INDG 107 Indigenous Studies

Study notese for this course.

Indian Status

• Registered or entitled to be registered as Indians under the Indian Act

• Names on the Indian register

• Can access certain programs and services that are not available to other Indigenous peoples.

• Determined by the Status of one’s parents

Treaty

• Treaties are agreements made between the Government of Canada, Indigenous groups and often provinces and territories that define ongoing rights and obligations on all sides.

• These agreements set out continuing treaty rights and benefits for each group.

• Treaty First Nations are those that have treaties with the Canadian government.

• Treaty and Status are two different things

Inuit

• Indigenous people from northern Canada 

• Legally distinct from Indians 

• Not acknowledged by the Canadian government until the 1920s

• Not covered by the Indian Act

Metis

Indigenous (Cree, Ashinabe or Dene) women + European (French or British) men = Metis (Language, clothing, Music, Food, subsistence)

First Nations around Time of Contact 

• Sioux

• Cree

• Anishinaabe or Ojibwa (often referred to also as “Saulteaux”)

• Dene

• Originated after Contact: Metis

Sioux

There are three separate groups of Siouan-speaking peoples in Saskatchewan (however, more Siouan languages exist). These are:

• Assiniboine (also known as “Nakota”)

• Dakota

• Lakota

Cree

The Cree in Saskatchewan are generally divided into three main groupings according to “dialect”

• Plains Cree

• Swampy Cree

• Woods Cree

Five Stages of Colonization

• Steady State

• First Encounter

• Imposition of Colonial Relations 

• Internalized Colonialism Decolonization

Tenets of Native Science 

• space/land 

• Constant Motion/Flux

• All things being animate and imbued with spirit 

• Relationship 

• Renewal

Space/Land

• Land is of central importance to Indigenous people

• Creation is the primary source of identity. 

• Thousands of years of close interaction

• Stories and songs, moral teachings

What shows the connection of land to identity?

• Most Indigenous groups had names that signified the area of land where they lived

Constant Motion and Flux

• Ongoing Interaction with Creation

• Humans are at nature’s will 

• Watching patterns over time

• Trickster tales show nature of change

What is an example of adapting to constant motion and flux in nature? 

Creating temporary seasonal shelters

All things being animated and imbued with spirit

• Creation is animate: everything is alive

• Animals, plants, and rocks are all sentient beings 

• All are my relations, and I have responsibilities to all 

• Relationships must be forged and maintained

Relationship

• We are in a relationship with all of creation

• Humans have responsibilities to maintain good and harmonious relationships 

• It defines each person in relation to the surrounding environment

According to these teachings, how are humans connected to animals, plants, and rocks?

They are sentient beings with relations and responsibilities

Renewal

• Creation goes through cycles, phases and patterns of decay and renewal

• The regular renewal of relationships becomes an important 

• Failing to renew a relationship may lead to its undoing 

• Ceremonies aid in renewing relationships and maintaining balance

Why are ceremonies important to renewal? 

They help to maintain harmony and balance

What is Oral Tradition?

• Information passed orally 

• Stories, songs, dances, teachings

• Oral tradition is a dynamic, living, and collective process

• Holistic

Arctic

• Temperatures: 30 to -50

• Rolling hills, plateau, tundra, rock outcroppings

• Fishing, sealing, hunting waterfowl, caribou, or small game

• Use a variety of plant species

• Small groups of extended family

Subarctic

• Land may be tundra, forest or grasslands

• Caribou are most are important resources

• Extended family group that could vary in size depending on resources

• Fish, small game, and plants

• Developed seasonal rounds to secure resources

• Large communication and trade networks

Northwest Coast 

• Abundant and tremendous variety of resources

• Lived in permanent villages with hundreds of people with dozens of families

• Extended families lived in large, cedar-planked houses

• Maintained a hierarchical society with chieftains, nobles, commoners, etc.

Plateau

• Abundant resources: rich plant and animal resources

• Fish, plants, fowl, large, and small game

• Large groups that could live in one site for an extended period

• Clusters of villages with communal ownership of land

• Village membership was highly fluid

Plains

• Forest, grasslands and river valleys

• Variability in temperatures from 30 to -30s

• Plants, small game and buffalo

• Small, politically autonomous bands

• Travel short distances on a seasonal basis

Northeast woodland 

• Large and small game, fish and fowl

• Lived in small villages with a few dozen along lakes and rivers

• Plants including wild rice and tobacco

• Trees including maple used for sugar and syrup

• Used lakes and rivers for transportation

Land

The centrality of land to Indigenous political and economic development cannot be understated

•  It was the giver of all life: it provided everything needed to survive

• Relationships and interactions with the land led to regionally unique forms of governance and political and economic ideologies developing

• The land, or specific pockets of land, became the vital reference point from which Indigenous nations would emerge

Fur Trade

• About 300 years

• Made beaver pelts

• Creation of currency (MB)

• Introduction of foreign concepts

• Introduction of foreign trade goods

• Introduction of foreign diseases (Virgin Soil Epidemics)

North America Before and After the Seven Years’ War

• English and spanish took over much more of the country

• Now very little French

Rupert’s Land (British) and Voyageur Highway (French and Freetraders)

• Large area around Hudsons Bay

Royal Proclamation of 1763

• King George III

• Wanted loyalty of Canada’s First Nations

• Guidelines for European settlement

• Acknowledged Indian title

• Lands could be taken up through a negotiated treaty with the Crown

• Crown would protect Indian lands

• Requires treaties to be made

Royal Proclamation to Treaties

1763: Royal Proclamation 

1850: Robinson Treaties

1867: British North America Act

1871: Treaty 1

1876: Indian Act 

1876: Treaty 6

1921: Treaty 11

1923: Williams Treaty

Royal Proclamation of 1763

• King George III

• Wanted loyalty of Canada’s First Nations

• Guidelines for European settlement

• Acknowledged Indian title

• Lands could be taken up through a negotiated treaty with the Crown

• Crown would protect Indian lands

• Requires treaties to be made

Pre-Confederation Treaties—1850

British North America Act–1867

• Creation of the Dominion of Canada

• Section 91(24): the federal government has exclusive authority over “Indians and Lands reserved for Indians.”

• Nation building begins