Category Archives: Indigenous People After Contact

Everybody wanted a Treaty

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

Canada West did not want to negotiate a treaty but everyone else did, including the people to whom it sold the mining rights

Until 1849 Canada West refused to negotiate. As a result, the 3 Chiefs, Oshawano, Shingwaukonse and Nebenaigoching,  went to Montreal to visit the Governor General. The text of their demands were published by the local Montreal newspapers. And they rocked the city. Those demands questioned the right of Canada West to grant leases to the Indigenous  lands which had never been ceded to the crown or anyone else.  When you think about it, such a demand put into question the entire colonial project.  If the government, Canada, or Canada West, could not grant valid leases to business interests what could those businesses be sure they were entitled to?

The 3 Chiefs also vowed to drive off all miners who were illegally on their land. Business leaders were getting very uncomfortable. Business leaders don’t like uncertainty. While the 3 Chiefs were in Montreal another Chief, Peau de Chat from what was then called Fort William (now Thunderbay) travelled to Mica Bay with his warriors. He informed the company there that without a treaty the miners would have to leave.  Canada West told the Chief that should the band not make a treaty they would lose their land without compensation. Again, that was contrary to Canadian law, but as often happens governments are quite willing to ignore the law when it no longer suits them.

In this heated atmosphere the Commissioner appointed by Canada West began to negotiate with the chiefs. The meetings were raucous and contentious. The commissioners spent as much time trying to divide the bands rather than engaging in fruitful negotiations. Again a common negotiating technique by colonial powers.

The Chiefs refused to be bullied and instead sailed a schooner loaded with a small cannon and some others arms which they took from the Crown Lands Agent, into Mica Bay on the north shore of Superior. The chiefs confronted the manager of the mine and demanded he pay the sums they required. The manager saw the Indigenous people as “armed insurgents” and closed the mine.

Fake news soon followed.  Fake news was not invented by Donald Trump. Rumours were circulating about an “Indian massacre” with “hundreds” of dead. This led to Canada West sending a brigade of troops to enforce the law. Now law was important again. By the time the troops arrived the mine  was all locked down and shuttered. The troops remained until October of 1850.  They probably spent most of their time drinking and playing cards through a cold Canadian winter.

The ringleaders of the insurrection though were arrested on December 4, 1849. But the chiefs never made it to trial. The cases were dropped once a treaty was signed in 1850. This was insurrection Canadian style. And to tell the truth, I like this style. The tough actions of the Chiefs, were entirely without any bloodshed, and frankly not entirely without legal right, led to the parties entering into 2 treaties. As the Canadian Encyclopedia said, “The Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior Treaties legitimated the mining leases, created reserves, recognized First Nation rights, and set precedents for future treaties. This set a precedent with how Canada would deal with Indigenous People. So did the subsequent lacklustre implementation on the part of the governments.

In 1850, leaders from 34 First Nations signed the Robinson Treaties with the British Crown, giving soon-to be- created Canada and Ontario access to more than 100,000 square kilometres of land via two agreements.

Each treaty contained annual payments (called annuities) to the First Nations along with an “escalator or augmentation clause.” The augmentation clause  in each treaty was designed to raise the annuities as profits from the extractions of resources increased. But as so often happened, the governments did not like the augmentation clauses. The chiefs were very wise to insist on such a clause. Sadly, as so often happened the Crown refused honour it.  Instead, it ignored the clauses as long as possible. As a result, the honour of the crown, considered so important in Canadian constitutional law was badly besmirched. Those clauses eventually became the centre of litigation which was not resolved until this year, 2024, 174 years later, by the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. And the result was truly astonishing.

Rebellion

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

I have tried to give the necessary background to treaties, and in particular the Robinson Treaties which were so important to the development of Ontario and revealed so starkly the ugly reality about some of the treaties.

Canada, in the middle of the 19th century, was then a unified colony, it selected William Benjamin Robinson, an experienced trader familiar with Indigenous language and trade customs, as their primary negotiator for the Robinson Treaties. Negotiations began in Sault Ste. Marie and Indigenous leaders were at first hesitant to accept the Crown’s terms and requested additional time to consider them. As I mentioned earlier, they preferred to be deliberative. That approach often paid off for them.

Robinson confirmed that Indigenous groups would maintain their hunting and fishing rights, terms that encouraged reticent leaders to sign. Although Lake Huron leaders demanded accommodation be made for their half-breed kin, Robinson refused that demand.

Contrary to the Royal Proclamation of 1763, even before a treaty was signed with the First Nations in the region, the government of Ontario West or Upper Canada had started issuing mining licences to Canadian companies. Naturally that was seen as disrespectful by the First Nations.

In November 1849, a force of Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe or Ojibway) and Métis warriors, led by Chiefs Oshawano, Shingwaukonse and Nebenaigoching, forced the Quebec and Lake Superior Mining Association to stop operating a mine at Pointe aux Mines, Mica Bay, north of Lake Superior not far from where we travelled this summer. The site was approximately 100 km northwest of Sault Ste. Marie where we spent the night. The closure of the mine and the reaction of the government of what many now called Canada West is usually referred to as the Mica Bay Incident.

