Changing Way of Life

The ways of life of the aboriginal peoples changed over the last 500 years as a result of their relationship with the Europeans (primarily the French and British). The relationship moved through three main stages:

3 Stages First Contact: a period of mutual interest and alliances, during which the joining of the cultures gave birth to the Metis Nation The colonial shift: a period of great change in the ways of life of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples, in which the British and then the Canadian nation attempted to colonize, assimilate, and marginalize Aboriginal peoples

The Aboriginal cultural renewal: The period we are experiencing today, in which an Aboriginal resurgence has led to changes in government policies and attitudes that have in turn encouraged a rejuvenation of Aboriginal culture and identity

Experience during Contact

Eastern Contact About 1000 years ago, the Norse Vikings were most likely the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Canada 500 years late the English, Basque, French, Portuguese and others began coming regularly to fish After meeting the Europeans, the First Nations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence region engaged with them in some minimal trading French moved down the St. Lawrence further inland and traded with the First Nations and they respected each other’s cultures

Also early examples of European brutality and a sense of entitlement Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real reached Newfoundland in 1501 and shipped dozens of Inuit to Europe to be sold as slaves French explorer Jacques Cartier arrived on the lands of the St. Lawrence River Iroquoians in 1534, he erected a Christian cross and claimed the lands for France Military alliances became common between Europeans and First Nations The fur trade defined the relationship between the French and British and the First Nations (1600s to 1800s) Fur trade was focused on beaver pelts

Northern Contact Not until 1670 that some Inuit began to have occasional contact with the British British formed the Hudson’s Bay Company and the company’s traders set up posts on the shores of Hudson Bay, where Inuit came to trade furs such as wolverine and arctic fox 1700s European and American whaling ships began hunting in Artic waters. Inuit came aboard the ships to help in exchange for metal cooking utensils, weapons and ammunition. The whalers were very dependent on the Inuit for their expertise These encounters brought changes. In the 1800s population in the western artic declined by 90 percent as Inuit died from new diseases brought by foreign whalers

Western Interior Contact In 1700s French and British fur trading companies began to expand their fur trading further west into Canada Many First Nations encountered European traders for the first time, and many moved or changed their hunting routes to bring them closer to fur traders By the 1800s, there were Metis settlements near many western trading posts Most Metis were entrepreneurs, independent traders, guides, labourers, clerks, interpreters, or farmers growing grain and raising livestock

West Coast Contact On the west coast, First Nations such as the Nuu-chah-nulth and Haida had been hunting sea otters for their pelts for thousands of years Explorers from Russia and Spain did not arrive on the Pacific Coast until the late 1700s European and American traders arrived repeatedly on the Pacific coast, and then, in the 1800s, also moved into coastal interior For decades, coastal first nations traded sea otter for metal goods