Tangled Webs of History

Fishing rights are one of the major areas of dispute for aboriginals in Canada today. Dianne Newell explores this controversial issue and looks at the ways government regulatory policy and the law have affected Indian participation in the Pacific Coast fisheries.

Dianne Newell is a professor of history at the University of British Columbia and author of Tangled Webs of History: Indians and the Law in Canada's Pacific Cost Fisheries.

'There can be no doubt that Dianne Newell's book will enrich the discussion and understanding of indigenous societies, not only in North America but throughout the world.'

Heather Raven, University of Victoria:

'There can be no doubt that Dianne Newell's book will enrich the discussion and understanding of indigenous societies, not only in North America but throughout the world.'

Daniel L. Boxberger:

'This work is essential reading for educators in the fields of history, anthropology, and Native studies. It would also be profitably read by Native-rights advocates and adversaries. In particular, those with an interest in the commercial fishery, regardless of their biases, would find Newell's work insightful.'

Richard W. Judd:

'Tangled Webs of History is a superb example of multidisciplinary analysis that broadens our understanding of the complex links between cultural, economic, and environmental history.'

Judith Ball Bruce, University of California, Berkeley:

'A thoroughly-researched and carefully-constructed account of long-standing questions about the rights of aboriginal persons in British Columbia and their attempts to secure legal recognition of and protection for these rights.'

Victor P. Lytwyn:

'Whatever the future may hold for Aboriginal peoples in Canada's Pacific coast fisheries, Newell's book will certainly contribute to a better understanding of the history of the fisheries for all peoples who are concerned about and interested in these matters.'

Leslie Jane McMillan and Anthony Davis:

'Newell succeeds wonderfully in demonstrating how the continual interplay among and between executive, legislative and judicial powers of the state affects a resource and the people who depend upon it, particularly as this interplay is shaped by ethnic and industrial capitalist interests ...[Newell] has provided an important study, one that clearly articulates the context and processes framing the key issues in current directions of the definition and expression of Native rights, both within the British Columbia fisheries and in the many other settings where these issues are being addressed.'