It’s been almost five months since I wrote a blog entry. What happened? Well, nothing, really. I simply got waylaid by a doctoral dissertation. Most PhD candidates fail to do something important while writing up their research. In my case, I failed to blog. But even while the blog was on hiatus, I have continued to think about First Nations’ history – and the history of my own people. I began this reflection over a year ago. In that time, what has changed? What difference has it made?  What sort of impact have I achieved? Well, not much, really.  I…

A wonderful thing has happened. A friend has pointed out that I made a mistake, and this brings me great joy. I know that I, with my European-American cultural background, make many mistakes in my attempts to learn about First Nations’ history. I also know that true learning means having friends and colleagues who are willing to correct me. So I am grateful to Lenore Three Stars for gently showing me the following error. Back on January 19 of this year, while exploring the origins of the Salish peoples, I wrote that “they arrived here an estimated 11-12,000 years ago…