Public Expression of First Nations Protest in Canada's Sixties

• Main Author: Warren, Brian Eric
• Other Authors: Leyton-Brown, Kenneth, Charrier, Philip, Daschuk, James, Meehan, John
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina 2020
• Subjects: Canada; Indian; Regina; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10294/9333; https://ourspace.uregina.ca/bitstream/handle/10294/9333/Warren_Brian_MA_HIST_Fall2020.pdf

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History, University of Regina. iii, 84 p. Much of the literature about modern First Nations activism in Canada has left the impression that it began, in earnest, in protest of the federal government’s controversial 1969 White Paper. As a result, several significant and well-publicized expressions of First Nations protest in the preceding decade, have been widely ignored. This thesis explores the growth and diversification of First Nations protest, from the eve of the sixties, through the White Paper backlash, to demonstrate how the groundwork for future activism, was laid amid the political foment of the sixties. It chronicles Six Nations’ Declarations of Independence from Canada; the heated debate among Status Indians over voting rights in 1960; the 1965 demonstrations at Edmonton, Ottawa, and Kenora; the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo 67; the birth of the militant Red Power movement; and, the ascendancy of the National Indian Brotherhood and its provincial affiliates in the wake of the White Paper. The analysis of these events, as well as significant contextual undercurrents such as the Civil Rights Movement, draws on indigenous-authored retrospectives, subsequent academic studies, and a wealth of primary research from a diverse array of contemporary newspapers, periodicals, and other media. Student yes