It was established in 1989 and was sponsored by the Gabriel Dumont Institute,[1] a Métis-directed educational and cultural entity in Saskatoon (Saskatchewan, Canada), affiliated with the University of Regina.

The journal's scope was interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, with a focus on indigenous people, from the perspectives of a variety of academic fields, including archaeology, education, law, linguistics, philosophy, and sociology.

[2][3] The journal was one of several Native American newspapers and periodicals under the auspices of the Aboriginal Multimedia Society of Alberta.

Topics included native self-government, indigenous values in a colonial education system, Indian/Métis language programs with French immersion, and death/reburial.

Catherine Littlejohn, free-lance historian, researcher, author and consultant,[7] was introduced as the new editor for the third issue, published in Winter (January) 1991.

[8] Summer (July) 1991, the fourth issue, saw several major changes: the associated editors of previous issues were replaced by a review board entirely made up of participants from Canadian institutions, article abstracts were written in Cree syllabics, APA format was no longer required for articles written in a discipline that used another style, and citations for traditional knowledge had to be validated by the indigenous community.

[9] McNinch wrote the opening editorial of the Winter (January) 1992 issue, as Littlejohn had left the journal.