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Aboriginal Peoples History – A Chronology of Colonization
Human Rights/Aboriginal Rights/ Education
National Programs
Public Service Alliance of Canada – Alliance de la Fonction Publique du Canada
Ottawa, 2015
5000 Years ago
For 5,000 years, the people and culture known throughout the world as Inuit have occupied the vast territory stretching from the shores of the Chukchi Peninsula of Russia, east across Alaska and Canada, to the southeastern coast of Greenland. It is here, based on the ability to utilize the physical environment and living resources of this geographic region known as the Arctic, where Inuit culture developed and their history unfolded.
1000BCE
The Yukon's vast interior forests were occupied by the Athapaskans, whose cultural and linguistic traditions go back more than 1000 years. Today, there are six distinct groups of Athapaskan Indians: Kutchin, Han, Tutchone, Inland Tlingit, Kaska and Tagish.
At present, approximately 31 040 people live in the Yukon; 23 percent of the population is Aboriginal. Almost 60 percent of the population lives in Whitehorse, Yukon's capital city. Yukon Indians now comprise approximately 25% of the population of the territory. In 1987, 4716 resided in 13 bands. Although there are six small Indian reserves in Yukon, only a few are occupied and the Indian Act reserve system has never been highly developed. Yukon Indians live side by side with non-native residents in every community in the Yukon and form the majority of the population in more remote villages. Since 1973, Yukon Indians have been negotiating a comprehensive land-claim settlement.
1492
In this, the first wave of Globalization, residents of Turtle Island welcomed Christopher Columbus and his crew. They were followed by Basque, Breton, Norman, Spanish, Portuguese, English and Irish fishers who were seeking cod, seals and trade with the First Peoples of Turtle Island.
Had they fully explored Turtle Island Upon their arrival, they would have encountered around 15 million Aboriginal Peoples, distributed throughout the continent. The First Peoples had complex system of trade, spirituality, politics and community.
1576
Encounters between Inuit and Europeans began in the late 1500's when the first explorers sailed into the icy waters of Davis Strait, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay. Although these first encounters were limited in their number and duration, as well as being geographically dispersed, they did set the stage for an eventual transition to what we can call the period of contact. Between the arrival of Martin Frobisher in 1576 and the famous disappearance of Franklin in 1848, about 22 explorers entered Inuit territory. Not all of these had any direct impact on the course of our recent history. Nevertheless, with each trip, the map of the Arctic became more European and Inuit land started to be claimed by outsiders.
1635
A Jesuit mission in Sillery creates the first Indian reserve in Canada, based on a model used by the Jesuits in Paraguay, where they have tried for more than forty years “to confine and reduce” the Aboriginal populations (quoted from the writings of Father Le Jeune). Until 1649, 167 Native people lived there, when it was deserted because of a famine.
1763
Treaty of Paris, by which France surrenders all its possessions in North America to Great Britain. Articles protecting property, religion, and treaty rights of “the French and others” are included.
Royal Proclamation by King George III of Great Britain. In Canada, this proclamation lays the ground rules for the “future colonization of Indian and Crown lands.” It establishes the right of Native Peoples to use and occupy “Crown” lands. It presents the First Nations in terms of allies, rather than as British subjects. It requires the colonies to clear by law the “Indian title” to any land required for colonization. It does not allow for settlement on these lands as long as Native Peoples have not conveyed their rights in negotiations with the Crown.
1763
Twenty-four treaties are signed with various Native groups, most relating to the fertile northern shore of Lake Ontario. The Native Peoples in question do not initiate these treaties and play no role in their wording. The purpose is to free the lands from “Indian title” to ownership, the existence of which is presumed in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. At first, these conveyances are paid for in final “cash” payments. Later, the Crown sets up reserves, and pays annuities and other benefits to Native Peoples who convey their title to the land.
1812
War breaks out between the United States and Britain. The Mohawks and the Abenakis fight for the British, while the Iroquois fight with the Americans.
The modern system of administering “Indian Affairs” is introduced. The military administration becomes a civilian administration. The new administration favors a policy of assimilation and confinement to reserves. After the War of 1812, the British no longer fear an American invasion.
1850
Signature of the Robinson Treaties, concerning the conveyance of land north of Lakes Huron and Superior in order to permit mining development, and by which the Saulteux tribes were displaced onto 20 small reserves.
Adoption of the Act for the Better Protection of the Lands and Property of the Savages in Lower Canada. The Act recognizes two kinds of “Indian lands”: Indian hunting lands and lands granted to Native Peoples directly or through missionaries. It also provides the first legal (and “white”) definition of “Indian.” The Act requires compensation of 1,000 pounds annually to be distributed among the First Nations whose lands have been taken by Canadians or ruined by their development.
For Inuit after l850, the patterns of whaling changed. Year-round shore stations were established in some areas like Cumberland Sound thus creating a permanent presence of outsiders in the Arctic. It was the year-round presence of the whalers that brought about a new level of impact on trade, on the pattern of seasonal land use and perhaps most significantly, on Inuit health. In fact, soon after more regular contact with the whalers, it appears as though the Inuit population may have suffered a significant decline in population through the introduction of disease brought into the Arctic by the whalers. During his stay in the Frobisher Bay area in 1861-1862, American explorer Charles Francis Hall said "The days of the Inuit are numbered. There are very few of them left now. Fifty years may find them all passed away, without leaving one to tell that such a people ever lived."
1857
Adoption of the Act to Encourage the Gradual Civilization of the Tribes of Savages in the Province of Canada and to amend the law relating to Savages. Beginning of the principle of legal emancipation.
1869
The Métis of Manitoba, led by Louis Riel, expel a team of surveyors sent by the Canadian government to survey land routes for incoming settlers, then declare a provisional government and draft the terms by which Manitoba will enter Confederation. Troops are sent to Fort Garry and Louis Riel is exiled to the United States.
Adoption of Enfranchisement Act which outlines a process for legal assimilation and gradual emancipation of the Indians, distinguishes between Status and non-Status Indians and gives more power to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
Following the annexation of the north-west by Canada in 1869, the political economy of the Métis was destroyed. Both the Manitoba Act (1870) and the Dominion Lands Act (1879) recognized Métis claims to Aboriginal title, but the federal government moved to unilaterally extinguish these claims through individual land and grants scrip.
Smallpox on the prairies kills thousands of Metis, Bloods, Peigans, Blackfoot, Assiniboines and Crees.
1872
Residential schools are established.
1880-1884
The Indian Act is amended to “allow for the automatic enfranchisement” of any Indian obtaining a university degree and of any Indian woman who marries a non-Indian or a non-Registered Indian.
The Indian Act is amended to ban Potlatches and other dance rituals, which was in effect until 1951.
1896
Historically, the Yukon is associated with the great Klondike Gold Rush. On August 17, 1896 George Carmack discovered gold on Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River. This discovery marked the beginning of what is often considered the world's greatest gold rush. After centuries of quiet habitation indigenous peoples found their lands inundated as gold prospectors pushed northwards from northern British Columbia or moved inland from the Bering Sea.
1927
The Indian Act is amended to ban Indians from raising funds to build a legal case to make a claim against the government without the written consent of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
Tried to uphold their rights under the Indian Act which were not being enforced.
1940
Disc numbers and Project Surname
In the 1920s, changes in lifestyle and serious epidemics like tuberculosis made the government of Canada interested in tracking the Inuit of Canada's arctic. Traditionally Inuit names reflect what is important in Inuit culture: environment, landscape, seascape, family, animals, birds, spirits. But the names were complicated for southerners to understand: when is it a name, when is it kinship term or a diagnosis? Also, the agglutinative nature of Inuit language meant that names seemed long and were difficult for southern bureaucrats and missionaries to pronounce.
Thus, in the 1940s, the Inuit were given Disc numbers, recorded on a special leather ID tag, like a dog tag. They were required to keep the tag with them always. The numbers were assigned with a letter prefix that indicated location (E = east), community, and then the order in which the census-taker saw the individual. In some ways, this state re-naming was abetted by the churches and missionaries, who viewed the traditional names and their calls to power as related to shamanism and paganism.
They encouraged people to take Christian names. So, a young woman who was known to her relatives as "Lutaaq, Pilitaq, Palluq, or Inusiq" and had been baptised as "Annie" was under this system to become Annie E17-21 People adopted the number-names, their family members' numbers, etc., and learned all the region codes (like knowing a telephone area code).
Until Inuit began studying in the south, many didn't know that numbers were not normal parts of Christian and English naming systems. Then in 1969, the government started Project Surname, headed by Abe Okpik, to replace number-names with patrilineal "family surnames". But contemporary Inuit carvers and graphic artists still use their disk number as their signature on their works of art.
1953
In August 1953, seven or eight families from Inukjuak, Northern Quebec (then known as Port Harrison) were transported to Grise Fjord on the southern tip ofEllesmere Island and to Resolute Bay on Cornwallis. The families, who had been receiving welfare payments, were promised better living and hunting opportunities in new communities in the High Arctic. They were joined by three families recruited from the more Northern community of Pond Inlet whose purpose was to teach the Port Harrison Inuit skills for survival in the High Arctic. The methods of recruitment and the reasons for the relocations have been disputed. The government stated that volunteer families had agreed to participate in a program to reduce areas of perceived overpopulation and poor hunting in Northern Quebec, to reduce their dependency on welfare, and to resume a subsistence lifestyle. In contrast, the Inuit reported that the relocations were forced and were motivated by a desire to reinforce Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic Archipelago by creating settlements in the area. The families were left without sufficient supplies of food and caribou skins and other materials for making appropriate clothing and tent.
1960
Legislation that prohibits Indians who live on-reserves from becoming Canadian citizens is repealed. It is now possible to be an Indian under the definition of the Indian Act and a fully enfranchised Canadian citizen.
On July 1, Indian people win the right to vote in federal elections. Their right to vote in provincial and territorial elections was granted in various years, Québec being the last one to grant this right to Indians in 1969.
1968- 1985
Mary Two-Axes Early, a Mohawk, begins her fight to combat discrimination against women under the Indian Act who lost their Indian status by marrying a non-Aboriginal man, as she did. (She won in 1985 – with the passing of Bill C-31 in June of 1985, the Indian Act is amended where it concerns the status of Native women).
1968
Creation of the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis by three Chippewa tribes.
Mohawks seize the Seaway International Bridge on Cornwall Island which crosses the Akwesasne reserve.
1969
A federal government White Paper (presented by Minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chrétien) proposes the repeal of the Indian Act, suppression of “special status” for Native Peoples and the abolition of all treaties. Indian Affairs officials are withdrawn from reserves.
The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development starts closing down residential schools.
1976
Dene Nation representatives and the Dene from Fort Resolution met with Indian and Northern AffairsMinister Warren Allmand and officials of Shell Oil over the oil company s application for a land use permit to conduct exploration for minerals in the Little Buffalo River area. This area is 20 miles from Fort Resolution and is one of the main areas for harvesting gamefor the Dene. Dene Nation President Georges Erasmus made it clear that that violence, if necessary would be used to stop Shell Oil. Dene women from Fort Resolution promised to set up their tents around any construction equipment Shell Oil might move into their area. Shell Oil backed down.
1995
The Government of Canada recognizes the inherent right to self-government of Aboriginal Peoples and launches an implementation initiative.
Ipperwash Stand-Off happens after the Chippewas of Kettle and Stoney Point First Nations occupy their burial ground site to protest land expropriation. The Ontario Provincial Police intervenes and an unarmed Aboriginal protester Dudley George is shot and killed – see 2006.
Following the incident, the federal government signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the Stoney Point First Nation to return the land.
At Gustafsen Lake Ranch in British Columbia, the Aboriginals erect a fence to protect sacred land which is viewed as a threat to the local ranchers and subsequently Gustafsen Lake Siege occurs and the RCMP and the military get involved to break a 30-day stand-off between the Aboriginals and the ranchers.
2007
Throne speech promises a formal government apology to residential school survivors.
June 29, 2007
Canadian Aboriginal groups held countrywide protests aimed at ending First Nations poverty, dubbed the Aboriginal Day of Action. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, although some groups disrupted transportation with blockades or bonfires; a stretch of the Highway 401 was shut down, as was the Canadian National Railway's line between Toronto and Montreal.
The United Nations Declaration on the rights of Aboriginal Peoples passes despite dissenting votes from Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada.
2008
Shannen Koostachin of the Attawapiskat First Nation convinces her classmates to cancel their grade 8 graduation trip to Niagara Falls and instead travel to Ottawa to meet Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. Their community had been without a proper school for 9 years after it had been demolished because it sat above a toxic diesel fuel leak. Shannen’s Dream is born, demanding safe, culturally-based education for all First Nation children.
2009
Canada’s auditor general declares that a matter of special interest to the federal government is:
“Increasing First Nations’ control over land management as a critical component of their future well-being”
2010
Canada signs on to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, after three years of intense campaigning by national Aboriginal organizations and their allies.
October 28, 2011
The James Bay community of Attiwapiskat declares a state of emergency as winter fast approaches. Dozens of families are forced to live in tents and shelters because of the lack of housing in the community.
Winter 2012
Sparked by the hunger strike of Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence and fuelled by the actions of 4 women from Saskatchewan, the Idle No More movement began.
The movement was initiated by activists Nina Wilson, Sheelah Mclean, Sylvia McAdam, and Jessica Gordon in November 2012, during a teach-in at Station 20 West in Saskatoon called "Idle No More", held in response to the Harper government's introduction of Bill C-45.
C-45 is a large omnibus bill implementing numerous measures, many of which activists claim weaken environmental protection laws. In particular, laws protecting all of the country's navigable waterways were limited in scope to protect only a few waterways of practical importance for navigation. Many of the affected waterways pass through land reserved to First Nations.