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HUGH SHEWELL, "Enough to Keep Them Alive": Indian Welfare in Canada, 1873-1965: Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004, xii + 441 p.
In "Enough to Keep Them Alive, " Shewell sets himself the ambitious task of examining almost a century of relief and social assistance policies developed by the Department of Indian Affairs. Eschewing stock answers regarding what he calls Indian welfare, SheweU's central premise is that welfare dependency among Aboriginal peoples is a result of more than simple economic deprivation and unemployment; rather, it is an effect of pervasive attempts to erode the cultural and political autonomy of First Nations.
Shewell identifies two distinct phases of Indian welfare. The first he terms the subjugation phase, which took place between Confederation and the end of World War II, during which relief for Aboriginal peoples was grudgingly provided on a provisional basis in response to crises confronting them. The primary objective of relief was always to inculcate moral virtues of industriousness and self-reliance, while the provision of relief was underpinned by the constant fear of fostering Aboriginal dependence and concern for fiscal restraint. These unsystematic practices coalesced into a more formal policy during the interwar years as a uniform relief system that was implemented across the country.
The second period identified by...