Professor Emeritus
A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Administration of Indian Affairs In Canada
(1986)
Publisher’s Notes
A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Administration of Indian Affairs in Canada. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1986.
In A Narrow Vision, Brian Titley chronicles Scott’s career in the Department of Indian Affairs and evaluates the developments in native health, education, and welfare between 1880 and 1932. He shows how Scott’s response to challenges such as the making of treaties in northern Ontario, land claims in British Colombia, and the status of the Six Nations caused persistent difficulties and made Scott’s term of office a turbulent one.
The only study of Indian policy in the early twentieth century and the only work to focus on D.C. Scott’s career in government, this book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the development of Indian policy in this century.
Reviews
“Brian Titley’s A Narrow Vision is an extremely important book for an understanding of the development of Indian policy in Canada. It is a well-written and thought-provoking book. A must read.” Harold Franklin McGee, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 10, 3, Fall 1987: 103-106.
Titley has written an important and scholarly book. A Narrow Vision does not recount one of the more positive sides of Canadian history, but the evidence presented puts the current problems facing Canada’s native population into better perspective. It should be required reading for all members of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.” Alan Levine, The Globe and Mail, 28 February 1987.
“Titley has made an excellent study of Scott’s career. His ability to sift through masses of public records and to produce a book which deals personally with Scott as an individual is a tribute to his skill. While solid and authoritative, the book is readable and interesting. It is an important addition to a period of Indian history which has received very little attention in the past.” Hugh A. Dempsey, American Indian Quarterly, 12, 3, 1988: 273-275.
