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| The First People of the Americas | ||
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Of the two main regions where sedentary societies developed, the Northwest Coast had by far the highest population because of its rich sea and rain-forest resources. In fact, it was one of the most densely settled areas in the world for non-agricultural peoples. The other region was southern Ontario, where the climate and fertile soil allowed for farming. Across Canada, more than 50 languages were spoken; these have been classified into 12 families, half of which were spoken only in British Columbia. By far the most widespread were (and still are) Cree, in the Algonkian group, and Inuktitut, an Eskaleut language of the Arctic.  The living conditions imposed by the geographical regions -- Arctic, Subarctic, Northeastern Woodlands, Great Plains, Plateau and Northwest Coast -- encouraged a variety of lifestyles. Northwest Coast society, with its secure economy, developed hierarchical chiefdoms in which chiefs, nobles and commoners were classed according to wealth and heredity. This was particularly evident among northern groups, such as the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. Outside these classes were the slaves, usually prisoners of war, but sometimes persons who had lost their status, often because of debt. In any event, they had no rights at all. The Salish to the south and in the interior, placed less emphasis on rank and wealth; however, there was much variation between groups. In general, the most elaborate ceremonial life in aboriginal Canada was found on the West coast and was closely connected with distinctive arts. These are today the most widely represented of Native art in museums anywhere. Hunting/farming peoples included the various branches of Iroquoians, as well as some Algonkian Odawa (Ottawa) of the St. Lawrence Valley and Great Lakes regions. On the eastern seaboard were the Algonkian Abenaki, "People of the Dawn", mainly in New England, but also in the St. Lawrence Valley. The best known are the Hurons and the Iroquois, both of whom formed confederacies that played important roles in early contacts with Europeans. Hurons, Iroquois and Abenaki lived in fenced villages, grew crops of corn, beans and squash sown together -- the famous "three sisters." Some of the Huron group specialized in growing tobacco. These settlements were only as permanent as local resources allowed -- when land, firewood and/or game became exhausted, the villagers moved to new locations. These relocations took place every ten to 50 years. The Hurons, at the southeast corner of Lake Huron, were seated at a north/south crossroads in the trade networks that criss-crossed Aboriginal North America. They were the leading traders of the north, exchanging agricultural products for products of the hunt. Immediately south and to the east of Lake Ontario, the Five Nations (later the Six Nations) controlled major routes from the Atlantic coast to the interior. This was destined to become an important factor in colonial politics as European settlements spread westward. All the other peoples who inhabited Canada were mobile hunters/gatherers. They had thinly spread populations with simple social organization, but possessed an intimate knowledge of the land and its resources. Like the people of the Northwest Coast, those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Atlantic Coast and the Arctic were as skilled hunters on the sea as they were on land. Whatever the pattern of their lives, and despite its simplicity in material terms, these peoples led satisfying social lives within a framework of a complex spirituality. Their worldview saw all living beings as related. Humans were part of a larger order that depended on a balance of forces to keep the universe functioning in an orderly and harmonious manner. Helping to maintain this balance by means of rituals, ceremonies and taboos was a deeply felt responsibility. Current archaeological evidence indicates the presence of humans in the Americas since at least 36,000 years ago; geology tells us that human habitation has been possible for about 50,000 years. These dates apply to the non-glaciated areas of the Americas. Because most of Canada was under ice until about 10,000 B.C., its occupation in general is more recent. However, the Yukon, which escaped glaciation, has yielded evidence of human habitation for 24,000 years, and some would push that date back to 40,000 years ago. Latest arrivals were the Inuit, who came from the west about 1000 A.D. and reached the Atlantic coast during the 15th century. The first recorded contacts between Europeans and Native North Americans occurred in the Arctic, with the arrival of the Norse about 1000 A.D. on Baffin Island and down the Atlantic coast. Two of the aboriginal peoples most likely to have been affected, Dorset and Beothuk, have since disappeared. The Arctic Dorset came before the Inuit, and were displaced by them; the Beothuk were a proto-Algonkian people inhabiting Newfoundland. Practically nothing is known about these early encounters. That the men of stone and bone held their own against the men of iron in pre-firearm days is suggested by the short stay of the Norse on continental America: the settlement they attempted in northern Newfoundland may have lasted as long as six decades. Contact continued sporadically until the 16th century, when Europeans began to exploit the North Atlantic fisheries (the term included sea mammal hunting). At the time, Inuit whaling technology was the most advanced in the world. When combined with European deep-sea ships, the result was the expansion of whaling into a world-wide industry, with Aboriginal harpooners playing a central role. Exploiting the cod fisheries involved much less contact with Native inhabitants, as apart from establishing shore stations for drying fish, the ships worked off-shore. The fur trade, which began as a side activity from fishing, called for a much closer relationship. It has been estimated that by the time actual European settlement began early in the 17th century, as many as 1,000 ships a year were fishing and trading in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the North Atlantic coast. While this activity brought benefits, it also brought misunderstandings. The Beothuk, for instance, did not develop a working relationship with Europeans; uneasy tolerance gave way to hostilities, which in turn degenerated into an