Canadian government archives have primarily shaped scholars’ analysis of the File Hills farm colony on the Peepeekisis Reserve in south eastern Saskatchewan. While these colonial archives are valuable for research, they emphasise particular points in the government’s telling of the colony story. They focus on the construction, management, and intentions of the colony, but neglect the experiences and perspectives of Peepeekisis community members affected by the colony scheme. My thesis makes use of government archives, and is also based on Aboriginal oral histories about the colony and its long-term consequences. My central argument is that a more critical interpretation of archives and oral histories will enrich the historical and geographical record about the colony. I demonstrate how oral histories and archive documents can converge and diverge, but combining the two is particularly important to nuance the colony narrative. A critical viewing of texts and oral histories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also reveals that colonialism in the prairie west was highly spatalised and grounded in “betterment” sciences that sought to control and discipline Aboriginal peoples through the manipulation of space, heredity, and environments. Betterment sciences shaped Indian Affairs policy and the farm colony is a remarkable example of how betterment was applied on the ground. Finally, oral histories offer powerful insight into Aboriginal identities that survive in spite of colonial constructs and strategies. Oral histories of Peepeekisis community members are particularly important for highlighting peoples’ everyday geographies and lives only hinted at in colonial archive documents. Part of what makes this thesis original is that it is based on collaborative research. I sought Peepeekisis band permission to conduct this project, and Peepeekisis community members’ oral histories form an important part of this thesis and they have provided guidance on the documenting of their oral histories in this thesis. / Thesis (Ph.D, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2009-10-30 14:31:21.58

The effects of colonization are still evident in Aboriginal communities. This thesis examines feminism in relation to the colonial experiences of Aboriginal people. Drawing on feminist theories, this thesis explores how the ideology and practices of male dominance were imposed through colonization in Aboriginal societies. European male dominance has been modeled throughout colonization and assimilation, and this set the standard for future gender relations in Western society and in Aboriginal communities. Patriarchy is deeply embedded in our society, and because Aboriginal people have been affected by this, historically and in the present, they in turn absorb these practices as normal thought and behavior. The marginalization and oppression of Aboriginal people is due to colonization; however, patriarchal practices were also modeled in this process and this has caused Aboriginal women to be further marginalized. This thesis uses feminist theory, an analysis of patriarchy, and social constructionism to demonstrate how Aboriginal women continue to be marginalized, and how feminism may be a source of empowerment for Aboriginal people.

The effects of colonization are still evident in Aboriginal communities. This thesis examines feminism in relation to the colonial experiences of Aboriginal people. Drawing on feminist theories, this thesis explores how the ideology and practices of male dominance were imposed through colonization in Aboriginal societies. European male dominance has been modeled throughout colonization and assimilation, and this set the standard for future gender relations in Western society and in Aboriginal communities. Patriarchy is deeply embedded in our society, and because Aboriginal people have been affected by this, historically and in the present, they in turn absorb these practices as normal thought and behavior. The marginalization and oppression of Aboriginal people is due to colonization; however, patriarchal practices were also modeled in this process and this has caused Aboriginal women to be further marginalized. This thesis uses feminist theory, an analysis of patriarchy, and social constructionism to demonstrate how Aboriginal women continue to be marginalized, and how feminism may be a source of empowerment for Aboriginal people.

Arguably, all Canadian students should have a profound knowledge of Aboriginal peoples’ contribution to Canada’s development as the original inhabitants of Canada. However, Aboriginal peoples continue to be marginalized as though unimportant, and subordinate to other cultural groups in Canada’s culturally plural society. The Ontario mainstream education system plays an important role in perpetuating these social distances. Under the mandate of the provincial government, the public education system is responsible for the delivery of educational programming to all Ontario students. In the 1970s, the federal government introduced the concept of multiculturalism to extend citizenship rights to all culturally diverse groups into Canadian society. To help Canada to become more competitive in a globalizing world, the government has sought to change the image of Canada as a White settler state to one of a global and multicultural society. Yet Aboriginal peoples continue to be marginalized in Canada’s socio-cultural landscape in mainstream education, regardless of heightened awareness for their rights and culture, as well as their being recognized as having the fastest growing demographic in Canada. It is in the context of multiculturalism that this thesis examines the influence of multiculturalism on Aboriginal coverage in mainstream school textbooks. Despite Canada’s proclaimed commitment to multiculturalism, I argue that the production of educational curricula and texts still produces a national imaginary that erases the experiences and concerns of Aboriginal population. Far less effort has been made to change the image of Aboriginal people in that narrative, and how students imagine a globalizing Canada with little attention given to the ongoing forms of discrimination that affect how Aboriginal peoples interact with the rest of the world. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2011-11-14 07:57:57.566

