Liberalism, Surveillance, and Resistance:
Indigenous Communities in Western Canada, 1877-1927

About the Book

Canada is regularly presented as a country where liberalism has ensured freedom and equality for all. Yet with the expansion of settlers into the First Nations territories that became southern Alberta and BC, liberalism proved to be an exclusionary rather than inclusionary force. Between 1877 and 1927, government officials, police officers, church representatives, ordinary settlers, and many others operated to exclude and reform Indigenous people. Presenting Anglo-Canadian liberal capitalist values and structures and interests as normal, natural, and beyond reproach devalued virtually every aspect of Indigenous cultures. This book explores the means used to facilitate and justify colonization, their effects on Indigenous economic, political, social, and spiritual lives, and how they were resisted.

About the Author

Keith D. Smith is Chair of the Department of First Nations Studies and teaches in the Department of History at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

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Copyright: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.

MARC

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DownloadChapter 1
The Liberal Surveillance Complex

DownloadChapter 2
The Transformation of Indigenous Territory

DownloadChapter 3
Churches, Police Forces, and the Department of Indian Affairs

DownloadChapter 4
Disciplinary Surveillance and the Department of Indian Affairs

DownloadChapter 5
The British Columbia Interior and the Treaty 7 Region to 1877

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The British Columbia Interior, 1877 to 1927

DownloadChapter 7
The Treaty 7 Region After 1877

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Exclusionary Liberalism in World War I and Beyond

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"As an introduction to postmodern ideas and analysis, the contribution Liberalism, Surveillance, and Resistance make to Canadian Aboriginal history is significant. Sophisticated, thoroughly researched, and readable, it provides a very useful framework for analyzing familiar events in the history of Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal relations in Canada and colonialism everywhere." [read full review]