ABSTRACT
At first glance, “indigenous religious traditions” do not appear to be large policy concerns of the United States or Canada. The American military campaign to wipe out the Ghost Dance in the late nineteenth century, as well as twentieth-century bureaucratic programs in both the United States and Canada to outlaw traditional ceremonial works such as the Lakota Sun Dance or the North-west Coast Potlatch, seem to belong to bygone days; today, in many places traditional ceremonies have become tourist attractions. Yet a closer look reveals a different story. Legislative and judicial conflicts involving freedom of religion, particularly protection of and access to sacred sites, are only one indication that these traditions will continue to be a thorn in the side of the modern technocratic state. Even police and military conflicts such as the one at Oka in 1990 have strong roots in traditional attitudes, attitudes in which religious thought plays a key role.
