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165-524: On September 7th, 1876, Chief John Cochrane, along with councillors Albert Flett and Peter Chapman signed the Adhesion to Treaty Five at The Pas, Manitoba, on behalf of those residing in the territories of "Cumberland Island, Sturgeon River, Angling River, Pine Bluff, Beaver Lake and the Ratty Country," in an amalgamation known as the "Cumberland Band." John Cochrane served as Chief of the band until his death in

330-517: A North American fur trade monopoly was granted to Pierre Du Gua, Sieur de Mons . The fur trade became one of the main economic ventures in North America. Du Gua led his first colonization expedition to an island located near the mouth of the St. Croix River . Among his lieutenants was a geographer named Samuel de Champlain , who promptly carried out a major exploration of the northeastern coastline of what

495-660: A constitutional monarchy . Over centuries, elements of Indigenous, French, British and more recent immigrant customs have combined to form a Canadian culture that has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic and economic neighbour, the United States . Since the conclusion of the Second World War , Canada's strong support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its peacekeeping efforts . Archeological and Indigenous genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were

660-504: A visible minority by the criteria of Statistics Canada . North American indigenous peoples have cultures spanning thousands of years. Some of their oral traditions accurately describe historical events, such as the Cascadia earthquake of 1700 and the 18th-century Tseax Cone eruption. Written records began with the arrival of European explorers and colonists during the Age of Discovery in

825-410: A band of Reformers under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie took up arms in a disorganized and ultimately unsuccessful series of small-scale skirmishes around Toronto, London , and Hamilton . In Lower Canada, a more substantial rebellion occurred against British rule. Both English- and French-Canadian rebels, sometimes using bases in the neutral United States, fought several skirmishes against

990-551: A change in the public perception of the residential school system, as well as official government apologies, and a (controversial) legal settlement. Colonization had a significant impact on First Nations diet and health. According to the historian Mary-Ellen Kelm, "inadequate reserve allocations, restrictions on the food fishery, overhunting, and over-trapping" alienated First Nations from their traditional way of life, which undermined their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. As Canadian ideas of progress evolved around

1155-619: A federated country in its own right. (According to James Bowden, writing in The Dorchester Review , "Ottawa turned its back on 'Dominion' in the 1940s and 1950s," impelled by what historian C.P. Champion referred to as "neo-nationalism.") Federation emerged from multiple impulses: the British wanted Canada to defend itself; the Maritimes needed railroad connections, which were promised in 1867; English-Canadian nationalism sought to unite

1320-677: A federation. This was especially pushed by the liberal Reform movement of Upper Canada and the French-Canadian Parti rouge in Lower Canada who favoured a decentralized union in comparison to the Upper Canadian Conservative party and to some degree the French-Canadian Parti bleu , which favoured a centralized union. Using the lure of the Canadian Pacific Railway , a transcontinental line that would unite

1485-563: A great difference in the number of men at 2,034 versus 1,181 women. By the early 1700s the New France settlers were well established along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and parts of Nova Scotia, with a population of around 16,000. However, new arrivals stopped coming from France in the proceeding decades, meaning that the English and Scottish settlers in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and

1650-753: A group of settlers led by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve , who founded Ville-Marie, the precursor to present-day Montreal . In 1663 the French crown took direct control of the colonies from the Company of New France . Although immigration rates to New France remained very low under direct French control, most of the new arrivals were farmers, and the rate of population growth among the settlers themselves had been very high. The women had about 30 per cent more children than comparable women who remained in France. Yves Landry says, "Canadians had an exceptional diet for their time." This

1815-603: A neutral Indian state in the American Old Northwest, and made this demand as late as 1814 at the peace negotiations at Ghent. The Americans rejected the idea, the British dropped it, and Britain's Indian allies lost British support. In addition, the Indians were no longer able to gather furs in American territory. Abandoned by their powerful sponsor, Great Lakes-area natives ultimately assimilated into American society, migrated to

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1980-534: A reserve at that location. However, a reserve at Pine Bluff was not surveyed until September of 1912. Henry Budd also requested permission in 1884 “to settle on a piece of land good for farming between Cumberland and Birch River Reserves. This area later became known as Budd’s Point and a reserve of 640 acres was surveyed there in 1926. On August 14th, 1889, Albert Flett was selected, without election, as Chief, along with Councillors Jeremiah Crane and Samuel Greenleaf. Three years later, on August 5th, 1892, Jeremiah Crane

2145-729: A result of health transfer was a factor that assisted the creation of the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia. History of Canada The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands encompassing present-day Canada have been inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples , with distinct trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization. Some of these older civilizations had long faded by

2310-524: A right of access." More than 6,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis served with British forces during First World War and Second World War . A generation of young native men fought on the battlefields of Europe during the Great War and approximately 300 of them died there. When Canada declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939, the native community quickly responded to volunteer. Four years later, in May 1943,

2475-518: A self-governing entity. "Canada" was adopted as the legal name of the new country and the word " Dominion " was conferred as the country's title. Over the next eighty-two years, Canada expanded by incorporating other parts of British North America , finishing with Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949. Although responsible government had existed in British North America since 1848, Britain continued to set its foreign and defence policies until

2640-668: A separate colony— New Brunswick —was created in 1784; followed in 1791 by the division of Quebec into the largely French-speaking Lower Canada ( French Canada ) along the St. Lawrence River and the Gaspé Peninsula and an anglophone Loyalist Upper Canada , with its capital settled by 1796 in York (present-day Toronto ). After 1790 most of the new settlers were American farmers searching for new lands; although generally favourable to republicanism, they were relatively non-political and stayed neutral in

2805-736: A transcontinental railway—voted no in 1869, and did not join Canada until 1949. In 1873, John A. Macdonald ( First Prime Minister of Canada ) created the North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ) to help police the Northwest Territories . Specifically the Mounties were to assert Canadian sovereignty to prevent possible American encroachments into the area. The Mounties' first large-scale mission

2970-626: A variant of Métis . The Métis as of 2013 predominantly speak English , with French a strong second language, as well as numerous Aboriginal tongues. Métis French is best preserved in Canada, Michif in the United States, notably in the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation of North Dakota , where Michif is the official language of the Métis that reside on this Chippewa reservation. The encouragement and use of Métis French and Michif

3135-479: A wide range of chemical effects, including severe mercury poisoning. They suffered low birth rates, skewed birth-gender ratio, and health effects among the population. This led to legislation and eventually the Indian Health Transfer Policy that provided a framework for the assumption of control of health services by First Nations people, and set forth a developmental approach to transfer centred on

3300-560: Is a misnomer, given to Indigenous peoples of North America by European explorers who erroneously thought they had landed in the East Indies . The use of the term Native Americans , which the government and others have adopted in the United States, is not common in Canada. It refers more specifically to the Indigenous peoples residing within the boundaries of the US. The parallel term Native Canadian

