Resistance and Recognition at Kitigan Zibi
Algonquin Culture and Politics in the Twentieth Century
Description
Kitigan Zibi is the largest, oldest Algonquin reserve in Canada. This local history illuminates the larger experience of the Algonquin First Nations whose traditional lands span the Ottawa River watershed and cross contemporary boundaries.
Drawing on interviews with community members and archival sources, Resistance and Recognition at Kitigan Zibi explores the twentieth-century politics and culture of the reserve. Despite the disruptions of settler colonialism, the Algonquin maintained a distinct identity and waged a multifaceted struggle against assimilation and economic marginalization. That struggle played out in political spaces including border-crossing celebrations, grand councils, and courtrooms, and informed strategic labour choices, interactions with provincial game wardens, and protests against the Catholic Church.
Resistance and Recognition at Kitigan Zibi convincingly demonstrates that the contest for recognition of treaty rights and traditional lands has been longer, broader, and deeper than previously understood.