September 30, 2007
Canada as a nation now recognizes its diversity. This has not always been the case for hundreds of years including the immediate post colonial era. The country is known around the world as having two founding nation plus the aborigines. This paper discuses the evolution through generations and time of the Canadian make-up and how it affects today’s Canada and its plethora of visible cultures. In order to fully grasp the magnitude of change in peoples, language, and landscape an appreciation of the history of the country by looking at its origins is of utmost importance. Starting from colonial negotiations involving the British Crown and the natives or Aborigines, through the struggle of the new emergent nations inside an emerging nation to define themselves to the present arrival of new Canadians, the paper unveils a country and its people still trying to define itself.
Aboriginal treaties in Canada have existed for centuries, although some of these agreements were signed to end conflicts, purchase or share land resources, others were as a result of attempts by the indigenous people reclaim lands that were forcefully acquired land belonging to indigenous people. Most of the agreements starting with the earliest once involved the European colonialist, their successor governments and the many willing and unwilling Indian tribes and Nations. Today, there is a lot of on-going debate about many of the very contentious land claim issues and how the Indians are perceived by other Canadians and new immigrants.
The word aborigine is the term used in describing the earliest known inhabitant of any land whether in a country, territory or region. They are regarded as original ‘owners’ of the land. According a United Nations working paper on ‘Indigenous people’, an Aborigine is any person who is a part of any indigenous community in a territory. This community must have a historical line of continuity even after the invasion or colonialisation of their community by alien societies that developed on their territories. The definition further states that Aboriginal persons still consider themselves as distinct from the other sectors of the societies now prevailing in their territories (United Nations) and are intent on preserving, developing and passing their same traditions, beliefs and cultures to future generations. According to estimates there are about three hundred million (300,000,000) Aboriginal (Native) people in the world today, this number consists of Canada’s 1.5 million Natives representing about 5% of the country’s total population. (Glavin)
The majority of these indigenous people in Canada ‘agreed’ to sign the rights to their land to allow other alien settler communities live together. The Natives believe that these agreements were between sovereign nations and considered them as International agreements, while negotiators for the Crown represented by the Canadian government did not think along those lines. The Aborigines believed the statements of the treaties were recognitions of their independent status as a people as is enshrined by the Royal proclamation of 1763. (Angelini) Most important of documents as relating to Aboriginal matters states that “…land not part of New France and not owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company was to be Indian land. The proclamation also asserts that Indian land cannot be taken away except through “public purchase,” or treaties. (Angelini)
These proclamations by the British would however not be respected as time passed. Although many small treaties involving communities exist all over the country, most of Canada is dealt with under major land transfer treaties. These treaties were often instigated by the Federal Government as they sought access to Native land mostly due to economic interests. For example the Robinson, eighth and eleventh treaties (were as a result of the discovery of metals in Northern Ontario, the Klondike gold rush late in the nineteenth century and the discovery of oil in 1920 respectively) prescribed conditions such as the Natives giving up rights to certain parts of their lands and while receiving a ‘reserved’ area on which they were to live and work from the governments. (Angelini)
The first Aboriginal treaty agreement was signed on August 3, 1871 during the reign of Queen Victoria. (Treaty1) It was established under the auspices of the modern Canadian government, about one year after the establishment of the province of Manitoba as a region under the Canadian Confederation. The treaty agreement was between the British colony and many First Nations (including the Chippewa and the Cree) in southern Manitoba. The treaty was known as the Stone Fort Treaty.
The Manitoba Post Treaty was the second treaty established and was signed in Southwest Manitoba on August 21, 1871. The signatories to the agreements were the Canadian government and the First nations of Southwest Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This would be the treaty was signed on the northwest shore of lake Manitoba and named after the fur trading posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The first two treaties were amended in 1875 by an order-in-council from the Canadian government. The order compelled the government to add certain provisions which were verbally promised by the government to be formalized. First Nation tribes that were signatories to the second treaty included the Dauphin River, Ebb and Flow, Keeseekoowenin, Lake Manitoba, O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi amongst others.
