J. Rick Ponting is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary. The recipient of numerous awards for his work with Indigenous cultures, he is the author of First Nations in Canada: Perspectives on Opportunity, Empowerment, and Self-Determination (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1997) and Arduous Journey: Canadian Indians and Decolonization (McClelland & Stewart, 1986).