Assignment 1: Article Review
By: Victoria A. Hughes (200701675)
Date: Wednesday, October 14th 2009
For: Professor Martha Walls
‘Constructed and Contested Truths:
Aboriginal Suicide, Law and
Colonialism in the Canadian West(s).’
By: Lesley Erickson
Lesley Erickson’s article ‘Constructed and Contested Truths: Aboriginal Suicide, Law
and Colonialism in the Canadian West(s)’ argues how reasoning about and circumstances of
suicide cases among Aboriginals in Western Canada during the eighteen and nineteen hundreds,
were heavily influences by stereotypical assumptions about the Aboriginal culture and not by
legitimate evidence found by police and or investigators.
According to Erickson the topic of suicide among Aboriginals was not considered
carefully. Stereotypical assumptions out weighted accurate storylines that were provided by
family and community members of those who were deceased. For example ‘the ownership of
wages appeared to be at issue, the coroner and juror focused their questions on whether the
husband had purchased liquor. He responded I did not buy a case of whiskey in town, I do not
drink.’1 Even though the defendant responded that he did not drink, the questions continued to
focus on drunken behaviour among Aboriginals. Often these assumptions influenced legal
1
Lesley, Erickson. ‘Constructed and Contested Truths: Aboriginal Suicide, Law and Colonialism in the
Canadian West(s). 1823-1927. The Canadian Historical Review 86,no 4. (2005): 609-618
decisions. The coroner, juror and journalists jumped to the conclusion that the explanation for the
suicide must have been due to alcohol, even though the husband had stated that the couple had an
earlier dispute with regards to finances. This indicated that alcohol was not an issue in this
instance.
Erickson convinces the reader with her significant number of sources as well as detailed
examples of how justice was not served fairly for the Aboriginal people. Another example is
when a newspaper reported that ‘When a Secwepemc man, visiting Alberta from British
Columbia jumped from the roof of a Calgary hotel in 1921, the newspaper contradicted inquest
findings by reporting the police officer who found the body stated that he detected a strong odour
of liquor on the dead man.’2 In this case the newspaper made a judgement based on the smell of
alcohol coming from the victim’s body. Police determined the fact that the man had fallen from a
height and was possibly pushed for example could suggest a homicide whereas the police
immediately assumed because he was Aboriginal and smelled of alcohol this falling from the
height was his own fault; the result of supposed drunkenness. The newspaper drew a conclusion
that suited the Aboriginal drunken stereotype. This type of conclusion made by a person in
power proves how careless the police were when investigating a death of an Aboriginal.
Erickson uses sources from newspapers, journals and books to support her argument of
the unfair accusations that there are inaccurate reports of suicide in the Aboriginal community.
For example one of her sources from p. 610 in the Canadian Historical Review is a newspaper
article called ‘Indian Found Dead: Appears to be a Case of Suicide,’ Lethbridge Herald, 24 Dec.
2
Lesley, Erickson. ‘Constructed and Contested Truths: Aboriginal Suicide, Law and Colonialism in the
Canadian West(s). 1823-1927. ‘The Canadian Historical Review’ 86, no 4. (2005): 610-618
19253 which is a newspaper based in Alberta, Canada. The Lethbridge Herald could possibly
have a biased opinion because of the fact that they are a western Canadian newspaper and the
topic of Erickson’s article is based on Aboriginal suicide in Western Canada. It is a reasonable
assumption that reporters in Lethbridge would hear conversation in this community in which
Aboriginal behaviour was described in stereotypical terms and therefore there objectivity could
easily be compromised.
Another perspective the writer could have used in her research would be that of the
descendants of these victims and try to understand and think about the family stories that would
be told about these people. She could also examine current reports of Aboriginal suicide in
Canada to see whether an increased objectivity in reporting exists in comparison to what she
observed in the past.
Erickson’s article is clearly written and her information is well organized. She backs up
what she says with examples and many quotations. She sums up everything that needs to be said
in twenty-two pages including enough information and sources to give the reader a sense having
read an entire book on suicide within Aboriginal communities in western Canada. This attests to
her concise writing style.
This article allowed me to understand how Aboriginals were unfairly treated by law
enforcement and how stereotyping influenced law enforcement with Aboriginals. Many
Canadian Aboriginal families were angered by this approach. The article also brought light to the
cultural clash between the Anglo-Saxon and the Aboriginal cultures in Canada.
Lesley, Erickson. ‘Constructed and Contested Truths: Aboriginal Suicide, Law and Colonialism
in the Canadian West(s). 1823-1927. ‘The Canadian Historical Review’ 86, no 4. (2005): 610618
3
I would recommend this article because it brings up the truth of how Aboriginals were
perceived by their fellow Canadians. The article was a learning experience as I did not know of
about the assumptions used against Aboriginals who committed suicide and how alcohol was
often used as the reason.
Bibliography
Erickson, Lesley. ‘Constructed and Contested Truths: Aboriginal Suicide, Law and Colonialism in the
Canadian West(s), 1823-1927. ‘The Canadian Historical Review’ 86,no 4. (2005): 609-618