Week 2 - Origins of Canada

Norse

________ - arrived in the 10th century on Newfoundland, ages before  Columbus’ landing. During their time on Newfoundland, they had intended to settle the territory. However, they were pushed back by Indigenous communities hostile to this.

The _____ took several Beothuk or possibly Mi’kmaq hostage. In 1420, descendants of the Norse returned and took several Inuit captive in 1420. They marked this by hanging Inuit kayaks in a cathedral in a Norwegian city.

European motivations

_________ - mattered little to the Indigenous peoples, as it meant for them nonetheless dispossession of land, a range of subjugation from their diverse cultural practices and worldviews.

Europeans believed that colonizing North America would allow new forms of commerce and trade to jumpstart their stalled economies—it was a way to maintain the balance of power in Europe

At first, it was mostly men in commerce and military looking for financial gain, then immigrants came to Europe with promises of private property and new opportunities that led to subjugation and displacement of Indigenous peoples.

Exploitative colonialism/imperialism

___________ - main features was the new territories (the Americas + Caribbean) as places they could rule to generate wealth to be brought home.

To do this, they would extract as much resources as cheap as possible to maximize their profit. In the example sugar is used, where Indigenous peoples were enslaved and worked to death, slaves from West Africa became the source of colonial labour.

The transatlantic slave trade is very important in understanding colonialism in the Americas. In Canada, Indigenous peoples were moved to ports in Spain, Morocco and the Caribbean where they were sold into slavery. In the 17th and 18th century both black and Indigenous people were enslaved and played a part in Montreals commercial district—colonists both owned a home (half of all of them) also owned a slave.

Indigenous peoples were also used by settlers in Canada for kin networks and Indigenous knowledge to survive in harsh, unfamiliar lands. Indigenous peoples gave settlers medical treatments, food and otherwise assisted. They were also key allies during French-British and British-American warfare.

Fur trade

_________ - during the exploitative colonialism period was the beginning of sustained commercial relations between Indigenous peoples across the colonial landscapes.

Indigenous peoples both participated in the fur trade and adopted tools/tech from Europe. Fur traders themselves relied on Indigenous knowledge and kin networks to survive in the harsh new lands. Early European settlements in the Americas, Africa and Asia often had very high death rates.

• Indigenous peoples helped by providing medical treatments and food.

Settler colonialism

__________ - empire and nation building based on gaining land/taking it away from OG inhabitants

17th century

Settler colonialism

________ - Settler colonialism started to emerge in the ______ as valuable places for relocation and settling their own people, at a time when overpopulation was becoming a worry. By the 19th century, colonial governments became concerned with transforming Indigenous peoples into “modern subjects” AKA assimilate

gaining land

Settler colonialism

________ - Empire and nation building—settler colonialism-- was based on _______—taking it away from original inhabitants. Land development to private ownership shaped settler colonial mentality, that Indigenous peoples weren’t using the land properly and couldn’t without European intervention.

This idea framed Indigenous peoples as “savage and untameable” like animals instead of people. The ideas about private property and land use also came with means to implement it, like new rules of law. This instilled Europeans entitled to land codified in law.

First treaties

Treaties

________ - were Peace and Friendship treaties (1725-1779) located in Atlantic Canada, parts of Quebec. Southern Ontario treaties (1764-1862) followed by the number treaties- Treaty No. 1 in southern Manitoba (1871) and Treaty No. 2  in central and southern Manitoba and southeast Saskatchewan (1871).

These treaties are closer to central Canada and Atlantic Canada where settlers were mostly were historically.

The Royal Proclamation (1763)

Treaties

__________ - was also an important early treaty. Issued by England’s King George III, it recognized “the rights and lands of Indigenous groups and established the system of surrendering those rights by treaty.” It is a treaty with much relevance.

• In 2013, for example, the Indigenous rights group Idle No More invoked 1763 as a formative year in Crown and Indigenous relations.

Later treaties

Treaties

___________ - are mostly in the 1980s-2000s, with the Tsawwassen First Nation (2007) in BC, the Maa-nulth First Nation (2007) also in BC, Tlicho (2003) in the Northwest territories, and Nisga’a First Nation (2000) in BC.

These are more in the far West parts of Canada, likely not explored as much due to being on islands and with the Rockies and Arctic.

Treaties

__________ - are formalized records of negotiated agreements between parties and can exist between states or between people.

_____-making with Indigenous peoples was central to the foundation of Canada which negotiated settlements, along with assimilation policies enacted through the Indian Act.

• These were Canada’s colonization of Indigenous peoples  were strengthened -- as the dispossession of land took place not only through seizure, but also through “engaged legal processes, ones manipulated by colonizers

3 types of land acquisition

_______ - helped shape Canada’s development:

1. Early agreements, such as those between First Nations of the western plains and the Hudson’s Bay Company, were commercial compacts that, in exchange for material goods and protections, allowed Europeans to trade.

2. Formalized military alliances between Indigenous peoples and the British imperial government.

3. Territorial treaties that began to emerge in the 1760s and continued to be negotiated through the 1920s, and which were again resumed in the 1970s

1) Early agreements

Three types of land acquisition

________ - such as those between First Nations of the western plains and the Hudson’s Bay Company, were commercial compacts that, in exchange for material goods and protections, allowed Europeans to trade.

2) Formalized military alliances

Three types of land acquisition

________ - between Indigenous peoples and the British imperial government. They would fight toegther

3) Territorial treaties

Three types of land acquisition

________ - that began to emerge in the 1760s and continued to be negotiated through the 1920s, and which were again resumed in the 1970s— ended up with reserves for much of it

European view of treaties

Treaties (views)

__________ - John A. Macdonald thought the western prairies were the source of Canada’s future economic prosperity, versus other European powers in Africa and Asia.