Treaties 3-11 were signed between 1875 and 1921. The treaties as was now usual involved many first Nation tribes and the Canadian government. Most of the treaties noted the agreed terms and conditions of the land transfer, dealing with issues relating to the fishing and hunting rights of the Indian tribes. The Indian tribes have however protested against the honouring of these agreements by the settler buyers, leading to many conflicts and bitter disputes over the years. In one such instance, in 1818, the King’s representative having agreed to purchase a portion of land known as the Mississauga tract reneged on the terms of the sale and stopped payments to the ‘Nation of Indians’ inhabiting the land after just two years of reaching an agreement. Eventually the Natives left the land in the 1840’s after failing to get the letters of the treaty upheld. (Angelini)
Land claims like these were often based on the Native groups’ perception that the land treaties they signed were not perpetual and as such reserved the right to stake a claim for the lands. However in some cases, claims exist were there were no treaties on record. Between 1898 and 1912, the federal government had stipulated when handing over northern Quebec to the province of Quebec, that the native tribes which included the Cree, Inuit and Innu would have a treaty to take care of their rights. However, no treaty was signed for over half a century until the Robert Bourassa became Premier of Quebec. He announced plans to build major power dams in the region without any consultations with the native land owners, especially the Cree who would have been deprived of their source of livelihood, in the event of the construction of the dams on the main rivers in the region. After several years of legal and public battles the James Bay and Northern Quebec agreement was signed in 1975 (Angelini). Several years after the treaty was reached, many health and social problems became obvious and were linked to Mercury poisoning of fish, Coupled with the cases of substance abuse, suicides and many other vices which became noticeable after the agreements were reached.
Prior to the signing of the Nisga’a agreements, the Federal government had at various times resisted the Native people’s land claim. Starting in the late 1800’s, the Nisga’a had petitioned to have their land claim resolved. Having previously made representations to the Queen during the Colonial era, they again approached and received assurances from the Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier. Following Laurier’s defeat at the polls, the issue remained unresolved. Between 1927 and April, 13, 2000 when the issue was resolved with the signing into law of the Nisga’a treaty, several attempts by the Federal government to deny the Native people their land led to several legal disputes up to the Supreme court of Canada. This led to the recognition and affirmation in the Canadian constitution of Aboriginal title to land.
In the year 2000, what the Nisga’a people achieved in their landmark agreement with the provincial and federal governments placed them in a similar legal position as other Canadians. Although the Nisga’a gave up claims to a larger part of their original territory, the treaty ceded land, employment, cultural preservation and other rights to the Native Nisga’a akin to recognised rights held in trust for other Canadians by government at all levels. The passing of the Nisga’a treaty in province of British Columbia raised salient questions particularly in non-native media about the unification of Canada. This was more than they had gotten before now fuelling comparisons with the Quebec separatist cause and the likely future outcome.
Quebec has always seen itself as a unique people. They defined their nationhood during the colonial era because of the rest of Canada’s close ties with the British. The predominantly French speaking region has in recent times become more urbanized and was rife with nationalist and separationist even to this day. The growth French-Canadian nation was further bolstered by several factors including the growth of the education sector, urbanization, industrialization, secularization mostly influenced by France. The influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec also waned considerably setting the region as diverse to Anglophone-Canada in both religion and language. This deviation from the rest of Canada would change the Quebecois society forever.
This series of rapid changes in the Quebec socio-cultural landscape opened the debate on the place of Quebec in the Canadian nation. The francophone region had through its ‘quiet revolution’ asserted itself, and this led to the establishment of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism Commission in 1969 to promote the French language. Quebec’s nationalism had received the attention of the rest of Canada and the country was trying to accommodate it. French was thus adopted as a National language in Canada.
Language and religion have proved to be important factors for setting the basis of a people, nation or region. This was evident in the pre-colonial era when the Anglophone-Canadians sought only to acquire land from the Aborigines without allowing for much integration between the two groups. The bilingualism of Canada is a direct result of this as the Francophone-Canada also sought its own identity. From the early 20th century, immigrants came from many countries and regions, although these immigrants were primarily European the language and cultural diversity from Anglophone and Francophone Canada was often associated with inequitable treatment of some of these immigrant groups. This was true as the country was dominated in much of the political, economic, and social system sectors by the Anglo-Canadians.