3465-586: Is growing due to outreach within the five provincial Métis councils after at least a generation of steep decline. Canada's Indian and Northern Affairs define Métis to be those persons of mixed First Nation and European ancestry. Allied with the French, the first nations of the Wabanaki Confederacy of Acadia fought six colonial wars against the British and their native allies (See the French and Indian Wars , Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War ). In

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3630-753: Is not commonly used, but Native (in English) and Autochtone (in Canadian French ; from the Greek auto , own, and chthon , land) are. Under the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , also known as the "Indian Magna Carta , " the Crown referred to Indigenous peoples in British territory as tribes or nations. The term First Nations is capitalized. Bands and nations may have slightly different meanings. Within Canada,

3795-504: Is not well defined. The earliest accounts of contact occurred in the late 10th century, between the Beothuk and Norsemen . According to the Sagas of Icelanders , the first European to see what is now Canada was Bjarni Herjólfsson , who was blown off course en route from Iceland to Greenland in the summer of 985 or 986 CE. The first European explorers and settlers of what is now Canada relied on

3960-463: Is now Quebec City , one of the earliest permanent settlements, which would become the capital of New France. He took personal administration over the city and its affairs and sent out expeditions to explore the interior. Champlain became the first known European to encounter Lake Champlain in 1609. By 1615, he had travelled by canoe up the Ottawa River through Lake Nipissing and Georgian Bay to

4125-523: Is now the United States. In the spring of 1605, under Samuel de Champlain, the new St. Croix settlement was moved to Port Royal (today's Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia ). Samuel de Champlain also landed at Saint John Harbour on June 24, 1604 (the feast of St. John the Baptist) and is where the city of Saint John, New Brunswick , and the Saint John River gets their name. In 1608 Champlain founded what

4290-554: Is on the west coast of Vancouver Island . In pre-contact and early post-contact times, the number of nations was much greater, but smallpox and other consequences of contact resulted in the disappearance of groups, and the absorption of others into neighbouring groups. The Nuu-chah-nulth are relations of the Kwakwaka'wakw , the Haisla , and the Ditidaht . The Nuu-chah-nulth language is part of

4455-577: Is passed on through oral tradition of the Squamish indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast . Prior to colonization and the introduction of writing had only oral tradition as a way to transmit stories, law, and knowledge across generations. The writing system established in the 1970s uses the Latin alphabet as a base. Knowledgeable elders have the responsibility to pass historical knowledge to

4620-488: The Citizenship Act was amended to grant formal citizenship to Status Indians and Inuit, retroactively as of January 1947. In 1960, First Nations people received the right to vote in federal elections without forfeiting their Indian status. By comparison, Native Americans in the United States had been allowed to vote since the 1920s. In his 1969 White Paper , then- Minister of Indian Affairs , Jean Chrétien , proposed

4785-522: The Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples. The Algonquian language is believed to have originated in the western plateau of Idaho or the plains of Montana and moved with migrants eastward, eventually extending in various manifestations all the way from Hudson Bay to what is today Nova Scotia in the east and as far south as the Tidewater region of Virginia . Speakers of eastern Algonquian languages included

4950-787: The American Revolution , there was some sympathy for the American cause among the Acadians and the New Englanders in Nova Scotia. Neither party joined the rebels, although several hundred individuals joined the revolutionary cause. An invasion of Quebec by the Continental Army in 1775, with a goal to take Quebec from British control, was halted at the Battle of Quebec by Guy Carleton , with

5115-662: The Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains . France and Spain kept the Treaty of Fontainebleau secret from other countries until 1764. However under the Treaty of Paris, the eastern side of the Mississippi river basin became British territory. Great Britain returned to France its most important sugar-producing colony, Guadeloupe , which the French considered more valuable than Canada. (Guadeloupe produced more sugar than all

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5280-536: The Arctic archipelago , the distinctive Paleo-Eskimos known as Dorset peoples , whose culture has been traced back to around 500 BCE, were replaced by the ancestors of today's Inuit by 1500 CE. This transition is supported by archeological records and Inuit mythology that tells of having driven off the Tuniit or 'first inhabitants'. Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from Western law . Customary law

5445-510: The Atlantic coast. Together with other Anicinàpek, they arrived at the "First Stopping Place" near Montreal. While the other Anicinàpe peoples continued their journey up the St. Lawrence River , the Algonquins settled along the Ottawa River ( Kitcisìpi ), an important highway for commerce, cultural exchange, and transportation. A distinct Algonquin identity, though, was not realized until after

5610-451: The Atlantic coast communities and sailed into the St. Lawrence River , trading and making alliances with First Nations , as well as establishing fishing settlements such as in Percé (1603). As a result of France's claim and activities in the colony of Canada, the name Canada was found on international maps showing the existence of this colony within the St. Lawrence river region. In 1604,

5775-523: The Atlantic provinces . Official tradition deemed the first landing site to be at Cape Bonavista , Newfoundland, although other locations are possible. After 1497 Cabot and his son Sebastian Cabot continued to make other voyages to find the Northwest Passage , and other explorers continued to sail out of England to the New World, although the details of these voyages are not well recorded. Based on

5940-593: The British Parliament's Slavery Abolition Act finally abolished slavery in all parts of the British Empire . Historian Marcel Trudel has documented 4,092 recorded slaves throughout Canadian history, of which 2,692 were Aboriginal people, owned by the French, and 1,400 blacks owned by the British, together owned by approximately 1,400 masters. Trudel also noted 31 marriages took place between French colonists and Aboriginal slaves. British agents worked to make

6105-692: The Cowichan and Fraser rivers, and those from Saskatchewan managed to produce good harvests. Since 1881, those First Nations people living in the prairie provinces required permits from Indian Agents to sell any of their produce. Later the government created a pass system in the old Northwest Territories that required indigenous people to seek written permission from an Indian Agent before leaving their reserves for any length of time. Indigenous people regularly defied those laws, as well as bans on Sun Dances and potlatches, in an attempt to practice their culture. The 1930 Constitution Act or Natural Resources Acts

6270-675: The Dakelh (Carrier) and the Tsilhqot'in . The inlets and valleys of the British Columbia Coast sheltered large, distinctive populations, such as the Haida , Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth , sustained by the region's abundant salmon and shellfish. These peoples developed complex cultures dependent on the western red cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and war canoes and elaborately carved potlatch items and totem poles . In

6435-537: The District of Saskatchewan under Riel against the Dominion of Canada, which they believed had failed to address their concerns for the survival of their people. In 1884, 2,000 Cree from reserves met near Battleford to organize into a large, cohesive resistance. Discouraged by the lack of government response but encouraged by the efforts of the Métis at armed rebellion, Wandering Spirit and other young militant Cree attacked

6600-610: The French and Indian War , an event called the Expulsion of the Acadians or le Grand Dérangement . The "expulsion" resulted in approximately 12,000 Acadians being shipped to destinations throughout Britain's North America and to France, Quebec and the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue . The first wave of the expulsion of the Acadians began with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755) and

6765-734: The Great Britain in 1763 at the Treaty of Paris after the Seven Years' War . The now British Province of Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791. The two provinces were united as the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840 , which came into force in 1841. In 1867, the Province of Canada was joined with two other British colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia through Confederation , forming

