Jules Sioui and Indian political radicalism in Canada, 1943-1944

Two remarkable conventions of first Nations chiefs and political leaders in Canada occurred in Ottawa during the final years of the Second World War. Ostensibly protesting military conscription and income taxation, the issues at the conventions went to the heart of their oppression: the denial of ab original rights, nationhood and self-determination. The essay critically re views the context of Indian policy leading up to the conventions, the impac t of the protest led by Jules Sioui and the continuing divergence of First Nations' and state objectives concerning the future place of Indians in Can ada. In conclusion, the essay discusses the idea of citizenship and the inc lusion of indigenous peoples in states of European settler origins.