As a result of the influx of many cultures with difference in languages, many government services have had to adopt their services and provide language support for these groups. The 1971 policy of multiculturalism was introduced to address issues raised by other ethnic groups outside of the French-English divide. The policy introduced many new institutions that promoted the new realities regarding the diversity of Canada. Several agencies, associations were formed; journals were written detailing the histories of the ‘new’ ethnic groups as the government encouraged the populace to embrace diversity. (Isajiw)
Canada’s diversity is a tremendous challenge for policy makers who have to always accommodate cultural and religious sensitivities in drafting or making policy statements. In order to navigate very sensitive issues, politicians at all levels of government must engage the citizenry about their concerns and perceived prejudices which should be taken into account. Many of the new amendments to Canadian law by the provincial and federal governments are introduced to allow for greater inclusion, while seeking to promote equity between the new settlers and their hosts. But the question must be asked, what does the future hold for all the many distinct parts of Canada?
What does the future hold for aborigines in the new Canada? The delicate task of integrating the set of new settlers with the new indigenous (Anglo and Francophone Canadians) people would pose certain new challenges. It is a fact that past and current pace of immigration has changed the face of Canadian diversity greatly; as a result the number of ethnic groups in the country. Apart from the aborigines who make up about 5% of the population, the French and English speaking peoples’, other ethnic groups soared in population from about 10% in the early 1900’s to about 42% of the population. This surge will also lead to corresponding variance in culture, religious and social practices. As these groups continue to integrate in close knit communities, these practices are sometimes adopted to ‘fit’ or accommodate other cultures leading and creating another type of Canadian diversity. (Poonwassie)
For instance in English speaking Canada, the number of Francophone Canadians has continued to dwindle at almost the same rate as the number of Anglophones in Quebec. The reverse is the case for new immigrants whose numbers have continued to increase in both ‘sections’ of Canada, as they have settle down and learned the languages and adapted their cultures. (Langlois) Based on this new accommodation of many nations inside a nation, many new developments have shown how positive and all inclusive discussions can foster peace for all cultures living within multicultural Canada. In April 1999, the territory of Nunavut became part of the official map of Canada, following earlier negotiations between government and the Inuit communities and unlike in previous agreements between the government and the Aboriginal people, the new territory would have commensurate recognition like the rest of Canada. (Poonwassie)
They definition of Canada amongst these new immigrants is not the same as was previously held by Aborigines, or the English and French Canadians. New immigrants do not conform to the old Canadian divides, instead choosing to be just Canadian, their diverse backgrounds or area of settlement notwithstanding. It is estimated that in the last 60 years more than nine million new immigrants, have made Canada their new homes. Canada’s new definition is therefore being championed by this new class of diverse citizens. (Langlois)
References
Angelini, P.U., (Ed). Our Society: Human Diversity in Canada. 2nd Edition. Thomson. Canada. 2003.
Galvin Terry. “Harper embarrassing on Aboriginal rights”. Chronicles. July 6, 2006. Retrieved September 24, 2007. 17:21 EST from
Isajiw, W. Understanding Diversity, Ethnicity and Race in the Canadian Context. Thomson. Toronto. 1999. Pg 205
Langlois, S. Canada and Quebec; an Update. Footnotes. March 2006. Retrieved September 30, 2007, 18:32 EST from http://www2.asanet.org/footnotes/mar06/indexthree.html
Poonwassie, D.H., Nahum, K., Nancoo, S.E.(Ed). 21st Century Canadian Diversity. Canadian Educators Press. Mississauga. 2000. p.78
Treaty 1. (2007, June 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:54, September 28, 2007, from
United Nations. “The Concept of Indigenous Peoples”. Workshop On Data Collection And Disaggregation For Indigenous Peoples. 19-21 January 2004. New York.
