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In conventional histories of the Canadian prairies, Native people disappear from view after the Riel rebellions. In a fresh departure from traditional studies, Frank Tough examines the role of Native people, both Indian and Metis, in the economy of northern Manitoba from 1870 to the Depression. He argues that they did not become economically obsolete but rather played an important role in the transitional era between the mercantile fur trade and the emerging industrial economy of the mid-twentieth century. Tough reconstructs the traditional economy of the fur trade era and examines its evolution through reserve selection and settlement, scrip distribution, and the participation of Natives in the new resource industries of commercial fishing, transportation, and lumbering. His analysis clearly shows that Native people in northern Manitoba responded to the challenge of an expanding market economy in rational and enterprising ways, but that they were repeatedly obstructed by government policy. --Publisher's description. Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--York University. Contents: 1. 'To Look for Food Instead of Fur': Local Economies -- Indian Bands and Company Posts -- 2. 'The Only Remedy Is the Employment of Steam': Reorganizing the Regional System -- 3. 'Dependent on the Company's Provisions for Subsistence': The Decline of Kihchiwaskahikanihk (York Factory) -- 4. 'To Be Shut Up on a Small Reserve': Geographical and Economic Aspects of Indian Treaties -- 5. 'Lands Are Getting Poor in Hunting': Treaty Adhesions in Northern Manitoba -- 6. 'Terms and Conditions as May Be Deemed Expedient': Metis Aboriginal Title -- 7. 'Go and Pitch His Camp': Native Settlement Patterns and Indian Agriculture -- 8. 'Nothing to Make Up for the Great Loss of Winter Food': Resource Conflicts over Common-Property Fisheries -- 9. 'A Great Future Awaits This Section of Northern Manitoba': Economic Boom and Native Labour -- 10. 'They Make a Comfortable Living': Economic Change and Incomes. Includes bibliographical references (pages 334-363) and index.

Book available at Internet Archive to people with print disabilities: https://archive.org/details/astheirnaturalre0000toug