The Impact of Changing Economic Frontiers After 1830 On The Aboriginal

The Impact of Changing Economic Frontiers After 1830 On The Aboriginal Groups

Invasion of the native land by the Europeans majorly disrupted the norm of the aboriginal population which the native people reacted to differently. The newcomers arduously imposed their ways to the first nations in the quest to eradicate their cultural beliefs. In the beginning, the Europeans posed as genuine traders who solely cared on improving the native people status. Leaders facilitated the signing of treaties which would officially seal the partnership between the two parties. Initially the natives had robust cultural practices which guided their day-today lives. On the other hand, the Europeans sought to endorse their practices to these groups. They assimilated in the aboriginal groups through trade which was to mutually benefit these partners. However, the Europeans disrupted the native societies, grabbed their land and separated them from their children which stroke a massive rebellion from the aboriginal groups like the Dene and Mi’Kmaq.

Originally, the groups lived in successful and dynamic societies throughout North America. Despite the diversity among these groups, they lived harmoniously with the guidance of the set laws. The natives had their own languages, spirituality, values and technologies. They ensured that the cultural legacy was passed on to the next generation which ensured that their traditions was secure. The aboriginal community had a unified mixture of teachings, ceremonies and daily community activities that kept their bond alive. Community elders and in some instance medicine men had the responsibility to ensure that these practices were upheld. For instance, the elders facilitated ceremonial feasts that brought people together economically, spiritually and culturally.The children participated in these ceremonies and rituals which expanded their knowledge of their cultural norms. The natives’ way of life was functional in their realm until the foreigners imposed other ways of civilization like residential schools.

During the early years of contact with the natives, the Europeans focused mostly on fur trade rather than settlement and this partnership was successful until the terms changed. The Europeans depended on the aboriginals skilled labor to conduct their business and the latter benefited from the Europeans iron goods trade.The mutual co-dependency made the partnership successful as each party benefited from the treaty. For the newcomers to survive in this foreign land, they adopted the first nations’ native crops, transportation methods, and medicine. Although the partnership had a pool of positive impacts, as time went by the natives started noticing the negative impacts which bore resistance of the foreigners’ assimilation. The Europeans forcefully imposed Christianity to these groups and since they were not ready let go their traditional norms, a tussle ensure. Additionally, the newcomers erroneously introduced residential schools that eroded the Indian children off their cultural beliefs and their parents tirelessly rebelled the system. The ultimate goal for the Europeans was to entirely rob off the natives’ cohesion and cultural beliefs which would weaken the entire group.

The first nations comprised of various ethnic groups and they were all affected with European colonialism in one way or the other. One such group was the Dene which in the native language meant “the people”. The Dene speak the Athapascan and has seven different group including Chipewyan, Gwich’in, Dogrib, Slavey, Hare(skin), Bearlake. These groups occupied more than 1 million square kilometers of the Canadian territory. The Dene community majored in hunting and their union with the Europeans was initiated from tourist guidance of a fur trader in the 1700s. The European traders and missionaries flooded the Dene territory which resulted in adverse effects. For a smooth trading environment, the foreigners proposed that a trade agreement to be implemented. A merger between the two major fur companies; The HBC and the NWC was formed to assist in an easier conduct of the fur trade. The Dene people did not entirely embrace the idea as the merger restricted their hunting.

The Dene community fought for their freedom to hunt and operating as middlemen in the fur trade. The European and the Dene conflicts escalated in 1848 when the HBC introduced a Fort Yukon to cushion them from the economic threat posed by the Russian traders. Most of the Dene community participated in the trade for the exchange of utensils and guns but this was exceptional for the Gwich’in community who were mainly interested in a special bead that was essential for their ceremonies. Despite the booming business, the Dene highly respected their family dynamics which they attended to before any hunt. The extensive interaction with the European traders posed a threat of contracting epidemic diseases with the problem becoming prevalent in the 1850s. The disease prevalence was associated to the new arrivals, the gold miners. The goldminers arrival was followed with indefinite impacts that disrupted the Dene’s way of life.

The diseases introduced by this lot annihilated the Natives in large numbers. Also, the aboriginals’ culture drastically changed where their foodstuffs and clothing were assimilated to the European culture. The goldminers had massive development projects like construction of railways and steamships which made the Dene land more accessible to the outside world. The exposure struck the Canadian government attention to these natives and treaties signing commenced. In 1889, Treaty 8 was signed in response to the massive shortage of game which threatened a possible starvation crisis. Correspondingly, when oil was discovered in Fort Norman, the government negotiated for Treaty 11 between them and the Dene community. Arguably, the treaties were supposed to protect the Denes by making the contracts of mutual benefit but unfortunately this was not always the case. For instance, Treaty 11 which was signed in 1921 promised to protect the Dene and protect their land but these word-of-mouth promises functioned for a limited time before the government started fulfilling their selfish intentions.[8] The Dene received annuity and annual rations for a short while before they were dispossessed and marginalized by the established colonialism.

