremony, expression of emotion, learning from a role model, establishing a connection with nature, exercise, involvement in challenging activities, establishing a social connection, gaining an understanding of the problem, establishing spiritual connection, obtaining help/support from others, self care, setting goals, anchoring self in tradition, and in helping others. A preliminary examination of the healing outcomes of these facilitating events suggests that an effective healing program for First Nations people would invoke empowerment, cleansing, balance, discipline, and belonging. Narrative accounts were analyzed for the purpose of revealing an organization for the categories. Four divisions of categories emerged as a result of this analysis: separating from an unhealthy life, obtaining social support and resources, experiencing a healthy life and living a healthy life. Further analysis of the narratives revealed five overall themes which serve to enhance the categories and outcomes presented in this research. Those themes entail: A broad spectrum of healing resources are available to First Nations people, First Nations people have a different way of seeing the world which has to be understood before effective counselling services can be provided, First Nations people expect that whatever is healing should help them to attain and/or maintain balance, self transcendence followed by connectedness is a common route to healing for First Nations people, and First Nations people are seen to act as agents of their own healing. The findings of this study contribute to the field of counselling psychology by providing a reasonably comprehensive scheme of categories and themes that describe, from the perspective of First Nations people, what facilitates healing. This study suggests promising developments in First Nations healing that have implications for both research and practice.

This study has presented a comprehensive overview of the context and significance of real and effigy bear canine artifacts in Hopewell context. The evidence suggests that burials with bear canine artifacts and additional grave goods in an extended position contained high status individuals. These burials contained the remains of males or male children, with status differences evident in both burial position and quantity of grave goods. Bear canine artifacts found in non-burials contexts were primarily found in "ceremonial caches." The inclusion of bear canine artifacts in such caches is indicative of their spiritual importance in Hopewell culture. Modification, including drilling, splitting and piercing of bear canine artifacts occurred in all five regions where these artifacts were found. This was the only class of data that spanned all five regions. Data from burials indicates that these artifacts were commonly used as a form of adornment, especially necklaces. Evidence from a burial at Hopewell Mounds points to an ideological, religious function for these artifacts. Much of the data for effigy bear canine artifacts correlates with t--at of real canines, and they appear to have served the same function. Since people chose to manufacture these artifacts rather than do without indicates that the meaning behind the image represented by bear canine may be more important than the artifact itself. / Department of Anthropology

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.