In this dissertation I examine whether the First Ministers' Coferences (FMCs) and political accords negotiated at these meetings from 1983-1987 assisted in transforming Canadian constitutionalism. During the period 1983-1987, four FMCs were held to consider Aboriginal peoples' place in a new Constitutional order. These meetings renegotiated the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in Canada by reconsidering some of the assumptions permeating Canadian constitutionalism. The FMCs involved direct dialogues betwen heads of federal government, provincial governments and the four main Aboriginal organisations. Political accords were used in these FMCs to direct the dialogues and to identify when mutually acceptable constitutional associations had been achieved. Tully's reconceptualisation of constitutionalism will be used to evaluate the extent to which Canadian constitutionalism was transformed. He argues that constitutionalism is an activity or process of ongoing dialogues between diverse cultures. He further suggests that three conventions operate to enable these intercultural dialogues to recognise and accommodate cultural diversity. These conventions are mutual recognition, consent and cultural continuity. In order to identify whether constitutionalism was transformed, I consider whether the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples was altered to further recognise and accommodate cultural diversity. This will be demonstrated by examining whether Tully's three conventions were adopted and advanced during the FMCs between 1983-1987. I conclude that the FMCs and the negotiation around political accords adopted and promoted Tully's three conventions, thereby further recognising and accommodating indigenous Canadians and thus transforming Canadian constitutionalism.

This thesis employs postcolonial theory, a case study methodology, semi-structured interviews, and archival research to understand Mi’kmaq and Maliseet peoples’ sporting experiences in the Maritimes region of Canada. Two publishable papers comprise this thesis. The first paper analyzes the obstacles the participants faced and the positive experiences they had in sport. The second paper examines the ways in which the concept of “difference” was reproduced and challenged through the participants’ involvement in mainstream and all-Native sporting environments. Together, these papers bring much needed scholarly attention to Mi’kmaq and Maliseet peoples’ involvement in sport in the Maritimes, while they also make a contribution to the existing body of literature concerning Aboriginal peoples’ sport participation in Canada.

This thesis employs postcolonial theory, a case study methodology, semi-structured interviews, and archival research to understand Mi’kmaq and Maliseet peoples’ sporting experiences in the Maritimes region of Canada. Two publishable papers comprise this thesis. The first paper analyzes the obstacles the participants faced and the positive experiences they had in sport. The second paper examines the ways in which the concept of “difference” was reproduced and challenged through the participants’ involvement in mainstream and all-Native sporting environments. Together, these papers bring much needed scholarly attention to Mi’kmaq and Maliseet peoples’ involvement in sport in the Maritimes, while they also make a contribution to the existing body of literature concerning Aboriginal peoples’ sport participation in Canada.

Residential schools for Aboriginal children were a primary site of negotiations between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous subjects. These schools, and the records of peoples who occupied them, provide opportunities to better understand colonialism in British Columbia. Residential schools were places created to transform Aboriginal children, through assimilation, into a modernizing and colonial society. They are simultaneously places that offer access to Indigenous articulations of self and Indigeneity, expressions of resistance, and exertions of agency. Cultural products created by children in residential schools, particularly creative art products, allow us to visualize and understand Indigenous response to and evasions of colonial education. When taken together with Aboriginal peoples’ testimonies about the residential school experience, and with colonial records of the schools’ intents, children’s creative materials and expressions allow some access to the complex places that constituted the cultural geography of colonialism in British Columbia. / Thesis (Ph.D, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-28 12:31:18.229

