4.3 “The Epistemology of Deep Disagreement and Indigenous Oral Histories”

Paul Simard Smith (Métis)

Online Readings

• Assembly of First Nations. “Delgamuukw v British Columbia.” August 28, 2019.
• MacLean, Taylor. “6 Common Myths about Treaties in Canada.”University of Toronto.
• Gehl, Lynn. “Canada’s Indian Policy Is a Process of Deception.” Briar Patch 44, no. 2, March 2, 2015.
• Gillette, Maris Boyd, and Benedict E. Singleton. “Inevitable Epistemological Conflict: Reflections on a Disagreement over the Relationship Between Science and Indigenous and Local Knowledge.” Ambio 51, no. 8 (2022): 1904–05.
• Rollo, Toby. “Mandates of the State: Canadian Sovereignty, Democracy, and Indigenous Claims.” The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 27, no. 1 (2014): 225–38.

Books, Articles, and Book Chapters

• Gehl, Lynn. Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts. Ningwakwe Learning Press, 2012.
• Kelm, Mary-Ellen, et al. Talking Back to the Indian Act: Critical Readings in Settler Colonial Histories. University of Toronto Press, 2018.

Films/Videos

• Obomsawin, Alanis, et al. Trick or Treaty? National Film Board of Canada, 2014.
  • Description: Covering a vast swath of Northern Ontario, Treaty No. 9 reflects the often contradictory interpretations of treaties between First Nations and the Crown. To the Canadian government, this treaty represents a surrendering of Indigenous sovereignty, while the descendants of the Cree signatories contend its original purpose to share the land and its resources has been misunderstood and not upheld. Enlightening as it is entertaining, Trick or Treaty? succinctly and powerfully portrays one community’s attempts to enforce their treaty rights and protect their lands, while also revealing the complexities of contemporary treaty agreements.