This handbook gives you an insight into some of the struggles that the Metis people have faced in the past and the incentive to continue striving to attain a more fulfiling life.

Although the Métis have been recognized in the Constitution as one of the three groups of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, they remain the landless subjects of the Canadian government, and for this reason Quiet Revolution West is a timely account of resistance.

Historically, Aboriginal People have had little influence on the development of Native policy from within government. As a result, national, provincial, and regional Native political organizations have developed to lobby government on Native Peoples issues. Joe Sawchuk defines the various native groups in Canada and examines the origins of the organizations that represent them. He examines the structure of the organizations, their relationship with government, how the organizations fit within the context of the larger society, and the way in which power is consolidated within the organizations themselves. Many non-Native structures pervade Native, and especially Metis, political organizations. Using examples from his experience as director of land claims for the Metis Association of Alberta in the early 1980's, Sawchuk illustrates how Aboriginal organizations set their political agendas, and how federal and provincial funding and internal politics influence those agendas. The record of Native political organizations in Canada has been impressive. The questions continue to be are how their structures affect their ability to represent an Aboriginal point of view, whether government funding blunts their effectiveness, and how decreases in funding might affect them in the future.

This study of the eight Metis settlements in northern Alberta examines their history, legal status, government and politics, external and internal organizations, the issue of self-government and the opinions and attitudes of residents on a number of topics, and presents an unconventional approach to native self government.

The Elizabeth Metis Settlement is located twenty miles south-west of the town of Grand Centre, Alberta. It was settled in 1939.