Adrian Tanner
Adrian Tanner has been teaching at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland since 1972. His first encounter with aboriginal people was in 1957 to 1959 when, while working on various arctic weather stations, he got to know several Inuit families of self-sufficient hunters. He obtained his B.A. and M.A. from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Starting in 1964, he has conducted research among a variety of northern aboriginal groups, including the Tutchone of Yukon Territory, the Ojibwa of northern Ontario, the Cree and the Naskapi Innu of northern Quebec, the Innu of Labrador and the Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland. He has published two books and numerous articles on various subjects, including Cree rituals associated with hunting, aboriginal rights and land claims, the political development of Canadian Indians, indigenous healing movements and Cree opposition to the Great Whale hydroelectric development. He has also worked on a number of practical issues, including aboriginal land claims, community relocation projects and social impact assessment of development projects. He gave expert court testimony in the injunction against the James Bay hydroelectric development and several more recent cases involving aboriginal rights. He is the main author of a report on aboriginal governance in Newfoundland and Labrador, prepared for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.
He lives with his wife, the Cree linguist Marguerite MacKenzie, and his two daughters Megan and Nailisa, in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, where he is on the board of directors of the East Coast Trail Association.
He lives with his wife, the Cree linguist Marguerite MacKenzie, and his two daughters Megan and Nailisa, in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, where he is on the board of directors of the East Coast Trail Association.