First Nations? Second Thoughts

Flanagan closely scutenizes mainstream assumptions in this assessment of Canadian aboriginal policy. He suggests that the concept of aboriginal collective indigeneuous often neglects the fact that aboriginals arrived in numerous immigration waves over a period spanning several thousand years. However, the Indian Act, compacts most of these groups together when distributing legal provisions. Flanagan also points out that French Canadians in what is now Quebec, established permanent settlements here long before the British, but we continue refuse to even grant them "special status," let alone referring to them as sovereign nations. The author attributes this double standard to an underlying racist federal policy which gives discriminatory treatment to Quebec for the political interests of Ottawa. Flanagan also points out that Louis Riel, despite being rewritten as a hero of the Metis culture and rights first and last, was really an advocate of the global Conquest of French Catholicism. This is evident with the way he treated white French Canadian catholics with much greater affinity than Metis protestants who he considered to be merely distant cousins. This point is further emphasized in history by the outrage in Quebec among Riel's hanging. Again, a must read which questions our entire approach to aboriginal policy in Canada.

Flanagan's book is a magisterial, comprehensive analysis of the problems besetting Canada's archipelago of aboriginal communities, its "First Nations."Each chapter begins with a brief etymology of key words that we, in Canada, have heard many times in this on-going, highly-emotional debate. Flanagan answers comprehensively: Is the word "civilization" really a meaningless, relative term? The word "nation" did not mean even 25 years ago to natives what it does now. Are they really "nations" or is it just a more compelling, useful word than "band"? Why does the word "sovereignty" mean something different -- and more dangerous -- in Canada than in the U.S.? There is much more.I was raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, a city with a large aboriginal population. The despair and difficulty faced by these people is troubling to everyone living there; an almost daily problem. Are the solutions offered by Canada's massive bureaucracy really going to help? Or will the good intentions of Indian Affairs only make the problem worse?Flanagan puts his finger -- compassionately -- on how the failed solutions of well-meaning leftist elites, and the aggressive campaigning of many who claim to represent natives, have missed the point. He commits the unpardonable sin of making irrefutable, thoroughly rational arguments against the present "solutions," earning him ad hominem attacks by those who cherish liberalism...even as it is consigning itself to the ash-heap of history, and exacerbating the sufferings of those it means to help.

"First Nations Second Thoughts" provides a different but interesting critique of the contemporary aboriginal rights movement in Canada. Taking issue with the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples author Tom Flanagan maintains that what he calls the "aboriginal orthodoxy" (aboriginal leaders, non-aboriginal politicians, among others) have misled ordinary aboriginal people. By patronizing their traditional cultures and trying to find constitutional means to perhaps fossilize them aboriginal peoples, at the same time, are given sweet words but no improvements to their daily lives. Flanagan challenges assumptions that aboriginal peoples ,collectively prefer their traditional ways and consequent isolation to integration into modern Western society. His discussion is interesting except that he tends to set his own premises concerning the "aboriginal orthodoxy" rather than commenting on statements made by real people involved. He also neglects aboriginal values such as co-operation and consensus which have much to offer modern Western society. Nevertheless I reccommend "First Nations Second Thoughts as a perspective to those who have doubts about the aboriginal rights movement and as a challenge to those who defend it.

Indian tribal governments in both Canada and the United States will not like, but should read Tom Flanagan's latest book, "First Nations? Second Thoughts;" the cold objective truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. While not liking Mr. Flanagan's analysis of the issues, they will find it very difficult to dispute his conclusions. In a dispassionate and scholarly work, using an impressive array of references, Flanagan covers all of the important aboriginal issues, revealing the flaws in everything from the "We Were Here First" argument to "Aboriginal Sovereignty." A twenty page chapter on "Civilization" provides a clear and concise analysis of what civilization is, and how the "civilization gap" between the Indian tribes of North America and the Europeans inevitably changed tribal life forever. Flanagan concludes that the displacement of hunter-gatherers by agricultural peoples and the extension of rule by organized states over stateless societies are processes that "are so prominent in human history that it seems almost beside the point to raise questions about morality." Moreover, the processes were occurring in the Americas before the Europeans arrived. Flanagan writes, "Fortified with increased food production from horticulture, the Iroquois were pushing hard against their Huron and Algonquian neighbours when the French and English arrived. Further south, the Aztecs and Incas were forcibly incorporating neighbouring peoples into their civilized and growing empires."The book primarily covers Canadian aboriginal issues, but the issues, if not identical, are very similar to those in the United States. Flanagan does underestimate the seriousness of the threat of so-called "sovereign Indian nations" in the United States, and claims that there is no important separatist movement in the United States using sovereignty as a catchword. Tribal governments continue to press for more sovereignty, greater self-determination (at the expense of the American taxpayers), and more land via an increasing number of land claims. With the advent of Indian casino monopolies, the financial resources of the tribes will only increase the level of these threats.Readers that have read Melvin H. Smith's book, "Our Home Or Native Land?" will be interested in and enjoy Flanagan's book. "First Nations? Second Thoughts" is easy to read, easy to understand...