open feud. The last known Beothuk died in 1829. Another people who disappeared were the St.Lawrence Iroquoians, although this time Europeans were not directly involved. Jacques Cartier, on his second voyage to Canada, 1535-1536, found farming/fishing villages scattered along the north shore of the river from the Gulf of St Lawrence to Hochelaga (Montreal). When Samuel de Champlain arrived on the scene in 1608, not one village remained. What happened may have been a continuation of events already in play before the arrival of Europeans; archaeology suggests major population shifts had occurred over the centuries. Trading networks counterbalanced nature's uneven distribution of resources. As trade could only be conducted with friends, or at the very least under the protection of a truce, much diplomatic protocol was involved. This gave great importance to alliances and treaties, based on kinship and reciprocity. Exchanges had to be evenly balanced: "I give to you that you might give to me." Rituals, often elaborate, sealed commitments. When Europeans entered into the trading system, they found they had to conform if they expected to participate. The spread of the fur trade and the Europeans' rapid penetration of the interior would not have been possible without the help of the first peoples, whose knowledge made these enterprises easier to accomplish. Inuit, Innu (Montagnais and Naskapi), Mi'kmaq and Maliseet were the first Canadian Aboriginal peoples to come into lasting relationships with Europeans. However, it was the Hurons who became the most famous of the French fur trade partners, even though their alliance was brief: it began with Champlain's visit to Huronia in 1615, and ended in 1649, when the Five Nations dispersed the northern confederacy. European trade may have helped to intensify pre-existing hostilities between the two confederacies. Amerindians also played a vital role in the colonial wars between Great Britain and France. The principal allies of the French were the Abenaki, who were the Indians in the " French and Indians " of border warfare (1757-63). Others who fought for the French were the closely related Mi'kmaq and Maliseet, as well as some Algonquins. The British were allied with the Five Nations. Two major conflicts that involved Canada were the Iroquois War and the Mi'kmaq War. The first lasted a century until peace was signed in Montreal in 1701. The Mi'kmaq War was fought off and on as a series of raids from early contact until the final defeat of the French in 1760. The last of the colonial wars was that of 1812-1814, a sort of postscript to the American War of Independence. A spin-off from these hostilities, particularly from the War of Independence, was a splitting of the Six Nations, as members divided over which side to support. Those who fought for the British, particularly the Mohawk, lost their traditional lands. They resettled in southern Ontario, on land purchased for them by the British from the Mississauga, a branch of the Ojibwa. There the League of the Six Nations reconstituted itself; today it is the largest of Canada's 607 bands. The end of the colonial wars also saw the end of active Amerindian/European partnership. Amerindian services were no longer needed for war, nor were they needed in exploration as the British were now established coast to coast. The fur trade was losing its economic dominance to lumbering and agriculture, neither of which depended upon Indian skills. In addition, European immigration had become a flood; it has been estimated that already by 1812, Amerindians in Upper Canada (Ontario) counted for only 10 % of the population. Their declining numbers, which had begun with introduced diseases from Europe, continued until well into the 20th century, giving rise to the myth of the "Vanishing Indian." The trend has now reversed, and Aboriginal nations are the most rapidly growing segment of Canada's peoples. They are now estimated at 1.2 million, 4.3 % of Canada's population. After the War of 1812, the principal concern of the Indian administration was to "civilize" the mobile hunters by settling them down as farmers. Reserving lands for Amerindians became an established part of treaty procedure in 1850; today, there are about 2,300 reserves scattered across Canada. As already seen in the case of the Six Nations, some of these were established by grant rather than by treaty, especially east of Ontario. It was during this time that the growing industrial demand for buffalo robes stepped up the exploitation of the herds on the northern plains. Besides providing the subsistence base for the plains Indians, buffalo had also become a major source of food for the northern fur trade. This was in the form of pemmican, a highly nutritious staple that was easy to transport and which kept indefinitely. The added pressures of the robe trade proved too much for the herds; by the end of the century they were a memory, and the Amerindians were starving. At about the same time whales, but particularly walruses, were also being overhunted in the Arctic, seriously affecting the Inuit food supply. The Northwest Coast fur trade, based on the sea otter and fur seal, lasted until those animals were near extinction, about the second quarter of the 19th century. The discovery of placer gold in the Fraser River in the mid-19th century created a new set of problems for Amerindians as their lands were invaded by gold seekers who were not concerned about Indian rights. Later the Klondike gold rush repeated the situation in the Yukon. Land administration continued to present problems which officials sought to solve by a series of three proclamations. The last and most important of these, issued in 1763, is today entrenched in the Canadian Constitution. Its best known provision states, in effect, that only the Crown can extinguish "Indian title." This led directly to the land cession treaties in which native groups gave up claim to large tracts of land in exchange for certain areas to be reserved solely for their use. In Ontario, these treaties began to be signed in 1764. In the West, the first was signed in Manitoba in 1871. By 1923, there were more than 50 such treaties. Where the government saw these agreements mainly as instruments for freeing lands for settlers, Amerindians saw (and still see) them as defining their relationship with the Dominion on a continuing basis. When Canada became a confederation in 1867, Indians and "lands reserved for Indians" were declared a federal responsibility. Amerindians