Ce mémoire aborde la question de l'ethnogenèse et plus particulièrement, il tente de mettre en place une méthodologie efficace pour savoir s'il y a présence ou absence d'ethnogenèse dans une région donnée. Ainsi, dans le cas présent, la région étudiée est le territoire de la Basse-Côte-Nord entre les années 1850 et 1940. Le tout débute par une étude comparative de trois foyers de métissage importants en Amérique de Nord, soit l'Ouest canadien, le pourtour des Grands Lacs et l'Acadie. Grâce à l'étude de ces régions, les facteurs critiques de la présence ou l'absence d'ethnogenèse sont mis au jour. Par la suite, ces facteurs sont confrontés à la réalité de la Basse-Côte-Nord afin de savoir s'il y a eu ethnogenèse au sein de cette région. Finalement, le groupe d'individus d'ascendance mixte est étudié par le biais de la communauté et de leur réseau social pour savoir s'il diffère socialement des autres individus de la région. L'hypothèse de ce mémoire est que les individus d'ascendance mixte de la Basse-Côte-Nord s'identifient à la communauté eurocanadienne. Toutefois, cette communauté se distingue du reste de la population québécoise par sa culture fortement adaptée au milieu dans lequel elle vit, de là la proximité avec la culture esquimaude. Car en plus d'être génétiquement métissée, cette population a subi un métissage culturel relié à une adaptation au territoire. L'étude de la communauté et du réseau social a pu démontrer qu'il n'y avait pas de différence entre les individus d'ascendance mixte et le reste de la population sur le territoire de la Basse-Côte-Nord. De plus, les facteurs clés pour détecter la présence de l'ethnogenèse n'ont pas été observés au sein de ce groupe métissé. En définitive, tous ces éléments réunis amènent donc le lecteur vers la seule conclusion possible, soit l'absence d'un groupe Métis en Basse-Côte-Nord.

In 1869-70 the Métis of the Red River region in Manitoba resisted the transfer of their homeland from the Hudson’s Bay Company to Canada. The Métis people responded to this transfer by blocking Canadian surveyors, government officials, and taking control of the territory through the establishment of representative institutions. Eventually, the Métis negotiated favourable terms with Ottawa which, this thesis argues, represented according to law, and to the Métis, a treaty. This thesis argues that this treaty was intended to protect the Métis homeland and provide political and social protections. The Manitoba Métis Treaty was intended to guarantee the Métis a land base in Manitoba the total size of which was to be 1.4 million acres. The reservation of this land came with protective obligations so that the entire community would receive a benefit from such lands. While Canada has developed a body of treaty law which will be used to interpret the Manitoba Métis Treaty, matters were convoluted by the enshrinement of this treaty agreement in the Manitoba Act of 1870, a document which would gain constitutional status a year later. The impact of this legislative history has led some researchers to link government obligations entirely to the Act, rather than to the negotiated agreement. Indeed, it would seem that the negotiations have been, for the most part, understood as nothing more than conversations. I reject that position and argue that both the negotiations and the Act must be taken into consideration when assessing the obligations undertaken by the Crown. The unique history of the Manitoba agreement means that Canada was under both constitutional and treaty law obligations to uphold the negotiated agreement between itself and the Métis. This thesis argues that not only is the treaty the correct legal interpretation of the events of 1869-70 but that the government of Canada failed to honour its commitments in several meaningful ways. The approach utilized in this thesis is designed to be reliant upon the basic structure and doctrines of Canadian law but to do so in a manner which gives weight to the Métis voice. It is neither a critique which is wholly internal to Canadian law nor is it completely dismissive of Canadian law. Instead, this thesis will illustrate that with only minor adjustments to the application and interpretation of colonial law, the Manitoba Métis Treaty could find a more receptive audience in Canadian legal thought. In the face of a reasonable alternative, such a project can allow other researchers to question why the courts have chosen a path which denies reception of Métis voice, community and culture in Canadian law.

Cette thèse se veut un examen de la protection accordée aux droits linguistiques des autochtones du Québec et de l’Ontario par le droit international, le droit constitutionnel canadien et la législation fédérale et provinciale. Par l’étude des dispositions législatives, de la jurisprudence et de la doctrine pertinentes, on tente de déterminer la portée des obligations des gouvernements fédéral et provinciaux relativement à la protection des langues autochtones. Bien que la revitalisation de leurs langues doive se faire avant tout par les autochtones, l’État a un rôle important à jouer dans le développement et la promotion des langues, par exemple en mettant en place des programmes de financement ou en favorisant l’usage des langues autochtones à l’extérieur des communautés. On remarque une ouverture à la reconnaissance de droits linguistiques en faveur des autochtones, même s’ils ne jouissent pas encore de droits comparables à ceux reconnus aux minorités francophones et anglophones.

