A3. Understanding Context: Significant Characteristics and Interactions
Specific Expectations
A3.1
identify major Indigenous nations that came into contact with European settlers and/or explorers prior to 1713 in what would become Canada (e.g., Great Lakes–St. Lawrence region: some of the many nations were Abenaki, Algonkin, Haudenosaunee, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Potawatomie, Wendat, Weskarini; northern Ontario: some of the nations were Cree and Ojibwe; Atlantic Canada: some of the many nations were Beothuk, Innu, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, Wolastoqiyik; Arctic: some of the nations were Inuit and Dene), and describe key characteristics of selected nations (e.g., with respect to language; religious/spiritual beliefs and ceremonies; governance structures; food and clothing; roles of men, women, and children; the role and significance of arts and crafts)
- What was the Haudenosaunee form of government? What role did women play in decision making?
- What types of crops were grown by the Wendat?
- What were some foods originally grown by First Nations that were introduced into European diets?
- What materials did the Mi’kmaq use to make their garments and moccasins?
- What were some of the spiritual practices of Algonquin people?
- What natural resources did Inuit rely on?
- How did the Potawatomie educate their children?
- What was the Anishinaabe clan system of governance and how did it support voice and identity?
- What is the Tree of Peace? What does it tell you about the values in Haudenosaunee society?
A3.2
describe some significant interactions among First Nations and between First Nations and Inuit before contact with Europeans (e.g., with reference to trade, alliances and treaties, and other instances of cooperation; competition between First Nations for control of waterways)
- What types of items did First Nations trade among themselves? What types of items did Inuit trade only among themselves? What types of items did First Nations and Inuit trade with each other? How would you describe these trading processes?
- What was the Haudenosaunee Confederacy? Why was it formed?
- What was the Three Fires Confederacy? Why was it formed?
- What type of interactions existed between the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe of the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence region or between the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik in Atlantic Canada?
A3.3
describe the main motives for Europeans’ exploration of Indigenous lands that were eventually claimed by Canada and for the establishment of permanent European settlements (e.g., with reference to Norse in Newfoundland and Labrador; the voyages of Cabot, Cartier, and/or Hudson; settlements by De Mons and/or Champlain in Quebec; exploration by Étienne Brûlé; motives such as colonization, the desire to gain control over Indigenous lands by imposing sovereignty and land ownership, missionary work to spread Christianity, the desire of European settlers to escape from oppressive European government structures, the exploitation of natural resources, including the establishment and expansion of the fur trade and the fishing industry)
- What was the goal of Henry Hudson’s voyages?
- For whom did Champlain work? What were the reasons for his establishing a settlement in Quebec?
- Which European countries were interested in the territory that would become Canada? Why?
- What were some beliefs and attitudes of European settlers about land ownership and Indigenous people? What was the significance of these beliefs/attitudes for colonization and European settlement?
- What is the Doctrine of Discovery? How was it supported by the 1493 Papal Bull? How did the attitudes reflected in this doctrine provide a motive for European exploration and settlement of Indigenous lands?
- What is racism? What is xenophobia? How did these attitudes affect the ways Europeans approached exploration and settlement of Indigenous territories?
A3.4
identify significant offices and institutions in New France (e.g., the seigneurial system; the Roman Catholic Church; the king, governor, bishop, and intendant; nuns, priests, missionaries), and describe their importance to settlers in New France
- What services did the Roman Catholic Church provide to settlers in New France?
- What was the role of the seigneur?
- What effect did the seigneurial system have on the way land was divided and developed?
- Who were the Filles du Roi? Who sent them to New France? Why?
A3.5
describe significant aspects of the interactions between Indigenous peoples and European explorers and settlers in what would eventually become Canada (e.g., with reference to trade; sharing of beliefs, knowledge, skills, technology; disruption of Indigenous gender norms and roles; intermarriage; military alliances and conflict; the theft of Indigenous lands; spread of diseases; introduction of alcohol; the roles of First Nations, Métis, and Europeans in the fur trade; the impact of the fur trade on Indigenous peoples; loss of First Nations’ access to lands for sustenance and to support ways of life)
- What were some of the ways in which European settlers and explorers depended on First Nations and Métis people for survival?
- What role did First Nations women play in the fur trade?
- What relationship did French missionaries have with the Wendat? What impact did the missionaries have on the Wendat?
- What is the Two Row Wampum? What was its significance with respect to the relationship between the Haudenosaunee and European settlers?
- How did First Nations establish alliances in response to the encroachment of the European settlers?
- What were some treaties that were negotiated between First Nations and Europeans during this period? Why might First Nations and Europeans have had different interpretations of these treaties? How did such differences affect the relationship between these groups?
A3.6
describe key factors that led to the ethnogenesis of the Métis people in what would eventually become Canada, with specific attention to the Great Lakes and Mattawa regions (e.g., contact between First Nations and European fur traders and explorers; the need among European traders/explorers in unfamiliar territories for help and guidance from First Nations; intermarriage between traders and First Nations women; gender imbalances in new settlements)
- Why did some European fur trade employees marry First Nations women? What was the impact of such intermarriage?
- What impact did the early fur trade have on the roles of Métis women?
- How did the relationship between European settlers and First Nations and Métis change over time? Why?
- What effect did the fur trade have on the development of the Métis way of life and the characteristics, skills, practices, and/or attitudes of the Métis people?
A3.7
describe some significant differences among Indigenous peoples and between selected Indigenous and European communities in what would eventually become Canada (e.g., with reference to governance and economic organization; spiritual and/or cultural practices; land use/ownership; attitudes towards the environment; the roles of men, women, and children), and identify some of the reasons for these differences (e.g., climate; availability of resources and arable land; the culture, customs, and economic and political system in the mother country; individualistic versus communal world views; familiarity with the land and its resources)
- What were the differences between Haudenosaunee and Ojibwe housing?
- How did the social organization on a seigneurie differ from that in the town of Montreal?
- What were some of the differences between the life of a child in a Wendat family and one in a settler family in New France?
- How did climate and the availability of resources affect the way the Innu lived?
- What were some key differences in the beliefs and attitudes of Indigenous peoples and Europeans towards the environment and the land? What were some practices that arose from these beliefs/attitudes? What impact did these practices have on the environment?
- How did differences in the ways in which First Nations viewed their relationship with the land and European settlers viewed land ownership lead to conflict?
- What were some differences in the governance structures of the Anishinaabe Three Fires Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the government in New France?
A3.8
describe some significant effects of European conflicts on Indigenous peoples and on what would eventually become Canada (e.g., conflict between First Nations who were allied to different imperial powers; changes in control of Acadia between the French and British; fur trade rivalries)
- In what ways was the Haudenosaunee Confederacy affected by the rival colonial interests of France and Britain?
- What areas of what eventually became Canada were claimed by rival European powers? What are some ways in which their rivalries shaped present-day Canada?