The Indigenous leaders were sharp. They realized that ultimately the newcomers needed security of title for the immigrants in order to succeed in Canada. Europeans were accustomed to a laws based environment for settlement and I particularly for businesses. Businessmen, (they were mainly men at that time) don’t like uncertainty. Uncertainty of title or ownership is particularly uncomfortable.  The indigenous leaders and business people were also familiar with the Royal Proclamation of 1763 promulgated by King George and it required anyone who wanted to acquire land from Indigenous people to do so with the consent of the Indigenous inhabitants and only through the agency of the crown. The crown was like a real estate agent with an exclusive listing agreement.

The people of Canada West had seen how successful mining operations were in northern Michigan copper country and hoped to mirror that success in their neck of the woods. Thousands of people had been travelling through Sault Ste. Marie into Michigan copper country, which I visited last year, and Upper Canada (Canada West) wanted them to come north instead. Some of the Americans also became illegal immigrants to Canada because they were searching for a better life just like the immigrants to the southern USA in the 21st century.  Likely some Canadians called them “murderers and rapists and not their best people.”

As a result, the government of Ontario West in 1841 assumed legislative control of the land along the north shore of Lake Superior  to keep those nasty Americans out. Of course, that government did bother consulting with the local inhabitants who were mainly Anishinaabeg who had never ceded their land to anyone!

As a result, Canada West issued the first mineral exploration license in 1845, in my opinion entirely without legal authority to do that. They did not own the land or the minerals so they could not sell or lease it. As a former lawyer who has already forgotten most of the law I ever knew, I do know that much. You can’t sell or lease out what you don’t own. The Canada West government also authorized surveyors to commence surveying land they did not own. That is the way colonial authorities operated. That also bothered the Indigenous people.

Chief Shingwaukonse then confronted and questioned Alexander Vidal, the government surveyor, about the legality of surveying unsurrendered (unceded) lands.  The Chief also went on to petition the Governor General for a share of the mineral profits from the lease for his people.  He also pointed out, quite rightly again, that his people’s aboriginal rights were being infringed.  This was all contrary to the Royal Proclamation which was binding law in the territories of Upper and Lower Canada.

Regardless of the legalities, in 1848 at Pointe aux Mines, the Quebec and Lake Superior Mining Association who obtained the lease from the government of Canada West began to build accommodations, a mine building and water-powered dressing facilities all with the clear intention of starting copper production. The mining companies were not stupid either.  They were aggressive and decided to act and ask for permission or forgiveness later, but they knew they were asking for trouble. So they called for a treaty.  They wanted to be treaty people too!

The missionaries, as usual closely following business interests, were also eager for the parties to reach an agreement. Of course, Canada West had been using mining leases as a form of patronage and revenue generation.   Corruption is never new, and apparently, never ending. Already, by 1846 Canada West had generated $60,000 of revenue from those sources, even though no treaty had been negotiated. That, needless to say, was a lot of money in 1846.

Rich people paid a lot of money for those leases and wanted their legal documents to be secure. They pressured the government as only rich business interests can.

Everybody wanted a treaty.

 

Treaty of Niagara

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Aboriginal Law, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

There is one more document that must be considered in order to understand the significance of the Robinson Treaties. in 1764, one  year after the Royal Proclamation was proclaimed,  Sir William Johnson who represented the English crown, invited all of the First Nations in the region that would be impacted by the Treaty of Niagara to Niagara to talk him. This has been called the Council of Niagara 1764 and was attended by over 1,700 Indigenous people, including Anishinaabe leaders. At that time Johnson on behalf of the  Crown again assured the Indigenous attendees of their autonomy and stated that the Crown would maintain and protect their title to their lands as was proclaimed by King George in the Royal Proclamation.

He advised them that he was the person responsible to implement the Royal Proclamation. He sent out copies of the proclamation together with strings of wampum. These are shells commonly used in Eastern Canada and they represented the highest forms of nation-to-nation diplomacy. These strings or belts were the indigenous form of treaty “writing.” It is interesting how the parties latched on to Indigenous ceremonies in this “new world.” This was a sign of respect by British authorities to their Indigenous partners. It was understood that they would be partners.

 

The Covenant Chain belt was created through the Treaty of Niagara. It is a belt that shows 2 individuals holding hands representing friendship and alliance. Gifts and wampum belts were exchanged, including the Great Covenant Chain Wampum and the 24 Nation Wampum. The trial judge in the Ristoule case that went to the Supreme Court who momentously rule on the case this past year, described the Great Covenant Chain Wampum as an embodiment of the “merged symbols of diplomacy” between the two groups, visually represented on the belt by two figures holding hands as part of two links in a chain.”

The Treaty of Niagara is what flowed from that historic meeting in 1764.

