Other stuff in Chapter 4

Question 1

What is the purpose of Collective Rights?

Answer 1

The purpose of collective rights is to affirm the collective identity of special groups in society.

In Canada, certain collectives (groups) have rights enshrined in the Constitution affirming their important role in Canadian society.

Question 2

Who gets Collective Rights?

Answer 2

first nations (including Inuit and Metis), francophone, and anglophone.

Question 3

What are the Numbered Treaties?

Answer 3

The Numbered Treaties are historic agreements that affect the rights and identity of some First Nations in Canada and were agreements between the Queen and First Nations.

Question 4

How many treaties were signed?

Answer 4

Eleven “Numbered Treaties” were signed between 1871 and 1921 as the Canadian government began to pursue settlement, farming and resource development in the west and north of the country.

Question 5

What are the Terms of the Numbered Treaties?

Answer 5

The terms of the treaties differed, but in most cases First Nations agreed to share their land and resources in exchange for education, hunting and fishing rights, reserves, farming assistance and annuities. These were the rights given collectively to First Nations in Canada.

Question 6

What are the reasons for the treaties?

Answer 6

Food: The eradication of the buffalo meant social and economic upheaval for some First Nations peoples.

Settlers: The railway allowed a large number of immigrants to migrate to Canada’s West in hopes of a better life. They had been promised land by the government. British Columbia joined Confederation on the condition that Canada would build a railway within ten years to link the province with the rest of Canada.
Both issues required that Canada obtain land from the First Nations.

Health: smallpox epidemics had taken a terrible toll on the First Nations both socially and economically.

Avoid War: Both First Nations and Canada’s government wanted to avoid wars over territory like those happening in the United states. The treaties provided a peaceful way of meeting the needs of both groups.

Question 7

What were some problems that arose from the The Interpretation of the treaties?

Answer 7

Treaty negotiations took place in several languages and relied on interpreters. Sometimes meaning or connotation was lost in the translation and the two parties came away with a different views of what had been agreed to.
First Nations recorded the Treaties in their own language as oral histories while Canada’s government recorded them in written English.

Question 8

What were the Different perspectives on the Treaties?

Answer 8

Canada’s government believes the First Nations gave up their land under the treaties. In European culture, land represents wealth and power. They would not have negotiated for less.

First Nations never believed that land could be “owned” - they did not understand the European practice of fencing land - and therefore, see the Treaties as an agreement to share the land with the Canadian government.

Question 9

What was the Indian Act?

Answer 9

The act originally aimed to assimilate First Nations peoples.
The Indian Act affirmed the collective rights of First Nations but also gave the federal government complete control over “Indians, and land reserved for Indians.”

The act created officials for each reserve called “Indian agents” who had the power to decide how the government would follow through with its duties on a case-by-case basis.

Question 10

When was the Indian Act made?

Answer 10

1876

Question 11

What were the problems with the Indian Act?

Answer 11

The government thought it could implement laws for First Nations without consulting them. This attitude connects to Canada’s colonial past were colonial powers (Europeans) thought of their culture as superior to other cultures. (ethnocentrism)

Question 12

What was the Davin report?

Answer 12

Canada’s government commissioned MP Nicholas Davin to recommend how to provide First Nations with education and to assimilate them at the same time. The Davin report in 1879 recommended residential schools. Residential schools removed children from their families and disrupted their connections to their languages, cultures and identities.

Question 13

What did the Indian Act prevent First Nations from doing?

Answer 13

At various times it put other restrictions on First Nations peoples as well. It prevented First Nations from:

• traveling freely
• taking political action - Until 1960, First Nations had to give up their legal identity and treaty rights in order to vote.
• wearing traditional forms of dress and taking part in traditional ceremonies.

Question 14

What were Residential Schools?

Answer 14

In 1879, mp nicholas davin was told by the canadian government to provide first nations peoples with education.
He would also have to find a way to ‘civilize’ them, according to the government.

Question 15

When did children have to go to Residential Schools?

Answer 15

1884; federal government ordered mandatory school attendance for all aboriginal children. By 1920, it was mandatory for every aboriginal child between 6-15 to attend school.

