First nations, first thoughts: the impact of indigenous thought in Canada

摘要

This book consists of an introduction and 11 papers selected from among those presented at a conference organised by the Centre of Canadian Studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2005. The conference explored the 'significant contribution that aboriginal peoples have made, and continue to make to the intellectual, cultural, political and constitutional thought in Canada'. It is part of the antidote to the Indian problem in Canadian public policy, as articulated so thoughtfully in Noel Dyck's 1991 book, What is the Indian Problem? The conference itself arose in response to Thomas Flanagan's First Nations, Second Thoughts (published in 2000) and the resultant fierce public debate surrounding his ideas for a solution to the question of 'what to do with the Indians'.