Canadian wilderness seems a self-evident entity, yet, as this volume shows in vivid historical detail, wilderness is not what it seems. In Temagami’s Tangled Wild, Jocelyn Thorpe traces how struggles over meaning, racialized and gendered identities, and land have made the Temagami area in Ontario into a site emblematic of wild Canadian nature, even though the Teme-Augama Anishnabai have long understood the region as their homeland rather than as a wilderness. Eloquent and accessible, this engaging history challenges readers to acknowledge the embeddedness of colonial relations in our notions of wilderness, and to reconsider our understanding of the wilderness ideal.

Over the past two decades, the question of who owns the land of Temagami and how the land should be used has caused a debate of unparalleled intensity. For the native people, it is their lands under attack. For environmentalists from all parts of Ontario, it is a case of ecological preservation of a unique but fast-disappearing wilderness. For others, dependent upon the resource sector, it is a matter of economic survival, both individually and for their communities. In an attempt to clarify the issues surrounding Temagami, Laurentian University’s Institute of Northern Ontario Development and Research invited participants in the Temagami debate to a conference in October, 1989. What follows in this volume are eleven of the revised papers originally presented there. A balanced perspective on the issues at hand is coupled with the views of the various interest groups. Topics covered include aboriginal rights in Temagami, the development of a wilderness park system in Ontario, the management of multiple resources, the importance of tourism in Temagami and an environmentalist’s perspective.

Temagami, located in northern Ontario (five hours north of Toronto by car) is a world-renowned canoe tripping destination featuring over 4,000 square miles of canoe country. The waterways of the Temagami region are particularly attractive since many of the routes form convenient trip loops. Hap Wilson compiles more than 25 canoe route descriptions, including hiking trails that cater to wilderness paddlers from beginner to expert. Climb Maple Mountain, camp at Centre Falls, listen to the wolves howl, or fish its fabled deep waters -- Temagami has it all.

This important book is a must for everyone concerned with the heritage and future of Canada’s parks. Contributors include an impressive assembly of noted park experts ranging from academic authorities and government parks personnel to concerned nonpolitical park supporters. Since the establishment of Banff National Park in 1885 and Algonquin Provincial Park in 1893, parklands have been part of Canada’s heritage. Where other protected areas, such as forest reserves, heritage rivers and greenways, have also been created, a more comprehensive view of the creation and management of conservation areas and marshland is discussed. Cooperative approaches to park management recognize the regional context of parks with respect to local communities, as well as the inclusion of more diverse groups of people, particularly Aboriginals. This work encourages the general public to take an interest in our priceless park heritage.

For forty years, historians have argued that early twentieth-century provincial governments in Canada were easily manipulated by the industrialists who developed Canada’s natural resources, such as pulpwood, water power, and minerals. With In the Power of the Government, Mark Kuhlberg uses the case of the Ontario pulp and paper industry to challenge that interpretation of Canadian provincial politics. Examining the relationship between the corporations which ran the province’s pulp and paper mills and the politicians at Queen’s Park, Kuhlberg concludes that the Ontario government frequently rebuffed the demands of the industrialists who wanted to tap Ontario’s spruce timber and hydro-electric potential. A sophisticated empirical challenge to the orthodox literature on this issue, In the Power of the Government will be essential reading for historians and political scientists interested in the history of Canadian industrial development.

Edward J. Hedican's Ipperwash provides an incisive examination of protest and dissent within the context of land claims disputes and Aboriginal rights.

Carol and Bruce Hodgins began leading canoe trips in 1957 for Camp Wanapitei on Lake Temagami in Northern Ontario, initially to the great rivers of that region and on into Quebec. Their first venture north of 60 found them on the South Nahanni, soon to be followed by the Coppermine River, and by the 1990s their annual tripping took them to the Soper River on Baffin Island. included with their richly descriptive accounts of wilderness travel with groups of people, are kayak adventures in Baja California, Mexico, and the Queen Charlottes, paddling in and near the Everglades and explorations on Heritage rivers in the Maritimes and along the coast of Newfoundland. Few have personally experienced the breadth of wilderness travel in Canada as have the Hodgins husband-and-wife team. Their fifty years as "paddling partners," a legendary achievement, is a story of shared joys, challenges, triumphs and mishaps, delightfully told and augmented by excerpts from daily logs, historical insights and the tidbits of experience gleaned over the years.

A rich history of Canadian wilderness travel, "an utterly compelling collection," said The Globe and Mail, and "a gem – it absolutely sparkles," according to Canadian Geographic. Declared by the Canadian Historical Association to be the best book published of its year on the regional history of Canada’s North. With essays by William C. James, C.E.S. Franks, George Luste, Margaret Hobbs, John Jennings, Shelagh Grant, Gwyneth Hoyle, Bruce W. Hodgins, Jamie Bendickson, Craig Macdonald, Jean Murray Cole, John Marsh and John Wadland.

There’s a pervasive sense of betrayal in areas scarred by mine, mill and factory closures. Steven High’s One Job Town delves into the long history of deindustrialization in the paper-making town of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, located on Canada’s resource periphery. Much like hundreds of other towns and cities across North America and Europe, Sturgeon Falls has lost their primary source of industry, resulting in the displacement of workers and their families. One Job Town takes us into the making of a culture of industrialism and the significance of industrial work for mill-working families. One Job Town approaches deindustrialization as a long term, economic, political, and cultural process, which did not begin and simply end with the closure of the local mill in 2002. High examines the work-life histories of fifty paper mill workers and managers, as well as city officials, to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of the formation and dissolution of a culture of industrialism. Oral history and memory are at the heart of One Job Town, challenging us to rethink the relationship between the past and the present in what was formerly known as the industrialized world.

Documents the experiences of Aboriginal people, their history and recent negotiations in Ontario, providing insight into the historiography of the treaty-making process in the last 25 years.