A Primer on the Relationship Between Canada and the First Nations

 The history of this land prior to the arrival of the European whites has been described as the pre-contact era.

1. The first inhabitants of any land are described as indigenous people, meaning native to the land. Within the last 50 years or so, the indigenous people of the land we now call Canada understood themselves as nations, hence First Nations, as they were here first. They are believed to have been here from as little as 10,000 to as much as 40,000 years ago.
2. The indigenous nations had their own languages and cultures, although they shared some concepts and understanding of life and and the universe. They were well adapted to the lands that they inhabited as they were at the time. They were able to live self – sufficiently off fishing, hunting, gathering, and in some places, even the result of agriculture. They had their own political systems with leaders and councils, their own laws and their own beliefs, systems, or religion. They had their own economic frameworks with trading networks and even treaties amongst themselves. 
3. The indigenous nations believed that they had been given this land to look after, and that if they did so properly, it would continue to provide for them, which it did. They believe that the land belonged to the supreme deity as they understood him, and not to any individual or group.

Then began the era of initial contact.

4. Around AD 1000, the Vikings established a settlement(s) in far northern (what is now) Newfoundland. There may have been some conflict with local indigenous people, but in any case the attempted settlement was a failure.
5. European fisherman, who fished the Grand Banks off the Maritimes, may have made contact with indigenous inhabitants of the land when they would go ashore with their fish processing before returning to Europe, but they were not interested in settling at the time.
6. In the 16th century/1500s, the French began to arrive in the Maritimes and Quebec. Like all European nations at the time, they were trying to reach the Orient for trade by sailing west, instead of going east over land or around Africa.

The subsequent period of time was that of the fur trade

7. The Europeans discovered that Canada was rich in furs, which were in demand in Europe. For the next 200 years both the French coming from the East Coast and then, especially after the formation of the Hudsons Bay Company in 1670, the English from Hudson Bay, carried on a lucrative fur trade with the first nations. This was a generally peaceful enterprise which benefitted both the Europeans and the First Nations, although there was exploitation of the last too.

8. The British defeated the French and took control of what is now Canada in 1763. Immigration from the United Kingdom then really began.

Then began the period of immigration from Europe

9. Immigration was fuelled not so much anymore by the fur trade, and so First Nations began to be ignored. The Europeans were more interested simply in land and its resources, including lumber and agriculture products.

10. The First Nations, beginning to be alarmed at their being essentially abandoned by their former partners, and their land being taken over by immigrants, began to make treaties with the governing bodies to govern these new relationships and particularly to help protect their lands and resources.

Then Canada was formed.

11. With the formation of Canada in 1867, the First Nations lost their connection with the UK and royalty with whom they had previous dealings.

12. The Canadian government continued for some time to make treaties and also embark on setting aside plots of land strictly for the first nations to live on, called reserves.

13. Believing in their superiority in terms of legal system, politics, religion and economics, the Canadian government began to attempt to educate the indigenous people in these ways, so they could be part of the overall fabric of Canada as the settlers saw it. This was supposed to be accomplished through the Indian Act of 1876.

14. The government took the view that the only way to accomplish their means was to educate the children, and the only successful way to do this was to remove them as far as possible from their families and place them in residential schools.

15. The effect of this on the First Nations was severe. The social fabric was destroyed with families losing their children and grandchildren. They were unable to continue to teach them in the traditional ways that had served them well for thousands of years.

16. The effect on the children was also devastating. Everything that was theirs was removed when they entered the schools and they were not allowed to speak their own languages or even communicate with others from their community, including their siblings. Discipline was harsh, nutrition was often poor, and there was widespread, physical, and sexual abuse. With all of this, and dormitory housing, the children were particularly vulnerable to disease, and its spread and thousands died. Many were buried in unmarked graves with their families, often not even being notified.

17. The result of this separation of families from children was that children were not reared in normal circumstances, and when they left the residential schools as young adults, they did not know how to function in their society anymore, nor were they really welcome or equipped to function in the settlers’ society. Furthermore, not having been raised in homes, they did not know how to function as parents. Much of the anger that has built up inside them from the way they were treated by removing them from their families, and then experiencing abuse in the schools was on the one hand taken out on their own children. On the other hand, to deal with the psychological pain, many took to alcohol.

18. The reserve system was not working either. In the first place, most reserves were set aside without significant indigenous consultation, and were often on some of the poorest land. This left it indigenous people really unable to support themselves in their traditional ways on these small areas of land. Those that tried to be successful at agriculture were often not even allowed to sell their products outside the reserve. Many starved.

19. Indigenous people were not allowed to leave the reserves without the consent of so-called government Indian Agents.

20. The government time and again kept taking away previously given reserve land, and in some cases reserves were lost entirely, severing what little ties to the land the indigenous people had left.

21. Indigenous people were not considered citizens, and had no rights of representation or voting. They were not even allowed to hire lawyers to help them fight for their rights. The only way they could become citizens and vote was by abandoning their reserves which meant leaving their people and their culture, which, understandably, no one wanted to do after all they had already been through at the hands of the settlers.

The modern era

22. Since the last residential school only closed in 1996, there are still thousands of indigenous people who experienced firsthand what we have described happened in the residential schools, let alone the continued impact of this on their residential school survivor parents and grandparents.

23. Only in the last 60 years or so have indigenous people been given the right to vote. Because the reserves could really no longer support them, many have moved to the cities to look for better education and work opportunities. However, because of the persistent systemic racism of the settlers, they often face resistance at every turn, when they seek employment, housing, or even wish to start their own enterprises.