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6930-432: The Great Lakes and the Illinois Country . The alliance involved French settlers on the one side, and on the other side were the Abenaki, Odawa, Menominee , Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Mississaugas , Illiniwek , Huron- Petun , Potawatomi etc. It allowed the French and the Indians to form a haven in the middle- Ohio valley before the open conflict between the European powers erupted. In the Royal Proclamation of 1763 ,

7095-525: The Liberals began to back away from the 1969 White Paper, particularly after the Calder case decision in 1973. After the Canadian Supreme Court recognized that indigenous rights and treaty rights were not extinguished, a process was begun to resolve land claims and treaty rights and is ongoing today. In 1970, severe mercury poisoning , called Ontario Minamata disease , was discovered among Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation and Wabaseemoong Independent Nations people, who lived near Dryden, Ontario . There

7260-450: The Makah tribe practising death by starvation as punishment and Pacific coast tribes routinely performing ritualized killings of slaves as part of social ceremonies into the mid-1800s. Slave-owning tribes of the fishing societies, such as the Yurok and Haida lived along the coast from what is now Alaska to California . Fierce warrior indigenous slave-traders of the Pacific Northwest Coast raided as far south as California. Slavery

7425-434: The Mi'kmaq and Abenaki of the Maritime region of Canada and likely the extinct Beothuk of Newfoundland . The Ojibwa and other Anishinaabe speakers of the central Algonquian languages retain an oral tradition of having moved to their lands around the western and central Great Lakes from the sea, likely the Atlantic coast. According to oral tradition, the Ojibwa formed the Council of Three Fires in 796 CE with

7590-406: The North Saskatchewan River and purchased a great deal of European trade goods through Cree middlemen from the Hudson's Bay Company . The lifestyle of this group was semi-nomadic, and they followed the herds of bison during the warmer months. They traded with European traders, and worked with the Mandan , Hidatsa , and Arikara tribes. In the earliest oral history , the Algonquins were from

7755-418: The North-West Territories . Offended by the concepts of the treaties, Cree chiefs resisted them. Big Bear refused to sign Treaty 6 until starvation among his people forced his hand in 1882. His attempts to unite Indigenous nations made progress. In 1884 the Métis (including the Anglo-Métis) asked Louis Riel to return from the United States, where he had fled after the Red River Rebellion , to appeal to

7920-435: The Odawa and the Potawatomi . The Five Nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) were centred from at least 1000 CE in northern New York, but their influence extended into what is now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec. They spoke varieties of Iroquoian languages. The Iroquois Confederacy , according to oral tradition, was formed in 1142 CE. In addition, there were other Iroquoian-speaking peoples in

8085-408: The Portuguese Empire . In 1506, King Manuel I of Portugal created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters. João Álvares Fagundes and Pero de Barcelos established fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521 CE; however, these were later abandoned, with the Portuguese colonizers focusing their efforts on South America. The extent and nature of Portuguese activity on

8250-424: The Three Sisters ( maize / beans / squash ), the Iroquois became powerful because of their confederacy. Gradually the Algonquians adopted agricultural practises enabling larger populations to be sustained. The Assiniboine were close allies and trading partners of the Cree, engaging in wars against the Gros Ventres alongside them, and later fighting the Blackfoot. A Plains people, they went no further north than

8415-467: The Tlingit , who lived on the islands of southern Alaska and northern British Columbia . The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia. The Dene of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration from Asia to North America. The Interior of British Columbia was home to the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap (Secwepemc) , Okanagan and southern Athabaskan language groups, primarily

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8580-444: The Treaty of Tordesillas , the Spanish Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited by John Cabot in 1497 and 1498 CE. However, Portuguese explorers like João Fernandes Lavrador would continue to visit the north Atlantic coast, which accounts for the appearance of " Labrador " on maps of the period. In 1501 and 1502 the Corte-Real brothers explored Newfoundland (Terra Nova) and Labrador claiming these lands as part of

8745-405: The Treaty of Tordesillas , these two kingdoms decided to draw the dividing line running north–south, 370 leagues (from 1,500 to 2,200 km (930 to 1,370 mi) approximately depending on the league used) west of the Cape Verde Islands. Land to the west would be Spanish, to the east Portuguese. Given the uncertain geography of the day, this seemed to give the "new founde isle" to Portugal. On

8910-477: The Wakashan language group. In 1999 the discovery of the body of Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi provided archaeologists with significant information on indigenous tribal life prior to extensive European contact. Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi (meaning "Long Ago Person Found" in Southern Tutchone ), or "Canadian Ice Man", is a naturally mummified body that a group of hunters found in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia. Radiocarbon dating of artifacts found with

9075-411: The War of 1812 . In 1785, Saint John, New Brunswick became the first incorporated city in what would later become Canada. The signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the war. Great Britain made several concessions to the US at the expense of the North American colonies. Notably, the borders between Canada and the United States were officially demarcated; all land south and west of

9240-425: The peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing debate. By 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia, and into Canada. The Haida Gwaii islands, Old Crow Flats , and the Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-Indian archeological sites in Canada. Ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone tools and

9405-415: The republicanism that was common among American immigrants to Canada . The troubling memory of the war and the American invasions etched itself into the consciousness of Canadians as a distrust of the intentions of the United States towards the British presence in North America. The rebellions of 1837 against the British colonial government took place in both Upper and Lower Canada. In Upper Canada,

9570-413: The tree line , and mainly south of the Arctic Circle . There are 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands across Canada. Roughly half are located in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia . Under Charter jurisprudence , First Nations are a "designated group," along with women, visible minorities , and people with physical or mental disabilities. First Nations are not defined as

9735-418: The western frontier . In the former French territory, the new British rulers of Canada first abolished and then later reinstated most of the property, religious, political, and social culture of the French-speaking habitants , guaranteeing the right of the Canadiens to practice the Catholic faith and to the use of French civil law (now Quebec Civil Code ) in the UK's Quebec Act of 1774. During

9900-482: The 1502 Cantino map , Newfoundland appears on the Portuguese side of the line (as does Brazil). An expedition captured about 60 Aboriginal people as slaves who were said to "resemble gypsies in colour, features, stature and aspect; are clothed in the skins of various animals ...They are very shy and gentle, but well formed in arms and legs and shoulders beyond description ...." Some captives, sent by Gaspar Corte-Real , reached Portugal. The others drowned, with Gaspar, on

10065-424: The 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and Europeans , mainly French. The Métis were historically the children of French fur traders and Nehiyaw women or, from unions of English or Scottish traders and Northern Dene women ( Anglo-Métis ). The Métis spoke or still speak either Métis French or a mixed language called Michif . Michif , Mechif or Métchif is a phonetic spelling of the Métis pronunciation of Métif ,

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10230-407: The 1840 Act of Union , and responsible government was achieved in 1848, a few months after it was accomplished in Nova Scotia. The parliament of United Canada in Montreal was set on fire by a mob of Tories in 1849 after the passing of an indemnity bill for the people who suffered losses during the rebellion in Lower Canada. Between the Napoleonic Wars and 1850, some 800,000 immigrants came to

