This document provides an overview of the history and cultures of Indigenous peoples in Canada, including their origins, main groups, geographic settlements, and interactions with European settlers. It describes the three main Indigenous groups (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) and the six geographic regions they inhabited. It then focuses on the arrival of European explorers like Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain, their establishment of the fur trade, and the impacts of colonization, including disease, Christianity, and laws like the Indian Act that shaped Indigenous lives in Canada.

1. ]
First Nations, Metis, and
Inuit

2. • We know that the first
Aboriginals crossed into
Canada approximately
30,000 years ago.
• At that time the Bering
Strait was frozen.
• They crossed from
(what is today) Asia
over into Alaska,
following herds of
animals.

3. Three Main Groups
In Canada there are three
Aboriginal groups:
1) First Nations
2) Métis
3) Inuit
• Each one of these
groups is comprised of
many smaller groups,
such as Iroquois,
Algonquin, etc.

4. Part 1 – Early First Nations: The Six Main
Geographical Groups
• Before the arrival of Europeans, First Nations in
what is now Canada were able to satisfy all of
their material and spiritual needs through the
resources of the natural world around them.
• For the purposes of studying traditional First
Nations cultures, historians have therefore
tended to group First Nations in Canada
according to the six main geographic areas of
the country as it exists today. Within each of
these six areas, First Nations had very similar
cultures, largely shaped by a common
environment.

5. Six Groups
• Woodland First
Nations
• Iroquoian First
Nations
• Plains First Nations
• Plateau First Nations
• Pacific Coast First
Nations
• First Nations of the
Mackenzie and Yukon
Basins

6. Similarities
• Many of these groups
shared certain
similarities:
• They used plants for
medicinal purposes
• They traded (bartered),
they did not use money
• They believed in spirits
and their religion was
very nature oriented,
the spiritual guide was
called Shaman.

7. Oral Traditions/Transportation
• They did not write, instead they passed on their
traditions through symbols and stories.
• They had several methods of transportation:
• Canoes
• Kayaks
• Toboggans
• Snowshoes

8. The Iroquois
• Lived in the St-
Lawrence Lowlands
• were farmers
• Matriarchal form
government
• Sedentary
• Their villages were
often centered around
longhouses.
• Corn, squash and beans
were staples in their
diet.

9. The Algonquin
• Lived in the Canadian Shield
(eastern and central
Canada)
• Hunters and gatherers
• Patriarchal
• They were nomadic and
lived in wigwams
• They traveled by canoe and
snowshoes and toboggans
in the winter.

10. Jacques Cartier
• He was a French
explorer.
• He made three voyages
to Canada in:
1) 1534
2) 1535
3) 1541
• His voyages were
commissioned by the
King of France.

11. The 3 Main Reasons for Exploration
1) find an alternate route to China
2) bring back gold, silk and other riches
3) claim land for the King of France Cartier’s three
visits to N.A.
• In his first voyage to North America Cartier claimed
land in the name of the king and reported an
abundance of fish, timber and furs (the Natives and
French traded furs for trinkets)
*Class Discussion*
Do you think Cartier/King Henry II had a right to
claim the land as France’s?

12. The Second Voyage
• The second voyage brought more French men into
North America Four ships sailed into the Native
villages of Stradacona (Quebec City) and Hochelaga
(Montreal).
• The Natives showed the French how to survive the
harsh winters.
• The French returned to France, bringing several
Native people with them.

13. The Third Visit
• The purpose of Cartier’s third voyage was to setup a
colony in the Stradacona area.
• With him came Missionaries who wanted to convert
the natives to Christianity.
• France lost interest in the settlement after only a
year and it was abandoned.

14. The meeting of two cultures
*Class Discussion*
What do you think happened when the French and
Natives began to interact?
Was it positive/Negative?

15. The Europeans
• They learned how to survive in the wilderness, as
well as the cold of the winter and the possibility of
scurvy.
• They learned how to make clothing out of leather,
travel in the winter and use medicinal plants.
• They learned of new foods, such as maple syrup and
pumpkin.

16. The Natives: Positives
• They learned of new foods, salt and bread.
• The Europeans introduced them to woolen
cloth.
• They were also brought iron weapons, which
they became increasingly dependent on.

17. The Natives: Negatives
• The Europeans introduced them to alcohol,
which had a tremendous effect on the
Natives.
• They brought diseases, like small pox,
influenza and measles, which killed
thousands.
• The fur trade changed the Native’s ways of
living.
• The French tried to impose Christianity on
them.

18. Samuel de Champlain
• He was the next French explorer to travel to N.A. in
hopes of setting up a colony.
• Before 1600, Europeans continued to use Canada as
a fishing site, staying for the summer and bringing
back the goods before the cold would set in.
• In 1608, Champlain made his voyage to setup the fur
trade along the St-Lawrence.

19. The Fur trade in New France
• Trade monopolies were granted to
entrepreneurs, under the condition that they see
to the evangelization of the Aboriginal people.
• The Fur trade brought alliances between the
French and Aboriginal groups, the Hurons and
Algonquians. The Iroquois allied with the Dutch
and English.

