Fractured homeland : federal recognition and Algonquin identity in Ontario

In 1992, the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan, the only federally recognized Algonquin reserve in Ontario, launched a comprehensive land claim. The action not only drew attention to the fact that Canada had acquired Algonquin land without negotiating a treaty, but it also focused attention on the two-thirds of Algonquins who have never been recognized as Indian. Fractured Homeland is Bonita Lawrence's stirring account of how the claim forced federally unrecognized Algonquin in Ontario to confront both the issue of their own identity and the failure of Algonquin leaders � who launched the claim � to develop a more inclusive vision of nationhood. "In 1992, the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan, the only federally recognized Algonquin reserve in Ontario, launched a comprehensive land claim. The claim drew attention to the reality that two-thirds of Algonquins in Canada have never been recognized as Indian, and have therefore had to struggle to reassert jurisdiction over their traditional lands. Fractured Homeland is Bonita Lawrence's stirring account of the Algonquins' twenty-year struggle for identity and nationhood despite the imposition of a provincial boundary that divided them across two provinces, and the Indian Act, which denied federal recognition to two-thirds of Algonquins. Drawing on interviews with Algonquins across the Ottawa River watershed, Lawrence voices the concerns of federally unrecognized Algonquins in Ontario, whose ancestors survived land theft and the denial of their rights as Algonquins, and whose family histories are reflected in the land. The land claim not only forced many of these people to struggle with questions of identity, it also heightened divisions as those who launched the claim failed to develop a more inclusive vision of Algonquinness. This path-breaking exploration of how a comprehensive claims process can fracture the search for nationhood among First Nations also reveals how federally unrecognized Algonquin managed to hold onto a distinct sense of identity, despite centuries of disruption by settlers and the state." -- Publisher's website. Cover Contents Figures Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1: Algonquin Survival and Resurgence 1 Diplomacy, Resistance, and Dispossession 2 The Fracturing of the Algonquin Homeland 3 Aboriginal Title and the Comprehensive Claims Process 4 The Algonquin Land Claim 5 Reclaiming Algonquin Identity Part 2: The Mississippi, Rideau, and Lower Madawaska River Watersheds 6 The Development of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation 7 The Effect of the Land Claim in This Region 8 Uranium Resistance: Defending the Land Part 3: The Bonnechere and Petawawa River Watersheds 9 The Bonnechere Communities and Greater Golden Lake 10 Perspectives from Pikwakanagan Part 4: The Upper Madawaska and York River Watersheds 11 Whitney, Madawaska, and Sabine 12 The People of Kijicho Manitou: Baptiste Lake and Bancroft Part 5: The Kiji Sibi – From Mattawa to Ottawa 13 The Ottawa River Communities Conclusion: Algonquin Identity and Nationhood Notes References Index