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Idealism or EthnocideA Clash o (Click to select text)
Native history forms an important and distinct part of Canadian society. The history of relations between First Nations peoples of Canada and the European settlers that arrived on this country's shores extends over five centuries. Between 1725 and 1923 treaties were signed between the crown and several of the Indian tribes and nations living in what was to become Canada. Today these treaties are known as historic Indian treaties. From the beginning, treaties have been an important aspect of the relationship between the Crown and Aboriginal people. It is a myth that is perpetuated by many historians that the Canadian government was paternalistic and farsighted when dealing with the Plains Indians between 1870-1885 , at least in the sense of looking out for their best interests. On the contrary, the lavish promises entailed in the treaties made by the white man to induce Natives to surrender their land actually contributed to the demise of Native culture. A false and blind sense of idealism motivated the Canadian government when it dealt with treaty negotiations. It is also a misconception that the treaties made were fair. This is most evident in the treaties concerning the Plains Cree. Before these treaties were made the Cree were a self-sustaining nation with their own forms of government as well as cultural and social realms. Afterward, the Treaties and the reservation system that they spawned would create a great divide in future relations between First Nations peoples and Canadian society. The Canadian government did not see treaties as a means for Natives to become civilized and assimilated into white society through the implementation of reserves. The Cree are said to be a primitive people that followed an inflexible system of tradition and custom, seeking to protect themselves against the advance of civilization. This traditional interpretation is extremely distorted for the Cree were both flexible and active in promoting their own interests and willing to accommodate themselves to achieve a new way of life. The Canadian Government on the other hand was not just and their principle concern in their relationship with the Cree was to establish control over them. The future goal of the Canadian Government was to open Native land as part of an overall plan to open agricultural potential of the West, procure land for the railway and bind the prairies commercially and economically to Canada. As long as the plains Indians remained strong and capable of defending their rights and their land , they would be of concern to the imperialistic ideals of Ottawa and London . However the reality of the situation in 1871 was that Canada did not have a plan to deal with Indians and the negotiations of treaties was not at the initiative of the Canadian Government but of Indian chiefs in the period between 1872 and 1875. The Cree were disposed to show the Canadian government that they were seriously intent on protecting their territory. To show their intent the Cree interfered with geological surveys and prevented the construction of telegraph lines that were to be built on their territory. The Cree hoped that this would send a message to the Canadian government, making it clear that in order to deal with Cree lands Canada had to deal with the Cree first . The Cree also made it clear that part of any agreement made with the Cree must involve the assistance to the Cree in developing a new agricultural way of life . The brutal reality of the situation in which confronted the Plains Indians was that by the 1870's over hunting had reduced the buffalo , the foundation of the plains economy . The strength of the Indians depended on the abundant supply of food on the prairies , and it was the buffalo that provided most of peoples needs . The skins were used for clothing , teepees, food ( it was a great source of protein ) , fuel , harness , rope , thread , bedding , cooking utensils , and sleds were made from the bones . Very little of the animal was wasted . Native life revolved around the shaggy buffalo . It was the same all over the western plains in the seventies . Business , tragedy and history could all be traced to the buffalo . When the railroad was completed in 1885 the buffalo was virtually extinct . Expansion was one response to the threat posed by the enormous decline of buffalo herds ; another was that some plains Cree bands had decided to turn to agriculture as a means to guarantee preservation of the buffalo hunting culture as long as possible . The Natives agreed to treaties because they feared the changes that were taking place and wanted some security for their future well being which was being threatened by the disappearance of the buffalo as by the influx of settlers . By the time the treaties of 1870's were made and well before , aboriginal people were anxious to explore agriculture as an alternate economy when they began to realize that the buffalo were failing them . It would not be government negotiators but the aboriginal spokesman who insisted that terms be included in the treaties that would permit agricultural development . The plains Indians were of the earliest and largest groups to attempt agriculture . The fact that they didn't was because of government policy and intent , not Native choice and inability . The Plains culture that evolved over centuries in Western Canada seemed far removed from the lifestyles of farms , fields , and fences that began to alter the prairie landscape in the late nineteenth century . The plains Cree exploited the seasonal diversity of their settlements from habitat to habitat , depending on where they expected to find the greatest abundance of natural food supply . All aspects of their way of life relied on mobility . Basic necessities such as good soil, water , game , and fuel rarely came together in many plains areas , this along side the great variability and uncertainty of the climate to make mobility central to the survival of the plains culture . European observers saw the plains Cree as living in the mercy of natural forces and failed to appreciate the sophisticated adaptations to the environment and many ways in which resources were altered , managed and controlled . The plains Cree have a history of making dramatic adjustments to new economic and ecological circumstances. The Cree showed themselves to be remarkably flexible in rapidly adjusting to the rewards and demands of different environments and there is no reason to believe that they could not have made adjustments to the new order of the post 1870 era by becoming full participants in an agricultural economy . The fact that they did not was not due to their own choice rather , there was a refusal to let them do so as they were denied the access to the opportunities and resources that would have allowed them an independent existence . During the treaty negotiations of the 1870 plains people sought government aid to make the transition to an agricultural economy . In return for their for their offer of an opportunity of peaceful expansion . As the poor quality and amount of provisions of the Indian treaties suggest , the government's priority with the plains Indians was for European , not aboriginal , settlement . First Nations people asked that they be given the instruction and technology that would allow them to farm . Native spokesmen did not see any inherent conflict between distinctive identity and active participation in an agricultural economy . Circumstances brought an end to the era in which they would live like their ancestors had , yet that did not make them stop being Native . Although they were intent on agriculture, development and education , they did not intend to be forced to abandon their religious ceremonies and beliefs. The changes First Nations peoples experienced were dramatic. The