The Indian Association of Alberta : a history of political action /

Drees (Malaspina Univ. College, British Columbia) chronicles the development of the Indian Association of Alberta (IAA), an Indian regional political organization in Canada. She locates the association's beginnings within the processes of urbanization and industrialization in Canada after WW II and illustrates the difficulties of political organization during an era of deepening marginalization of Indian peoples. Chapters focusing on the contributions of key Indian and non-Indian leaders demonstrate how relations between Indian and non-Indian allies have evolved and contrast conceptions of leadership and political advocacy. Drees depicts the IAA's main political struggles to assert treaty rights and secure a respectful and dynamic political relationship with the Canadian government. As a result, she contextualizes the IAA's development from local to regional to national influence, presages contemporary Aboriginal nationalism, and shows how the IAA contributed to the entrenchment of Aboriginal and treaty rights within the Canadian Constitution. The author judiciously uses interviews and archival sources in adapting her doctoral dissertation into a work accessible to a more general readership. In the absence of similar works by indigenous authors, Drees offers a balanced contribution to a neglected area of Canadian Aboriginal studies. All levels and collections. G. Bruyere Lakehead University