Mel Bevan set out to write the book never before written to find the root cause of the helplessness of the people who live on Canada's Indian reservations. Bevan examines the laws, policies, and practices of the government of Canada and the provinces to find the reason archaic practices continue unabated to the present day. Native leaders accept the laws, policies, and rules not because they generally agree with them; they accept them because they have little or no alternative.