Aimée Craft is an Indigenous lawyer (Anishinaabe-Métis), an assistant professor at the Faculty of Common Law, University of Ottawa, and an adjunct professor in Native Studies at the University of Manitoba, said this;

“The Royal Proclamation does not stand alone. The Treaty of Niagara is a sister document. It is the foundation of the nation-to-nation relationship between Canada and the First Nations of Canada. Together, the Treaty and the Proclamation provided the first understandings between the English and the Indigenous people of North America about the relationship of the British crown and the indigenous nations. Through the Proclamation, Britain asserted sovereignty over the parts of North America that it claimed, but at the same time, it also acknowledged the sovereignty of the First Nations of Canada. It recognized that lands had not been surrendered or ceded to the British crown and therefore it was necessary to make treaties with Indigenous peoples.”

 

The Royal Proclamation signed by King George said Canada should ensure that indigenous people would not be disturbed or molested in their occupation of land reserved for them. It also said the abuses that occurred in the past in the acquisition of land should not be repeated.  It was acknowledged that too often in the past fraudsters had taken advantage of Indigenous people who often could not read English script.

A fundamental principle of the Royal Proclamation is that no private person has the authority or privilege to purchase land from Indigenous people of those vast lands that had been set aside for them (unceded land). The crown has the exclusive right to purchase such land from Indigenous people or groups and only at public meetings of said nations. The indigenous people had to be “inclined to dispose” of their interest as the nation as involved in the agreement. If they were not so disposed there would no transfer of ownership. This is the foundation of treaty making to this day. Only in this way can land of a First nation be sold or ceded.

Sadly, later there were some lapses in recognizing this legal prerogative, just as there were lapses in failing to honour the treaties, particularly on the part of the non-indigenous people. Perhaps there is no better example of this than the Robinson Treaties, that I will get to in the next post.

The Treaty of Niagara is called a treaty because 200 chiefs showed up from as far away as the Rocky Mountains. They came to Niagara to “make treaty.” 24 nations were represented. Of course, the concept of nations has morphed over time.

These 2 documents, together with the Covenant Chain, mandate non-interference in indigenous governance. According to Professor John Borrows, of the University of British Columbia, this is the foundation for indigenous sovereignty. Those treaties that were negotiated are still the legal basis for the legitimacy of settler presence in North America. They are the basis of the right of all of us non-indigenous people who live in North America to do so with security of tenure.

 

 

Royal Proclamation 

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

Shortly after the ending of the Seven Years War between France and England, and after England assumed European control of North America, a number of North America’s First Nations, including the Anishinaabe, rose up against the French. After all, unlike France, most of them had not signed a treaty with the British.

In response England through its monarch King George issued a famous Proclamation commonly referred to as the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation is now part of the law of Canada. It has been called by the Supreme court of Canada, a defining moment in Canadian history. I shall return to it again and again. The Supreme Court also said it provided the impetus for the Robinson Treaties.

As the Mr. Justice Jamal of Supreme Court said, in the Ristoule case in 2024 dealing with the Robinson Treaties

“In the Proclamation, the Crown unilaterally asserted sovereignty over what is now Canada, but also affirmed pre-existing Aboriginal title and ownership of unpurchased lands. The Proclamation created special rules for the purchase and sale of “Lands of the Indians” to prevent fraud and abuse, prohibited private parties from purchasing such lands, and stipulated that they could only be surrendered to the Crown.”

 

One of the effects of the Proclamation was that colonial governments, in what is now Canada and the United States, were forbidden to survey or grant any unceded lands. This particularly riled the Americans who were expecting to develop and open up the west for American enterprise and government.  The Americans saw it as British interference. They hated this constraint and it was an important cause of the American Revolutionary War. The Americans wanted to control the continent.

As a result of the Royal Proclamation, colonial governments were forbidden to allow British subjects to settle on Indian lands or to allow private individuals to purchase them.  There was an official system of public purchases developed in order to extinguish Indian title. The English did not want anyone asserting claims to ownership which might lead to  a dubious foundation in law for such titles  as this would provide an insecure foundation for development. Settlers and business people all wanted secure title to land, or they would not invest in it.

Added to that, even the King of England realized he had no authority to simply take land from other nations in either English law or international law.  This meant that England would have to establish a sound legal basis for obtaining title from Indigenous people. This is part of the treaty making process and an important part of the motivation for treaty making by Europeans and later Canadians. Modern Canadians often forget about this context when they complain about treaties. In the view of the British and Canadian governments this secure foundaton was very important.

Americans had fewer scruples. They believed that conquest, if necessary, would provide a secure foundation.  However, its Indian Wars were horrendously expensive and the English and later the Canadians blanched at the thought of following the American lead. After 1776, Americans were spending about 1/4 of their federal budget on these wars

Added to that, even when King George wanted to assert jurisdiction over parts of Canada, as he did, he had to wrestle with this problem. Frankly, he also did not have the military strength to just take it all. So, King George had problems and the Royal Proclamation was his way of dealing with some of those problems. As a result, King George asserted jurisdiction but also recognized the limitations of doing so.

