Description
Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers is a groundbreaking study of how Canadian English-language newspapers have portrayed Aboriginal peoples from 1869 to the present day. It assesses a wide range of publications on topics that include the sale of Rupert's Land, the signing of Treaty 3, the North-West Rebellion and Louis Riel, the death of Pauline Johnson, the outing of Grey Owl, the discussions surrounding Bill C-31, the ôBended Elbowö standoff at Kenora, Ontario, and the Oka Crisis. The authors uncover overwhelming evidence that the colonial imaginary not only thrives, but dominates depictions of Aboriginal peoples in mainstream newspapers. The issue of terminology and usage used by the authors is often provocative such as the chapter heading about First Nations women and Bill C31. The authors use the terms princess and squaw in their effort to point out the colonial mindset of the media under study. Unfortunately the authors insist on using the term Aboriginals as a noun throughout the book. The final chapter takes aim at columnist Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail to demonstrate their points about bias and longstanding stereotypes in the media.