1. History of First Nations:
Newcomer Relations

2. First Encounters: Military and Commercial Alliances
First Contact to 1763

3. Indigenous peoples occupied North America for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
VIDEO:
portal.com/academy/lesson/native- american-history-origin-of-tribes- and-cultures.html
Education Portal: Native American History: Origins of Early People in the Americas

4. European Colonial Settlement & the Fur Trade
1500s: Europeans return
Competing colonies: French & British dominant powers
1600s: settlement on large scale

5. Euro-First Nations Commercial Alliances

6. French & British fur traders follow routes inland.
Network of forts and posts.
Fur traded for European goods.

7. 16th and 17th centuries: profitable fur trade leads to violent clashes
First Nations groups’ competition led to warfare

8. 1701 France & 40 First Nations sign the “Great Peace” treaty
Haudenosaunee sell the lands of the Great Lakes to the British for protection and continued hunting & fishing rights.
Haudenosaunee attain peace with French and secure British protection

9. Military Alliances
Conflict between British & French transforms commercial partnerships with First Nations into military alliances.

10. The Seven Years' War (1756–1763)
Final French–British conflict in North America.
British create Indian Department (1755) for alliance with First Nations.
British victory = 150 year old alliances are realigned.
British – First Nations treaties for peace.

11. The Royal Proclamation of 1763
Success of colonies depended on stable peace with First Nations.
Firm western boundary for colonies.
“Indian Territories” = no settlement or trade without permission.
Only Crown could purchase land.
First public recognition of First Nations’ rights to lands and title.

12. The Royal Proclamation of 1763
VIDEO:

13. A Changing Relationship – From Allies to Wards

14. 1783: end of the American War of Independence
Loyalists refugees to British North America
First Nations military allies also refugees
“Reserves” of land arranged

15. War of 1812: First Nations fought with British and colonists.
British still relied on First Nation warriors for the colony’s defence.
War of 1812: First Nations fought with British and colonists.
VIDEO:

16. New immigrants continue to arrive.
Immigration to Canada
New immigrants continue to arrive.

17. Land surrenders had to increase to provide farm lands.

18. Changing Relationship
After War of 1812 – First Nations no longer viewed as vital for defence.
Land holds viewed as blocking growth.
British began to see them as dependents, rather than allies.
Changing Relationship

19. 1830s: only pockets of First Nations’ lands in Upper Canada
They lost access to hunting grounds.

20. Robinson-Huron & Robinson-Superior Treaties
Minerals discovered.
First Nations’ lands to the Crown for reserves, annuities and continued right to hunt and fish on Crown lands.
Template for future agreements in the West.

21. The Hudson’s Bay Company

22. Trading since 1670 ( the Company of Adventures).
Trade alliance with the Cree who acted as intermediaries b/n the Company and the Interior groups.
Fall of New France – French traders went out to trade & collect furs themselves.
HBC adopted rival’s tactics and abandoned the use of First Nation middlemen.
1821: the Company of Adventurers and the Northwest Company merged into the Hudson’s Bay Company

23. Effects of the fur trade on First Nations
Radically transformed Indigenous economies.
HBC’s demand for bison pelts & pemmican transformed the buffalo hunt from one of subsistence to commercial exploitation.
Traders hired First Nations men as labourers and porters.
First Nations became dependent on European goods.

24. Effects of the fur trade on First Nations
Increased contact between First Nations, traders, and settlers.
Easy access to alcohol.
Intermarriage = new and distinct Aboriginal group – the Metis

25. Legislated Assimilation – Development of the Indian Act

26. “Civilizing the Indian”
“The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are.”
Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, by Frank L. Baum
“Civilizing the Indian”

27. “Civilizing the Indian”
Aboriginals no longer viewed as military partners.
British saw themselves as superior
Duty to bring Christianity and agriculture to First Nations.
Indian Department policies intended to “civilize” through assimilation.

28. Indian Legislation 1839: Crown Lands Protection Act
Government guardian of Indian Reserve lands.
1850:
Limited trespassing & encroachment on reserve lands.
Defined “Indian”
Exempted First Nations from taxation.
1857: Gradual Civilization Act
Offered 50 acres of land & money to literate and debt-free First Nation individuals if they abandoned their traditional lifestyle and became a “civilized” citizen.
1860: Indian Land Act
Transferred authority for Indian affairs from the British crown to the colonies.

29. The Numbered Treaties First Nations’ Motivations:
: 11 land surrender treaties
Reserve lands (agricultural), annuities, hunting & fishing rights, schools & teachers, farming, hunting, fishing equipment.
Adapt to life without the buffalo hunt.
First Nations’ Motivations:
Time of great change in their communities.
Disease epidemics and famine
Buffalo herds nearing extinction
HBC moved operations north.

30. The Indian Act - 1876 Greater authority to Dept. of Indian Affairs
Could now intervene in internal band issues
Crown is a “guardian” to First Nations people
Many amendments – became very restrictive (created new system of band governance, pushed for abandonment of traditional lifestyle, banned spiritual and religious ceremonies, forbid fundraising for land claims)

31. Indian Education and Reform School
1883: Residential schools primary vehicle for “civilization” and “assimilation”
Same manner and subjects as Canadian children
Children forced to abandon traditional languages, dress, religion and lifestyle.
132 schools run by Catholic, United, Anglican and Presbyterian churches with the federal government
children from

32. New Perspectives – First Nations in Canadian Society

33. Many First Nations served in WWI, WWII, and Korean War
Late 1940s: provincially based organizations – desire for equality while maintaining cultural heritage.

34. Rolling Back Paternalism
: joint committee – reviewed policies and management of Indian affairs
1950: ban on traditional ceremonies and fund raising repealed; bands given more control ; national pension benefits and health and welfare benefits extended to First Nations
Government still had extensive power over First Nations

35. The White Paper 1969 Proposed:
“special status” of Aboriginals = a disadvantage.
all Canadians held same rights
Aboriginals should be fully integrated
repeal of Indian Act, end of special status, end to treaties
First Nations rejected the White Paper
Indian Act paternalistic, but also
protected special Aboriginal status
Resulted in new Aboriginal nationalism