The Congress of Aboriginal People
The Inuit Tapirisat of Canada
The Metis National Council
The Metis were descendants of Aboriginal peoples and Europeans who had intermarried. Fur traders relied on the Metis to supply them with pemmican. Metis men hunted buffalo, farmed, trapped and traded furs. By the mid-1800's, 10,000 Metis lived in the area near what is now Winnipeg.In 1869, the Canadian government made plans to offer land to English settlers, but did not consult the Metis people who's land it was. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald sent surveyors to divide land into plots but they were sent packing by Metis leader Louis Riel. Macdonald appointed a governor to manage Fort Garry, the heart of the Red River settlement. A rebellion broke out and Riel and his men took over. They formed their own government, but because they executed a prisoner named Thomas Scott, the Canadian government saw them as hostile people who needed to be captured.
In 1885 Riel led his people in a second rebellion with another leader named Gabriel Dumont. Battles took place at Duck Lake and Batoche, but the Metis were defeated. Two Cree chiefs, Poundmaker and Big Bear, tried to stop their warriors from joining the rebellion. Despite that fact, they were tried and found guilty of felony and treason and sentenced to a term in jail. Louis Riel was convicted of treason and in 1885 he was hanged.
Today there are many Metis all over Canada and some live on settlements. For more information go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9tis_people_(Canada)
The eastern woodlands stretched from Lake Superior and Lake Huron, west almost to the plains, east to the Atlantic Ocean, north into what is now northern Ontario and south below today's border with the United States. It was a diverse land with diverse people. The people were known as:
Algonquians planted corn, beans and squash, but mostly survived by hunting, trapping, fishing and gathering plants from the wild, such as wild rice. They lived in domed or conical wigwams (this word comes from the Algonquian word "wigwaus," which means "birchbark." Birch trees grew in most parts of the lands of the Algonquian-speaking peoples. The trees were made into canoes, homes and containers.
Creation story: http://www.sgsd.k12.wi.us/homework/kanne/webpage%20stuff/American%20Literature/PreColonial%20Lit/Algonquian%20Creation%20Story.htm
Creation story: www.cs.williams.edu/~lindsey/myths/myths_12.html
The Canadian Subarctic stretches across the country from the Labrador coast westward and into northern Canada. The vast area includes areas of mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, muskeg, and great stretches of barren lands were no trees grow. Winters are harsh and food is often scarce. Summers are swarmed with black flies and mosquitoes.
Peoples of the Subarctic include:
Western Subarctic Eastern Subarctic
The Subarctic peoples lived in small groups of related families and travelled extensively and in all seasons in search for food and other resources. Homes varied in style, but all had to be easily transported and assembled. They lived in conical tents and domed tents made of caribou hides or spruce boughs. They ate caribou, musk-oxen, moose, hares, beavers, muskrats and porcupines, and a lot of fish. They also gathered berries of various kinds.
Creation story: www.arcticrefugeaction.org/about_refuge/2004Gwichinbrochure.pdf
The Arctic is mostly tundra-treeless land with only a small top layer of soil that thaws enough for plants to grow. In the summer, daylight lasts for 24 hours and in the winter, the sun does not rise over the horizon. The Inuit and the Inuvialuit peoples live here in family groups that value cooperation and sharing.
The igloo was used through most of the Canadian Arctic in winter. Blocks of snow were carved out, if the snow was soft enough, and made into igloos. A large family size igloo would last about six weeks. A vent hole called a "qihaq" let heat and smoke escape.
Most Inuit groups hunted sea mammals - seals, walrus and whales. These provided oil, thread, skin clothing, boots, storage containers, tools and coverings for boats and tents. All parts of the animals were used. Land animals were important too - caribou, musk oxen, hares and ground squirrels.
An inukshuk is an arrangement of rocks that served as a landmark, a memorial or as an aid in hunting caribou. They were two or three rocks piled one on top of another, but today they look like a human figure.
Creation story: www.painsley.org.uk/RE/signposts/y8/1-1creationandenvironment/c- inuit.htm
Stretching across Alberta, Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba is a windswept prairie. Three major rivers flow through the plains - the Bow, Assiniboine and the South Saskatchewan. The Plains peoples made this area their home, travelling in their quest for food, searching for the great herds of buffalo that they depended on for life.
Peoples of the Plains include:
The peoples travelled in small groups except when they came together for communal hunts or ceremonies. Tipis were the ideal homes-they were easy to transport from place to place in the spring and summer seasons. Women made, owned and set up the tipis. They were anchored to the ground with sturdy wooden pegs and rocks to keep them from blowing over in strong praire winds.
The Plains peoples depended on the buffalo, or "bison," to provide them with food, clothing, housing, weapons, fuel, transportation, containers and tools. The people used every part of the great animal, and at one time, more than fifty million buffalo roamed the Plains of North America. When the buffalo disappeared (slaughtered by the white man) so did the Plains peoples way of life.
Creation story: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00875/text/BlackfootC.htm
Between the Coast Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. in what is now British Columbia, lived the peoples of the Plateau. They include:
The homes of the Plateau peoples depended on the location and time of year. They might be lean-tos, lodges, tents, tipis and semi-underground pit houses. They were skilled and inventive fishermen, fishing the rich salmon-bearing streams. They were skilled hunters as well, hunting the many deer, moose, elk and mountain goats that lived in this area of the land.
Creation story: http://pyramidmesa.netfirms.com/okanogan1.html
They are known for the totem poles they carved, the elaborate permanent villages, the sea-going canoes and ceremonial masks, and the potlatches they held.
Villages ranged from seven to thirty houses, with 200 to 1000 people in all. Totem poles were carved to serve different purposes. The clan or family poles had figures or animals, such as Bear, Wolf, Owl, Killer Whale, Eagle and Thunderbird. Mortuary poles often had a grave box at the top. Memorial poles were raised to remember a dead chief. There were also shaming and welcoming poles.
Fish was the main food. In some areas, salmon was the staple, in others, halibut. The cedar tree was a tree of life to the peoples of the Northwest Coast and they used it to build houses, canoes, totem poles, clothing and many other items. It was shown great respect by the people and they would place both hands on the trunk and say a prayer of thanks to the tree for giving so freely of itself.
To read the creation story go to www.civilization.ca/aborig/cxs/cxs01eng.html
We will look at creation stories, elements of nature that were, and still are, vitally important for each group, and how and where each group lived. Although the Metis are not represented in this portion of the project, they are an important part of Canada and Canadian history. They will be briefly presented at the end, as will present day issues. Enjoy and learn!
Much of the information presented is gleaned from The Kids Book of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada (2005) by Diane Silvey.