Settling would be how to economically develop the land and allow new settlers to farm the land. A railway was also argued to settler Canada coast to coast

• Europeans viewed treaties as Indigenous peoples ceding control and ownership of the land entirely to them in exchange for reserves.

Notably the parties did not have equal power, with written evidence not entirely matching oral agreements—the written versions often narrowed the agreement’s spirit.

Indigenous views of treaties

Treaties (views)

__________ - were motivated to enter due to depleting food resources like the bison—treaties were a way to ensure future existence. Treaties also promised social assistance.

• They knew their land had material wealth with both minerals and strategic value to Canada. They thought it would mean sharing and mutual hunting and gathering.

Notably the parties did not have equal power, with written evidence not entirely matching oral agreements—the written versions often narrowed the agreement’s spirit.

Reserves

___________ - are land reserved for Indigenous peoples, being both rural settlements and also having urban settings.

They are some of the poorest places in Canada, often likened to 3rd-world slums, with life being difficult and poor living conditions.

they are also centres of political organizing, Indigenous language and resistance. For Indigenous peoples it was agreed orally, as land for them to be lived on with hunting and fishing rights elsewhere.

• In early numbered treaties, reportedly clauses related to size of reserve lands, promises of hunting rights and social assistance were left out.

• ________ were notably separated from white European settlements and cleared the way for industrial and agricultural development.

Missionaries

___________ - were the means of settler colonialists imposing their worldview on another group of people—the foot soldiers of the ‘civilizing’ process. Religion was used to convert Indigenous peoples to Christianity.

Assimilation

__________ -

Why: Europeans settlers wanted to assimilate Indigenous peoples to take and use the land for their own economic power and use natural resources. “Civilizing the Indian” would also mean they could become part of Euro-Canadian society meaning no more specialized Indigenous rights, treaties or reserves would need to be considered in the future.

How: Reserves separating Indigenous peoples from thriving, restricted land and poor land quality, as well as affecting their way of life (hunting-gathering), residential schools and missionaries imposing Christianity on them.  The Indian Act criminalized certain forms of traditional culture such as powwows, potlatches and sun dances (and more). It also disrupted traditional forms of Indigenous self-governance and self-determination.

Residential schools

__________ - were one of the Indian Act (1876) most harmful attempts at assimilating Indigenous peoples, a partnership between the Department of Indian Affairs and Christian missionary bodies.

By the early 1950s, 1/3 of all First Nations children lived at residential schools (Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, and United). The residential schools were implemented to “kill the Indian in the child”.

Children were physically reprimanded for speaking their native language, failed to provide basic academic instructions, had poor food, and physical and sexual abuse was rampant.

Indian Act (1876)

__________ - was legislation that grounded Canada’s assimilationist approach to Indigenous peoples, strengthening control over them, affecting most aspects of Indigenous life like property rights, political governance and self-determination.

• It restricted Indigenous way of life, culture and paved the way for discrimination and abuse, such as the implementation of residential schools.

Today this act is considered acts of cultural genocide.

1960s and 1970s

____________ - were when First Nation and Metis intellectuals were making links about how their world was shaped by the 19^th century, for frustration of poor standards of living—ex, no running water, electricity or proper washrooms.

Furthermore, global pushes for colonialism and modern day capitalism (resource extraction and economic development on traditional lands) conflicted with Indigenous peoples desires. Demonstrations and protests rose post WWII.

Howard Adams and Lee Maracle were two social justice advocates who highlighted similarities between Third World decolonization and the attempts of Indigenous peoples in North America to undo the colonial legacy here

Focus

______ of many Indigenous organizations and individuals - Loss of land (treaty and unceded), economic development, education rights, and cultural rights. Identity is also stressed.

1960s-2010s

___________ - specfic events here were growing global activism like the:

• World Council for Indigenous peoples and United Nations initiatives (including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)

• The James Bay Hydroelectric conflict (Indigenous communities resisting state and private business economic development)

• Grassy Narrow blockades against resource extraction

• The Oka Crisis (a protest to stop a golf course expansion on sacred Indigenous burial)

• Six Nations of the Grand River/ Caledonia Land Dispute

• The “Idle No More movement”

• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry (and LGBTQ2S+)

• The death of Tina Fontaine

• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools

Similarities of exploitative colonialism & settler colonialism

___________ - Settler colonialism is about settlers having large-scale permanent settlements and replacing Indigenous populations, while exploitative colonialism focuses on extracting the resources available for maximum capital gain using labour from inhabitants.

• Similarly, the both involve controlling another nation politically (ex the Indian Act made it so Indigenous peoples had to cede control of resources and make room for European settlers), land seizure and oppressing the native inhabitants.

Settler-colonial attitudes today

______________ - Western imperialism and settler colonialism continues to fuel racist beliefs over Indigenous self-determination and inequal treatment that came with the settler-colonial deals, like how reserves often lack adequate living conditions, a lack of true cultural understanding between Canadians and Indigenous peoples, continuing capitalism and exploitation of traditional lands and resources, as well as laws still in place that disproportionately negatively affect Indigenous peoples. It also makes modern change harder for people to make happen due to so many systemic barriers.

Strategies of Indigenous peoples

____________ - Indigenous communities continue strong movements advocating for their rights and a strong focus on demonstrations, community bonding, and continuing demands for recognition and change/pressure on governments.