The Effects of English and French Colonil Powers on the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada
...d lose their fur trade with the French. Either that or bribe them with guns if they agreed to convert to Catholicism. A few of the native people believed the Jesuits bluff, that they really could stop their fur trade. This caused a few to convert to Catholicism and also because many of them liked the idea of having guns. When many of the Aboriginal people started dieing because of the diseases that came with the Jesuits, it started numerous encounters between the Catholic converts and the aboriginals who were still following their traditional faith. What would really be the turning point for the aboriginal people is the English winning the Seven Years War. The Seven Years War was fought between the English and the French from 1756-1763, over control of Canada. The Aboriginals had mostly been allied with the French, or played both sides to get what they wanted. Now that English had control of the country, the Aboriginals had lost the advantage of being allied with the French and playing one colonial power off the other. “Although you have conquered the French, you have not conquered us. We are not your slaves. These lakes, these woods, and mountains were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none.” (178, Nick Brune) However, British Commander-in-Chief Jeffrey Amherst would hear nothing of this after seven long years of fighting for the land. He also cut off all gift distribution between them and the Aboriginals. He did not agree with the Aboriginal Peoples’ view that the gifts were “the agreed-upon price” for allowing the French and English to live on Aboriginal land. (178, Nick Brune) This caused major losses of supplies such as guns, ammunition, and trade goods. Stuff that the Aboriginal People had become accustomed to receiving for generations. As historian Olive Dickason says, while the defeat of France was a “bitter-blow” to French Canadians, it was a disaster for the Aboriginal nations of Quebec, of the east coast, of the Great Lakes region, and of the northwest. (177, Nick Brune) To add insult to injury the Treaty of Paris that was signed by the English, French, and numerous other countries, had no Aboriginal representatives present. With the Aboriginals gift distribution cut off, and them receiving less and less each time they traded furs, the Aboriginal People were in a very tight situation. It was only going to get worse too once the English settlers started moving into their lands, forcing them to move farther and farther west. One man who stood up to the settlement of the English on their lands was an Ottawa war chief named Pontiac. He managed to convince the Confederacy of the Seven Fires (Seven Nations) that making war against the English, driving them out, and sending them back to England was the only way to free the Aboriginal People from their current state. From May 16 to June 20, 1763, Pontiac and the Confederacy managed to capture nine British Forts and gain control of the northwest of Canada. Commander-in-Chief Jeffrey Amherst stopped this rebellion though by using biological warfare. He did so by spreading small-pox through out the Aboriginal People. With people dieing, and their suffering increasing, they lost faith in Pontiac and he was expelled from his tribe. Soon after Pontiacs death there was the ‘Royal Proclamation’ on October 7, 1763. What the Royal proclamation did was set the boundaries and government policies of the colony of Quebec, along with those of East Florida, West Florida, and Greneda. The proclamation also laid out the details for land grants for the men of the British military and common soldiers: -To every Person having the Rank of a Field Officer-500 acres -To every Captain-3000 acres -To every Subaltern or Staff Officer-2000 acres -To every Non-Commission Officer-200 acres -To every Private Man-50 acres (180, Nick Brune) This was done mostly to sooth people’s fear of the Aboriginal people after they had managed to capture lots of British land. They drew a boundary line west of the Appalachian Mountains and that was to be a vast Aboriginal reserve where they could all live. This was the beginning of the Aboriginal People gradually being forced west. With the moving to the west came the beginning of a new kind of people, the Métis people. Métis comes from the Old French language meaning ‘mixed.’ This mix was French men marrying and having children with Aboriginal women. When the British government of Canada purchased Rupert Land from the Hudson Bay Company on December 1, 1869, it made Canada six times its original size. It also forced the Métis and Aboriginal off the land they had been living on for generations, forcing them to what is now modern day Saskatchewan. One man had enough of this and he was Métis man named Louis Riel. He started the Red River Rebellion by not allowing a British surveyor’s chain into their land in Manitoba. He did so with an unarmed group of Métis men, but delivered an u...