North West - Mounties and First Peoples

Read pages 177-178 in your textbook: Answer these questions fully in your blog.

• What was the connection between whiskey and the fur trade?  What were the long term consequences for the Aboriginal people?  
• Imagine what would have happened if whiskey had not been part of the fur trade.  What would have been the impact for the Assiniboin people, the Mounties, and Canada?

Read pages 179-182 in your textbook. Answer the following questions fully in your blog.

• The treaties negotiated with the Cree and Saulteaux gave them a tiny piece of land compared to the 60% of Manitoba that they were asking for.  Why did the Cree and Saulteaux agree to what the Canadian government offered?  How were the Cree and Saulteaux cheated by the government?  How did the government justify this?  Imagine how the prairies would be different if the Aboriginal peoples on the prairies had been successful at farming.  What do you think might be different today?