Mel Smith spent thirty-one years in the public service of British Columbia and was the ranking lawyer on constitutional law for four administrations. In1969, Prime Minister Trudeau asked if Indians would be a "race apart" or "Canadians of full status." The answer should have been easy, but it wasn't. Perhaps the best way to sample his book is simply sharing a few quotes from the Forward that will give a flavor of what can happen when "Legalized Racism" is empowered by "Cultural Fictions":
"The native
agenda has taken us on a frightening journey through the looking glass where
everything is backwards.
"Tiny
communities are given enormous tracts of land while the majority of Canadians is
not only ignored but kept in the dark. Incredible sums of money are spent--worse,
even larger amounts are committed to be paid by future generations.
"We
have committed ourselves to a land full of homelands, the very notion which
revolted the civilized world when they were created in South Africa.
"We
have developed a huge industry around "native land claims" and the rewards for
the participants are enormous.
"If
this book doesn't wake up a sleeping public, God help us all, including the
generations to come."