10395-410: The 19th century, the Canadian Indian residential school system was intended to force the assimilation of Aboriginal and First Nations people into European-Canadian society. The purpose of the schools, which separated children from their families, has been described by commentators as "killing the Indian in the child." Funded under the Indian Act by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, a branch of

10560-445: The 20th century of cultural genocide and ethnocide . There was widespread physical and sexual abuse . Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a lack of medical care led to high rates of tuberculosis , and death rates of up to 69%. Details of the mistreatment of students had been published numerous times throughout the 20th century, but following the closure of the schools in the 1960s, the work of indigenous activists and historians led to

10725-414: The Americas , or " first peoples ". First Nation as a term became officially used by the government beginning in 1980s to replace the term Indian band in referring to groups of Indians with common government and language. The First Nations people had begun to identify by this term during 1970s activism, in order to avoid using the word Indian , which some considered offensive. No legal definition of

10890-494: The Arctic Ocean on the north and the Pacific Ocean on the west. The Colony of Vancouver Island was chartered in 1849, with the trading post at Fort Victoria as the capital. This was followed by the Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1853, and by the creation of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the Stikine Territory in 1861, with the latter three being founded expressly to keep those regions from being overrun and annexed by American gold miners. The Colony of

11055-449: The Atlantic coast were the Beothuk , Maliseet , Innu , Abenaki and Mi'kmaq . The Blackfoot Confederacy resides in the Great Plains of Montana and Canadian provinces of Alberta , British Columbia and Saskatchewan . The name Blackfoot came from the dye or paint on the bottoms of their leather moccasins . One account claimed that the Blackfoot Confederacies walked through the ashes of prairie fires, which in turn blackened

11220-491: The Beothuk disappeared entirely. There are reports of contact made before Christopher Columbus between the first peoples and those from other continents. Even in Columbus' time there was much speculation that other Europeans had made the trip in ancient or contemporary times; Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés records accounts of these in his General y natural historia de las Indias of 1526, which includes biographical information on Columbus. Aboriginal first contact period

11385-405: The British Conquest of Acadia occurred in 1710, resulting in Nova Scotia (other than Cape Breton) being officially ceded to the British by the Treaty of Utrecht , including Rupert's Land, which France had conquered in the late 17th century ( Battle of Hudson's Bay ). As an immediate result of this setback, France founded the powerful Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island . Louisbourg

11550-422: The British agents discouraged any warlike activities or raids on American settlements, but the Americans became increasingly angered, and this became one of the causes of the War of 1812 . In the war, the great majority of First Nations supported the British, and many fought under the aegis of Tecumseh . But Tecumseh died in battle in 1813 and the Indian coalition collapsed. The British had long wished to create

11715-417: The British ceded the Old Northwest to the United States in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, it kept fortifications and trading posts in the region until 1795. The British then evacuated American territory, but operated trading posts in British territory, providing weapons and encouragement to tribes that were resisting American expansion into such areas as Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Officially,

11880-528: The British islands combined, and Voltaire had notoriously dismissed Canada as " Quelques arpents de neige ", " A few acres of snow "). Following the Treaty of Paris, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 . The proclamation organized Great Britain's new North American empire and stabilized relations between the British Crown and Aboriginal peoples , formally recognizing aboriginal title, regulated trade, settlement, and land purchases on

12045-471: The British recognized the treaty rights of the indigenous populations and resolved to only settle those areas purchased lawfully from the indigenous peoples. Treaties and land purchases were made in several cases by the British, but the lands of several indigenous nations remain unceded and/or unresolved. First Nations routinely captured slaves from neighbouring tribes. Sources report that the conditions under which First Nations slaves lived could be brutal, with

12210-531: The British to a settled colony with stronger ties to New England. Britain eventually gained control of Quebec City after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Fort Niagara in 1759, and finally captured Montreal in 1760. As part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763) , signed after the defeat of New France in the Seven Years' War , France renounced its claims to territory in mainland North America , except for fishing rights off Newfoundland and

12375-569: The Canadian mainland during the 16th century remains unclear and controversial. French interest in the New World began with Francis I of France , who in 1524 sponsored Giovanni da Verrazzano 's navigation of the region between Florida and Newfoundland in hopes of finding a route to the Pacific Ocean . Although the English had laid claims to it in 1497 when John Cabot made landfall somewhere on

12540-517: The Carolinas all stimulated destructive wars over land with their immediate Indian neighbors...Settlement patterns in New France also curtailed the kind of relentless and destructive expansion and land-grabbing that afflicted many British colonies." The Métis (from French métis – "mixed") are descendants of unions between Cree , Ojibwe , Algonquin , Saulteaux , Menominee and other First Nations in

12705-700: The Chief, although it is currently unclear if he was elected into this position. In June of 1897, a letter was sent to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs which stated that Chief Flett was "totally unfit to case for himself and that there is no present prospect of his recovery," and the minister recommended that Chief Flett be deposed as Chief of the Cumberland Band of Indians. Chief Flett died in Selkirk in November of 1901, and

12870-587: The Creator, or in the Squamish language keke7nex siyam . He called this man his brother. It was from these two men that the population began to rise and the Squamish spread back through their territory. The Iroquois influence extended from northern New York into what are now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec. The Iroquois Confederacy is, from oral tradition, formed circa 1142. Adept at cultivating

13035-693: The First Nations into military allies of the British, providing supplies, weapons, and encouragement. During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) most of the tribes supported the British. In 1779, the Americans launched a campaign to burn the villages of the Iroquois in New York State. The refugees fled to Fort Niagara and other British posts, with some remaining permanently in Canada. Although

13200-473: The First Nations peoples, for resources and trade to sustain a living. The first written accounts of interaction show a predominantly Old world bias, labelling the indigenous peoples as "savages", although the indigenous peoples were organized and self-sufficient. In the early days of contact, the First Nations and Inuit populations welcomed the Europeans, assisting them in living off the land and joining forces with

13365-613: The French and British in their various battles. It was not until the colonial and imperial forces of Britain and France established dominant settlements and, no longer needing the help of the First Nations people, began to break treaties and force them off the land that the antagonism between the two groups grew. The Portuguese Crown claimed that it had territorial rights in the area visited by Cabot. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI – assuming international jurisdiction – had divided lands discovered in America between Spain and Portugal. The next year, in

13530-584: The Great Lakes, which was formerly a part of the Province of Quebec and included modern-day Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, was ceded to the Americans. Fishing rights were also granted to the United States in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the coast of Newfoundland and the Grand Banks . The British ignored part of the treaty and maintained their military outposts in the Great Lakes areas it had ceded to

13695-610: The Hudson's Bay Company claims, and in 1686, Pierre Troyes led an overland expedition from Montreal to the shore of the bay , where they managed to capture a handful of outposts. La Salle 's explorations gave France a claim to the Mississippi River Valley , where fur trappers and a few settlers set up scattered forts and settlements . There were four French and Indian Wars and two additional wars in Acadia and Nova Scotia between