spread of European disease was devastating and would wipe out many future generations of Natives . The introduction of alcohol to Indians played a disruptive role in relations between Europeans and Native peoples ; attempts to control access to it gave way to wholesale distribution . Alcohol also changed Native behavior , although it would change any culture if a new substance was introduced . However the role it played was negative because the Natives abused it and became dependant on it , thus becoming dependant on its suppliers . The administrators who were to negotiate federal treaties with Indians were inexperienced and unfamiliar with Native culture . To successfully complete Ottawa's expansionists dreams land for the CPR was not the only land needed , but also an agricultural area for new settlers . A market to manufacture goods was needed and thus that market needed European consumers . With the buffalo extinct , Native peoples were reduced to complete dependency on whites , and the treaties served to justify the seizure of lands . Not only were the Natives denied their land but they were also denied the right to participate in the mainstream agricultural and industrial activity of Canada ; even construction work on the railroad was denied . First Nations peoples received almost nothing in return for their land and resources except promises as empty as the treaties themselves . Fair negotiations would have been virtually impossible because power was unequally distributed between Natives and the Canadian government . Treaties and reserves were becoming common to most Natives . In there own land , in Canada , treaties legitimized the imprisonment of Natives onto the reserve system . Government treaty negotiators had the upper hand , they were in control , they were bargaining from a position of power , backed by the Mounted Police and the military forces of Canada and England combined . The advantage the treaty negotiators had was that they were familiar with the English language and the legal contracts which were also in English . The Indians did not have any power in the sense that they could not speak English , or at least not well enough to clearly express their concerns . But they were skilled diplomats sharpened by years of experiences in tribal deliberations , but they were no match for the men of Ottawa . They were told in effect to sign treaties or to be wiped out . If they signed , it was promised , they would be cared for , taught farming and that their lives would be easier than it had been in the past . Indians were divided and economically dependant. They were at the will of the white man .However the Natives were not fooled by speeches about the benefits of the reserve system or by the charity that was said would be given onto them . The treaties made were supposed to look honorable , or at least legal . But the underlying reasons for the treaties are evident , the Canadian government wanted to push Natives to the side , to create a Canada full of white colonizers . Natives were not seen as an asset to the country , but as a burden in which the only way of relief would be to corral the Indians onto reserves spread throughout the country . In treaty six it states "all Indians ... do hereby cede , release , surrender and yield up to the government forever , all rights , titles and privleges whasoever to lands included ". The particular area of land which this quote is referring to is 121,00 square miles . In case one clause failed to make clear , another clause was added to the surrender : And also all their rights , titles and privileges whatsoever to all other lands in the Northwest". The Indians virtually had no say , without the bison , they had no choice . The treatiesdesignated reserve lands , reserves in which the Indians had no say in choosing the site . This was done because it would be easier to deal with small Native bands rather than a large unified nation . The federal government divided each plains Indian tribe into several small bands and then appointed a chief for each band . Each Indian affairs agent was placed on the reserve , it was part of their duty to create dissention by exaggerating band and tribal differences so that the Native peoples were led to believe that their neighbors were unfriendly and aggressive . Another of the many negative consequences of the treaties is that they were seen by the Natives as a kind of legal bible which they felt would give them special rights and privileges . This attitude is still present with many First Nations peoples today . Treaties represent the cruel theft of aboriginal rights , they are also contracts of continued oppression . Treaties served as the binding tie of colonization , they are without a doubt a source of unmistakable evidence as to how the Canadian people and their government regard Indians in terms of political civilization . The history of early Indian administration is a precursor for the future direction in which treaties made with First Nations would be dealt . Britain gained control of most of North America in 1760 , and three years later issued the Royal Proclamation ; that reserved lands for Indians and prescribed that only governments could deal with Indians on land matters . This prompted a series of land cession treaties under which First Nations gave up their claims to specified tracts of land in return for " lump-sum cash " payments and annuities . Lands were also set aside as reserve areas and First Nations which would not be accessible to settlers coming to Canada from Europe or the United States . However the implementation of reserves did by no means have a positive affect on Native culture . The reserve system was a way for the Canadian government to control Indians . Confederation gave the new federal government the legislative authority over " Indians and lands reserved for Indians " . The Indian Act of 1876 was a step in the direction of personal and cultural control . As a result the great powers the government wrongfully gained were : authority to dictate who was and who wasn't an Indian , it controlled movement from the reserves ; it dictated when and where children would go to school ; and it denied Indian people the right to vote . Speech , assembly , franchise and civil rights were no longer freedoms the Indians would experiences , with the implementation of reservation lifestyle . They were not allowed to leave the reserve without government permission . The Indian needed a pass to roam the land which was once rightfully his . The treaties that were made with the Plains Cree were by no means a result of idealism but of ethnocide , the consequences can be seen as an aressted development and culture . They were prevented from developing along with the nation's advancing technology and economy . Indians were geographically cut off from mainstream society . All powers that Native chief's once held were reduced and they were kept for ornamental reasons only . Treaties gave complete control to colonizing officials . Before these colonizers came , Indian society was governed without police , without kings and governors , without judges and without a ruling class . Sharing was a natural characteristic of their way of life .Everyone was equal in rights and benefits . Treaties brought an end to this lifestyle . The treaty system also brought with it the intorduction of residential schooling . These schools were another way in which the Canadian goivernment would try to assimilate Native childern . All Native childern were forced to go to these schools and many of them were beaten and were mal-nourished . Treaties that were made were done with the intentions of commiting ethnocide . They created a squence of events that would create a legacey of pain and a liftime of turmoil between Native peoples and thier corrupt landlords - the Canadian government .
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