This is my research paper on the relationship between First Nations and Settlers Pre-Confederation. This was a topic that I was very passionate about, and I really wanted to portray what life was like for these people who were abused at the hands of the settlers.

Research Paper :

When we talk about any period in history and the relationship between settlers and first nations people in Canada, there is usually a negative association between the two. Which is why I ask the question, Was there ever a period in time throughout Canadian history that these two groups had a good, well functioning relationship? And why exactly was the relationship between these two groups so terrible? In reality, there are a number of issues that caused this relationship to be so volatile. From the first nations people’s perspective, they were essentially taken over by the settlers. Almost all of their land was taken from them, and some were even physically assaulted on a regular basis. In some cases, settlers tried to force their religious beliefs on the native people, and get them to convert to Christianity. Many first nations people were kidnapped and taken back to Europe where the settlers were from to be put on display or brought over as slaves, as many Europeans hadn’t seen anyone with native features before. Another factor in the diminish of this relationship, was at one point in time the diseases that the Europeans had brought over started to kill off many communities of native people. They simply didn’t have the immunity to handle new bacteria that they had never been around before. In this essay, I’m going to discuss some of the negative factors, that resulted in the torn relationship, and also some research that I’ve discovered that talks about the Europeans perspective on their relationship with the first nations people.

One of the biggest common factors in the overall damaged relationship between these two groups, was the settlers trying to force the first nations people to convert to their relationship, Christianity. Many missionaries called the Jesuits were sent over to New France to make an attempt to convert the native people into Christianity in the mid 1600’s. They wanted the native people to follow the European lifestyle that they had, “They had the misconception that many of the Native Americans had no religion and would therefore be easily converted.  Soon they realized that this was not true and the natives resisted conversion.  In response to the low number of converts, the Jesuits tried to isolate the native children in seminaries so that they would more easily adapt to the European way of life.  It was believed that if young natives were educated, they would be persuaded to abandon their way of life and embrace the European concepts of Christianity and civilization.  Native children proved much harder to convert than anticipated”.[1]They hadn’t realized that trying to convert young children in these native communities was proving to be very difficult, resulting in many children running away. Another issue the missionaries faced in trying to convert the native people, was that they did not speak the same language as the natives, probing very difficult to explain their religion to the native people. We can only imagine how terrible the natives felt during this time, all of their beliefs and religious practices had been passed down through generations from their ancestors. Although many refused to change their beliefs and adapt the European religion and suffered mentally and physical at the hand of some missionaries, some did convert to Christianity in efforts to rebuild the relationship with the settlers that had become so damaged.

With the native people rebelling against the missionaries and settler’s efforts to convert them, its to no surprise that the Europeans abuse escalated and resulted with them needing to find a way to control these native communities. Unfortunately, the abuse quickly escalated and resulted in settlers using a variety of physical force, violence, and illegal actions to do so. This left many first nations families broken and destroyed. After all, the native people had not been doing anything to provoke this abuse, other than refusing to change their religious views and practices. A great example of this is the letter written from the Mississauga Indians of Rice Lake, to Sir John Colborne in 1829, pleading for Colborne to enforce some sort of rule or punishment for this abuse. Colborne was the lieutenant governor of the Province of Upper Canada, responsible for maintaining the security of the first nations people of Canada. In the letter the Rice Lake Indians explain the abuse they have been enduring at the hands of the Europeans, and how it is effecting their communities. In their letter, it reads “That our hearts are grieved for the abuses which are done us by some white men. Our hearts are true and we will speak plainly, white men seize on our furs, and take them from us by force, they abuse our women and violently beat our people”.[2] With further research, I can conquer that there were many letters sent to political figures, pleading for help with the emotional and physical abuse these communities were dealing with. I also realised how desperate these communities were to get the help they needed to protect their women and young children from the settlers, and this is just another prime example of why, in the Indians point of view, the relationship was damaged beyond repair.

Although the first nations people believed that their relationship with the settlers was damaged beyond repair due to the abuse they received and being forced into a religion they didn’t want to believe in, the settlers had a very different perspective on the situation, we can assume due to the fact that they were the ones handing out the abuse, rather than receiving it.  The European settlers for example felt they had a great relationship with first nation people, which in some areas of Canada they did. An example of this is in 1820, when the native people aligned with the British against the Americans. “Throughout this period the British tried to maintain alliances with interior nations, while most Aboriginal peoples found alliance with the British more attractive than either neutrality or support for the Americans. The reasons for this support can be seen most clearly in the brief career of the Odawa chief Pontiac, who forged a common front of First Nations of the southern interior after the Seven Year’s War. Pontiac’s sought to resist the expansion of Anglo-American agricultural settlement from seaboard colonies”.[3] French settlers realized the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the first nations people, “To maintain its North American empire, France depended on its alliances with the natives. France had an amazing number of Amerindian allies including almost all the Algonquin in Canada, Acadia, and south of the Great Lakes, i.e., the Abenaki, Micmac, Montagnais, Malecite, Algonquin, Huron, Ottawa, Chippewa (Ojibwa), Cree, Erie, Blackfoot, Illinois, Miami, Potawatomi, and others”. [4] Many natives tolerated foreign fisherman in other parts of Canada, as long as settlers didn’t take over their land. With many missionaries and settlers trying to get the native people to convert to Christianity, they truly felt it was their mission from god to help the natives do so, and therefore may have really believed they were helping the native people go to heaven. The settlers also formed many other types of relationships in different areas in Canada, such as in 1760’s, the British assumed the previous French – Native commercial relationship, with fur trading and selling of furs.

As discussed above, there were many factors involved when deciding whether or not the native and settlers from different parts of Canada had a good relationship or not. From my research, I can now see that yes, there were many struggles these two groups dealt with and in many parts of Canada did not overcome. The beating of the women and children, and the force of a certain religion by the Jesuits on the first nations let to many ill feelings.  However, there were some groups of settlers in Canada, who were interested in having a good relationship with the native communities, and succeeded in doing so within commercial relationships. Many natives suffered at the hands of the settlers which also has an impact on relationships within Canada today. Which is why I think its safe to say, when the native people were treated with proper respect, perhaps when the missionaries suggested the new religion, there may not have been as much resistance. Or if the settlers hadn’t beaten the native women and children, maybe at that point the relationship could have been repaired and followed suit to the other relationships some of the settlers had with native communities.