Congratulations to Dr. Scott Rutheford for winning the 2020-21 OHS J.J. Talman Award for "Canada鈥檚 Other Red Scare: Indigenous Protest and Colonial Encounters during the Global Sixties". The J.J. Talman Award recognizes the best book on Ontario鈥檚 social, economic, political, or cultural history published in the past three years.
Original Press Release by the Ontario Historical Society
The Ontario Historical Society is pleased to present the 2020-21 J.J. Talman Award for best book on Ontario鈥檚 social, economic, political, or cultural history to Scott Rutherford for his book Canada鈥檚 Other Red Scare: Indigenous Protest and Colonial Encounters during the Global Sixties, published by McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press.
Rutherford鈥檚 book sensitively explores Indigenous protest in Northwestern Ontario in the 1960s and 1970s. It carefully documents and reconstructs the debates connected with the demonstrations and resistance of the period, giving Indigenous participants the opportunity to speak and make a case for change. Rutherford frames the local events brilliantly, showing how they were very much a part of far-flung anti-colonial movements and campaigns for racial justice characteristic of the 鈥淕lobal Sixties.鈥 In a manner that other settler historians might emulate, Rutherford deftly positions himself in the narrative without imposing an authoritative voice. Thought-provoking and illuminating, the book shows how knowledge of past struggles for justice can illuminate today鈥檚 challenges as Indigenous people continue to combat the consequences of settler colonialism.
In accepting the award, Scott Rutherford responded:
Thank you to the Ontario Historical Society for granting my book this prestigious award, which was completely unexpected. The kind and thoughtful words of the adjudicating committee were humbling. I am grateful for anyone who may find their way to these histories and this book because of it.