Canada at a Crossroads

Jeffrey S. Denis is an associate professor of Sociology at McMaster University and a settler Canadian of mixed European ancestry living on the lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee nations in Dish with One Spoon territory.

• Preface Introduction: Boundaries and Bridges in Indigenous-Settler Relations 1. Colonization and the Development of Group Positions: A Brief History of Indigenous-Settler Relations in the Rainy River District2. Perceiving Group Relations, Constructing Group Positions: "It’s okay as long as the Indians know their place!" 3. Boundary Work and Group Positioning: How Perceptions of Boundaries Reproduce and Challenge Settler Colonial Relations 4. Racism, Prejudice, and Discrimination: Group Positioning in Everyday Attitudes and Behaviours 5. The Alberton Group Home Controversy: "I have Native friends, but this is going too far"6. Bridge Work: Beyond Group Positioning? 7. A Tenuous Balance: How Contact and Prejudice Coexist 8. Education, Group Positioning, and Ideological Refinement 9. Racial Contestation and the Residential School Apology 10. The Benefits and Challenges of Collective Action: "We can work together if we want to work together"Conclusion: Canada at a Crossroads Bibliography

"By examining Indigenous-settler relations on a local level Canada at a Crossroads offers a critique that is useful in imagining broader frameworks. It proves that contact on a local level is not enough to overcome the rigidity of group positions and the sense of superiority that underpins settler ideologies. To really overcome boundaries and build bridges, settlers need to address laissez-faire racism by working to understand the history of settler colonialism, Indigenous treaty rights and land claims of the region, and to address white supremacy and privilege."- Alice Higgs (JACANZS)