1. Interviewed in the documentary, The New Corporation, Joel Bakan and Jennifer Abbott, 2020. Of course, my statement that Indigenous peoples are gaining in political strength should not be taken to indicate anything like unanimity in Indigenous politics. Even on the environmental front some First Nations, especially in oil-rich Alberta, support the pipelines. [return to page 1]

2. “Despite promise of reconciliation, Trudeau spent nearly $100M fighting First Nations in court during first years in power.” Brett Forester, APTN News, December 18, 2020.

3. Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Volume One: Summary (Toronto: Lorimer & Company, 2015) p. 234-239.

4. Final Report, p. 294-297.

5.  Eric Hobsbawm, On History. (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1997) Chapter 18.

6. Indigenous has become the preferred term for describing the Native peoples who reside in Canada. The term Aboriginal has passed from use. Many groups refer to their political status as First Nations, but this term does not include the many Indigenous peoples who do not reside in official Reserves. Many people refer to themselves colloquially as Indians, but the term has no traction in serious discussion, except in making a distinction from the Inuit.

7.  Noriaki Tsuchimotowas the acclaimed director of the Japanese series, Minamata: The Victims and Their World (1971).

7a. Film sources:

• Jordan River… (National Film Board of Canada, NFB)
• Kainayssini Imanistaisiwa: The People Go On (NFB)
• One day in the Life… (iTunes)
• Angry Inuk (NFB)
• The Body Remembers (Netflix)
• Blood Quantum (Shudder TV)
• Beans (Mongrel Media, not streaming yet)

8. A short interview with Tracy German provides background and her approach to filmmaking. See “Tracy German.” Indigenous Voice, Sheridan College. April 23, 2020. https://youtu.be/GPKh5YJ3_Wk

9. For more information on Tracy German’s work and production company, Palefox Pictures, see http://palefoxpictures.com/productions.

10. Bob Muckle, “Indigenous, Extreme and Wild Archaeology,” Anthropology News, October 14, 2016. For Reimer’s scholarly approach to his work in his home community see his PhD dissertation, “Lithics and Landscapes of SKWXWÃı7MESH UXWUMIXW” McMaster University, 2011. https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/11794/1/fulltext.pdf

11. Reimer provided an extensive outline of the first series and his approach to it in a lecture at Simon Fraser University (October 10, 2017.  https://youtu.be/_Aam4-RKykk .) This fascinating lecture also shows that there is very little difference between Reimer’s on-screen and off-screen persona. Of course, in both instances he is performing a role, however for the series he has not been made slick for TV.

12. “Squamish Nation archaeologist helps Indigenous communities share their history, their way.” Brandon Barrett, Pique, August 30, 2020.

13.  Some of the best analysis of Reality TV can be found in Richard Kilborn’s Staging the Real: Factual TV programming in the age of Big Brother. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003).

14. Professor Jaime Ginter, personal correspondence, October. 22, 2020.
[return to page 2]

15. Jeffrey H. Altschul, “Editorial,” SSA Archaeological Record. March 15, 2015. Vol 15, No 2. Special Issue “Archaeological Practice on Reality TV.”

16. David S. Anderson, “How TV shows use serious archaeology to promote bogus history.” Washington Post, December 27, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/28/how-tv-shows-use-serious-archaeology-promote-bogus-history/

17.  Eduardo Pagan. “Digging for ratings gold: American Digger and the Challenge of Sustainability for Cable TV.” SAA Archaeological Record. March 2015. p.13.

18.  Meg Watters, op cit, p. 21.

19.  Chiara Bonacchi of University College London summarizes this literature in her study of audience engagement for archaeological TV. “Audiences and Experiential Values of Archaeological Television: The Case Study of Time Team.” Public Archaeology, Vol. 12 No. 2, May 2013, p. 117-31.

20. Simon Fraser University, October 10, 2017.  https://youtu.be/_Aam4-RKykk

21. Sonia Atalay, Community-Based Archaeology: Research with, by, and for Indigenous Communities. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), p. 39.

22. Dr. Rudy Reimer Lecture, University of Northern BC. February 23, 2018. https://www.unbc.ca/events/45448/anthropology-first-nations-studies-nresi-joint-colloquium-new-form-indigenous-archaeology-wild-archaeology-experience-dr-rudy.

23. Bob Muckle, “Indigenous, Extreme….”

24.  Interview with Tracy German, January 27, 2021.

25. Elroy White, “Heiltsuk Stone Fish Traps: Products of My Ancestors' Labour,” MA Thesis, Simon Fraser University, Department of Archaeology, 2006. https://www.sfu.ca/archaeology/graduate/theseslist/thesiswhitee.html

26. Tracy German interview, 2021.

27. Tracy German interview, 2021.

28. Tim Robinson, “A land without shortcuts,” in Experiments on Reality (Penguin, 2020), p. 187. [return to page 3]

29.   “Tracy German.” Indigenous Voice, Sheridan College. April 23, 2020.

30. The theory and practice of Indigenous Archaeology is taken up by scholars from the U.S., Canada and Australia in Claire Smith, and H. Martin Wobst. Indigenous Archaeologies: Decolonising Theory and Practice. (Routledge, 2005), p. 5. A broader collection of works is contained in George P. Nicholas, Being and Becoming and Indigenous Archaeologist (New York: Routledge, 2011).