3 Matching Annotations
  1. Dec 2017
    1. Rough Rock Demonstration School

      The Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Education Committee as well as other Navaho leaders sat down in the early 1960s to discuss Indian education. They all felt that the schools currently educating the Indian children were lacking in certain areas. These areas were more specifically “meaningful local school boards, cultural identification, community education and community development, native language learning, home visits, and guidance and counseling.” And thus was built what is now known as Rough Rock Community School, founded on the ideals that “the background for the Rough Rock School is the educational reversal that employed schooling to help reconstruct Indian culture and personality.” Prior to the construction of Rough Rock School, the Indian Bureau opened a boarding school at Fort Defiance. Eight other boarding schools opened on the Navajo reservation following the first. These schools were described as “notorious for their English-only curriculum, militaristic discipline, inadequate food, overcrowded conditions, and a manual labor system that required students to work half-days in the kitchens, boiler rooms, and fields, and allowed the government to operate the schools on a budget of 11 cents per pupil per day.”<br> At the time of World War II, the Navajo school system was entirely crushed. The gas, rubber, and money shortages put the system into a gradual decline. In 1950, Congress approved Public Law 81-474, which was a long-term development plan that would provide $25 million for school reconstruction. Finally, in 1964, The Rough Rock Demonstration School was built. It was the first time that the Navajo people were directly or actively involved in the operation of a school. The Board of Directors, an entirely Navajo school board, establishes the school policies. Parents from the community work in the dormitories. One of the most crucial elements is that “the cultural identification program makes Navajo culture a significant and integral part of the school program.”8 The students are taught in the Navajo language and about the history of their people. Rough Rock also provides adult education opportunities for community members. In 1969, the Board of Directors appointed Dillon Platero, a former chairman of the Navajo Education Committee, as the director. This was an extremely significant step because the Navajo people now entirely control and direct their own education. Rough Rock Community School is still in operation today in Chinle, Arizona, proving that American public education can be controlled by the people it serves.

      Citation:

      Roessel, Robert A. "An Overview of the Rough Rock Demonstration School." Journal of American Indian Education 7, no. 3 (1968): 2-14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24397380.

      Collier, John. "Survival at Rough Rock: A Historical Overview of Rough Rock Demonstration School." Anthropology & Education Quarterly 19, no. 3 (1988): 253-69. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3195833.

      McCarty, T. L., and Fred Bia. 2002. A Place to Be Navajo : Rough Rock and the Struggle for Self-Determination in Indigenous Schooling. Mahwah, N.J.: Routledge, 2002. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed November 6, 2017).

    2. Hudson’s Bay Company

      The Hudson’s Bay Company was first established in 1670, chartered by King Charles II. It was granted control over trade in a nearly 1.5 million square mile region consisting of modern day Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and North Central United States. By 1821, the Hudson’s Bay Company had been experiencing increasingly frequent, and sometimes violent, conflict with rival North West Company. A decision was made to merge the two companies under the pressure of the British government. The Hudson’s Bay Company now operated “from the drainage basin of Hudson’s Bay into the territory west of the Rocky Mountains and the Oregon country.” The commercial enterprise now spanned the entire continent, as well as set a precedent of the company’s future growth. In the mid 1800s, the HBC is concerned with its location at Fort Vancouver. The Company builds Fort Victoria on the South end of Vancouver Island due to the expansion and development they see it bringing in the future. This location is named the new Pacific headquarters for the Company. The remainder of the 19th century consisted of immigrants arriving in the west. The Company sold off portions of its land at considerable profit. This lead to an expansion that was described as, “Company posts in Western communities eventually became general stores, and in the remote north the fur trade still flourished.” Major world events such as World War I and the Depression had their share of effects on the Company. Ever since this time, retail stores have become the Company’s primary source of income. In the 1900’s there were multiple attempts made to move the headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Company from London to Canada. In 1970, a shareholder’s meeting approved of this transfer, and Hudson’s Bay House in Winnipeg became the new company headquarters. After this pivotal moment, the Company continues to expand by investing in other companies, including gas and oil.<br> In present day, Hudson’s Bay Company had entered Europe, the United States and the Netherlands, and is truly one of the most influential businesses in history.

      Citation:

      Davenport, John B., and Dan Rylance. "Archival Note. Sources of Business History: The Archives of the Hudson's Bay Company." The Business History Review 54, no. 3 (1980): 387-93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3114245.

      Royle, Stephen A. 2011. Company, Crown and Colony : The Hudson's Bay Company and Territorial Endeavour in Western Canada. London: I.B.Tauris, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed November 6, 2017).

      Glover, Richard. "Hudson's Bay Company." The Economic History Review, New Series, 4, no. 3 (1952): 389-91. doi:10.2307/2599435.

    3. Mackenzie Valley pipeline

      The Mackenzie Valley pipeline is a project that had been proposed to transport natural gas from the Beaufort Sea through Canada’s Northwest Territories to tie into gas pipelines in northern Alberta. The proposition of a pipeline originated as a resolution to the “energy crisis” of the 1970s. At this time, major industrial countries of the world were experiencing shortages in petroleum. Around the same time period as the crisis, it had been acknowledged “traditionally, Canada had been an importer of coal and oil, and a net exporter of coal and hydropower, but recently she has become a net exporter of almost all forms of energy.” This refers to the fact that Canada was, and still is, extremely rich in resources. Other countries are extremely dependent on Canada for its resources, especially at the time of the energy crisis when they were experiences devastating shortages. The proposition originated in the 1970s but was discarded following an inquiry conducted by British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Thomas Berger. The purpose of this investigation was that “the prevailing assumption was that a pipeline would be built but that an inquiry would assist in determining ways to mitigate its more negative effects.” The inquiry became known as the Berger Inquiry or the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry. Berger’s concerns were related to the indigenous and white peoples that would be displaced, and was quoted with saying, “it was ‘about the protection of the northern environment and the future of northern peoples.’” . Thus began a series of community hearings taking place from 1975 to 1976 in order to acknowledge the concerns of the native people as well as environmentalists. The report that was drafted in 1977 declared the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline practical, but the project should only continue after further study and settlement of native land claims. The pipeline was to be postponed for ten years to allow time for these claims to be settled. In reality, the setback was much longer than ten years. In more recent years, the push for the pipeline has resurfaced. Many claims have since been settled with native peoples, however, the issue that the project faces now is cost. Production dates continue to get pushed further and further back. An official approval of the project was met in December of 2010, on the condition that all 264 environmental, financial and cultural commitments that are listed in the National Energy Board's report are met.<br> To this day, ground has never been broken on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. People are left to wonder if it holds great potential for the future, or if it is a $16.2 billion project down the drain.

      Citation: Pearse, Peter. 1974. Mackenzie Pipeline : Arctic Gas and Canadian Energy Policy. Montreal: MQUP. Accessed November 5, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central.

      Kim Stanton. "Looking Forward, Looking Back: The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry." Canadian Journal of Law and Society 27, no. 1 (2012): 81-99. https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed November 5, 2017).

      Prophets, Pastors and Public Choices : Canadian Churches and the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Debate. 1988. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Accessed November 5, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central.

      Image:

      http://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/the-berger-pipeline-inquiry