 

 

Robinson Treaties

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, civilization, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

Treaties are very important for relations between Indigenous People and first the British government and then the emerging country of Canada, as it came to be called.  One of the most important or significant of those treaties was entered into before 1867 when Canada became an partially independent country. This was actually a series of treaties referred to as the Robinson Treaties or the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior Treaties. The story of these treaties is one of the most fascinating stories in Canadian history and helps to explain that relationship between these nations.

 

Much of this region we drove through from Thunder Bay to Ottawa was part of the land that was subject to the Robinson Superior Treaty that was signed in 1850 in Sault Ste. Marie. That treaty has become very controversial in Canadian law at least until a landmark decision was made by the Supreme Court of Canada this year, 2024.

 

The Robinson Treaties, saw Canada secure almost all of northwest Ontario for settlement and resource development. That is what Canada and Ontario wanted. New in these agreements were provisions made for reserves based on sites chosen by Indigenous leaders. These Robinson Treaties of 1850 are credited with laying the foundation for what later became known as Western Canada’s Numbered Treaties that were entered into between Canada, after Confederation in 1867, and various First Nations. Treaty making during this period was not just confined to the eastern and central areas of what would become Canada.

 

These treaties were very important for both the indigenous people who were confronting an avalanche of immigrants from Europe, and elsewhere, and of course they were very important to those immigrants who had created a new national entity—Canada.  We are all treaty people. Those treaties are very important. Canada realized that it would never be able to develop the country without being able to grant secure title to land that these newcomers would want in order to come here. Canada did not want to follow the mistakes the Americans were making to our south. Americans were spending 25% of their entire federal budget on fighting Indian wars.  The country to the south had many more people and much more money than us Canadians to the north.  So much money was a burden even on them.  Canadian officials realized that such expenses would bankrupt their country just as it was, in their view, getting off the ground.  Canada decided, rightly in my view, that it would be much better for all to come to an agreement. An amicable agreement. Canada chose to negotiate treaties with the inhabitants.

 

The Robinson Treaties were made before Confederation in 1867 and the Robinson Treaties of 1850 were the template for the numbered treaties that followed after 1867. It laid the groundwork for the later treaties and development of the country and unfortunately, that foundation was not as solid as the people had hoped.  I should mention that there were also peace and friendship treaties that had been made with indigenous people on the east coast that also preceded the numbered treaties and I will deal with them when this journey gets to that part of Canada.

 

There had been a lot of conflicts with indigenous people on the east  coast that hindered development of the country that the arrivals from Europe yearned for. As a result, in light of those conflicts and the changing political, social, and economic dynamics, the years between 1764 and 1836 saw the newly created colonies of Upper and Lower Canada negotiate roughly twenty-seven (27) land purchases to secure the lands falling within their newly defined territories.

 

This also coincided with the post-1812 shift in colonial policy away from military alliance, and towards demands that Indigenous people abandon their traditional life ways and adapt an agrarian and sedentary lifestyle. The Europeans saw these plans for “civilization,” as they called them,  as a shift from cash payment and trade relationships, in favour of annuity payments used to develop permanent agricultural communities. As non-Indigenous settlement moved west and conflict over land and its resources escalated, colonial officials sought to speed up land secession agreements around the areas of Lake Huron and Superior. Officials’ laissez-faire approach in making treaties with Indigenous communities, whose territories they were moving into, resulted in an armed insurrection at Mica Bay on Lake Superior in 1849.

 

Of course, now we know that the ideas of the European settlers contained many elements, such as harmful ideas of white supremacy, that are entirely inimical to civilization. In many respects, the development by Europeans of Canada result in the destruction of civilization and the imposition on Indigenous People of what might with more justification be called barbarism.

 

This was not a good start. But it got even worse.

More than Beauty

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

The north shore of Lake Superior is more than just a beautiful coastline along the world’s largest freshwater lake. It is that, but it is much more than that.  It is a place where a lot of important history has occurred.  It was an important place in the history of Canada’s fur trade.  That means it is an important part of Canadas’s history after Europeans made contact with the indigenous people that lived in the country.

 

After lunch in Wawa, Christiane  and I continued travelling but stopped at High Magpie Falls. This was a gorgeous set of falls and I could not refrain from photographing them. There were 2 interesting plaques nearby. One celebrated the Michipicoten First Nation. According to their own website, “We  are Anishinaabeg who understand our responsibility to care for our Nation. Under the guidance of Creator, our ancestors, and our history, we walk with our people to mino-biimaadiziwin (the good life, the life of wholistic well-being).”

The Nation (original Peoples’) in their own Creation Story relates how

“Ojibwe or Ojibway (pronounced Oh-Jib-Way) are related to Original Man or Anishinaabe (An-ish-in-awb). The Ojibway are said to be the Faith Keepers; Keepers of the Sacred Scrolls and the Water Drum of the Midewinwin (Midi-win-win shamanic society for healers). The fundamental essence of Anishinaabe life is unity, the oneness of all things; the belief that harmony with all created things can be achieved and that the people cannot be separated from the land with its cycle of seasons or from the other mysterious cycles of living things – of birth and growth and death and new birth. The people know where they come from; the story is deep in their hearts and it is told in legends and dances, in dreams and symbols.”

