Michael Fabris (Krebs)

My doctoral research will focus on the experience, negative impacts, and substantial limits of assimilation policies in Canada. My project includes three case studies, which I will examine using a combination of archival research and in-depth interviews: Piikani opposition to the Old Man River Dam; Blackfoot traditional adoption practices; and contemporary urban Indigenous cultural revitalization projects. I have chosen these three areas of study because they provide excellent examples of major assimilation policies and processes in Canada: economic development, the residential school system, and urbanization. My objective is to bring together the valuable insights from these three studies to answer my main research question: How do land relations, past assimilation policies, and the agency of First Nations communities work together to inform contemporary Indigenous identities and ideas of nationhood?