During the last 20 years the voices from First Nations have become louder in expressing their own solutions to the problems that have plagued their people since contact with the Europeans. Their traditional ways of thinking and living have become mroe visible to those from outside First Nations. Recent directions of First Nations in Northern Ontario have focused on strengthening political, economic, and social systems to promote community healing. This was an important subject for the third annual conference of the Institute of Northern Ontario Research and Development held in 1992 at Laurentian University. This book consists of papers presented at the conference by both First Nations leaders and academics from across Canada.