Description
Natives and Settlers, Now and Then: Historical Issues and Current Perspectives on Treaties and Land Claims in Canada is volume 34, number 1 in the journal Canadian Review of Comparative Literature. This collection of five essays is based on the presentations made during a 2000 conference at the University of Alberta. The contributors are Sharon Venne, Patricia Seed, Harold Cardinal, Frank Tough, and Erin McGregor. Cree lawyer Sharon Venne offers a paper about the oral understanding of Treaty 6 and the treaty-making undertaken in 1876 in Saskatchewan. Her essay is accessible because she offers her account of the Elders' understandings of the treaty process without any written notes. Political leader and activist Harold Cardinal offers a paper on the nation-building process from a Cree perspective. Again his paper is important because his speech was recorded and transcribed for this collection. A final section offers readers a discussion among the participants about their connection to Harold Cardinal after his passing in 2005. This is an important selection of essays that maintain their original oral presentations about the importance of treaties, land rights, and decolonization from the First Nations' perspectives.