Much of the academic literature and many health promotion materials related to Aboriginal peoples and food reflect and propagate a problematic view of authentic Aboriginal cultures: that they are frozen in time and are in need of protection. This prevailing view ignores the reality that all cultures, and their cuisines, evolve and adapt through creativity and resilience. Most food research focusing on Aboriginal peoples centers around narrowly defined “traditional foods,” and little attention has been paid to what they themselves consider to be “traditional foods,” or the socio-cultural significance of contemporary food patterns. Because others have often paternalistically assumed to know what is in their best interests, Aboriginal peoples’ perspectives have seldomly been heard on such matters. The purpose of this project was to hear the voices of Aboriginal peoples about the meanings and values of foods in their contemporary diets. Participants, who self-identified as being Aboriginal persons, living in or near Terrace, British Columbia, were asked to take pictures of everyday foods, which were used in open-ended, semi-structured, photo-elucidated interviews. Themes identified in preliminary analysis were further discussed in a group interview. Analysis of these interviews showed support for some key issues documented in the academic literature, such as barriers that exist in accessing and using locally gathered foods. However, particiants also contested some of the assumptions implicit in research and health promotion materials, such as the dichotomization of gathered foods as “healthy” and store-bought foods as “unhealthy.” Analysis showed that the meanings participants ascribe to food are context dependant; for example, different partcipants might consider a particular food a luxury, staple or “poor food,” depending on their backgrounds. Analysis also revealed that there are debates about what foods are considered to be “traditional.” The findings of this research urge us to reconsider some of the assumptions that inform research and health promotion activities targetting Aboriginal peoples. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-06-03 17:08:42.632

The term intimacy brings to mind a type of familiarity between people that surpasses mere affection. Intimacy suggests a deeply personal relationship based on shared experiences, love, and the pursuit of common goals. The intimate lives of families, shared in the domestic sphere, are often thought to be beyond the reach of the state. By contrast, this dissertation demonstrates that intimacy has been the focus of the state through Indian Act legislation and child welfare programs that have uniquely intersected through the lives of First Nations and Métis women and children. Aboriginal transracial adoption provides a particularly vivid example of state sanctioned intimacy. Programs such as the Adopt Indian and Métis program, later known as AIM, REACH and the American version, the Indian Adoption Program, (IAP), created intimate bonds between white families and Aboriginal children. Transracial adoption represents a revolution in integration. The period of integration that took shape after the Second World War manifested in increased interventions of social welfare workers who encountered Aboriginal women and children in various domains. Race, gender, and space are interrogated through exploring Aboriginal women’s responses to the opportunities provided by increased access to child welfare programs, as well the limitations and serious handicaps that came as a consequence of their particular gendered and racialized location. In Saskatchewan, the CCF government under the direction of Tommy Douglas sought to utilize “technologies of helping”, a secular therapeutic social welfare approach to the problem of Métis marginalization and poverty through the Department of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation to effect Métis integration. Initially envisioned as series of government supported colonies to which Métis were relocated, the Métis policy eventually evolved to focus primarily on Métis children, and tangentially on Métis women. The Adopt Indian and Métis program, coming on the heels of failed relocation policies, increasing urban migration, and the compulsory enfranchisement of Indian women who married non-Indian partners, sought to present transracial adoption of Aboriginal children into non-Aboriginal homes as a potential solution to the breakdown of Indian and Métis families. The television advertisements and newspaper articles alerted the Saskatchewan public to the need for their assistance to love and care for needy children. This dissertation foregrounds concepts of Aboriginal kinship to illuminate the responses of First Nations and Métis leaders and activists to transracial adoption. Often characterized as “cultural genocide”, statistics reveal that there were in fact fewer adoptions than other forms of state based child caring provided to Aboriginal children. These concepts of kinship have been useful to provide a connection between calls for Aboriginal control of child welfare, sovereignty, and transracial adoption that emerged in the US and Canada in the latter half of the twentieth century. The tensions between conceptual and political goals and gendered manifestations of colonization have yet to be reconciled. Utilizing feminist ethnohistorical methodology along with oral histories from activists and Aboriginal peoples, this study proposes that the child welfare system provided both opportunities and oppression. Following the 1951 Indian Act revisions provincial law became applicable on reserve, and child welfare services were provided to Indian people who moved to urban areas. The Adoption Act supplanted former departmentally sanctioned Indian custom adoptions. Indigenous political leaders and activists have sought different methods to restore colonized kinship systems. These legal kinship systems express not only a uniquely Aboriginal identity, but serve to embed Indigenous children into their respective Indigenous political entities, simultaneously reaching backwards and forwards through time.