In 1869-70 the Métis of the Red River region in Manitoba resisted the transfer of their homeland from the Hudson’s Bay Company to Canada. The Métis people responded to this transfer by blocking Canadian surveyors, government officials, and taking control of the territory through the establishment of representative institutions. Eventually, the Métis negotiated favourable terms with Ottawa which, this thesis argues, represented according to law, and to the Métis, a treaty. This thesis argues that this treaty was intended to protect the Métis homeland and provide political and social protections. The Manitoba Métis Treaty was intended to guarantee the Métis a land base in Manitoba the total size of which was to be 1.4 million acres. The reservation of this land came with protective obligations so that the entire community would receive a benefit from such lands. While Canada has developed a body of treaty law which will be used to interpret the Manitoba Métis Treaty, matters were convoluted by the enshrinement of this treaty agreement in the Manitoba Act of 1870, a document which would gain constitutional status a year later. The impact of this legislative history has led some researchers to link government obligations entirely to the Act, rather than to the negotiated agreement. Indeed, it would seem that the negotiations have been, for the most part, understood as nothing more than conversations. I reject that position and argue that both the negotiations and the Act must be taken into consideration when assessing the obligations undertaken by the Crown. The unique history of the Manitoba agreement means that Canada was under both constitutional and treaty law obligations to uphold the negotiated agreement between itself and the Métis. This thesis argues that not only is the treaty the correct legal interpretation of the events of 1869-70 but that the government of Canada failed to honour its commitments in several meaningful ways. The approach utilized in this thesis is designed to be reliant upon the basic structure and doctrines of Canadian law but to do so in a manner which gives weight to the Métis voice. It is neither a critique which is wholly internal to Canadian law nor is it completely dismissive of Canadian law. Instead, this thesis will illustrate that with only minor adjustments to the application and interpretation of colonial law, the Manitoba Métis Treaty could find a more receptive audience in Canadian legal thought. In the face of a reasonable alternative, such a project can allow other researchers to question why the courts have chosen a path which denies reception of Métis voice, community and culture in Canadian law.

The purpose of this thesis was to reflect on my experiences as an educator in a unique educational community of immense diversity. More specifically, the use of autobiographical narrative helped to focus my reflections on change efforts aimed at nurturing a supportive learning community. The narrative storytelling methodology was used, building on the belief that people are storytellers by nature and narratives stories are an effective way to organize and make sense of life experiences. Through storytelling, I identified experiences that impacted my personal and professional beliefs and practices. I considered two factors contributing to the significance of a story: emotional intensity and impact on learning. The expression of the stories was approached by examining what initiated the change effort, what change was made, and what effect or result occurred. The contribution of this thesis lies in the impact of the stories shared; stories have the power to draw people in and promote an emotional level of empathetic understanding and learning difficult to achieve by other means. The literature served two main purposes in this work: (a) enhanced my reflective analysis in the examination of critical considerations for implementing change, and (b) substantiated the stories. The literature provided the opportunity for further reflection on the change efforts in order to determine how to improve their implementation success, and to be better equipped to approach future change efforts in a more judicious and prudent manner. At the conclusion of the study, future considerations were outlined regarding: (a) upcoming changes, (b) implications for practices, (c) implications for society and (d) recommendations for further research.

The Northwest Rebellion, in comparison to other North American civil wars, was short-lived and geographically contained, but for the people who lived through it, the residents of the Saskatchewan district, 1885 was a real and a frightening ordeal. By exploring micro-relations at the individual, family and community levels, and focusing on the connections between residents and ways that they related to each other, a portrait of the region emerges that reveals that Euro-Canadians and Aboriginals were linked to each other in many, and often subtle ways before the uprising. Drawing on personal papers, government and Hudson's Bay Company records, and oral histories, this study shows that race and gender were determining factors in how white, First Nations, Metis and mixed-blood men and women experienced both the conflict itself and its aftennath. Furthermore, its impact on residents' lives and society in the Saskatchewan territory was considerable and the effects long-lasting. Barriers, both physical and social, were created and solidified, and, although groups were still linked by the same family ties that bound them before the spring of 1885, the ways that they viewed each other changed after the rebellion. Mistrust and hostility that had not existed before, or that had been repressed, broke the bonds that connected racial groups, and sometimes families. The new order in Saskatchewan was one in which Euro-Canadians held power, and Aboriginals were second-class citizens barred from mainstream society. The rebellion accelerated white domination of the region, and acted as a catalyst for the racial divisions evident in Saskatchewan in the twentieth century.

