The Changing Economic Conditions After 1830 Experienced by The Cree

The Changing Economic Conditions After 1830 Experienced by The Cree and Blackfoot

The history of Indigenous peoples in Canada is one of resilience, adaptation, and negotiation in the face of rapidly changing economic and social conditions. The book "An Illustrated History of Canada’s Native People" by Arthur J. Ray provides valuable insights into the experiences of Indigenous groups, particularly the Cree and Blackfoot, during the pre-treaty period and the subsequent impact of numbered treaties. When the Europeans started flocking the aboriginal territories, the natives viewed them as a progressive venture which led to unreserved partnerships. The newcomer Europeans disguised as traders mostly concentrated on the fur trade rather than settlement. There existed a mutual partnership between the Natives and the Europeans where the former benefited with the iron goods and the latter depended on the natives for easier maneuvering of the unfamiliar environment. These benefits made the foreigners experience less hostility from the natives as they welcomed them warmly in hope of a beneficial treaty. Both societies depended on each other as the foreigners depended on the natives’ skilled labor, traditional medicine to cope while the natives enjoyed all the new civilized products like horses. However, despite the seemingly successful partnership, there existed a ton of negative effects for the indigenous people like rivalry, death from epidemics, exploitation and cultural erosion. Therefore, in this essay, I will explore the shifting economic landscape faced by the Cree and Blackfoot after 1830 and examines how the numbered treaties initially appeared to offer a pathway for successful adaptation to a new lifestyle.

Firstly, the Europeans trial to impose Christianity on the natives led to a lot of rifts among the first nations which made social cohesion impossible. The aboriginal community had firm cultural beliefs which were not easy to erode hence the hostility when the newcomers tried breaching what they knew. Also, the booming fur business got compromised as the natives needs for the Europeans goods were unmatched which created a deficit and the Europeans supplemented it with liquor. As the natives indulged in this luxury product oblivious of the consequences, the detrimental effects became fatal on the societies which further extended the already existing rifts. These recurring conflicts went on until the natives got caught up in Europeans rivalries that were transported to the Americans. Trading nations like France had strained military alliances which led to complicated inter-national relations. The natives were at crossroads as supporting either side would be consequential. Supporting the losing team would mean losing their traditional land and ignoring these intruders was not a realistic option. As time progressed, the fur trade and European wars became less significant for the British people and both parties strived to have a place at the table.

Secondly, the natives had no vast exposure and coming in contact with the newcomers increased their chance of contracting contagious European diseases. These ailments had fatal and incontrollable effects which led to a high mortality rate of the indigenous people. Diseases like small pox and influenza were foreign and their traditional medicine was not advance to treat such illnesses. The large number of deaths greatly affected the community as it could not function normally. For instance, when the measles hit the nation, most people were weak and the villages underpopulated which resulted in less manpower to take care of the sick. The heightened dysfunctionality led to anxiety which disrupted socialism and people fled abandoning their homes and on the run they carried pathogens which increased the spread to neighboring states. Also, tuberculosis infection exploded during this period and by 1880s the first nations were greatly affected with incontrollable mortality among the communities. Due to the increased flight among the natives, they blamed the outsiders for introducing the contagious ailments which resulted in them boycotting any assistance from the Europeans including medicine. A lot of rivalry erupted during these trivial times and inter-tribe and political conflicts became a norm.

In addition, the natives faced inconvertible exploitation from the Europeans who disguised as well-wishers. These immigrants practiced concealed colonialism and wanted to dominate the British empire with the excuse that the natives under-utilized the available resources. Ideally, colonization is harmless if exercised in an inhabited territory but once the colonizers partake an area with settlers using the territorial resources, controversies arise. The Europeans justified their malicious grabbing of the natives’ land on the ground that it was not utilized optimally. For instance, in England the feudal lords unfairly evicted the natives’ peasants from their lands on the grounds they were unproductive. The farmers who opted to remain were overly charged which made it hard to afford. The British colonialists did not stop at just decrying the aboriginal population off their economic choices, they went ahead to defame their religious beliefs and social-cultural norms.

The first nations people had a significant role in aiding with the fur trade treaty which made running the business smooth for the newcomers. The indigenous population were pleased to assist as they believed their input was essential and indispensable. However, the inhabitants only held the menial positions like steersmen in the trade an earned meagre wage that would barely sustain their livelihoods. On the other hand, the Europeans were the chief traders and held the prestigious positions like clerks which earned them sustainable incomes.These partnerships were steered on the ground of a mutual European-native equality which was meanly exploited as the Europeans considered themselves more superior than the natives. Several treaties were formed on how the two groups could co-exist harmoniously but scholars are conflicted on how transparent the agreements were to the natives. The treaties vouched that the federal government would only place settlement on the agreed portions of land and in return the indigenous populace would receive assistance on how to be successful farmers and maintain their traditional culture.