 

This is exactly what I was posting about earlier under the subject of Indigenous spirituality. Don’t believe me; believe the Ojibway.

The Ojibway were the earliest inhabitants of the Michipicoten River. They explain that the archeological sites excavated at the mouth of the Michipicoten River make it evident that there has been an continued uninterrupted occupation of this region by the aboriginal people for 7,000 years or more. Some of those archaeological sites that have identified from the period just before the arrival of the Europeans (between 700-1500 AD) and those sites showed that the Ojibway people whose “summer grounds” were located at the mouth of the Michipicoten River  where members of tribes from the south and east frequently intermarried The ancient canoe routes also showed that the mouth of the Michipicoten River and Magpie Rivers were a hub of transportation and gateways to the interior as far north as James Bay with access to the vast interior of what is today northern Ontario and connecting it with the other Great Lakes and the inland sea of Hudson’s Bay.

After the arrival of Europeans, at the height of the fur trade from the 17th to 20th centuries, many Europeans who came to the region took Ojibway wives and their descendants lived the native way of life making a large part of their livelihood by fishing and trading furs with the Hudson’s Bay Company and other settlers.

There is another aspect to the history of this region to which I and my friends were entirely oblivious when we drove through it in 1967.  That year we must remember, was 100 years after Confederation. We used to say, we were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the creation of our country. That was just plain ignorant on our part. It ignored the incredible history and culture of the people who lived here long before the “whitemen” arrived.

The history since European contact with Indigenous people  was not without its difficulties.  One of the ways the people tried to resolve those difficulties was through treaties.

A treaty is a legally binding agreement outlining the rights and duties of its signatories and is protected by international law. Negotiated and agreed to by two or more sovereign nations, treaties are formal agreements used to reinforce and protect relations between those parties.  For example, in Canadian law, treaties are seen as constitutional documents. They are as fundamental as the constitution.

In North America, Indigenous societies and colonial powers often held divergent traditions and understandings on the composition and structure of these agreements. These understandings were informed by their own social, political and economic norms. Far from homogenous, pre-colonial laws, customs, and practices informed Indigenous treaty agreements. This frequently led to misunderstandings that stood in the way of congenial agreements.  Many of these principles were shared among Indigenous nations, ensuring that all parties upheld their obligations. Many Indigenous nations recognize this treaty legacy and continue to advocate that the original intent of these agreements with the Crown, and then Canada, be honoured.

Conflict between competing empires often made its way to North America, and almost always involved Indigenous peoples.  Each European side sought allies in North America and expected their allies to fight on their side. The Great Peace of Montreal serves as but one example of an agreement that brought to a close prolonged periods of conflict. Signed in 1701 between New France and forty (40) Indigenous groups of Central and Eastern North America. This treaty ushered in several years of peace. Treaties such as this lay the groundwork for peace and cooperation between colonial powers and the areas Indigenous populations, and were tested and fractured time and again when European rivals clashed overseas and brought their conflict to the Americas.

In the area of North America that eventually became Canada, there have been five distinct phases of treaty making between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. These are the Peace and Friendship Treaties of eastern Canada from 1725 to 1779, the Robinson Treaties in 1850, The Douglas Treaties from 1850 to 1854, the Numbered Treaties from 1871 to 1921, after Confederation, and the Modern Treaties from 1922 to the present. One new one has just recently been signed, the Metis Treaty. Treaty making is an ongoing process to this day.

All of them were important. The Robinson treaties were particularly important for the region north of Lake Superior which we travelled through. And there were some big problems with those treaties that had to be resolved by the Supreme Court of Canada, 2 months before we began our trip to the east coast of Canada.

 

 

Discovery of Valuable Minerals around North Lake Superior not so Valuable

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Indigenous People After Contact

 

When Christiane and I arrived in Wawa this year we had a fine picnic lunch near the huge goose overlooking the lake.  We enjoyed 3 cheeses, cheddar, boursin, and brie. With coke we concluded with good reason, that life, at least for us, was good. Simple is good. We were very fortunate.

The area around Wawa was first developed by non-indigenous people during the fur trade. Indigenous people had occupied the area for thousands of years before that.  I never considered that fact in 1967. I did consider it now in 2024.  There is a fascinating history involving the relations of the First Nations people and the government of what used to be Canada West (Upper Canada). it is actually more than an interesting story. It is an incredible story.

This site was an important part of the fur trade route, at least until 1821 when the Hudson’s Bay Company and Northwest Company merged. After that the Lake Superior trade was diverted north to Hudson Bay via the Michipicoten River which we were overlooking when we enjoyed our picnic lunch, right beside the Wawa Goose.  This area was a centre for fishing, boat building, small-scale manufacture and repair. It also served as a base for missionaries and surveyors. The two vital instruments of colonialism.

