Chapter 4

1. Chapter 4 Aboriginal Peoples In The New Country Of Canada

2. What They Ate: • The Aboriginals ate food called Pemmican. • Pemmican is food made by dried bison meat and fruit or berries that were dried as well. • They ate bison, the women would cut the skin and dried the meat of the bison. • Today we brought some dried fruit. We brought dried mango and apricot. • We will pass it out later.

3. Important Meeting • On September 24, 1907 a very important meeting was at St Peter’s reserve near Selkirk, Manitoba. • The Canadian government was giving $90 to any landowner who would sell his land and transfer to a new place. • The owners were voting for the governments offer, but the meeting did not go smoothly.

4. (Continued) • Government officials that attended only spoke English. • Many of the voters spoke only Cree or Ojibwa. • Even though there was a translator not everyone could hear or understand what was being said.

5. The Vote • When the government officials counted the vote, they said 107 owners wanted to sell their land. • 97 did not want to sell their land. • An ex-chief named William Asham did not agree. • He thought the vote was unfair. • The government bought the land anyway.

6. The Treaty • The People of Selkirk lived on the reserve since 1871. • They signed a treaty in 1871 called Treaty One. • Treaties were meant to move First Nations to reserves.

7. Treaty One This is a picture of the Treaty called Treaty One

8. The People Of St Peter’s • The people of St Peter’s settled in well. • By 1907, the people there were growing crops on hundreds of hectares of fine farmland. • In spite of this, they lost their land. • The St Peter’s residents were moved to a new reserve that’s now named Peguis that was 200 km away.

9. (Continued) • When they arrived at the reserve, all they found was swampy, rocky land that was not good for farming. • The St Peter’s people were not the only ones whose lives changed so much in a short time. • In the 1850’s, about 35 000 First Nations and Métis peoples lived in the West. • For many of them, their troubles began in 1857.

10. Palliser And His Team • In 1857, the British government hired an Irish explorer named John Palliser to survey the Canadian West. • In the days before the railroad, crossing the West was difficult and dangerous. • Palliser and his team travelled West of Lake Superior along old fur trade routes.

11. (Continued) • They crossed Prairies and found passes through the Rocky Mountains. • They ended their journey three years later in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. • During that time they met many Aboriginal Peoples and Palliser found that much of the Prairies were ideal for farming.

12. (Continued) • Palliser learned that people had been living in the big stretch of land between Red River and British Columbia for a very long time. • He also found out that there were minerals in the West. • Palliser’s trip paved the way for people to come in the West.

13. (Continued) • In 1872, Parliament passed the Dominion Lands Act. • This act was meant to bring people to the west by giving land to settlers for a low price. • In a few years a trickle of people became a flood of people. • These people call themselves homesteaders.

14. The CPR • Many Aboriginal peoples moved farther west as the homesteaders arrived. • In 1880’s, the new Canadian Pacific Railway crossed thousands of kilometres of Aboriginal land. • It carried even greater numbers of people westward.

15. The Problems For The Aboriginal Peoples • Homesteaders and the railroad. • Fashions had changed in the middle of the 1800’s. • The fur trade was coming to the end. • Animals had been overhunted. • Fur farms, where animals valued for their pelts were raised, began to appear.

16. (Continued) • As the fur trade dropped off, a way of life for thousands of Métis and First Nations peoples also. • The worst problem was that most bison herds disappeared too because of overhunting. The Aboriginals of the Prairies needed Bison to live.

17. Competing • As they competed for fewer and fewer resources, fighting even broke out among Blackfoot, Cree, Assiniboine and Métis. • This was a hard time for the Aboriginal peoples. • They had to find ways to get used to the changes in their lives.

18. What a treaty does • What a treaty does: • Nations make treaties to trade goods, • Settle differences, • End wars, • Also to decide land ownership.

19. Making Treaties • Aboriginals had been making treaties with one another for centuries before the Europeans arrived. • One treaty led to the creation of the Iroquois Confederacy. • Following the Seven Year’s War, King George set out a plan for organizing Britain’s new lands.

20. (Continued) • The Royal Proclamation of 1763 said the large parts of the west would be reserved for the aboriginal peoples. • The proclamation became the basis for treaties between Britain and the first nations in its North Americans territories.

21. (Continued) • After the Canadian government bought Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company, thousands of people went to the region. • The Aboriginal peoples who already lived there worried they would lose everything to the new settlers. • Some thought that treaties with the Canadian government would protect some of their land.

22. (Continued) • Canada’s government was interested in the West as well. • It wanted to build many things: • Both of the Prime Ministers, John A MacDonald and Alexander Mackenzie wanted to bargain with the Aboriginals. • They both did not like the United States government.

