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According to scientists, stone-age nomadic hunters from Siberia
crossed the Bering land bridge and migrated into the Americas
some 15-20,000 years ago. By 1000 CE, with the Inuit occupation
of the high Arctic, all of present-day Canada was at least
thinly inhabited. Apart from brief visits by Vikings some five
centuries earlier, Native-European contact began in 1534 when
French explorer Jacques Cartier entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence
in his pursuit of a route to China.
At that time, most of Canada’s Aboriginal people were
hunter-gatherers organized in extended family units or bands and
skillfully adapted to life in a wilderness which most early
French and English explorers and settlers found daunting. These
small communities operated with others sharing similar social,
cultural and economic traits, forming what the European
newcomers called tribes. The principal settled societies were
the Iroquois and Wendat (Huron) confederacies of the Great Lakes
region which practised agriculture and were far more politically
and militarily organized than their neighbours and the
fishing-based peoples living on the Pacific coast.
Initially, settlement proceeded slowly, so contact was driven
mainly by the Europeans’ quest for furs, and particularly the
highly prized pelt of the beaver. This trade sparked
exploration, mutually-profitable economic ties, and considerable
cultural exchange. Although Aboriginal peoples drawn into the
fur trade ultimately lost much of their independence and were
inadvertently exposed to European epidemic diseases, the trade
itself depended on the maintenance of good relations between the
two groups and encouraged Aboriginal people to maintain their
traditional way of life.
From the 1600s through the early 1800s, the British and French
settlements in eastern Canada were swept up in European imperial
clashes. Pre-contact Aboriginal societies were no strangers to
diplomacy and conflict, and these imported wars — along with the
struggle to control the fur trade — were superimposed on
traditional rivalries. Maintaining their independence and way of
life drove Aboriginals to war, but Europeans actively courted
them as military allies. The Iroquois in particular proved
dangerous adversaries of New France and later invaluable allies
of the British against the Americans. However, with the passing
of the last military threat to Canada in 1814 and the new
emphasis on agricultural settlement, Natives’ value to the
European settlers drastically declined. It did not matter that
the European concept of land belonging to people was impossible
to reconcile with the Aboriginal concept that the people
belonged to the land — the flood of British settlers into Upper
Canada (southern Ontario) required that they yield their
traditional territory. As the power relationship grew
increasingly unequal, treaties extinguished aboriginal title,
leaving Natives with small reserves and — in keeping with the
paternalist and racist atmosphere of the time — turning them
into wards of the state to be civilized by the Christian
churches. Henceforth, the goal of cultural assimilation would be
pursued vigorously, with tragic results.
By the late 1800s, settlement had moved onto the vast western
prairies, repeating this process, which was in time also
followed in the North. Although the North-West Rebellion (1885)
was a notable exception, organized resistance was rare because
First Nations leaders were willing to accommodate change they
recognized was inevitable. The test of treaty arrangements would
come in how Canada honoured their spirit — sadly a test the
federal government would regularly fail.
Despite loyal service in both World Wars, First Nations’
marginalization from broader Canadian society deepened in the
first half of the 20th century. In recent decades, increasing
population (after generations of decline), combined with more
enlightened social values recognizing the evils of racism and
Aboriginals’ growing sense of collective identity and
determination to be heard, have brought positive changes. Full
citizenship was finally granted in the 1960s.
In 1969, an effort to create equality by effectively abolishing
Indian status in the law led to First Nations political
opposition to what most dismissed as a new wave of assimilation
merely disguised as reform. Under the leadership of what
subsequently became the Assembly of First Nations, a generally
peaceful but determined campaign to re-establish lapsed rights
and acquire important new ones through the courts or direct
negotiations with the federal government ensued. Among these
have been an ongoing series of land claims promising economic
self-sufficiency, recognition of treaty and aboriginal rights in
the constitution (1982), creation of the largely Inuit Nunavut
Territory (1999) and some measure of redress for the cultural
and other abuses of the residential school system (2007).
Today, First Nations and mixed-blood people (Métis) make up
nearly five percent of Canada’s population and share more fully
in national life than ever before. Nevertheless, far too many
still languish in poverty, poor health, and hopelessness,
marginalized in isolated reserve communities and urban settings
alike.
The struggle for full equality remains to be won.
Suggested Readings: JR Miller, Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A
History of Indian-White Relations in Canada; Olive Dickason,
Canada’s First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from
Earliest Times
Next Instalment: The Settlement of Canada – New France, Upper
Canada and the Prairies
The Canadian Experience is a 52-week
history series designed to tell the story of our country to all
Canadians. Sponsored by Multimedia Nova Corporation and
Diversity Media Services partners, the series features articles
by our country’s foremost historians on a wide range of topics.
Past articles and author bios are available at
http://www.cdnexperience.ca. The Canadian
Experience is copyright ©2010-2011 Multimedia Nova
Corporation.
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#24 First Nations: European Contact to the Present