13860-527: The North American coast (likely either modern-day Newfoundland or Nova Scotia ) and had claimed the land for England on behalf of Henry VII , these claims were not exercised and England did not attempt to create a permanent colony. As for the French, however, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1534 and claimed the land in the name of Francis I, creating a region called " Canada "

14025-493: The Port Royal settlement. Champlain persuaded First Nations to allow him to settle along the St. Lawrence, where in 1608 he would found France's first permanent colony in Canada at Quebec City. The colony of Acadia grew slowly, reaching a population of about 5,000 by 1713. New France had cod -fishery coastal communities, and farm economies supported communities along the St. Lawrence River. French voyageurs travelled deep into

14190-658: The Queen Charlotte Islands and most of the Stikine Territory were merged into the Colony of British Columbia in 1863 (the remainder, north of the 60th Parallel, became part of the North-Western Territory ). The Seventy-Two Resolutions from the 1864 Quebec Conference and Charlottetown Conference laid out the framework for uniting British colonies in North America into a federation. The Resolutions became

14355-604: The Thirteen American Colonies and New France from 1688 to 1763. During King William's War (1688 to 1697), military conflicts in Acadia included the Battle of Port Royal (1690) ; a naval battle in the Bay of Fundy ( Action of July 14, 1696 ); and the Raid on Chignecto (1696) . The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 ended the war between the two colonial powers of England and France for a brief time. During Queen Anne's War (1702 to 1713),

14520-597: The U.S., and they continued to supply their native allies with munitions. The British evacuated the outposts with the Jay Treaty of 1795, but the continued supply of munitions irritated the Americans in the run-up to the War of 1812. Canadian historians have had mixed views on the long-term impact of the American Revolution. Arthur Lower in the 1950s provided the long-standard historical interpretation that for English Canada

14685-613: The abolition of the Indian Act of Canada, the rejection of Aboriginal land claims , and the assimilation of First Nations people into the Canadian population with the status of "other ethnic minorities" rather than as a distinct group. Harold Cardinal and the Indian Chiefs of Alberta responded with a document entitled "Citizens Plus" but commonly known as the "Red Paper". In it, they explained Status Indians' widespread opposition to Chrétien's proposal. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and

14850-602: The age of 35 ). By 1790 the abolition movement was gaining ground in Canada and the ill intent of slavery was evidenced by an incident involving a slave woman being violently abused by her slave owner on her way to being sold in the United States. The Act Against Slavery of 1793 legislated the gradual abolition of slavery: no slaves could be imported; slaves already in the province would remain enslaved until death, no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada , and children born to female slaves would be slaves but must be freed at age 25. The act remained in force until 1833 when

15015-664: The area, including the St. Lawrence Iroquoians , the Erie, and others. On the Great Plains , the Cree or Nēhilawē (who spoke a closely related Central Algonquian language , the plains Cree language ) depended on the vast herds of bison to supply food and many of their other needs. To the northwest were the peoples of the Na-Dene languages , which include the Athapaskan-speaking peoples and

15180-490: The assistance of First Nations and loyalist informants, most notably Laura Secord . The War ended with no boundary changes thanks to the Treaty of Ghent of 1814, and the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1817. A demographic result was the shifting of the destination of American migration from Upper Canada to Ohio , Indiana and Michigan , without fear of Indigenous attacks. After the war, supporters of Britain tried to repress

15345-515: The assistance of local militias. The defeat of the British army during the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 signalled the end of Great Britain's struggle to suppress the American Revolution. When the British evacuated New York City in 1783, they took many Loyalist refugees to Nova Scotia, while other Loyalists went to southwestern Quebec. So many Loyalists arrived on the shores of the St. John River that

15510-576: The attempted settlement of Vinland by Leif Erikson around the same period or, more broadly, with Norse exploration of the Americas . Under letters patent from King Henry VII of England , the Italian John Cabot became the first European known to have landed in Canada after the Viking Age . Records indicate that on June 24, 1497, he sighted land at a northern location believed to be somewhere in

15675-554: The authorities. The towns of Chambly and Sorel were taken by the rebels, and Quebec City was isolated from the rest of the colony. Montreal rebel leader Robert Nelson read the " Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada " to a crowd assembled at the town of Napierville in 1838. The rebellion of the Patriote movement was defeated after battles across Quebec. Hundreds were arrested, and several villages were burnt in reprisal. The British government then sent Lord Durham to examine

15840-562: The basis for the London Conference of 1866 , which led to the formation of the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867. The term dominion was chosen to indicate Canada's status as a self-governing polity of the British Empire, the first time it was used about a country. With the coming into force of the UK's British North America Act, 1867 (enacted by the British Parliament ), Canada became

16005-467: The body placed the age of the find between 1450 AD and 1700 AD. Genetic testing showed that he was a member of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations . Aboriginal people in Canada interacted with Europeans as far back as 1000 AD, but prolonged contact came only after Europeans established permanent settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries. European written accounts noted friendliness on

16170-454: The bottoms of their moccasins. They had migrated onto the Great Plains (where they followed bison herds and cultivated berries and edible roots) from the area of now eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. Historically, they allowed only legitimate traders into their territory, making treaties only when the bison herds were exterminated in the 1870s. Pre-contact Squamish history

16335-682: The brisk market for sea otter pelts in China, thereby launching what became known as the China Trade . In 1789 war threatened between Britain and Spain on their respective rights; the Nootka Crisis was resolved peacefully largely in favour of Britain, the much stronger naval power at the time. In 1793 Alexander MacKenzie , a Scotsman working for the North West Company , crossed the continent and with his Aboriginal guides and French-Canadian crew, reached

16500-508: The canoe routes west and a land route to the west coast. According to the oral history, seven great miigis (radiant/iridescent) beings appeared to the peoples in the Waabanakiing to teach the peoples of the mide way of life. One of the seven great miigis beings was too spiritually powerful and killed the peoples in the Waabanakiing when the people were in its presence. The six great miigis beings remained to teach while

16665-627: The centre of Huron country near Lake Simcoe . During these voyages, Champlain aided the Wendat (aka "Hurons") in their battles against the Iroquois Confederacy. As a result, the Iroquois would become enemies of the French and be involved in multiple conflicts (known as the French and Iroquois Wars ) until the signing of the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701. The English, led by Humphrey Gilbert , had claimed St. John's, Newfoundland , in 1583 as

16830-742: The colonies of British North America, mainly from the British Isles , as part of the great migration of Canada . These included Gaelic -speaking Highland Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances to Nova Scotia and Scottish and English settlers to the Canadas, particularly Upper Canada. The Irish Famine of the 1840s significantly increased the pace of Irish Catholic immigration to British North America, with over 35,000 distressed Irish landing in Toronto alone in 1847 and 1848. Spanish explorers had taken

16995-433: The concept of self-determination in health. Through this process, the decision to enter into transfer discussions with Health Canada rests with each community. Once involved in transfer, communities are able to take control of health programme responsibilities at a pace determined by their individual circumstances and health management capabilities. The capacity, experience and relationships developed by First Nations as