In 1897 gold was discovered on Wawa lake adjacent to the town, but that flurry of activity it generated only lasted until 1906. In 1914 the completion of the Algoma Central Railway started with 22 mineral prospects.

The North Shore of Lake Superior is magnificent.  During the fur trade days travelling Lake Superior might have seemed simple. After all, could one not just follow the north coast? According to Barbara Huck, “even this could be hazardous for cliffs rise sheer from the water in a number of places, at times to heights of more than 150 metres. Skirting these walls of granite, the men had only to look up to see the power of the lake; in many places the cliffs were bare of any living thing for 10 metre above the water line.”  Huck explained that to avoid the winds that heating during the day could usher in, “the fur brigades usually set off before dawn, and then stuck to the beautiful, deadly shore and aimed for the next safe landing site.”

Reverend George Munro Grant wrote, “Superior is a sea. It breeds storms and rain and fog like a sea.” Nipigon, where we had enjoyed breakfast, according to Huck is named after the “deep clear water” or “water without end” of massive Lake Superior.  Huck also wrote this:

Paddlers still confront Lake Superior today, and still face the same beautiful, deadly shore. Thousands of years after humans first braved the water of the great lake, it remains as one chronicler wrote, “a place where man is and forever will be only a visitor.’ ”

The north shore of Lake Superior is more than just a beautiful coastline along the world’s largest freshwater lake. It is that, but it is much more than that.  It is a place where a lot of important history has occurred.  It was an important place in the history of Canada’s fur trade.  That means it is an important part of Canadas’s history after Europeans made contact with the indigenous people that lived in the country.

The town of Wawa is also very close to the Magpie River. After lunch we continued travelling but stopped at High Magpie Falls. This was a gorgeous set of falls and I could not refrain from photographing them. There were 2 interesting plaques nearby. One celebrated the Michipicoten First Nation. According to their own website,

 

“we are Anishinaabeg who understand our responsibility to care for our Nation. Under the guidance of Creator, our ancestors, and our history, we walk with our people to mino-biimaadiziwin (the good life, the life of wholistic well-being).,,

The Nation (original Peoples’) in their own Creation Story relates how “Ojibwe or Ojibway (pronounced Oh-Jib-Way) are related to Original Man or Anishinaabe (An-ish-in-awb). The Ojibway are said to be the Faith Keepers; Keepers of the Sacred Scrolls and the Water Drum of the Midewinwin (Midi-win-win shamanic society forhealers). The fundamental essence of Anishinaabe life is unity, the oneness of all things; the belief that harmony with all created things can be achieved and that the people cannot be separated from the land with its cycle of seasons or from the other mysterious cycles of living things – of birth and growth and death and new birth. The people know where they come from; the story is deep in their hearts and it is told in legends and dances, in dreams and symbols.”

 

They were the earliest inhabitants of the Michipicoten River region. They explain that the archeological sites excavated at the mouth of the Michipicoten River make it evident that there has been a continued uninterrupted occupation of this region by the aboriginal people for 7,000 years or more. Some of those archaeological sites that have been identified from the period just before the arrival of the Europeans (between 700-1500 AD) and those sites showed that the Ojibway people whose “summer grounds” were located at the mouth of the Michipicoten River  where members of tribes from the south and east who frequently intermarried The ancient canoe routes also showed that the mouth of the Michipicoten River and Magpie Rivers were a hubs of transportation and gateways to the interior as far north as James Bay with access to the vast interior of what is today northern Ontario and connecting it with the other Great Lakes and the inland sea of Hudson’s Bay.
After the arrival of Europeans, at the height of the fur trade from the 17th to 20th centuries, many Europeans who came to the region took Ojibway wives and their descendants lived the native way of life making a large part of their livelihood by fishing and trading furs with the Hudson’s Bay Company and other settlers.

There is another aspect to the history of this region to which I and my friends were entirely oblivious when we drove through it in 1967.  That year was of course, the year Canada celebrated the first 100 years after Confederation. We used to say, we were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the creation of our country. That was just plain ignorant. It ignored the incredible history and culture of the people who lived here long before the “whitemen” arrived.

There is some incredible history that happened right here. It is a history that teaches us a lot about what Canada was really like and none of it had been taught to the 4 of us who had just finished 12 years of schooling. 12 years of schooling that had left us ignorant.

Treaties like Constitutions Should not be written in stone.

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

 

Nipigon, Ontario

 

On the second day of our trip to Eastern Canada we travelled through Nipigon Ontario. Our first morning on the trip really started with a short tour of Nipigon and then breakfast at a local restaurant there by the name of Ducky’s. Inside the restaurant is graced with a lot of parts from trees. Such as Birch bark and slices of birch trees. Thank goodness we did not have to make toast out of those slices. The wall was hung with snowshoes and massive moose antlers. We realized we really were in the north woods. The French toast was excellent with generous portions of real maple syrup. And bacon. I don’t mind that bacon does not come from the north woods. Maybe it came from LA Broquerie Hy-life pork.

