Dr. Asch is one of Canada's most engaging, thoughtful and distinguished anthropologists. He summarizes his talk thus:

“One of the central issues facing us is establishing a just relationship with Indigenous peoples. The matter is particularly acute in British Columbia as with the Tsilhqot’in where we moved onto their lands without first forming a relationship with them to permit it. In this talk, I will open a discussion on the question of how we might resolve this matter by examining the meaning of Aboriginal rights as well as by reference to the commitments we made to Indigenous peoples before settling elsewhere in Canada through the treaties we negotiated.”

 

7:00pm, Friday May 13, 2011

Garry Oak Room, Fairfield Community Centre,

Michael Asch received a PhD in Anthropology at Columbia University in 1972, and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta and an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology and Political Science at the University of Victoria. Dr. Asch has written extensively on political relations between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state. Among his publications are "Home and Native Land: Aboriginal Rights and the Constitution" (1984), and the edited volume, "Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada: Essays on Law, Equality and Respect for Difference" (1997).

Dr. Asch served as an expert witness in court proceedings and public hearings, including the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry. He served as Senior Research Associate for Anthropology with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and as Research Director of the Dene/Metis Mapping Project for the Dene Nation. In 2001, Dr. Asch was awarded the Weaver-Tremblay Award for distinguished service to Canadian applied anthropology by the Association for Applied Anthropology in Canada, and in 2002 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.