17160-425: The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway brought large numbers of European settlers west who encroached on Indigenous territory. European Canadians established governments, police forces, and courts of law with different foundations from indigenous practices. Various epidemics continued to devastate Indigenous communities. All of these factors had a profound effect on Indigenous people, particularly those from

17325-476: The development of agriculture, the surest foundation of a colony in the New World. According to David L. Preston , after French colonisation with Champlain "the French were able to settle in the depopulated St. Lawrence Valley, not directly intruding on any Indian nation's lands. This geographic and demographic fact presents a striking contrast to the British colonies' histories: large numbers of immigrants coming to New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and

17490-485: The dividing of the Anicinàpek at the "Third Stopping Place", estimated at 2,000 years ago near present-day Detroit . According to their tradition, and from recordings in birch bark scrolls ( wiigwaasabak ), Ojibwe (an Algonquian-speaking people) came from the eastern areas of North America, or Turtle Island , and from along the east coast. They traded widely across the continent for thousands of years and knew of

17655-591: The end of World War I . The Balfour Declaration of 1926 , the 1930 Imperial Conference and the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 recognized that Canada had become co-equal with the United Kingdom. The Patriation of the Constitution in 1982 marked the removal of legal dependence on the British parliament. Canada currently consists of ten provinces and three territories and is a parliamentary democracy and

17820-560: The federal government, the schools were run by churches of various denominations – about 60% by Roman Catholics, and 30% by the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada , along with its pre-1925 predecessors, Presbyterian , Congregationalist and Methodist churches. The attempt to force assimilation involved punishing children for speaking their own languages or practising their own faiths, leading to allegations in

17985-500: The first North American English colony by royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I . In the reign of King James I , the English established additional colonies in Cupids and Ferryland , Newfoundland , and soon after established the first successful permanent settlements of Virginia to the south. On September 29, 1621, a charter for the foundation of a New World Scottish colony was granted by King James to William Alexander . In 1622,

18150-515: The first settlers left Scotland. They initially failed and permanent Nova Scotian settlements were not firmly established until 1629 during the end of the Anglo-French War . These colonies did not last long except the fisheries in Ferryland under David Kirke . In 1631, under Charles I of England , the Treaty of Suza was signed, ending the war and returning Nova Scotia to the French. New France

18315-477: The following summer. Cartier had sailed up the St. Lawrence river as far as the Lachine Rapids , to the spot where Montreal now stands. Permanent settlement attempts by Cartier at Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541, at Sable Island in 1598 by Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez, and at Tadoussac, Quebec in 1600 by François Gravé Du Pont all eventually failed. Despite these initial failures, French fishing fleets visited

18480-434: The fortress surrendered. The return of Louisbourg to French control by the peace treaty prompted the British to found Halifax in 1749 under Edward Cornwallis . Despite the official cessation of war between the British and French empires with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle , the conflict in Acadia and Nova Scotia continued as Father Le Loutre's War . The British ordered the Acadians expelled from their lands in 1755 during

18645-513: The fur trade, conflicts with colonial authorities and settlers and loss of land and a subsequent loss of nation self-suffiency. For example, during the late 1630s, smallpox killed more than half of the Huron , who controlled most of the early fur trade in what became Canada. Reduced to fewer than 10,000 people, the Huron Wendat were attacked by the Iroquois, their traditional enemies. In the Maritimes,

18810-513: The government declared that, as British subjects , all able Indian men of military age could be called up for training and service in Canada or overseas. Following the end of the Second World War, laws concerning First Nations in Canada began to change, albeit slowly. The federal prohibition of potlatch and Sun Dance ceremonies ended in 1951. Provincial governments began to accept the right of Indigenous people to vote. In June 1956, section 9 of

18975-510: The government on their behalf. The government gave a vague response. In March 1885, Riel, Gabriel Dumont , and Honoré Jackson (a.k.a. Will Jackson) set up the Provisional Government of Saskatchewan , believing that they could influence the federal government in the same way as they had in 1869. The North-West Rebellion of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful uprising by the Métis people of

19140-539: The hinterlands (of what is today Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba, as well as what is now the American Midwest and the Mississippi Valley ), trading with First Nations as they went – guns, gunpowder, cloth, knives, and kettles for beaver furs. The fur trade kept the interest in France's overseas colonies alive, yet only encouraged a small colonial population, as minimal labour was required. The trade also discouraged

19305-476: The lands into one country, dominated by the English language and loyalist culture; many French-Canadians saw an opportunity to exert political control within a new largely French-speaking Quebec and exaggerated fears of possible U.S. expansion northward. On a political level, there was a desire for the expansion of responsible government and elimination of the legislative deadlock between Upper and Lower Canada, and their replacement with provincial legislatures in

19470-648: The last continents into which humans migrated . During the Wisconsin glaciation , 50,000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move gradually across the Bering land bridge ( Beringia ), from Siberia into northwest North America. At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide Ice Sheet that covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska and the Yukon for thousands of years. The exact dates and routes of

19635-470: The late 15th century. European accounts by trappers , traders , explorers , and missionaries give important evidence of early contact culture. In addition, archeological and anthropological research, as well as linguistics , have helped scholars piece together an understanding of ancient cultures and historic peoples. Collectively, First Nations (Indians), Inuit, and Métis peoples constitute Indigenous peoples in Canada , Indigenous peoples of

19800-602: The late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged First Nations to assimilate into the European-based culture, referred to as " Canadian culture ". The assumption was that this was the "correct" culture because the Canadians of European descent saw themselves as dominant, and technologically, politically and culturally superior. There was resistance against this assimilation and many businesses denied European practices. The Tecumseh Wigwam of Toronto, for example, did not adhere to

19965-405: The late 20th century, members of various nations more frequently identify by their tribal or national identity only, e.g., "I'm Haida ", or "We're Kwantlens ", in recognition of the distinct First Nations. First Nations peoples had settled and established trade routes across what is now Canada by 500 BCE – 1,000 CE. Communities developed, each with its own culture, customs, and character. In

20130-515: The lead in the Pacific Northwest coast , with the voyages of Juan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 and 1775. By the time the Spanish determined to build a fort on Vancouver Island , the British navigator James Cook had visited Nootka Sound and charted the coast as far as Alaska, while British and American maritime fur traders had begun a busy era of commerce with the coastal peoples to satisfy

20295-582: The mouth of the Bella Coola River , completing the first continental crossing north of Mexico, missing George Vancouver 's charting expedition to the region by only a few weeks. In 1821, the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company merged, with a combined trading territory that was extended by a licence to the North-Western Territory and the Columbia and New Caledonia fur districts, which reached

20460-422: The nation, Ottawa attracted support in the Maritimes and in British Columbia. In 1866, the Colony of British Columbia and the Colony of Vancouver Island merged into a single Colony of British Columbia . After Rupert's Land was transferred to Canada by Britain in 1870, connecting to the eastern provinces, British Columbia joined Canada in 1871. In 1873, Prince Edward Island joined. Newfoundland—which had no use for

