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The purpose of this study was to determine teacher perception of education program suitability in Northern Saskatchewan. The sample consisted of one hundred sixty-five divisions I, II and III teachers in Northern Saskatchewan. Analysis was made on teachers as a total group, and teachers grouped according to the following variables: type of teaching certificate held; area of study in teacher training; total years of teaching experience; total years of teaching experience with Indian and Metis children; division level of experience with Indian and Metis children. Six hypotheses were proposed regarding the total group and the five variables.In order to test these hypotheses, all teachers in divisions I, II and III in Northern Saskatchewan were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to determine their perception of education program suitability. The first hypothesis, that teachers would generally perceive the education program as unsuitable, was tested by determination of standard score probability of error for teacher responses to Part II of the questionnaire. Hypotheses two to six inclusive, that teacher perception of education program suitability would vary according to the five variables mentioned above, were tested by means of multi-factor analysis of variance. Responses to Part III of the questionnaire were analyzed by means of frequency tables.It was found that generally teachers felt that the education program in Northern Saskatchewan was unsuitable. Areas of the program perceived as least suitable included programs in reading and literature, English and social studies. The shortage of relevant resource materials was seen as a problem by a significant number of respondents. Areas perceived as most suitable by the teachers included nature science, mathematics, the adapted social studies program for pupils of Indian ancestry and pre-vocational and vocational courses.When teachers were grouped according to the five variables referred to earlier, several significant differences in perception of education program suitability were noted. Teachers who had taken courses in Indian or cross-cultural education perceived the education program to be less suitable than did teachers who had not taken courses in these fields. It was also noted that teachers with less than four years of teaching experience with Indian and Metis children, and teachers with a total of less than four years of teaching experience perceived the education program to be less suitable than did teachers with more experience. A significant interaction was found to exist between area of study and division level. No significant differences were noted when teachers were grouped according to the type of teaching certificate they held, or according to the division level in which they had experience with Indian and Metis children.

The Common Land, Common Ground is a partnership between Kenora, ON, Grand Council Treaty #3, and three reserve communities in the area. This research focused on Aboriginal women’s knowledge of water and participation in water governance under the auspices of the Common Ground Research Forum. Data was collected through qualitative research methods. This thesis is organized by objectives: 1) recording women’s knowledge and teachings on water; 2) learning about the concerns women have regarding water in and around their communities; 3) establishing the role women have played and are playing in water governance in their communities; and 4) identifying culturally appropriate opportunities for shared learning about their connection to water and their role in its governance. Recommendations include: creating roles for Aboriginal women in new and existing governance structures, greater inclusion of Métis perspectives in Common Ground activities, and incorporation of Aboriginal water knowledge in school curricula and tourism resources.

The Common Land, Common Ground is a partnership between Kenora, ON, Grand Council Treaty #3, and three reserve communities in the area. This research focused on Aboriginal women’s knowledge of water and participation in water governance under the auspices of the Common Ground Research Forum. Data was collected through qualitative research methods. This thesis is organized by objectives: 1) recording women’s knowledge and teachings on water; 2) learning about the concerns women have regarding water in and around their communities; 3) establishing the role women have played and are playing in water governance in their communities; and 4) identifying culturally appropriate opportunities for shared learning about their connection to water and their role in its governance. Recommendations include: creating roles for Aboriginal women in new and existing governance structures, greater inclusion of Métis perspectives in Common Ground activities, and incorporation of Aboriginal water knowledge in school curricula and tourism resources.

The discourse on education for Aboriginal people has long been limited to a curriculum of cultural assimilation often resulting in an erosion of self-esteem and disengagement. Consequently, this research puts forth narratives of how fiddle programs in northern Manitoba work as a culturally responsive curriculum that in turn address such curricular erosions. As a research methodology, Metissage afforded me pedagogical opportunities to weave the various perspectives of community members, parents, instructors, and former students into an intricate story that attempts to represent some of their social, cultural and historical experiences within the north. Braiding stories of the historical and present impacts of fiddle playing reveals the generative possibilities of school fiddle programs in Canadian Indigenous communities. In addition to building intergenerational bridges, the stories put forth in this thesis demonstrate how the fiddle has become a contemporary instrument of social change for many communities across northern Manitoba.

