Dane-zaa Oral History: Why It's Not Hearsay

• Main Author: Ridington, Robin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The University of British Columbia 2014
• Subjects: Oral History; First Nations; Narrative Technology; Dane-zaa; oral tradition; law; aboriginal rights; beaver people; First Nations History; Dane
• Online Access: http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/184687; https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i183.184687

The Dane-zaa maintain a close connection to the human and non-human persons with whom they live through what I have called "narrative technology" and Amber Ridington describes as "oral curation." An oral history passed on from generation to generation describes people and events that took place over a period of more than 200 years in considerable detail. The paper reviews literature relating to First Nations oral history in Canadian case law and presents several Dane-zaa narratives about pre-contact times and the early fur trade. I argue that Dane-zaa narrators should be viewed as oral historians in their own right and that their testimony meets the test of credibility and reliability set out by Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin.