.Pitch Organizer Sabrina
Part 1:
1)Complete the chart below (Horizons – Chapter 4 – pages 126-128):
Hudson’s Bay Company / Northwest CompanyHow did it start? / Grosselier and Radisson were two British people who found out that Canada had great fur. They went to get fur samples to show Charles II to get a charter to work there. 1670 / Scottish and American business men came together with smaller businesses to create HBC.
Where does it operate? / Stock holders in London and forts located in Rupert’s Land and mostly along river that lead to the Hudson’s Bay. / Montreal to the Pacific around Rupert’ Land.
What was it like working for the company? / The workers don’t receive any profit even if company earns it. The aboriginals would bring the furs using the river to the HBC forts. Boring during winters due to the frozen rivers. After they received fur they shipped the furs to Europe.
The workers aren’t allowed to bring their wives to HBC forts. / Profits are shared among workers and owners in Montreal (workers get profit if the earn profit for company).
Sent Voyageurs directly to trade the furs with the Aboriginals. They also had wintering partners west of Fort William which is located in Thunder Bay.
What are the advantages this company had over the other?
Explain why these are advantages / They have forts by the rivers leading to Hudson’s Bay. (short turnaround for trading goods).
Trading Ceremonies with Aboriginals / They directly traded with the Aboriginals and chose the best fur before the HBC. Workers had more salary if they gained profit for the NWC. They were open to bargaining.
Find a quote/image that confirms any of the above
Source:(author, title, year written/published, URL) /
Title:
Hudson Bay, or, Everyday life in the wilds of North America [microform] : during six years' residence in the territories of the Hon. Hudson Bay CompanyAuthor: Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael), 1825-1894
Published: 1879
URL: (Chapter 3)
Quote/Image: / The idea, however, maybe still more correctly obtained by imagining populous Great Britain converted into a wilderness and panted in the middle of Rupert’s Land.
Interpretation: / Basically meaning that Great Britain changed into a wilderness type of place put in Rupert’s Land. It also means that there wasn’t a lot of people when they say “wilderness”
How might this affect a character or a plot? / In a scene I could have a character describing the “wilderness” or be lost in he wilderness
2)What do Voyageurs do and what was their life like (Horizons – Chapter 4 – page 120)?
Voyageurs were basically transporters to move along goods to and from trading posts. They mainly worked for the NWC. They would go to the Aboriginals to trade for fur. They were mostly French Canadiens who were hired by companies to move goods. They would mostly eat pemmican which is dried buffalo meat because it lasts a long time and has fat and protein.Find a quote/image that confirms any of the above
Source:(author, title, year written/published, URL) / Hudson Bay, or, Everyday life in the wilds of North America [microform] : during six years' residence in the territories of the Hon. Hudson Bay Company
byBallantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael), 1825-1894
Published 1879
Quote/Image: / The provisions of the men consisted on pemmican and flour.
Interpretation: / So basically they relied on pemmican during their journey because it lasts a long time, has a lot of energy and fat which they need. The flour is just to mix it with the pemmican.
How might this affect a character or a plot? / I could have a scene where they are travelling back home to the trading post and they could pull out some pemmican to share amongst them. Or even in another scene I could have him but pemmican from a aboriginal women.
Source:
(author, title, year written/published, URL) / Joseph James Hargrave
Red River
1871, First Printing, John Lovell, Montréal (publisher)
Quote/Image: / "The rivers usually set fast toward the beginning of November, and the ice breaks up early in April. In winter, after the first snow has fallen, and before the tracks have been beaten, the roads are bad, but the inconvenience undergone by passengers at that season is as nothing to that caused by the melting snow in spring, when the ground is usually, for nearly a month, so saturated with water as to render locomotion, except on horseback, almost impracticable
Interpretation: / It means that during the winter the condition were very harsh starting from November up until April, making trade very slow and businesses very boring.
How might this affect a character or a plot? / This could effect a scene were we could have the Aboriginals or a Voyageur stuck in the river due to the frozen water and then they have to portage their way up to the HBC forts and maybe tell them that they aren’t going to come so often.
3)Complete the chart (Horizons – Chapter 4 – page 132):
How did Aboriginals contribute to the fur trade? / Aboriginal were thinking that they were taking advantage of Europeans for their goods, just as much Europeans were thinking the same for the Aboriginals furs. They were the ones who trapped most of the animals for their fur. Taught Europeans how to build canoes fit for the environment. They also helped with providing food for the Voyageurs. Taught Europeans about snowshoeing. And sent the fur to the HBC. Also taught Voyageurs about trapping animals and building canoes and snowshoes. They also traded with the NWC and HBC for their goods.How did the fur trade affect Aboriginals? / Created competition between different Aboriginal groups. A lot of European diseases were spread through villages that wiped a majority of the Aboriginal population. They went to trap animals instead of finding food. Mostly about gaining profit not about sharing food. During the 1800s the demand for fur was low, weakening the economy. And alcohol was introduced to First Nations.
Find a quote/image that confirms any of the above
Source:(author, title, year written/published, URL) / John Tanner, as told to Edwin James, MD
Title: Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner
Published: G&C&H Carvill, New York, 1830
URL:
Quote/Image: / they were now entirely destitute not of clothing merely, but of ammunition, and many of the ----- of guns and traps. How were they, without the accustomed aid from the traders, to subsist themselves and their families during the ensuing winter?
Interpretation: / That they mostly traded for guns and ammunition. The HBC company was wondering how they and their families would spend the winter without accustomed aid.
How might this affect a character or a plot? / There could be a scene where an aboriginal came to a HBC trading post and was trading for ammunition and guns during the winter and the HBC clerk would ask them how are you going to spend the winter with no accustomed aid?
Source:
(author, title, year written/published, URL) / Author: Thomas McCliesh
Tile: Letters From Hudson Bay, 1703-40
Published: 1965
URL:
Quote/Image: / I have sent an indent home of what is wanting, peradventure your honours may think it large. In cloth, brandy, powder, and tobacco, pray diminish none but rather make an addition to the cloth, for I shall husband everything to the best advantage.
Interpretation: / The HBC worker or clerk has asked Britain for more powder, tobacco, brandy, cloth, etc.… Actually the Aboriginals are taking advantage of the Europeans because if they don’t get what they want they are not going to give the HBC anything.
How might this affect a character or a plot? / In a scene I could have the HBC clerk or worker writing a letter to send to Britain to bring the Aboriginals needs.
4)In what ways were Aboriginal women vital to the fur trade? (Horizons – Chapter 4 – page 134)?
Aboriginal women acted as guides. They married NWC fur traders to create trade ties. At first the HBC didn’t allow marriages with Aboriginal women but later on they did and preferred “mixed blood” women. They made traps, snow shoes, moccasins, pemmican bags out of buffalo hide, made pemmican and gathered food. Also prepared the beaver pelts. The HBC workers married more than one wives, even though they weren’t allowed (late 1700), but later was allowed (1800). The NWC workers were allowed to marry butFind a quote/image that confirms any of the above
Source:(author, title, year written/published, URL) / Hudson Bay, or, Everyday life in the wilds of North America [microform] : during six years' residence in the territories of the Hon. Hudson Bay Company
byBallantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael), 1825-1894
Published 1879
(Chapter 3)
Quote/Image: / Even these are not very numerous; and yet without them the men would be in a sad condition, for they are the only tailors and washer women in the country, and make all the mittens, moccasins, fur caps, deer skin coats, &c, &c, worn in the land.
Interpretation: / It means that if the women weren’t there, the men would be in very big trouble because they are like they base of the men. And even though there weren’t many women they had to do a lot of jobs.
How might this affect a character or a plot? / In a scene I could have an Aboriginal woman to be somewhere around the forts to prepare the furs or make pemmican to show how much work they did and what their role in the fur trade was.
Source:
(author, title, year written/published, URL) / Author: [13] Johnson, xcix-c
Title: Tent Mates and Canoe Mates— Fur Trade Women at Work
Published:
URL:
Quote/Image: / 'the women are deserving of some encouragement and indulgence from your Honors, they clean and put into a state of preservation all Beavr. and Otter skins brought by the Indians undried and in bad Condition. They prepare Line for Snow shoes and knit them also without which your Honors servants could not give efficient opposition to the Canadian traders they make Leather shoes for the men who are obliged to travel about in search of Indians and furs and are usefull in a variety of other instances, in short they are Virtually your Honors Servants.' [13]
Interpretation: / This pretty much means that a lot of the work is also done by the women. The Aboriginals would be really nowhere if the women weren’t there to prepare the fur. They also prepared food. They had multiple jobs and not much relaxation time for their selves.
How might this affect a character or a plot? / In a scene I could have the Aboriginal women making pemmican, doing multiple jobs somewhere around the trading posts. An I could even describe how tired and how tired they were.
5)Describe the Metis and their society. How did they contribute to the fur trade? (Horizons – Chapter 4 – pages 138-140)?
The metis supplied the fur traders. The metis were a mix between Aboriginal and the French Canadiens. They made pemmican to sell to the voyageurs to make money. Sometimes of the year they farm and sometimes of the year they hunt. Metis meant “mixed”. They metis spoke French and Cree and many more depending on their ancesters.Find a quote/image that confirms any of the above
Source:(author, title, year written/published, URL) / Author: Joseph James Hargrave
Title: Red River
Published: 1871, First Printing
URL:
Quote/Image: / The pemmican, which forms the staple article of produce from the summer hunt, is a species of food peculiar to Rupert’s Land. It is composed of buffalo meat, dried and pounded fine, and mixed with an amount of tallow or buffalo fat equal to itself in bulk. The tallow having been boiled, is poured hot from the caldron into an oblong bag, manufactured from the buffalo hide, into which the pounded meat has previously been placed. The contents are then stirred together until they have been thoroughly well mixed. When full, the bag is sewed up and laid in store.
Interpretation: / Basically this is saying how the Metis lived, by making pemmican but before hunting the buffalo. This is mostly the way they made pemmican.
How might this affect a character or a plot? / There could be scene where the main character comes around a Metis family and they could have a conversation about business and they main character could ask him what his job was and he could reply that they live off by making pemmican.
6)Use the space below to start brainstorming a sequence of events that incorporates all of the above into a story. Think about how one character may encounter or interact with all of the above.
It starts when the NWC is created and Samuel (the main boy character) is hired by them. He starts working during winter. He works as a Voyageur transporting goods through canoes. After few weeks he is going on his first trip to the Aboriginal trading post. During the way he and his voyageur mates face many difficulties due to frozen rivers and fast flowing waters meaning they have to portage. They finally get there and Samuel is very tired and hungry. He goes looking around for something to eat and right then he falls in loves with an Aboriginal woman in a trading post making Pemmican and also making snow shoes. He goes up to her and buys some pemmican and asks her for her name. She said her name was Nina. Samuel was leaving back to the NWC trading posts with lots of beaver furs. Once he reached back he couldn’t stop thinking about Nina. A few days later he was assigned to go back to the Aboriginal trading posts to get more fur. This time Samuel went to the trading post and traded a lot of ammunition and guns for more fur. He also wrote a letter saying that they need more ammunition, guns and brandy to give to the chief once he got back to the NWC forts. He helped his other Voyageurs workers load everything on the Canoe du Nord but tells them that he needs to be here for a while and that they need to leave without him. The other voyageurs leave without him and Samuel goes and proposes Nina from her family that night. Soon after they get married and they have children which would be Metis. A few weeks later Nina’s sister gets married to a HBC worker and they move to a different village a few km away. Nina’ sister had to wait a long time to get married to him because before the HBC didn’t allow marriages with Aboriginal Women. However, as time passed they allowed it. Samuel and Nina taught their children how to farm and hunt and make pemmican. A few months later Nina’s sister and her husband comes back due to an unknown European disease which wiped out most of the village. Nina’s sister is however a little sick and pain but doesn’t know what it is. Her husband manages to fight through the disease because his boy is used to European diseases. Samuel and Nina provided them with shelter and food. Samuel had to go back the next day and continue his trading job with NWC. Nina’s sister’s condition worsens in the next few weeks. And her husband, George has left to his work with the HBC.7)Create a sketch or find images that illustrates at least one aspect in #6:
Samuel loading furs into canoe to take to NWC fort.
Part 2:
1)Describe the push and pull factors of Irish immigration to Canada in the 1800s:
Push Factors (In Ireland) / Pull Factors (Canada)Absentee Landlords- landlords who were basically subdividing their land in to smaller and smaller pieces to rent to landlords. The plots of land became so small that they could even live off of it. Making them not able to pay the rent through vegetable due to limited space.
Evictions- the landlord figured that they would make more money out of livestock. So they kicked all the peasants out of their home. They would sell all the livestock to Britain. Some had to live in ditches and covered themselves with tree branches and sticks.
Potato Famine- most peasant was relying on potato but there was a disease that came from North America called blight, causing the potato to rot. A lot of potato was lost. Britain helped out by sending corn from Canada to help peasants.
Social Darwinism- the fact that Britain felt that they were more developed than the black and Irish people. Racism caused the Irish to be treated differently. Some thought the Irish and the black were equal. Chares Darwin was a monogenist believing that everyone came from the same ancestors (we are equal), against social Darwinism. Herbert Spencer was a believer in social Darwinism and thought that race was based on environment and how developed they are. He believed that the darker the race the lower their class was. / Imaginary thoughts of Irish- they thought that in Canada they wil be happy. They will have freedom and will be free. The think that they can make a living off of what they make. They voyage will only take three weeks (more like 2 months). They will have enough food to feed themselves.
Find a quote/image that confirms any of the above