In History, we had to develop a research project of any topic of our choice pre-confederation. I decided to base mine off of the relationship between first nations people and the settlers over an extended period of time. We developed a document analysis, where we analyzed a primary document that connects with our topic. We also had to develop a research paper about how we would bring the issues within our topic to light. My primary document was a letter wrote by the Rice Lake Indians, to Sir John Colborne, pleading for help with crimes that were done against them.

Document Analysis

It is no new revelation that the relationship between the first European settlers and the Native Americans was less than ideal. Many Native Americans were kicked off their land, and abused by these settlers. The Mississauga Indians of Rice lake were no exception. Although many settlers who felt entitled to this new-found land, there were political figures who wanted to stand up for the Native Americans rights. The letter I am analyzing is addressed to Sir John Colbourne, who was the lieutenant governor of the province of upper Canada, whose job was to ensure the security of Canada’s native people. The author of this letter was the Mississauga Indians of Rice lake. They wrote this letter desperately pleading to Sir John Colbourne to enforce some sort of law against the abuse of the native people, and the justice of those who repeatedly reoffend The sound of desperation in this article of the Indian people pleading to Colbourne to fix the legal system shows us that this issue was continually growing at a rapid pace, and was only getting much worse. Many Indian women were being abused by the settlers and many of the Indians were beat up regularly. The native people weren’t only physically harmed, they were robbed of their land, furs and the Europeans were killing all of their animals. The letter suggests that the Indians wanted to reason with the Europeans, and were willing to compromise, but not at the physical expense and wellbeing of their people and animals. From all of this information I can try and predict that this plea to Sir John Colbourne may have fallen on deaf ears, and that eventually the First Nations people would have had enough, and start to rebel and fight back. I predict this would sever any chance of a relationship that these two groups could have had. This letter to Sir John Colbourne was written in January of 1829, pre-confederation. This helps us understand what life was life for the First Nations people, and well as possibly their first interactions with any settlers.  For the native people to be torn off of their land, having their people beat regularly, and having all of their goods stolen, this must have been an extremely difficult time for them, and its miraculous how they were able to remain so composed in writing this letter to Colbourne, and that they didn’t resort to violence right away. The native people of Rice Lake definitely made an effort to fairly and calmly resolve these issues.  The purpose of this document purpose was to plea with the Sir John Colbourne to enforce some sort of laws and put an end to the suffering of these native people, and the unjust acts that were set upon them. The entire purpose was the native people being able to reach out to their resources, who were there to help and support them to ensure their security and safety within Canada on their own land. I feel the author definitely accomplished a goal within their plea to Colbourne. Their letter was not offensive in any way toward the Europeans, even though the Europeans were brutally harming them. The Rice Lake Indians kept a level head throughout the letter, they simply stated facts as to what was really going on, and asked for assistance on these issues. By staying very level headed throughout the article, we could expect Sir John Colbourne to respond in a helpful manner and be more willing to help them, if he fulfilled his duty to the Rice Lake Indians in protecting them. This article gives me great insight toward answering my research question of, what was the relationship between the European settlers and the First Nations people? This letter gives examples of the point of view from the First Nations people of Rice Lake, and how they were treated by the European settlers who invaded their land. Before reading this letter I did not understand the relationship between these two groups on this level. I knew there were disagreements in who was entitled to the land, but I didn’t know how terribly the First Nations people were treated by the Europeans. I also didn’t know that there even were political figures whose jobs were to ensure the safety and security of the First Nations people, such as Sir John Colbourne. This letter revealed to me the feelings of sabotage and hurt that the first nations people felt. It also reveals how entitled the European people of this time were, the fact that even though this was another groups land, they felt they were superior and the land should be theirs, and they were willing to do just about anything to get it.