had not been consulted about this, nor were they when the Indian Act of 1876 consolidated and revamped previous colonial legislation. Nevertheless, for the next 75 years, until 1951, the act regulated all aspects of life on reserves. The emergence of the Métis in western Canada added another factor to Aboriginal administration. The Métis, of Indian and European descent, had come to consider themselves as a "New Nation" with Aboriginal rights, a concept that had crystallized early in the 19th century in the Red River settlement where many Métis were living. The federal government, however, considered the Métis to be in the same category as whites and thus not entitled to aboriginal claims. Land rights were the key, and the issue led to confrontation on two occasions. Disputes at Red River resulted in the creation of Manitoba as a province in 1870. Later, during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, some Plains Cree, desperate over the disappearance of the buffalo herds, joined the Métis. The rebellion's suppression left the Métis in a legal limbo, from which they partially emerged when they were finally recognized as an Aboriginal people in the Constitution of 1982. However, it did not define the term "Métis." For the Cree and western Amerindians generally, the result of the troubles was generally a period of repression, during which Ottawa tried to legislate such Amerindian customs as potlatches and sun dances out of existence. A pass system restricted western Amerindians to their reserves. Although recognized, even at the time, as contrary to human rights, it was still being enforced on some (usually isolated) reserves in mid-20th century. Schooling became an important element in this crusade for assimilation. Residential and industrial schools were seen as especially effective as they separated students from their families and communities. At the same time, reserve lands were whittled away at every opportunity, sometimes by highly dubious procedures. It took the rise of anti-colonial sentiment after the Second World War to bring about a greater sensitivity to the culture and heritage of indigenous peoples. This paved the way for the "Red Power" movement, powerfully supported by the revival of Native spirituality. Over the centuries, Native relationships with white explorers and settlers have run the gamut from welcoming hosts and advisors to fishing, hunting and trading partners; from allies in battle to bitter foes. Later, as Europeans became firmly entrenched, they increasingly took on the role of regulator and caretaker of the now disbursed and disoriented first inhabitants. Today, the trend is toward partnership where Native communities look to other Canadians to assist them in returning to self-government and a viable, yet more traditional, life. The 1951 revisions to the Indian Act heralded a cautious new willingness to allow the bands more control over their own affairs. For the first time at that level, Natives had been consulted. Band spending powers were expanded, but it took seven years, until 1958, before any bands were allowed to fully control their own funds. Today, they administer more than 80% of the government's budget for its Indian and Inuit Affairs Program. In 1960, Amerindians were allowed the federal vote without losing their status under the Indian Act. The last province to grant them the vote was Quebec, in 1968. In the crucial area of education, Alberta's Blue Quills became the first Indian school in Canada to come under band control, in 1970. The last of the federally operated residential schools closed in 1988. The movement toward Amerindian control is continuing. Since 1990, for instance, the Manitoba bands have administered their own education system on reserves. Health care and some social programs are now largely band-administered. Native groups have also become increasingly vocal about environmental issues that affect their lands. A major breakthrough was the amendment to the Indian Act known as Bill C-31, passed in 1985. This allowed Amerindian women married to non-Indians to keep their status and to pass it on to their children. Regained status has not, however, ensured that the women are always accepted back on reserves, which are under band control. Alberta has the lowest rate of acceptance. In a 1969 White Paper, the federal government proposed the repeal of the Indian Act. This would have removed the legal distinction between status and non-status Indians, as well as other Canadians. This aroused such a storm of protest from the Indians that it was dropped in 1971. As matters now stand, the legal position of Indians is determined by the Indian Act, the Constitution, and the treaties. Today, land claims are being settled and self-government agreements are being worked out at an accelerating rate. The James Bay Agreement (the term "treaty" is no longer used) set the pace for land claims, and the Cree-Naskapi Act of Quebec, 1984, became Canada's first legislation for Indian self-government. Details are being worked out for the huge Nunavut territory in the eastern Arctic to become self-governing by the end of the century. Nunavut comprises one fifth of Canada's land area. These processes are not without their difficulties, as the "Indian Summer" of 1990 at Oka and the still unsettled 50-year Lubicon land dispute in northern Alberta illustrate. Ovide Mercredi, Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, believes that agreements should be negotiated with chiefs from coast to coast working together on a national scale. Many of the chiefs are not in accord; they prefer a regional approach, such as that taken by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which already has a preliminary self-government agreement for that province. The one certain thing in this developing process is that Canada's Aboriginal peoples will have a much higher profile in the nation's affairs in the future than has been the case since Confederation. The goals of self-determination and renewal of communal identity are challenging ones for Native people who live in a modern world where remarkable changes have transpired in technology, environment and culture. Successfully adapting what they can use to their benefit, while nurturing those traditions that they hold dear will undoubtedly play a part in achieving these goals. (As this article dates back to 1997, some of the most recent developments are not reflected in here) |
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