CHAPTER 7: ADAPTING TO NEW ECONOMIES The Impacts of Colonialism and Capitalism

CHAPTER OVERVIEW + KEY CONCEPTS

TRADITIONAL ECONOMIES  Traditional First Nations Economies were based on extended families working together to provide for the whole group within their traditional territories using hunting and gathering methods and seasonal rounds.

NEW ECONOMIES  Europeans brought a new economy based on the production of the individual through labour for a wage = capitalism.

RESOURCE ECONOMIES  By the early 1860s, mining, forestry, and fishing had replaced the fur trade to become the backbone of BC’s settler economy.

RESOURCE INDUSTRIES  As a result, First Nations applied their traditional skills to jobs such as fishing, logging, ranching and other resource-based industries.

CAPITALISM + WAGE ECONOMY  By joining the wage economy, the First Nations people were no longer working for the good of the community but for the capitalist interests that operated these industries.

CHANGED RELATIONSHIP  This fundamentally changed the relationship between Aboriginal people and the non-Aboriginal newcomers.

WORKERS ONLY  First Nations people were no longer valued as trading partners.  They were seen only as workers in a rapidly growing labour force.

LAND AND RESOURCES TAKEN  As they became integrated into these industries, control of the land and resources was taken away from First Nations through the combined powers of the companies/ corporations and discriminatory government laws.

“FOOD FISHING”  For instance, under the Canada Fisheries Act in the 1880s, the legal category of “food fishing” was created.

“FOOD FISHING”  This law said that under their Aboriginal rights, First Nations people could use salmon resources for food and ceremony only; it forbade the sale of fish caught by First Nations people within their traditional fisheries for profit.

LOST FISHING RIGHTS  As a result, First Nations lost their traditional and customary ownership of fishing resources.

OWNERSHIP  The ownership shifted into the hands of industrial capitalist fishing firms where First Nations worked as labourers only.

CONTROL  The control of fish prices were set by these foreign companies and First Nations were, as workers, paid incredibly low wages (discrimination based on racialized identity).

APPROPRIATED RESOURCES  Without First Nations ever ceding their Aboriginal title, their resources were appropriated and their traditional way of life was made perilously difficult.

OVERVIEW: FISHING

THE BACKBONE  First Nations in BC were the backbone of the fishing industry.

THE BACKBONE  Their traditional skills were applied in the harvesting and processing of the salmon resource, but not in its management.

CANNERIES  Seasonal movement to cannery villages became an important part of the lifestyle of First Nations families.

TRADE UNION MOVEMENT  First Nations also play an important role in the labour movement within the fishing industry - the creation of Trade Unions to protect workers rights.

OVERVIEW: AGRICULTURE (HOP, FRUIT + VEGETABLE FARMS)

AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS  In the Fraser Valley and the Southern Interior of BC, agricultural interests took up most of the land base under laws established to encourage settlers.

AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS  First Nations were involved in agriculture in three ways: subsistence farming, commercial farming, and as farm labourers.

AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS  Most who tried commercial farming soon found that restricted access to land and water made success nearly impossible.

OVERVIEW: FORESTRY

FOREST INDUSTRY  In forestry, the Tsimshian people played a key role in northwestern BC.

FOREST INDUSTRY  Tsimshian women were involved in the process of handlogging: trimming the logs, making to boom, driving the boat, gathering and preparing food for the loggers.

EQUALITY  Tsimshian and other First Nations had traditionally valued both women and men as labourers and as crucial to the well-being of the family and the community.

PATRIARCHY + GENDER ROLES  However, the patriarchal structure of Euro-Canadians became internalized by many First Nations and altered gender roles.

PATRIARCHY  Patriarchy = a social system in which males hold primary power in every aspect of society; the constructed idea of the “rule of the father/man” gave authority over women and children.

GENDER ROLES  Gender roles = are cultural constructs that dictate how men and women + others should think, speak, dress, and interact within the context of society; we are socialized into appropriate masculine and feminine roles.

GAINING CONTROL  Unfortunately and predictably, as the forest industry became more mechanized/ industrialized, both Tsimshian women and men’s involvement declined.

GAINING CONTROL  Today, many First Nations are negotiating to gain control over the management of forestry and fishing resources in their traditional territories.

KEY CONCEPTS

COLONIALISM  Colonialism took economic control of the resources away from First Nations.

COLONIALISM  Joining the wage (capitalist) economy changed basic economic, social and political structures within First Nations societies.

CAPITALISM + PATRIARCHY  The wage economy had different kinds of impact on women and men - the fish canning industry was segregated by race and gender.

CAPITALISM + PATRIARCHY  First Nations women became an essential part of the workforce in salmon canneries as food processors and First Nations men became fishers among the gillnet fleets; they were workers not owners.

DIVISION OF POWER  The division of powers between the federal and provincial governments complicated the issue surrounding control of resources (the reserve system, shortage of land, and lack of capital investment).

ACTIVITIES + ASSIGNMENTS

#1 - EARNING A LIVING  Use Earning A Living (Blackline Master 7-1) to compare First Nations involvement in three industries featured in Chapter 7: salmon fishing, farming, and ranching.

#2 - FISHING FOR A LIVING  Read pages 109–113 in Chapter 7 (including the salmon canning case study) to complete the additional chart with illustrations (drawings) and descriptions to elaborate on the evolution of fishing for BC First Nations.

#3 – CASE STUDY: FARMING IN THE OKANAGAN  Read the Case Study: Farming in the Okanagan (pages 116 – 117) in Chapter 7 and answer the accompanying questions (see additional handout).

#4 – CASE STUDY: TSIMSHIAN WOMEN AND THE FOREST INDUSTRY  Read the Case Study: Tsimshian Women and the Forest Industry (pages 119 – 120) in Chapter 7 and answer the accompanying questions (see additional handout).