Due to the first nations naivety from their cultural norms, they missed the ulterior motive propagated by the settlers of surrendering their lands. From the Cree’s point of view, the government had borrowed their land and not bought it as buying and selling of land was against their traditional norms. The Blackfoot similarly believed that since there was no land exchange statement in the treaty, the agreement remained a peace treaty among the Canada dominion. The peace treaty became perilous as the Canadian settlers started occupying and receiving title deeds for the metis lands with the help of the federal government and the militia force. The indigenous people reacted to the betrayal through rebellion which the federal government used against them and some were jailed to terminate the movements. These arrests did not entirely stop the natives from protesting the injustices and the first nations joined the rebellion to fight for their own issues and not only the metis land. The federal government did not stop harassing them and they explored all avenues like forcefully eroding their cultural beliefs for them to stop fighting for their rights. In 1872 a treaty referred to as the Dominion Lands Act was signed which allowed the white settlers to acquire up to 160 acres of land. Contrary, the natives were encouraged to farm not more than 2 acres and this discrimination led to natives protesting but their demonstrations were viewed as baseless.

Correspondingly, the federal government erroneously tried assimilating the natives into colonial culture which did not have a pleasant reception. The indigenous people slowly lost they freedom and their significant cultural practices got abolished. The imposed laws forbade things like the sun dance and the natives were fully under the control of the Canadian states which aimed at blocking from realizing their potential. The assimilation into the white lifestyle was however conflicting as the Europeans believed they were superior to the indigenous people and could not possibly co-exist in similar ladders. At this point the natives had grown weary of rebelling as their efforts always proved futile and they hesitantly assimilated to the white settlers’ ways. From the argument that the aboriginal community could not survive in the Europeans world, a native education curriculum was introduced which were famously referred to as residential schools.

The residential schools were introduced on the ground that they would only teach the aboriginal people how to assimilate to the white man ways without abandoning their traditional ways. Imperialist like Sir john Macdonald pushed for the introduction of the first three residential schools for the aboriginal children. The natives faced racism as the foreigners viewed them as inferiors and only deserving of the worst the universe had to offer. The schools started on the wrong foot as disaster hit the scholars from the onset where most students died in these institutions. The perilous effects were concealed by the federal government and the missionaries who ran the institutions. Sadly, in the institutions where the children were to learn how to assimilate to the white settler lifestyle, only unskilled labor education was offered and the academic standards were astonishingly low. Separating the young natives from their parents detached the attachment they had with their long experiences of their mother cultures and languages and a clone of the Euro-Canadian Christian was formed.

Historically, the aboriginal people had healthy and successful cultural practices. They had their own cultures, languages, ceremonies which were passed from one generation to the next to ensure they were secured. They had a coherent interconnected world which was functional and fulfilled their needs. The children were taught how to lead a spiritual life and a morally upright life through stories and for centuries the method worked. Due to the conversant education system, the aboriginal community had a difficult time handing over their children to be molded by strangers with an unfamiliar system. Treaties that advocated for impactful benefits from this education system for the natives were signed in the 1870s. However, vital information on how these individuals would benefit like the negotiation process missed from these signed treaties and this was the beginning of the residential schools fall.

Over the years, the residential schools face a ton of changes and undeniable detrimental challenges. Despite the enormous backlash form parents, the system flourished in this opposition environment. By 1883, the system had overgrown and the federal government started funding these institutions but due to the increased number of students, the funds were limited which translated to less percentage allocation per student. The mismanagement led to an increase in students’ death in the institution which escalated to the point of government threatened to face charges of manslaughter. The system was hit hard by the first world war and by 1940 the failure was apparent. By this time only 3 percent of the aboriginal students had gone beyond grade six which meant most would not benefit from the education they had acquired. The institutions were in deplorable conditions which overwhelmed the students and most run off from school when they got an opportunity.

Additionally, in the quest to completely erode these children off their culture, the system introduced standard regulations like change of their names to English themed names. Boys and girls were strictly separated and were not allowed to interact. More regulations like strained freedom to speech were imposed and family visits were limited or too expensive for the native parents to afford. In such an environment, children were crushed with loneliness and most spent their days scared and crying as nobody seemed to care. The unexpected turn off events from what the natives had agreed to led to a lot of opposition from the indigenous population. The parents intentionally refused to send their children to these schools and some students like Billy from Moose school portrayed their resistance by refusing to eat. The resistance though mostly passive from both parents and children continued throughout which made the federal officials realize the residential schooling was becoming an irredeemable failure.

Children who were product of the residential system ended up experiencing damaging mental health challenges. Some were subjects of sexual violence and most suffered silently since no-one was there to defend them. The corporal punishments bestowed on these minors significantly contributed to their dysfunctionality. Once they completed or dropped out of school since they could not cope most indulged in alcoholism and the native parents had unbearable burden to bear with their limited resources. These impacts are unfortunately felt even in the contemporary world and the natives like the metis are considered an inferior group. These damages are still being rectified to date though it is not easy considering the amount of torture these individuals endured.

The system had an ounce of positivity where a small percentage had positive experiences especially those who encountered empathetic teachers. Some of the native children benefited from the residential schooling after a successful completion. The successful lot would end up teaching in these institutions where most treated their students with dignity and ensured they learned in an accommodative environment. These tutors made an effort to treat their students well as they understood the difficulties they underwent through. Despite their goodwill, the toxic and immoral environment in the schools and from their colleagues they could not seamlessly conduct their empathy. Most of the teachers still believed that the students were to be treated as inferiors and only be weaned to become the most inferior version of the white settler.