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Rethinking Aboriginal Policy.

Article Excerpt
John Richards. Creating Choices: Rethinking Aboriginal Policy. Ottawa: Renouf Publishing Company (Policy Study 43), 2006. xi + 142 pp. $21.95 paper.

John Richards's 2006 book, Creating Choices: Rethinking Aboriginal Policy is a well-researched and well-documented investigation into the consequences of, and liberal suggestions for remediation of, Canada's Aboriginal policies. Written as Policy Study 43 for the C. D. Howe Institute of Toronto, a "national, nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that aims to improve Canadians' standard of living" (i), this book fulfills the objective of the Institute and gives readers a plethora of facts, statistics, charts and graphs, and thoughtful observations on and solutions for a variety of issues concerning Aboriginal peoples living in the land of the settlers.

These issues include primarily the disparity of outcomes in education and health between Native and non-Native Canadians. Richards is at his best when analyzing his copious data and contextualizing this analysis with governmental policy, giving the reader considerable insight into the problems inherent in the Canadian government's historic and contemporary treatment of the Native populations. He is a master at condensing a great deal of information and history into smaller, representative bites. He...

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