Against the Odds chronicles Thomas R. Berger's significant contributions to Indigenous rights advocacy in Canada and the United States. Mid-career, Berger led the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, conducting over thirty community hearings in the Northwest Territories to ensure that First Nations' voices were heard. Later, he also led public hearings on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The accompanying pdf is "Northern Album," a gallery featuring previously unpublished colour photographs of the Dene and Inuvialuit by Michael Jackson KC and Linda MacCannell. This pdf is available at durvile.com.
Foreword, Hamar Foster KC
Preface, Opportunity of a Lifetime, Drew Ann Wake
PART I
The Early Years 5
1. The White and Bob Case, Drew Ann Wake
2. A Meeting at Port Edward, Thomas R. Berger
3. The Common Bowl, Drew Ann Wake
PART II
The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry
4. The Caveat Challenge, Drew Ann Wake
5. The Inquiry Mandate, Thomas R. Berger
6. Laying the Foundation, Michael Jackson KC
7. Under Cross-Examination, Drew Ann Wake
8. The Summer of '75, Drew Ann Wake and Michael Jackson KC
9. A Winter Warning, Drew Ann Wake
10. Inquiry: The Recommendations, Thomas R. Berger
PART III
The Later Years 219
11. Caught in a Controversy, Drew Ann Wake
12. Alaska Native Claims Review, Dalee Sambo Dorough PhD
13. Alaska in Retrospect, Thomas R. Berger
14. The Manitoba Métis Case, Jean Teillet LLM
15. The Peel Watershed Case, Drew Ann Wake
Epilogue, Weighing Justice, Thomas R. Berger
Afterword, Between Two Worlds, Shaznay Waugh
Resources
Index
About the Author
"For many, the impact of the Berger Inquiry Report, Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland lent credence to the idea that Indigenous voices could and should be heard and taken into account in decisions that affect Indigenous Peoples and their lands. More than 40 years later, development on Indigenous lands continues to be a challenging issue facing Canada and Indigenous People are regularly consulted throughout the process." - Chief Justice Shannon Smallwood, Supreme Court of the NWT.
"This the story of many remarkable Indigenous people: the hunters in the White and Bob case, the Nisga'a tribal leaders in the Calder case, the Dene, Métis, and Inuvialuit of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, and the Alaskans in the report of the Alaska Native Review Commission." -Hamar Foster KC, from the foreword.