 

Nipigon is a place where some of the members of the Flying Post First Nation have settled. Members of the Flying Post First Nation are widely spread out. Many of them don’t live in their designated Indian Reserve. Some of them live near Nipigon Ontario where we had breakfast. Flying Post First Nation was at one time an independent First Nation as part of the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), and later joined with or merged with the Wabun Tribal Council in 2007. Flying Post’s priorities include encouraging its members to pursue educational and professional ambitions and to create a sustainable economy for the First Nation that will create prosperity for future generations of its members.

Though most of the Flying Post First Nation members are located near Nipigon, others live in various parts of the country. The official territory of the Flying Post FN is located near Timmins, Ontario along the Ground Hog River. The Reserve lands were established between the government and First Nation people in Northern Ontario through the signing of Treaty #9 in 1905 and 1906 with later additional adhesions in 1929 and 1930. In 1906, Flying Post lands were identified in a ‘Schedule of Reserves’ in the Treaty #9 document and described the First Nation Reserve lands as follows – ‘In the province of Ontario, commencing at a point half a mile south of Six-Mile Rapids, on the east side of Ground Hog River, thence south a distance of four miles, and of sufficient depth to give an area of twenty-three square miles.’ As a lawyer who many times drafted land descriptions for various legal documents, I was amused by the looseness of the legal definition of the Reserve. But they are part of a Treaty and that makes them constitutional documents in Canadian law.

 

According to a subsequent Chief of the First Nation, Chief Murray Ray, the Treaty documents “included many discrepancies that came out of miscommunication.”   Chief Black Ice was the first recognized Chief of Flying Post First Nation. He had been informed of the treaty making process while his people were living near Groundhog River. However, they just happened to be there at the time, but they were nomadic, as were many First Nations people of Canada. The government of Canada did not respect the nomadic lifestyle of the Ojibway and Cree people of northern Ontario. As a result, the legal documents describing their Treaty lands were based on including the land which they happened to occupy at that time. Not necessarily the land they would occupy the net year. It was a like trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole. That process never ends well and it didn’t here either. This is just one example, among many, of how cultural differences between First Nations and Canadians of European descent mashed up their relationship.

When people of the First Nation realized what land they were entitled to under the Treaty, many were displeased as they considered it a poor permanent location. Some of the members of Flying Post First Nation joined other First Nations instead.

In the 1960s, some Flying Post First Nation members began to organize themselves during the formation of First Nation political organizations such as Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN). During that time, they re-established themselves as a First Nation entity and elected a Chief and Council to represent their people.

First Nations people of Canada usually made it clear to their Canadian government negotiators that they expected frequent revision and renewal of the treaties to iron out problems and keep them current in accordance with current expectations on both sides. Had such frequent renewals occurred there would likely have been fewer complications resulting in happier relations between First Nation peoples and the Canadian government. Treaties like Constitutions should always be living documents, not pressed in unmovable stone. A good example of this mistake is the American constitution. as a result of failure to amend in many years it has become calcified and an impediment to good government instead of a facilitator. While in earlier years amendments were common, in modern times amendments seem all but impossible leading to inevitable grief. It really is impossible to negotiate documents for ever. Neither party is long happy with the results. Such documents need to change. They  must be alive.

 

Fundamental Misunderstandings Lead to Fundamental Grief

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, civilization, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy

 

As I have been saying many of the problems between Indigenous Canadians and non-Indigenous Canadians are the result of misunderstandings in the past, and misunderstanding that have continued.

 

As a result of all of these misunderstandings, when many years later the Europeans approached the Indigenous people to make treaties, it was very difficult for their differing world views not to influence what they thought they were agreeing to. For example, Indigenous People thought they were agreeing to share the land while the newcomers thought the indigenous people were agreeing to cede or give up the land to the newcomers.  That very fundamental differing point of view has seriously disturbed relations between them ever since.

According to Barbara Huck,

“Though decision-making was by consensus, most North American cultures put great stock in individuals and lauded efforts on behalf of the community. Status was achieved not by owning property but by giving it away.  Religion permeated every aspect of their lives and was based on respect for the Earth and all living things.”

 

That did not mean all relations between Indigenous groups were peaches and cream. There were conflicts between groups. And those conflicts were real and sometimes vicious. Europeans did not have a monopoly on violence. Disputes between indigenous groups often turned violent and often escalated after that. Yet the overall attitudes of newcomers were radically different.

The world views of the Europeans were very different from that of Indigenous peoples.

As Huck said,

“The newcomers from Europe had a very different world view. Theirs was a class society, governed in an authoritarian way by men who viewed land and its resources as objects to be exploited. They greatly admired the accumulation of personal wealth and assigned positions of power to those who were particularly successful at amassing goods and money. Generosity was viewed as philanthropy, an act of charity, not necessity.”

 

Some of us may be surprised to find that Indigenous people were more democratic than the new comers.