This dissertation examines the construction and evolution of categories of indigeneity within the context of the Oblate (Roman Catholic) apostolate at Île-à-Crosse in present-day north-western Saskatchewan between 1845 and 1898. While focusing on one central mission station, this study illuminates broad historical processes that informed Oblate perceptions and impelled their evolution over a fifty-three-year period. In particular, this study illuminates processes that shaped Oblate concepts of sauvage and métis. It does this through a qualitative analysis of missionary correspondence, mission records and published reports. In the process, this dissertation challenges the orthodox notion that Oblate commentators simply discovered and described a singular, empirically existing and readily identifiable Métis population. Rather, this dissertation contends that Oblates played an important role in the conceptual production of les métis.

Since 1982. the Canadian Constitution has "recognized and affirmed the Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Indian, Inuit, and Métis peoples of Canada," peoples that hold their unique status within the federation by virtue of their prior social organisation. The author argues that, when Aboriginal rights are invoked, analysis should focus on the community in which the right is said to reside. Contemporary rights-holding communities are those linked to the normative orders that preceded and survived those of the later arrivals: in this regard, the Métis are not dissimilar from the other recognised Aboriginal peoples. It is the community's capacity to determine the norms applicable to its members' lives that is important, not the actual content of that order at a particular time: Aboriginal societies must be afforded the latitude to pursue their own aims and ambitions, and their rights must not be limited to activities that appear objectively 'Aboriginal".

Colonization has always and continues as a destructive influence upon Indigenous people and communities. Medicine Wheel Journey (MWJ) will be my contribution to the healing from colonization of Indigenous peoples. The literature and my work in Indigenous mental health counselling has led me to the conclusion that people essentially want to strengthen themselves and this can often be accomplished by finding their voice and sharing their story. I believe in order to support any person in finding their voice, I had to first find my own. My purpose throughout this research was to identify MWJ as the process of establishing an Indigenous-centered helping framework for mental health counselling with Indigenous peoples. My ancestors became a source of inspiration to tell my story. Essentially, MWJ has helped move me forward by looking at my past. I can now say confidently that I know my history and culture. I have experienced what Dei and Asgharzadeh (2001) describe as a ‘social and political correction’ (p. 298). This thesis describes a method by which members of Indigenous communities can research, write, and share their life stories in order to arrive at Indigenous-centered helping frameworks. This MWJ framework may be applied by Indigenous mental health practitioners as self-care for their own personal development. The main intent of MWJ is to support the help and healing of the Indigenous people and communities they serve. Medicine Wheel Journey as an Indigenous-centered helping framework has allowed me to say I am Métis and this is my story. / Graduate / 0452 / 0740 / 0347 / im_del@hotmail.com

The discourse on education for Aboriginal people has long been limited to a curriculum of cultural assimilation often resulting in an erosion of self-esteem and disengagement. Consequently, this research puts forth narratives of how fiddle programs in northern Manitoba work as a culturally responsive curriculum that in turn address such curricular erosions. As a research methodology, Metissage afforded me pedagogical opportunities to weave the various perspectives of community members, parents, instructors, and former students into an intricate story that attempts to represent some of their social, cultural and historical experiences within the north. Braiding stories of the historical and present impacts of fiddle playing reveals the generative possibilities of school fiddle programs in Canadian Indigenous communities. In addition to building intergenerational bridges, the stories put forth in this thesis demonstrate how the fiddle has become a contemporary instrument of social change for many communities across northern Manitoba.

This dissertation examines the construction and evolution of categories of indigeneity within the context of the Oblate (Roman Catholic) apostolate at Île-à-Crosse in present-day north-western Saskatchewan between 1845 and 1898. While focusing on one central mission station, this study illuminates broad historical processes that informed Oblate perceptions and impelled their evolution over a fifty-three-year period. In particular, this study illuminates processes that shaped Oblate concepts of sauvage and métis. It does this through a qualitative analysis of missionary correspondence, mission records and published reports. In the process, this dissertation challenges the orthodox notion that Oblate commentators simply discovered and described a singular, empirically existing and readily identifiable Métis population. Rather, this dissertation contends that Oblates played an important role in the conceptual production of les métis.