In
Thomas Kings story Borders, the primary personal relationship discussed is between mother and
child, both of whom are Blackfoot. The family resides in Canada but is attempting to visit their
relatives in the United States. The racial and ethnic dimensions are emphasized in relation to
nationality because Indigenous group identity takes precedence in the mothers perspective. She
refuses to recognize nation-state jurisdiction as superior to, or other than, Indigenous nation,
or tribal, identification. For her, Blackfoot group membership does not simply span national
borders but eliminates them. She does not recognize the nation-states right to divide her family
and all their people.
In Margaret Laurences The Loons, white European
heritage is contrasted to First Nation heritage primarily through relationships between two
women who are members of families with those respective backgrounds. Vanessa is a white,
Euro-Canadian girl with a romantic image of Indigenous worldview. Her father is a physician. She
thinks of herself as broad-minded, however, in comparison to her fathers racist mother, a white
woman who refuses to interact with multiracial (metis) people. When another local girl,
Piquette, who is metis, becomes ill, Doctor MacLeod invites her to stay with the family at their
summer camp. Vanessa imagines that all people of Native heritage love nature and assumes that
Piquette will join her in appreciating the outdoors. Suffering from tuberculosis, the sick girl
wants to stay indoors and recuperate. Vanessas stereotypical way of thinking blocks her ability
to understand or communicate with Piquette as an individual person.
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