Our Box Was Full

Daly explores the central meaning of the notion of land in the determination of Aboriginal rights with particular reference to the landmark Delgamuukw case that occupied the British Columbia courts from 1987 to 1997.

Daly explores the central meaning of the notion of land in the determination of Aboriginal rights with particular reference to the landmark Delgamuukw case that occupied the British Columbia courts from 1987 to 1997.

Richard Daly is an independent anthropologist who now lives in Norway.

Bruce Granville Miller, University of British Columbia:
Richard Daly, an independent anthropologist living in Norway, gave the most extensive ethnological expert opinion regarding Aboriginal rights and title ever heard before a Canadian court in the landmark case known as Delgamuukw…In [Our Box was Full] Daly is marvelously candid and thoughtful, and his is perhaps the clearest statement in print of the issues facing anthropologists engaged in legal testimony.

Justice Giles Renaud, Ontario Court of Justice:
A means of communicating much-needed information that is quite controverial and that we may not wish to hear is to draw a brief of evidence that is both factually precise and yet entertaining and, at times, fascinating if not riveting. This is the task that Dr. Richard Daly has undertaken and achieved with extraordinary success ... Dr. Daly excels at the fundamental skill of the writer: to excite the reader’s interest in the subject matter to the extent that one is gripped by the account ... Indeed, this book succeeds to a remarkable extent in reducing complex and challenging questions of anthropology into understandable concepts and explanations.

Val Napoleon, University of Alberta:
Ultimately, Daly provides a deeply compelling description of the courage and enduring strength of Gitksan and Witsuwit’en peoples. Our Box Was Full is an important resource for the Gitksan and Witsuwit’en and other aboriginal peoples, and non-aboriginal peoples as well.

Dara Culhane, Simon Fraser University:
Daly’s text combines documentation, analysis, critique, reflection and poetry without succumbing to false objectivity, unnecessarily abstract theorizing, self indulgence, or romanticism. Readers are left with respectful and complicated understandings of Gitksan and Witsuwit’en peoples as historical and contemporary agents that defy simplistic and demonized or idealized portraits.

Peter Grant is a partner with the Vancouver firm, Hutchins, Soroka and Grant. He has worked in the Gitksan community for over twenty years, and was one of the lead lawyers in Delgamuukw:
Richard Daly has had the singular experience of providing the most extensive ethnological opinion evidence heard before any Canadian court with respect to Aboriginal rights and title. His analysis and conclusions are finally being made available to the wider academic and legal communities and are a tribute to the Gitksan and Witsuwit’en elders who entrusted Dr. Daly with their histories.