23. (Continued) • The Americans had the army force Aboriginal peoples from their land. • Between 1871 and 1921, the government of Canada signed eleven treaties with the Aboriginal peoples of the West. • These are called the number treaties. • Seven of them were made in the 1870s. • Through these treaties the government agreed to provide:

24. (Continued) • First Nations land reserves, services, supplies. • In return, the First Nations would sign over lots of their lands to the government. • To the Aboriginal people the idea that people could buy and own the land was very strange. • They saw themselves as caretakers rather

25. (Continued) then the owners of the land. • The people of European background relieved that the land could be bought and sold.

26. What Some TreatiesDid • This difference led to misunderstanding when treaties were made. • Many Aboriginals thought their traditional hunting grounds were theirs to use after signing treaties but the Canadian government didn’t think so. • Treaties were often unfair. • Aboriginal peoples gave up huge territories for smaller reserves.

27. Things That Happened Because Of Treaties • First Nations, mostly the Cree didn’t sign treaties at first. • When they knew treaties were happening the treaties were happening anyway. • They asked for schools for their children, farm supplies, and equipment.

28. Ojibwa People • Ojibwa people tried to find work in the railway, telegraphic, and mining industries. • All of them did what they could to go with a changing life without letting their traditions go. • The Canadian government wanted the country to develop and grow.

29. (Continued) • It was slow to keep it’s end of the bargain. • Sometimes it did not keep it at all. • Expanding was the major concern of the government. • Justice for Aboriginal peoples was not.

30. Treaty 6 • Treaty 6 was one of the most important of the number treaties. • Treaty 6 changed the lives of many First Nations. • It came at a time of great hardship for these Nations. • Disease and hunger were a risk to survival. • Canada’s Negotiator, Alexander Morris, wrote the Aboriginal peoples the “future of their children”.

31. Treaty 6 • When the First Nations signed the treaties in 1876, they did so carefully. • First Nations gave up a huge part of land in Alberta and Saskatchewan. • Later, they gave up parts of Manitoba. • First Nations got reserves with one half of a square km of a land for each person. • They also promised farming supplies and yearly help of $5 a person.

32. Treaty 6 • It also promised a medicine chest would be kept on each reserve to fight sicknesses and diseases. • Some Cree including those who were led by chiefs, Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Pound maker), and Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear) refused to sign the treaty. • Their suffering forced nearly all the Cree to sign.

33. Quotes By Big Bear and Pound maker and Treaty 6: • “We want none of the Queen’s presence” Big Bear said to the Canadian negotiators. • “This is our land, it is not a piece of pemmican to be cut off, and given in little pieces back to us” Poundmaker said. • They hoped, under the treaty, the government would give them the resources they needed and life would improve. • For, most it did not.

34. Big Bear (1825-1888): • Big Bear was a Cree chief. • He was one of the last ones to sign the treaties with the Canadian government. • He was the wisest and most noble leader of his people. • Big Bear was sure his people would get food if he signed a treaty with the government. • After his followers were defeated, he was arrested but he always wanted peace. He was in jail for 2 years. • His health was ruined. One year after he died.

35. Poundmaker (1842-1886): • Poundmaker was an important Cree chief. • Some worries on Poundmaker’s reserve disagreed with him. • When there was a fight in 1885, Poundmaker did not join them. • He tried to make peace with Louis Riel in General Middleton. • He was sent to prison for 3 years. He died 4 months after being released.

36. Reserves • First Nations people signed number treaties out of desperation. • Their traditional way of life was dyeing. • While that was happening, Europeans settled in the West. • The bison herds were nearly gone. • First Nations, across the West hoped for better life after the treaties were made. • First Nations handed over huge pieces of land to the government.

37. Reserves • Under Treaty 6 they gave up more than 300 000 square km of land. • Treaty 8 was signed 1899 and involved nearly 850 000 square km. • That area was larger than the country of France. • The First Nations were given small reserves of land. • It was about half a square km per person. • The government wanted the First Nations to be farmers. • There were reasons that farming on reserves were proved to be hard. • The First Nations never farmed before. • The farms that families were given were too small.

38. Reserves • The land was often rocky and dry. • The government was often late giving equipment, seeds, supplies, and animals. • The government wanted to build railways and roads on their land. • The government tried to convince the First Nations to sell their reserves. • People on the reserves were poor they gave in the pressure to sell. • Other people were forced to give up their land. • In ways Canada’s federal and provincial governments that was Aboriginal people’s democracy. • People who lived on reserves were not allowed to vote.