There was another very important difference between the two groups. The Indigenous People saw themselves as part of the natural world, particularly identified with the land in which they lived. They had a deeply spiritual relationship to that natural world as a result. The Europeans saw the natural world as something to own individually and exploit.  Barbara Huck explained the European attitudes this way:

“Their primary allegiance was to the concept of the nation-state and national identity was closely tied to language, religion, and race. They believed implicitly in European superiority and felt compelled to try persuade other cultures to embrace their world view. Yet with few exceptions, Europeans proved woefully unprepared for survival in North America. The first 250 years of European contact were fraught with disorientation, disaster, and privation. Native North Americans provided guiding services, information, interpretation, clothing, medicine and food., as well as wives and extended families. All this was in addition to the furs that were the primary objects of early French and later British interest. And time after time, they rescued the newcomers from starvation. Yet Europeans never did comprehend that this spontaneous, culturally entrenched generosity required  reciprocity. Instead, native North Americans in need were termed beggars.”

 

To the natives of North America, reciprocity was not just a cardinal virtue, it was a religious principle. The newcomers did not catch on. They were prepared to accept gifts from the natives, but often failed to reciprocate when the opportunity arose.  Who is the more civilized? These differing attitudes prepared the ground for misunderstandings and eventually conflicts.  As Huck said in her book on the fur trade of North America,

“This climate of misunderstanding colored the fur trade and the progress of Europeans across the continent. From the 16th century St. Lawrence Valley to the Pacific Coast 300 years later, the pattern was repeated again and again. Recognizing it is fundamental to appreciating the profound changes that took place in North America, between 1550 and 1860, and perhaps just as important in understanding today’s attempts to rectify some of the mistakes of the past.”

 

This is where learning comes in. To learn from our mistakes is important. But to do that our mistakes must be honestly confronted. How else can we get better? Unfortunately, people are often reluctant to admit mistakes, and that makes matters worse. Not better.

 

European Savages

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, civilization, Colonialism, History, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy

On our trip across eastern Canada I had many opportunities to consider Canadian history.

The Indigenous people encountered by Europeans were definitely not savages.  They were members of sophisticated societies that all too often the Europeans did not well understand. Many of the Europeans were blinded by prejudice thinking that they could bring civilization and God to the barbarians and heathens. This was nonsense that the Europeans believed and passed on to their descendants and was largely responsible for the creation of white male supremacy favoured by their clans, but clearly absurd.  The indigenous people were civilized people and had a lot to teach the European newcomers while they were prepared to learn a lot from them as well. That is a wise attitude isn’t it?

It certainly was not true, as many Europeans thought, that this new land was empty of people. England, for example adopted the concept of terra nullius, a Latin phrase meaning “nobody’s land,” to justify their bloody claims. According to this theory, terra nullius included territory without a European recognized sovereign, where no one who counted lived.  Again, this was nonsense.

Contrary to such barbaric unfounded prejudices there were people all over the entire western hemisphere when Europeans arrived and these people mattered just as much as the visitors. The Europeans had no monopoly on civilization. In fact, often they revealed a startling lack of civilization. As Barbara Huck said in her book,

“Parts of North and Central America were among the most densely populated places on Earth. Some anthropologists have estimated the total population of the continent 500 years ago, including Mexico and Central America, at between 112 and 140 million. Mexico, the spectacular Aztec capital, was one of the three largest cities in the world when the Spaniards first laid eyes on it.

Much of Canada and the United States was considerably less populated than that—estimates put the total population of both between nine and 12 million—but North America was not, as some have imagined it, terra nullius, a land without people. And many societies, such as the Iroquoians, were healthier, more prosperous and less class-bound than their European counterparts of the same period.”

 

If first contact was indeed a case of civilization meeting barbarity, it is likely that the Europeans were the barbarians!  

It is also noteworthy, the Indigenous people who first encountered these Europeans in many ways did not share European attitudes and values. As Huck said,

“…the Americas were literally a world apart and North American values and beliefs were very different –in some ways almost directly contrary to the perspectives of the strangers who began to arrive on their shores in the early 1500s, the beginning of the contact period.”

 

For example, I have pointed out elsewhere that indigenous people of North American had views that were by no means all the same. They had many diverse views, just like Europeans.  The spiritual beliefs of indigenous people, for example, were very different from the newcomers, and in my view often preferable. We are of course, each entitled to our own views on that and I intend to continue commenting on those differences.

 

They also had very different views about how societies should be organized and how they should be governed and how wealth should be produced and shared. I find the differences profoundly interesting.  Barbara Huck in her book also commented on them:

 

“Indeed, it’s hard to imagine two more conflicting world views. Whether farmers or hunters, the vast majority of the people of what are now Canada and the United States lived communally in groups of varying sizes. The territories they inhabited were not owned, as we recognize land ownership, but rather commonly acknowledged  to be theirs to use. They governed by consensus, valued generosity and self-reliance, and loathed acquisitiveness and coercion. Stinginess and miserly behavior were strongly condemned. Almost everywhere it was considered immoral to allow anyone to go hungry if food was available.”

 

Not a bad way to live. Maybe the Europeans were the savages.