"Fragile Settlements compares the processes through which colonial authority was asserted over Indigenous people in southwest Australia and prairie Canada from the 1830s to the early twentieth century. At the start of this period, there was an explosion of settler migration across the British Empire. As a humanitarian response led to the unprecedented demand for land, Britain's Colonial Office moved to protect Indigenous peoples by making them subjects under British law. This book examines the tensions and contradictions that emerged as colonial actors and institutions--including government officials, police, courts, churches, and philanthropic organizations--interpreted and applied the principle of law in their interactions with Aboriginal peoples on the ground. As a comparative work, Fragile Settlements highlights important parallels and divergences in the histories of law and Indigenous-settler relations across the Anglo-colonial world. It questions the finality of settler colonization and contributes to ongoing debates around jurisdiction, sovereignty, and the prospect of genuine Indigenous-settler reconciliation in Canada and Australia."-- Provided by publisher.

Jaffe, J.A. "Fragile settlements: Aboriginal peoples, law, and resistance in south-west Australia and prairie Canada." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Nov. 2016, p. 447. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A469640842/BRIP?u=utoronto_main&sid=….

Storey, Kenton. 2017. "Fragile Settlements: Aboriginal Peoples, Law, and Resistance in South-West Australia and Prairie Canada." Australian Historical Studies 48 (3): 450-451. doi:10.1080/1031461X.2017.1337492. http://resolver.scholarsportal.info/resolve/1031461x/v48i0003/450_fsapl….

"The forums that were established during the second half of the twentieth century to address Aboriginal land claims have led to a particular way of engaging with and presenting Aboriginal, colonial, and national histories. The history that comes out of these land claim forums is often attacked for being "presentist": interpreting historical actions and actors through the lens of present day values, practices, and concerns. In Aboriginal Rights Claims and the Making and Remaking of History, a comparative study encompassing five former British colonies (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States), Arthur Ray examines how claims-oriented research is framed by existing Indigenous rights law and claims legislation and how, in turn, it has influenced the development of laws and legislation. Ray also explores the ways in which the procedures and settings for claims adjudication--the courtroom, claims commissions, and the Waitangi Tribunal--have influenced the use of historical evidence, stimulated scholarly debates about the cultural/historical experiences of Indigenous people at the time of European contact and afterward, and have provoked reactions from politicians and scholars. While giving serious consideration to the arguments of presentism and the problems that overly presentist histories can create, Aboriginal Rights Claims and the Making and Remaking of History provides Aboriginal, academic, and legal communities with an essential perspective on how history is used in the Aboriginal claims process."--Provided by publisher.