Hunters at the Margin

This award-winning book examines the conflict between Native hunters and the government in the Northwest Territories – and the hidden motiovations behind conservationists’ wildlife management policies.

Hunters at the Margin examines the conflict in the Northwest Territories between Native hunters and conservationists, arguing that game regulations and national parks helped assert state authority over traditional hunting cultures.

John Sandlos is an associate professor of history at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Henry P. Huntington:
Sandlos offers useful (if tentative) conclusions about the implications of this history for present-day wildlife management and state-aboriginal relations in Canada, showing that history continues to shape the present, and that re-examining history can help illuminate current dilemmas and open new options for future action. Hunters at the Margin is well written, well produced, and a valuable contribution to the ongoing evaluation of the meanings of the North for those who live there, those who are new arrivals, and those for whom it looms large in imagination and expectation.

Jean L. Manore, Bishop's University:
For those interested in the history of conservation, wildlife management, First Nations, state power and individual agency, Sandlos offers insightful analysis within provocative framework and makes a significant contribution to the literature on conservation in Canada and is enjoyable to read.

Ben Laurie:
This hefty text is a well-written and meticulously researched academic work. Sandlos provides eloquent and exquisite details of the relationship between human and animal. … It is certain to be of interest to readers keen to better understand the politics of northern conservation in Canada, and the conflict between Northern indigenous communities and Southern policy makers.

William R. Morrison:
As John Sadlos’s book shows, nothing in environmental politics is ever simple….What began as an attempt to preserve a species…inevitably took on the coloration of a social experiment. The book is full of nuggets of interesting information….

Roy John:
Professor Sandlos has written a very well-researched text on three major conservation issues. He examines the plight of the Bison, Muskox and Caribou in Canada’s north. The author has examined the questions raised about hunting of these three key species and the development and enforcement of laws relating to them. […] There is a lot of useful and thought provoking material embedded in the text. […] This book makes a significant contribution to the continuing research and debate required to make rational decisions.

Kent H. Redford, Wildlife Conservation Society:
In this extremely well-researched book, John Sandlos, an environmental historian at Memorial University of Newfoundland, lays out the history of the relationship between native peoples and wildlife conservation in Canada’s Northwest Territories. […] Sandlos is a keen and critical commentator on what he terms the “over laudatory historical interpretation of the conservation movement in this country”. […] This book should serve as required reading to ensure that we do not repeat our mistakes.

Karl Jacoby, author of Crimes Against Nature:
With deft prose and an array of revealing case studies, John Sandlos presents a powerful new interpretation of Canada’s conservation policies in the Northwest Territories. Hunters at the Margin could not be more central to current efforts to rethink the histories of nature and Native peoples alike.