Hidden in Plain Sight: Contribution of Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity and Culture

From the Author's Introduction, Page 8-9:

"...Aboriginal people have made a variety of contributions to many aspects of everyday life, and Hidden in Plain Sight: Volume 2 continues the story of these contributions. In five parts, the book contains articles and profiles of accomplished Aboriginal individuals. The mix of modern and historical topics includes economic and community development, the environment, education, politics and northern power, and arts and culture. Volume 2 concludes with an overview of the post-colonial situation in Canada.

The first section addresses the topic of economic and community development and covers well over a century of Aboriginal contributions. R. Wesley Heber’s work, covering the early fur trade, serves to document the vital role that Aboriginal people played in sustaining Canada’s fledgling economy, and the origins of a reciprocal partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. Continuing past Confederation, Frank Tough offers a historical analysis of Aboriginal labour in northern Manitoba from 1870 to 1915. Carrying the story of Aboriginal contributions to Canada’s economy on into the twentieth century, freelance writer Edwinna von Baeyer discusses the invaluable role played by generations of Mohawk high steelworkers as they built the modern cityscapes of Canada and the United States; in the same historical vein, Leanna Parker explores labour relations in the Ruperts land fur trade.

The second section of the book deals with Aboriginal influence on Canadian environmental policy. The impact of Aboriginal people on northern Canadian mining practices is told by Gérard Duhaime, Nick Bernard, and Andrée Caron. Looking further south, the second article, by Rob VanWynsberghe, Sean Edwards, Dean Jacobs, and Feruza Abdjalieva, examines the issue of environmental policy affecting the people of Walpole Island.

The third section, ‘Education,’ examines an issue that is often surrounded by negativity in the Aboriginal context. Education has long been heralded as a necessary component of Aboriginal well-being, but the topic also serves to bring back memories of negative experiences during the shameful period of residential schools. In this book, however, the positive influences that Aboriginal people have had on education and Canadian thought are explored. The first article, by Jo-ann Archibald, discusses the way in which the teaching practices of British Columbia elders have been incorporated into school curricula in the form of ‘Storywork.’ Not only have Aboriginal contributions affected methods of learning, but they have also had a decisive impact on how Canadians, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, think. For example, Douglas Rabb and Georges Sioui explore the Aboriginal influence on Canadian philosophy and identity, respectively. In this section Andrew Nurse and David Smith detail the impact of Aboriginal oral history and mapping on Canadian historiography and geography.

Of all the sections in the book, the fourth, on politics and northern power, is arguably the most pertinent to current Aboriginal issues in Canada. Laurie Meijer Drees tackles the issue of recent Aboriginal contributions to Canadian politics and government in her article ‘White Paper / Red Paper: Aboriginal Contributions to Canadian Politics and Government.’ Then we find ourselves above the treeline and into the land of the North where P. Whitney Lackenbauer delves into the issue of Canadian sovereignty and the vital contributions made by members of the Canadian Rangers, a largely Aboriginal military force dedicated to serving and protecting Canada’s North. 

Finally, the fifth section explores the magnificent contributions that Aboriginal people in Canada have made to the arts and culture and the ways in which those contributions have positively affected Canada’s international prestige. Beginning with the urban renewal catalysed by Aboriginal culture, William Shead documents the history of Winnipeg’s Aboriginal Centre. Building on this, architect Wanda Dalla Costa details the contributions of Aboriginal culture, noting how Aboriginal art and history have fused with steel, rock, wood, and glass to produce inherently Canadian architecture found across the nation; such edifices include the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver; the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec; and the Seabird Island School in Agassiz, British Columbia. Next, Brian Wright-McLeod explores the contributions of Aboriginal musical artists who have taken Canada, and the world, by storm." (8-9).