Canada's Indigenous People in the 1800s

As settlers spread further into the colonies, the original people of the Eastern Woodlands were pushed out of their traditional territories.  They were placed in "reserves", usually on the edges of settled land and forgotten unless the settlers wanted something from them, i.e. land or labour.  Many of the Indigenous people of Canada were forced to adapt to the European way of doing things.  

• Algonkians changed from hunting and fishing to gardening and shopping at settlement stores
• Ojibwa resisted the push into farming
• The Mohawk and other Iroquoian peoples had long been farmers and had established their own governments so were able to adapt more easily to deal with officials, merchants and speculators

Land claim disputes between the dominant government and the Indigenous peoples go back to the 1800s. By the mid 1800s, the Ojibwa of Lake Superior were battling with the government over miners who were trespassing on their land.  This occurred because the government had given several mining companies the right to explore the land in that area in 1845 and later even funded the exploration.  Even though the government found in favour of the Ojibwa, they did not stop the mining and exploration from occurring.

Settlers also pressured the First Nations of that area to sell their best land and would sometimes challenge previously signed and agreed upon treaties.  Also, the government pressured bands and communities to rent out their best land and would pay an annual fee in return for land it would sell to settlers.  Because many of the First Nations people were extremely poor it was difficult for them to hold out to such pressure.  The problem came, of course, after they had sold or rented their best land, they would not be able to farm or hunt as well as they had before.

There was tremendous pressure on the Indigenous peoples to assimilate into White society, however Elders struggled to maintain traditions and oral histories.

(From Horizons: Canada Moves West pp 57-59)

Write a paragraph answering questions 2a&b from page 59 in your textbook.