Correspondingly, the Mi’Kmaq had a similar ordeal as the Dene and they where they land was grabbed. The Mi’Kmaq formed a partnership with the France as they had a mutual enemy “The British”. The French treated this group well and they had their settlement in a restricted area, as loyalty token the Mi’Kmaq went to war with the Britain on behalf of the French. Unfortunately, their militia was outwitted by the British who ended up occupying their lands. From the beginning, the British had a dismissive attitude towards the first nations’ rights and disregarded their right to own their property.

After the British victory, they declared that the Mi’Kmaq had no land rights since their counterpart the French had allegedly smothered these rights and passed them to the British as they took over Acadia. The British disruption was inconsequential compared to what the American revolution brought forth as thousands of settlers occupied the natives’ lands and started their new lives. In the quest to salvage their properties, the aboriginals petitioned to the colonial government to protect their traditional lands from squatters. The petition did not bear fruits until the 1780s when Mi’Kmaq were given occupation licenses which assisted but did not entirely drive the squatters from these lands. These aboriginals faced a difficult time until the 1830s as the settlers’ disruption became unbearable.

The colonizers destroyed their fishing and hunting grounds which were the only livelihood the Mi’Kmaq were accustomed to and this had a toll on their lives. The colonial authorities termed the natives as a burden and shunned from funding their livelihoods which made their lives more intolerable. As the situation continued to deteriorate, the locals’ leaders like chief Pemmeenauweet sought aid for his people from the Queen. As a result, the Nova Scotia Indian Act of 1842 was implemented which bore the posting of an Indian commission to control the squatters and practice farming to achieve self-sufficiency. The situation was dire as this first nation community died from starvation and diseases and a commissioner William Chearnly argued that it was worthless to spend a penny to salvage an already doomed community. Although the authorities defied William’s suggestion and provided farming assistance by subdividing the natives reserves into individual properties, the Mi’Kmaq resisted this approach and pushed for a better and lifelong solution.

The aboriginal population experienced many challenges over the centuries due to the treaties that had been signed in prior administrations. Even in the twentieth century, these groups felt the pinch of the small land base and residential schools’ policies. As Canada progressed industrial wise, they became weary of assisting the indigenous people who supposedly stood in their way of making more profit. The native people provided labor force to the European fur traders and always tried getting jobs in the ever-growing economy for sustainability. Despite the ever-rising challenges from the colonialization, the indigenous community show the evolving economy as an opportunity to better their lives by increasing their income streams.

The newcomers did not make the situation favorable to them and their partnership rules were breached constantly. For instance, the Hudson Bay company stopped giving the natives subsidies and credit despite them receive substantial land grants. The locals were not only oppressed by the new comers but the Indian officials and the federal government played a significant role in their downfall where they erroneously reduced their welfare subsidies with a claim that the natives had a failing gene and were irredeemable. More oppressive laws which destroyed their local resources were implemented and the natives fought to the bone to salvage their traditional resources from the illegitimate rules. The depletion of local resources mainly resulted from the unrestrained presence of the newcomers.

Colonization brought forth liberalism which facilitated the development of one of the largest corporations in the world in western Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) did not only boost economic activities in the 19^th century but also opened its borders.[13] The people enjoyed the efficiency the CPR offered but most of the first nations did not participate in the advantageous pool since the Europeans still viewed them as less humans and did not deserve such privileges. The authorities became weary of the undergoing bias and a team official were appointed to conduct surveillance and ensure that the indigenous people accessed resources as they deserved. The aboriginals faced a lot of discrimination from the people who worked towards eradicating their traditional ways of life. Most indigenous groups like women resisted these policies; the women feistily rebelled practicing the foreigners’ marriage beliefs as in the traditional Indian, women had a role in society as their counterparts the men.The missionaries sought to reduce the women power in the society and force to conform to the American ways but these women rebelled and created meaningful roles in the new formed social order.

In conclusion, the first nation groups like the Dene and Mi’Kmaq resorted to rebellion as they could not stand what the Europeans did to them like grabbing land. At the beginning these groups welcomed the newcomers as they seemed to have good intentions. The aboriginals assisted the Europeans in their battles like the Mi’Kmaq helped the French in fighting the British but in the long run these natives were duped and lost their land in the process. The unfair treatment from the strangers they had welcomed in their land angered them which triggered a series of conflicts between the Europeans and the indigenous people. As the rivalry and discrimination escalated, the federal government had to intervene but their solution was not viable as they still viewed the aboriginals as inferior people. The impact of this era still lives on in the contemporary world and the first nations are still picking up the pieces.

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