This thesis explores notions of community and Aboriginality within the histories of two Aboriginal communities: the primarily Métis town of Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan and the Stó:lõ reserve of Seabird Island, British Columbia. By reading community members oral histories in terms of these two concepts, it historicises the accounts, giving temporal context to academics writings and local histories that at times act as snapshots of a small span of time.<p/> Considering Île-à-la-Crosse and Seabird Island in terms of their communal and Aboriginal components also complicates definitions of community and Aboriginality or indigeneity as they relate to these two places, thereby reinforcing the links between histories and the places and people from which they originated. Thus, the first part of this thesis situates Seabird Island and Île-à-la-Crosse historically and physically, and demonstrates how local oral histories introduce broader historical themes. The second part focuses on the community aspect of these places: the Aboriginal component to both Seabird Islands and Île-à-la-Crosses existence is what has tended to attract outside academic research and attention, yet an Aboriginal community exists as such because of influences that make and sustain a community as well as its Aboriginal components.<p/> While each category draws on understandings of the other in order to create a cohesive definition of the whole, a community does not become a community simply by being Aboriginal, nor is it Aboriginal simply as a result of Aboriginal people living together. Therefore, diverse definitions and histories of Aboriginality are also significant in maintaining historical links among inhabitants of Île-à-la-Crosse and Seabird Island.<p/> There exists a historiography in these communities that, while sometimes unintentional or implicit, links community members accounts of their community and its Aboriginal features with outside observations. This connection places these interpretations of historical events into a historiographical context of ways these Aboriginal communities have been both, and alternately, communities and Aboriginal places.

The Northwest Rebellion, in comparison to other North American civil wars, was short-lived and geographically contained, but for the people who lived through it, the residents of the Saskatchewan district, 1885 was a real and a frightening ordeal. By exploring micro-relations at the individual, family and community levels, and focusing on the connections between residents and ways that they related to each other, a portrait of the region emerges that reveals that Euro-Canadians and Aboriginals were linked to each other in many, and often subtle ways before the uprising. Drawing on personal papers, government and Hudson's Bay Company records, and oral histories, this study shows that race and gender were determining factors in how white, First Nations, Metis and mixed-blood men and women experienced both the conflict itself and its aftennath. Furthermore, its impact on residents' lives and society in the Saskatchewan territory was considerable and the effects long-lasting. Barriers, both physical and social, were created and solidified, and, although groups were still linked by the same family ties that bound them before the spring of 1885, the ways that they viewed each other changed after the rebellion. Mistrust and hostility that had not existed before, or that had been repressed, broke the bonds that connected racial groups, and sometimes families. The new order in Saskatchewan was one in which Euro-Canadians held power, and Aboriginals were second-class citizens barred from mainstream society. The rebellion accelerated white domination of the region, and acted as a catalyst for the racial divisions evident in Saskatchewan in the twentieth century.

The cemeteries of the Stó:lõ of Shxwõwhámél and the Métis of Île-à-la-Crosse manifest aspects of kinship, local memorialisations, and identity. When analysed in reference to oral histories and spatial analysis, these cemeteries tell a story of space and Aboriginal values. Often in conflict with Oblate doctrine, these spaces nonetheless, also represent syncretism and Aboriginal agency. The Île-à-la-Crosse cemetery spatially pronounces stories of kinship, or wahkootowin, as discussed by Brenda Macdougall, as well as local memorialisations highlighting the local Ste. Mary adoration of the area. In Shxwõwhámél, kinship and status are represented in the cemeteries, as well as stories of burnings and hanging trees, underlining these values in the Stó:lõ community. Together these cemeteries tell similar stories of Oblate control, exclusion, and syncretism as well as Aboriginal identity and agency in their respective spaces of the dead.

This thesis explores notions of community and Aboriginality within the histories of two Aboriginal communities: the primarily Métis town of Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan and the Stó:lõ reserve of Seabird Island, British Columbia. By reading community members oral histories in terms of these two concepts, it historicises the accounts, giving temporal context to academics writings and local histories that at times act as snapshots of a small span of time.<p/> Considering Île-à-la-Crosse and Seabird Island in terms of their communal and Aboriginal components also complicates definitions of community and Aboriginality or indigeneity as they relate to these two places, thereby reinforcing the links between histories and the places and people from which they originated. Thus, the first part of this thesis situates Seabird Island and Île-à-la-Crosse historically and physically, and demonstrates how local oral histories introduce broader historical themes. The second part focuses on the community aspect of these places: the Aboriginal component to both Seabird Islands and Île-à-la-Crosses existence is what has tended to attract outside academic research and attention, yet an Aboriginal community exists as such because of influences that make and sustain a community as well as its Aboriginal components.<p/> While each category draws on understandings of the other in order to create a cohesive definition of the whole, a community does not become a community simply by being Aboriginal, nor is it Aboriginal simply as a result of Aboriginal people living together. Therefore, diverse definitions and histories of Aboriginality are also significant in maintaining historical links among inhabitants of Île-à-la-Crosse and Seabird Island.<p/> There exists a historiography in these communities that, while sometimes unintentional or implicit, links community members accounts of their community and its Aboriginal features with outside observations. This connection places these interpretations of historical events into a historiographical context of ways these Aboriginal communities have been both, and alternately, communities and Aboriginal places.