20. The Hudson Bay
• Two main companies controlled the early fur trade economy: the
Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company.
• The Hudson's Bay Company was incorporated under a Royal Charter in
1670; and the North West Company was an independent company
based out of Montreal.
• Initially the Fur Trade was mutually beneficial. The Europeans depended
upon Indian and Métis knowledge of the land and their labour; and
provided manufactured goods to them. The result was balanced trade
relations.
• The Métis had a good command of European and Indian languages and
became intermediaries in the fur trade economy.
• The fur trade brought many changes:
• Diseases such as small pox, tuberculosis and measles;
• Missionaries brought Christianity; and
• Many Indian and Métis people were faced with starvation due to over-hunting
and trapping.

21. The Royal Proclamation Act
• The Royal Proclamation of 1763 established
British protection over unsettled land belonging
to Indian tribes and recognized Indian title to
lands not already colonized. Métis people were
not recognized.
• The Proclamation is considered to be one of the
strongest guarantees of First Nations' land
rights. Pre-existing land ownership was
acknowledged and is a very important legal
concept today.

22. The British North American
Act
• The British North America Act (BNA Act),
Canada's original constitution, was the charter to
Confederation in 1867.
• Section 91(24) of the BNA Act established
Federal jurisdiction over "Indians, and lands
reserved for the Indians". The federal
government implemented their responsibility
through the Indian Act.
• Once again, the Métis people were not
recognized.

23. The Treatises
• There are eleven Numbered Treaties signed between the Crown and
First Nations from 1871 to 1921. There are six numbered Treaties in
Saskatchewan. (Treaty 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10) signed between 1871 - 1906
(Adhesions signed later). NOTE: No First Nation from Treaty 2 lives in
Saskatchewan.
• First Nations people maintain that promises made during negotiations
were binding, even those that did not appear in the text of the Treaty.
Treaty Commissioners made some promises that were not incorporated
into the written Treaty.
• Sacred Pipe ceremonies at the beginning of negotiations were
statements of faith by the Indian people. Government participation in
these ceremonies was taken as acceptance of the significance of this
practice.
• Indian people believe that the Treaties are binding agreements that are
to last forever.
• Present day interpretation of the Treaties continues to be defined by the
courts and more recently, at treaty tables established between Canada
and First Nations.

24. Consequences of these alliances
• The fur trade caused many battles between
Europeans and their Native allies.
• It eventually led to the extinction of the Huron
people by the Iroquois.
*Class Discussion*
Do you think the arrival and colonization by the
Europeans can be blamed for the extinction of the
Huron people?

25. The Indian Act
• The Indian Act was legislation which created
sharp distinctions between Indian and Métis
people. Métis people are not recognized under
this legislation.
• The Indian Act was legislation which allowed for
the administration of almost every aspect of an
Indian person's life.
• Throughout its history, the Indian Act had three
main principles:
• to civilize Indian people;
• to manage Indian people and their lands; and
• to define who was and was not an Indian.

26. Reserves
• The more pressure there was for settlement of Western
Canada, the more the government pressured Indian
people to settle on Reserves.
• Reserve clusters were kept far enough apart to
discourage Bands from forming alliances against the
government.
• Indian Agents and Farm Instructors were sent to
Reserves. Life on the Reserves centred around them --
they lived on Reserves and made all decisions:
• they provided family and marriage counselling;
• they married and buried people;
• they kept law and order;
• they did the work of the public health nurse;
• sometimes they filled in as the teacher.

27. The Pass System
• The Pass System was instituted during the Northwest
Resistance years. It was to be a temporary measure
during the events of 1885 to control and monitor Indian
people and keep them from joining the Resistance.
• Indian people were restricted to their Reserves. If they
wanted to leave, they had to get permission from the
Indian Agent. An Indian person who was absent from the
Reserve without a Pass was classified as a criminal.
• Neither the Indian Act nor any other Federal legislation
empowered the Department to institute such a system.
• The Pass system was still in use in the Treaty 4, 5 and 7
areas as late as the mid 1930's. It was removed from the
Indian Act in 1951.

28. The Permit System
• The Department of Indian Affairs had control over the
financial transactions of Indian people. Sales and
purchase transactions were strictly monitored under the
Permit system.
• Indian people needed a permit to:
• sell cattle and grain;
• sell a load of hay, firewood, lime, charcoal;
• sell produce grown on the Reserve; and
• buy groceries or clothes
• As Bands began to adopt elected forms of governments
in the 1950's and 60's they began to acquire more
authority and eventually superseded the Indian Agent.
• The Permit system gradually disappeared. However, it
remained in the Indian Act until 1995.

29. The Residential Schools
The objectives were:
• to Christianize; to teach the 3 R's; and to develop children
into farmers and housekeepers.
• The use of Indian languages in school was prohibited;
children were punished severely for speaking their
language, even if they knew no English.
• Many children died as a result of health conditions at the
schools.
• Many other children ran away from school; upon their
return they were severely punished.
• Many encountered sexual abuse by people in authority.
• Many suffered severe psychological harm as their identity
as an Indian person was attacked.
• Many lost their knowledge of traditional parenting
practices.

30. The White Paper
• In 1969, Jean Chretien, then (Minister of Indian Affairs)
announced a new policy called "Statement of the
Government of Canada on Indian Policy”.
The policy consisted of three main principles:
• to eliminate Treaty rights; to transfer responsibility for
Indian people to the provinces; to eliminate the
Department of Indian Affairs and the Indian Act.
• Negative reaction from Indian communities was strong
and the White Paper was retracted.
• There was a change in Indian-government relations:
Indian organizations became stronger and began to play
a more active role in negotiations with government.
Indian people also began to play a more significant role
in managing their own affairs.