Most aboriginal groups find themselves marginalized by the political institutions of modern industrial states. With their claims to ancestral homelands and nationhood, they face a situation significantly different from that of other ethnic communities or special interest groups. This volume looks at the characteristics of Canadian Indian politics during the turbulent 1970s by focusing on in-depth case studies of politics at the regional and local level.

These essays, each a self-contained study from a different region of the country, together constitute a cross-section of the reality of political marginality, and provide an account of the emerging forms of political activity that Indians are using to try to change their situation. The book includes an historical overview of the colonial legacy of native administration, and shows how this archaic structure continues to influence the political relationship between Indians and the government.

Adrian Tanner was born in the UK and came to Canada as a young farm worker. He went on to work on weather stations in the Arctic, where he gained some familiarity with Inuit hunters. He attended UBC and McGill University, before earning a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He has been with the Anthropology Department at Memorial University since 1972, where he is now Honorary Research Professor. His current research interests are on the Indigenous peoples of Quebec, Labrador, and Northern Ontario, on such topics as social suffering, community healing, forestry, land tenure, politics, and the documentation of local knowledge. He has also conducted research outside Canada, especially on the people of the Colo Navosa region of Vitilevu, Fiji.

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