20625-432: The next generation. People lived and prospered for thousands of years until the Great Flood . In another story, after the Flood, they repopulated from the villages of Schenks and Chekwelp , located at Gibsons . When the water lines receded, the first Squamish came to be. The first man, named Tseḵánchten, built his longhouse in the village, and later on another man named Xelálten, appeared on his longhouse roof and sent by

20790-408: The northeastern coastline of what is now the United States. Under Samuel de Champlain, the Saint Croix settlement moved to Port Royal (today's Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia ), a new site across the Bay of Fundy , on the shore of the Annapolis Basin , an inlet in western Nova Scotia. Acadia became France's most successful colony to that time. The cancellation of Dugua's fur monopoly in 1607 ended

20955-461: The northwest were the Athapaskan-speaking peoples, Slavey , Tłı̨chǫ , Tutchone-speaking peoples, and Tlingit . Along the Pacific coast were the Haida, Tsimshian , Salish, Kwakiutl , Nuu-chah-nulth , Nisga'a and Gitxsan . In the plains were the Blackfoot, Kainai , Sarcee and Northern Peigan . In the northern woodlands were the Cree and Chipewyan . Around the Great Lakes were the Anishinaabe , Algonquin , Iroquois and Wyandot . Along

21120-419: The ocean as well. If the seventh miigis being stayed, it would have established the Thunderbird doodem . The Nuu-chah-nulth are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast . The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen separate but related First Nations, such as the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations , Ehattesaht First Nation and Hesquiaht First Nation whose traditional home

21285-492: The oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada. The Hopewell tradition is an Indigenous culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario . Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula , Saugeen , and Laurel complexes . The eastern woodland areas of what became Canada were home to

21450-436: The one returned into the ocean. The six great miigis beings then established doodem (clans) for the peoples in the east. Of these doodem , the five original Anishinaabe doodem were the Wawaazisii ( Bullhead ), Baswenaazhi (Echo-maker, i.e., Crane ), Aan'aawenh ( Pintail Duck ), Nooke (Tender, i.e., Bear ) and Moozoonsii (Little Moose ), then these six miigis beings returned into

21615-608: The part of the First Nations, who profited in trade with Europeans. Such trade strengthened the more organized political entities such as the Iroquois Confederation. The Aboriginal population is estimated to have been between 200,000 and two million in the late 15th century. The effect of European colonization was a 40 to 80 percent Aboriginal population decrease post-contact. This is attributed to various factors, including repeated outbreaks of European infectious diseases such as influenza , measles and smallpox (to which they had not developed immunity), inter-nation conflicts over

21780-443: The passage of time, there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization (i.e.: Paleo-Arctic , Plano and Maritime Archaic traditions). The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and is applied to the Ontario, Quebec, and Maritime regions . The introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous Archaic-stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured

21945-440: The plains who had relied heavily on bison for food and clothing. Most of those nations that agreed to treaties had negotiated for a guarantee of food and help to begin farming. Just as the bison disappeared (the last Canadian hunt was in 1879), Lieutenant-Governor Edgar Dewdney cut rations to indigenous people in an attempt to reduce government costs. Between 1880 and 1885, approximately 3,000 Indigenous people starved to death in

22110-553: The position of Chief remained vacant for several years. By 1931, a total of 63 people were living at the Cumberland Reserve and another 56 people were living at Pine Bluff Reserve. This First Nations in Canada –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . First Nations in Canada First Nations ( French : Premières Nations ) is a term used to identify Indigenous peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis . Traditionally, First Nations in Canada were peoples who lived south of

22275-473: The remains of large butchered mammals. The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE (10,000 years ago). Climatic conditions were similar to modern patterns; however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of meltwater. Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers. However, individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally; thus with

22440-402: The results were counter-revolutionary: [English Canada] inherited, not the benefits, but the bitterness of the Revolution…. English Canada started its life with as powerful a nostalgic shove backward into the past as the Conquest had given to French Canada: two little peoples officially devoted to counter-revolution, to lost causes, to the tawdry ideals of a society of men and masters, and not to

22605-403: The return voyage. Gaspar's brother, Miguel Corte-Real , went to look for him in 1502, but also failed to return. In 1604 King Henry IV of France granted Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons a fur-trade monopoly. Dugua led his first colonization expedition to an island located near to the mouth of the St. Croix River . Samuel de Champlain , his geographer, promptly carried out a major exploration of

22770-529: The sale of their lands in 1916 and 1917, the Department of Indian Affairs held back funding necessary for farming until they relented. In British Columbia, the McKenna–McBride Royal Commission was created in 1912 to settle disputes over reserve lands in the province. The claims of Indigenous people were ignored, and the commission allocated new, less valuable lands (reserves) for First Nations. Those nations who managed to maintain their ownership of good lands often farmed successfully. Indigenous people living near

22935-399: The second war, Queen Anne's War , the British conquered Acadia (1710). The sixth and final colonial war between the nations of France and Great Britain (1754–1763), resulted in the French giving up their claims and the British claimed the lands of Canada (New France) . In this final war, the Franco-Indian alliance brought together Americans, First Nations and the French, centred on

23100-418: The second wave began after the final Siege of Louisbourg (1758) . Many of the Acadians settled in southern Louisiana , creating the Cajun culture there. Some Acadians managed to hide and others eventually returned to Nova Scotia, but they were far outnumbered by a new migration of New England Planters who settled on the former lands of the Acadians and transformed Nova Scotia from a colony of occupation for

23265-424: The self-reliant freedom alongside of them. Recently Michel Ducharme has agreed that Canada did indeed oppose "republican liberty", as exemplified by the United States and France. However, he says it did find a different path forward when it fought against British rulers after 1837 to secure "modern liberty". That form of liberty focused not on the virtues of citizens but on protecting their rights from infringement by

23430-451: The settlement of the frontier. The war on the border with the United States was characterized by a series of multiple failed invasions and fiascos on both sides. American forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, driving the British out of western Ontario, killing the Shawnee leader Tecumseh , and breaking the military power of his confederacy . The war was overseen by British army officers like Isaac Brock and Charles de Salaberry with

23595-406: The situation; he stayed in Canada for five months before returning to Britain, bringing with him his Durham Report , which strongly recommended responsible government . A less well-received recommendation was the amalgamation of Upper and Lower Canada for the deliberate assimilation of the French-speaking population. The Canadas were merged into a single colony, the United Province of Canada , by

23760-496: The small town of Frog Lake , killing Thomas Quinn, an Indian agent , and eight others. Although Big Bear actively opposed the attacks, he was charged and tried for treason and sentenced to three years in prison. After the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870, Métis moved from Manitoba to the District of Saskatchewan, where they founded a settlement at Batoche on the South Saskatchewan River . In Manitoba settlers from Ontario began to arrive. They pushed for land to be allotted in

23925-418: The southern Thirteen Colonies outnumbered the French population approximately ten to one by the 1750s. From 1670, through the Hudson's Bay Company , the English also laid claim to Hudson Bay and its drainage basin, known as Rupert's Land , establishing new trading posts and forts , while continuing to operate fishing settlements in Newfoundland. French expansion along the Canadian canoe routes challenged