Question 16

Where were Residential Schools?

Answer 16

Residential schools were set up in each province/territory except pei, new brunswick & newfoundland.
There were a total of 130 residential schools across canada. It is estimated that over 80,000 native children attended these schools.

Question 17

How did Residential Schools work?

Answer 17

Aboriginal children were separated and isolated from their families. For some Students this continued for 10 years.
This isolation from their parents’ traditional way of life, prevented these children from learning their heritage.
Children would receive a few hours of academic instruction. The remainder of the day consisted of domestic, farming or gardening chores.

Question 18

What did children experience in Residential Schools?

Answer 18

Children would receive a few hours of academic instruction. The remainder of the day consisted of domestic, farming or gardening chores.
Aboriginal children were often sexually, physically and emotionally abused.

Question 19

What was the aftermath of Residential Schools?

Answer 19

The legacy of these schools caused the loss of language and culture for aboriginal peoples.
The students of the residential schools were unable to pass on these language qualities to their children. The aboriginal way of life was disappearing.

Question 20

What did former students of Residential Schools receive?

Answer 20

On june 11, 2008, prime minister stephen harper, on behalf of the federal government and all Canadians apologized to former students of residential schools in the house of commons.
The indian residential schools settlement agreement (irssa) was approved by canada’s court of law in september 2007.
$1.9 billion was set aside for the benefits of former residential school students.
Each eligible former student who applies would receive:
- $10,000 for the first school year or portion.
*this payment is known as the “ common experience payment.”
*individuals who were sexually/physically abused would receive additional compensation.

Question 21

Do the Métis have any historic treaties with Canada’s government?

Answer 21

Unlike First Nations, the Métis do not have any historic treaties with Canada’s government.

Question 22

When was the Red River Rebellion?

Answer 22

1869-1870

Question 23

What started the Red River Rebellion?

Answer 23

The Canadian government, eager to sell the west, arranged a deal with Hudson’s Bay Company to sell land for settlement.
This land included the red river Colony, where the Métis lived and farmed (Manitoba).
The Métis were not consulted; the Canadian government went ahead and sent land surveyors into the colony.

Question 24

How did the Métis respond to the selling of their land?

Answer 24

• Under the leadership of Louis Riel blocked the entrance to Hudson’s Bay territory, so that William McDougall (part of John A. Macdonald’s cabinet) could not enter with surveyors.
• This blockage was successful, and Louis Riel set up a provisional government to coordinate resistance to Canadian imperialism.
• Despite attempts to overthrow the provisional government, the Métis were too well organized, forcing the Canadian government to reluctantly negotiate a settlement.
• The Métis had executed Thomas Scott (worked for the government as a land surveyor)

Question 25

How did the Canadian Government respond to the execution of Thomas Scott?

Answer 25

For the first time in Canada’s history, the government negotiated with the Métis about settling in western Canada. Before this, Canada did not feel negotiations were necessary.
The agreement met most of the Métis demands. The Red River region became the province of Manitoba, and the Manitoba Act guaranteed the land the Métis had already settled, as well as additional land to distribute to their children.
However, these conditions were only partially met. Many Métis fled west (today, Saskatchewan) to escape the government and settle land under their own control, as well as hunt buffalo.

Question 26

When was The Northwest Resistance?

Answer 26

1885

Question 27

What started the The Northwest Resistance?

Answer 27

The Metis had petitioned for land but Canada’s government did not respond.
Louis Riel led the Northwest resistance which ended in military conflict. He sought to protect Metis land as the railway and settlers moved west in what is Saskatchewan today.
For many metis it was a way to assert their rights but for Canada’s government it was an attempt to overthrow it’s authority.

Question 28

What happened to Louis Riel?

Answer 28

Riel was tried and hung for treason in Regina in 1885. Many Anglophones approved while Francophones and Metis now consider Riel a “Father of Confederation” for upholding their rights in western Canada.

Question 29

Who are the Métis?

Answer 29

The Métis are one of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples under section 35 of the Constitution.
The Métis are individuals born of both Aboriginal and European descent.