C2. Communities, Conflict, and Cooperation
Specific Expectations
C2.1
describe how Indigenous peoples and European explorers/colonists perceived each other during this period (e.g., with reference to culture, religious/spiritual practices, family life and childrearing, territorial rights, political leadership/laws), and analyse the impact of these views (e.g., attempts by missionaries to convert Indigenous peoples to Christianity, the establishment of colonial settlements on Indigenous land and the consequent relocation of First Nations, the imposition of European names on Indigenous territories, the enslavement of some Indigenous individuals in New France, the adoption by some colonists of Indigenous tools and medical treatments)
- What is the significance of an explorer’s description of the Beothuk as ‘inhuman and wild’? How could such perceptions be used to justify imperial policy towards the Beothuk and other Indigenous peoples?
- Why did some of the first encounters between Indigenous and European people result in hostility while others were peaceful?
- Did all Europeans view Indigenous peoples in the same way? How and why might the views of a coureur de bois be different from those of a settler?
C2.2
identify key treaties of relevance to First Nations in Canada during this period, including wampum belts exchanged, and explain their significance for different nations (e.g., with reference to the Two Row Wampum, 1613; the Covenant Chain of 1677–1755; the Great Peace of Montreal, 1701; the Treaty of Portsmouth, 1713; the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713; Mascarene’s Treaty [Treaty No. 239], 1725; the Treaty of Boston, 1725; the Halifax Treaty, 1752)
- Why are the 1677 Covenant Chain and the Two Row Wampum important to the Haudenosaunee people? Why were they significant developments in the history of Canada? What is their significance to First Nations and non-Indigenous Canadians today?
C2.3
analyse historical statistics and other sources to identify changing populations and settlement patterns of Indigenous communities and European colonists in Canada during this period, including colonists’ encroachments on traditional First Nations territories, and explain the significance of these patterns (e.g., with reference to the decimation of Indigenous populations from European diseases; the development of French colonies along the St. Lawrence River and their impact on First Nations settlements in the region; the implications of changes in the population and settlement patterns of the Haudenosaunee between the early sixteenth and early seventeenth century; the location of fur-trade posts and the western expansion of the Cree and Assiniboine)
- What are some factors that contributed to population growth or decline among various First Nations or Inuit societies following sustained contact with settlers?
- What criteria did settler nations use to decide which tracts of land they took over for settlement? How were First Nations communities affected by the development of settler communities?
- What evidence is there that First Nations communities were often displaced from their traditional territories?
- What was the significance of new settlements related to the fur trade during this period for First Nations, Métis, and Europeans?
C2.4
describe some major instances of conflict among First Nations and between Europeans and Indigenous peoples during this period, and analyse their impact (e.g., with reference to conflict between the Mi’kmaq and the British; the Beaver Wars; hostility of some First Nations towards Jesuit missionaries; conflict between the Haudenosaunee and the Algonquin and Wendat over control of English and Dutch trade routes; conflict between European explorers and Inuit; hostility and suspicion in the wake of epidemics; conflicts arising from French exploration and British and French settlement)
- How did conflicts between imperial powers in North America contribute to conflicts among First Nations?
- How were battles between colonial armies fought during this period? In this type of warfare, what advantages did First Nations warriors have over their opponents? What disadvantages did First Nations warriors have facing European armies?
- What impact did armed conflicts have on people in First Nations and settler communities, including people who engaged in these conflicts and those who remained at home in the community?
- What issues led to the battle at Bloody Point in 1577? What role did the kidnapping of Inuit individuals by Martin Frobisher play in the ensuing conflicts between settlers and Inuit communities?