24090-447: The square concession system of English Canada , rather than the seigneurial system of strips reaching back from a river which the Métis were familiar with in their French-Canadian culture. The history of colonization is complex, varied according to the time and place. France and Britain were the main colonial powers involved, though the United States also began to extend its territory at the expense of indigenous people as well. From

24255-422: The start of the 20th century, the federal Indian policy was directed at removing Indigenous people from their communal lands and encouraging assimilation. Amendments to the Indian Act in 1905 and 1911 made it easier for the government to expropriate reserve lands from First Nations. The government sold nearly half of the Blackfoot reserve in Alberta to settlers. When the Kainai (Blood) Nation refused to accept

24420-410: The state. The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and the British, with the British North American colonies being heavily involved. Greatly outgunned by the British Royal Navy , the American war plans focused on an invasion of Canada (especially what is today eastern and western Ontario ). The American frontier states voted for war to suppress the First Nations raids that frustrated

24585-459: The term First Nations has come into general use for Indigenous peoples other than Inuit and Métis . Outside Canada, the term can refer to Indigenous Australians , U.S. tribes within the Pacific Northwest , as well as supporters of the Cascadian independence movement . The singular, commonly used on culturally politicized reserves , is the term First Nations person (when gender-specific, First Nations man or First Nations woman ). Since

24750-422: The term exists. Some Indigenous peoples in Canada have also adopted the term First Nation to replace the word band in the formal name of their community. A band is a "body of Indians (a) for whose use and benefit in common lands ... have been set apart, (b) ... moneys are held ... or (c) declared ... to be a band for the purposes of", according to the Indian Act by the Canadian Crown . The term Indian

24915-437: The time of the first European arrivals and have been discovered through archeological investigations. From the late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, and fought over various places within North America in what constitutes present-day Canada. The colony of New France was claimed in 1534 with permanent settlements beginning in 1608. France ceded nearly all its North American possessions to

25080-424: The two small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon where its fishermen could dry their fish. France had already secretly transferred its vast Louisiana territory to Spain under the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) in which King Louis XV of France had given his cousin King Charles III of Spain the entire area of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from

25245-408: The villages of the Fox nation , a tribe that was an ancient rival of the Miami people and their Algonquian allies. Native (or "pani", a corruption of Pawnee ) slaves were much easier to obtain and thus more numerous than African slaves in New France, but were less valued. The average native slave died at 18, and the average African slave died at 25 (the average European could expect to live until

25410-404: The west or to Canada, or were relocated onto reservations in Michigan and Wisconsin. Historians have unanimously agreed that the Indians were the major losers in the War of 1812. Living conditions for Indigenous people in the prairie regions deteriorated quickly. Between 1875 and 1885, settlers and hunters of European descent contributed to hunting the North American bison almost to extinction;

25575-425: The widely practiced Lord's Day observance, making it a popular spot, especially on Sundays. Moreover, Canadian policies were at times contradictory, such as through the late 19th century- Peasant Farm Policy that severely restricted farming on reserves, despite this practice being seen as important to assimilation efforts. These kinds of attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in

25740-590: The winter of 1879-1880. On September 2nd, 1880, Albert Flett was elected Chief. Peter Chapman resigned as councillor, and two new councillors were elected; John Harcus and William Head. Albert Flett served two consecutive terms, with Councillors Thomas Ballendine and Philip Canada being elected in 1883. On August 23rd, 1887, Samuel Greenleaf was elected Chief along with Councillors Philip Canada and Jeremiah Crane. By 1884, Councillor Philip Canada and “about ten families who, for some time, have farmed at Pine Island Bluff, some 20 miles northwest of Cumberland House” asked for

25905-463: Was due to the natural abundance of meat, fish, and pure water; the good food conservation conditions during the winter; and an adequate wheat supply in most years. The 1666 census of New France was conducted by France's intendant , Jean Talon , in the winter of 1665–1666. The census showed a population count of 3,215 Acadians and habitants (French-Canadian farmers) in the administrative districts of Acadia and Canada. The census also revealed

26070-489: Was elected Chief for three years, along with Councillors Joseph Paul and George Cook. When the next election was held on August 5th, 1895, Albert Flett was again elected as Chief, with Joseph Paul and George Cook remaining in their positions as councillors. In October of 1896, Chief Albert Flett was sent from Cumberland to the Selkirk Asylum for the Insane in Southern Manitoba. During Chief Flett's time in Selkirk, Jeremiah Crane assumed position as "Acting Councillor" in place of

26235-516: Was extensive mercury pollution caused by Dryden Chemicals Company's waste water effluent in the Wabigoon - English River system. Because local fish were no longer safe to eat, the Ontario provincial government closed the commercial fisheries run by the First Nation people and ordered them to stop eating local fish. Previously it had made up the majority of their diet. In addition to the acute mercury poisoning in northwestern Ontario , Aamjiwnaang First Nation people near Sarnia , Ontario, experienced

26400-428: Was hereditary, the slaves and their descendants being considered prisoners of war . Some tribes in British Columbia continued to segregate and ostracize the descendants of slaves as late as the 1970s. Among Pacific Northwest tribes about a quarter of the population were slaves. The citizens of New France received slaves as gifts from their allies among First Nations peoples. Slaves were prisoners taken in raids against

26565-545: Was intended to serve as a year-round military and naval base for France's remaining North American empire and to protect the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. Father Rale's War resulted in both the fall of New France's influence in present-day Maine and the British recognition that it would have to negotiate with the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. During King George's War (1744 to 1748), an army of New Englanders led by William Pepperrell mounted an expedition of 90 vessels and 4,000 men against Louisbourg in 1745. Within three months

26730-436: Was non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of the Canadian legal system . The Norse , who had settled Greenland and Iceland , arrived around 1000 CE and built a small settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland (carbon dating estimate 990 – 1050 CE). L'Anse aux Meadows, the only confirmed Norse site in North America outside of Greenland, is also notable for its connection with

26895-425: Was not fully restored to French rule until the 1632 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . This led to new French immigrants and the founding of Trois-Rivières in 1634. After Champlain's death in 1635, the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit establishment became the most dominant force in New France and hoped to establish a utopian European and Aboriginal Christian community. In 1642, the Sulpicians sponsored

27060-400: Was part of a shift acknowledging indigenous rights . It enabled provincial control of Crown land and allowed Provincial laws regulating game to apply to Indians, but it also ensured that "Indians shall have the right ... of hunting, trapping and fishing game and fish for food at all seasons of the year on all unoccupied Crown lands and on any other lands to which the said Indians may have

27225-413: Was to suppress the second independence movement by Manitoba 's Métis , a mixed-blood people of joint First Nations and European descent, who originated in the mid-17th century. The desire for independence erupted in the Red River Rebellion in 1869 and the later North-West Rebellion in 1885 led by Louis Riel . Suppressing the Rebellion was Canada's first independent military action and demonstrated

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