Wilderness and Territoriality: Different Ways of Viewing the Land
This paper examines the three views of wilderness that have been held by non-Native Canadians through time and space - wilderness as alien, as frontier and as sanctuary - and then relates them to the corresponding views non-Natives have held of the First Nations - “Indians” as savage, as hindrances...
| Published in: | Journal of Canadian Studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
1998
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.33.2.77 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.33.2.77 |
| Summary: | This paper examines the three views of wilderness that have been held by non-Native Canadians through time and space - wilderness as alien, as frontier and as sanctuary - and then relates them to the corresponding views non-Natives have held of the First Nations - “Indians” as savage, as hindrances to development and as examples of purity or threats to the ideal of preservation. It then traces the development of the Native land claims process, noting that originally Europeans and their descendants “claimed” the land from the First Nations and suggests that if a fourth view of wilderness, that of wilderness as paradigm were to be adopted by non-Native society, the current difficulties in resolving Native land claims would be removed. In fact, the need for Native land claims may be ameliorated altogether. |
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