In the 19th century, artists such as Paul Kane went to 'Indian country' to record what they thought was a dying culture. The likes of Kane and photographer Edward Curtis brought back images for white consumers. In the early 20th century, faux Indians such as Métis poet Pauline Johnson, who dressed as an Indian 'princess' for her readings, and the English born-and-bred conservationist Grey Owl, became the ambassadors for Aboriginal culture. "They were quintessential Indians," says Daniel Francis, author of The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture (Pulp $15.95). "They fit the whites' notion of what an Indian should be." In his book, Francis examines the ways whites have portrayed Indians from the 1850s to the present with a brief glance at how the misnomer "Indian" took hold in European vocabularies. "There is no such thing as an Indian," Francis states flatly. "The name is a white construct, a mistake which began with Columbus and which has turned into a fantasy." According to Francis, Grey Ow1, whose valuable work for conservation was largely forgotten in the swirl of controversy about his true identity, marked the beginning of the modern view of Indians as environmentalists and as sources of natural wisdom. "Among white liberals today," Francis writes, "there is this notion that Indians have a special affinity with the land, which may or may not be true."

Contrary to prevailing impressions that Indians have been portrayed negatively, many of the images Francis uncovered are largely positive. This is especially true about commercial product names. Companies frequently apply names of Aboriginal chiefs, artefacts or tribes to their sports, teams or automobiles when they want to associate their products with speed, grace, nobility and the natural world. Francis believes when "latecomers to North America" take symbols such as the tomahawk and use it to rally their sports team, or name an automobile after a rebel chief, they are not simply being racist. He says they are coming to terms with being part of a dominant culture which robbed aboriginal people of their continent. As he puts it, "The way they identify with North America is by identifying themselves with the great nobility of Native people." 0-88978-251-2

"First Nations";

[BCBW, Autumn, 1992]