39. Reserves • In the West, the government created the pass system. • First Nations needed permission from the government officials if they wanted to leave their reserves. • This system only lasted until the 1940s. • The status Indians were not allowed to vote in elections until 1960. • People who worked for fair treatment were often treated as dangerous troublemakers by the authorities. • There have been disputes about the reserve boundaries. • These disputes have led to specific land claims. • A land claim is a legal process. • In the claim Aboriginals and the government tried to agree who would control other pieces of land.

40. Reserves • In some instance it had taken many years for the government to settle these disputes. • One case involved Ontario’s Manitoulin Island with nearly 130 years to settle. • There are more then 2 400 served in Canada. • 500 000 people lived on the reserves. • That is half of the Aboriginal pop. in Canada. • A lot of these reserves were created by the treaties. • The treaties were signed in late 19 and 20th century. • Canadians think Aboriginal people could give up their traditions and reserves. • However, this would be like asking non Aboriginal Canadians to give up their homes and traditions.

41. What Reserves Meant To the First Nations: • For First Nations the reserves are more then just homes, they are communities. • There, people could live by their traditions. • There, they would have control over the ways they lived and the ways they earned their living.

42. The Disappearance Of The Bison • For thousands of years bison grazed on the Prairies. • These animals were hunted by First Nations. • Later they were hunted by the Métis. • The Cree relied on the bison for food. • In the late 19 century some bison roamed the prairies. • People with rifles killed most of them. • They killed them with poisoned bait. • When this happened they couldn't eat the meat. • As the bison herds disappeared famine gripped entire first nations. • Some ate Some ate Prairie dogs. • Some ate rodents.

43. (Continued) • Famine was a reason for First nations to sign treaties. • By 1900 there were only 400 - 500 bison left. • Over the past 100 years no one saw bison anymore.

44. The North West Resistance • History repeats itself a famous saying goes. • At first, the North West Resistance seemed like it would be like the Red River Resistance. • It absolutely must have seemed that way to John A MacDonald. • Louis Riel was back as leader of the Métis. • In Batoche present day Saskatoon he formed a provincial government. • Just like what he did at Red River in 1870. • Again, Riel demanded that the Canadian government deal with the Métis.

45. Origins of the Northwest Resistance • By the 1880s, the Cree, Blackfoot, and the other people who were living on the Prairies fell on the hardest time they have ever done. • The bison herds were almost gone. • Many Plains people turned to farming. • However, bad weather led to years of crop failure. • The First Nations people lived on the edge of starvation, but the Canadian helped them. • John A MacDonald’s government took advantage of the situation by forcing the First Nations to sign the treaties which were unfair. • The Métis of the Saskatchewan River valley, had come from Red River.

46. (Continued) • As the railway moved closer, the Métis feared losing their farms to the Newcomers. • For years, the Canadian government would not agree to the Métis land claims. • The Métis turned to their former leader, Louis Riel, for help.

47. Louis Riel Returns • Following the Red River Resistance, Louis Riel lived in different places in Canada and the U.S. • He moved to Montana in 1870 and married and had children. • He became a school teacher. • It seemed as if he was settling to a normal life. • In 1874, a group of Métis that were led by Gabriel Dumont, asked Riel to return to Canada. • They wanted him to lead them instead. • The group hoped Riel could at Batoche what he had done at Red River 15 years earlier. • Riel had reached an agreement with the Canadian government that protected the rights of the Métis.

48. (Continued) • In March of 1885, Riel set up a provisional government at Batoche. • He demanded that the Canadian government agree with the Métis. • However, they never talked with the Métis. • Later that month, an armed force of the Métis that was led by Dumont defeated a force of the NWMP at Duck Lake. • Much had changed since 1870. • Even Riel was different. • He now believed he had been selected by God to lead the Métis. • He lost the support of the church for his beliefs.

49. (Continued) • He even tried to make an alliance with the First Nations. • But they backed away. • They did not share his beliefs. • Also, many of them signed treaties with the government that they did not want to break. • Some Métis did not want to join him. • They had feared the power of the Canadian government. • Riel had been away for years. • He did not know how quickly the Canadian government could send soldiers to the West.

50. The Soldiers Arrive • In 1870, it had taken 4 months for troops to travel from Ottawa to Fort Garry. • Now, there was a transcontinental railway. • The government was able to send 3000 troops to the Prairies in 4 weeks or less. • Some had come from as far away as Quebec and Halifax. • Less then a month after the battle at Duck Lake, a huge force of Canadian troops were ready to strike at Riel and his followers. • A British officer was the force’s leader. • His name was Major General Frederick Middleton. • He had a simple plan.