African American Contact Analysis

First Nations- European Contact

From the moment the Europeans arrived on the coast of Northern America; the Indigenous people have felt the influence of their presence. From the start, this contact was beneficial to some of the Indigenous people, as they gained an ally in warfare and received many modern metal goods in trade. However, it did not take long for the negative effects of this contact to affect the Indigenous people. The contact affected and changed the Indigenous people of Canada socially, economically, politically, and culturally. The contact between Indigenous people and Europeans in North America started at the end of fifteenth century and has continued ever since. The Indigenous people welcomed the visitors, inviting them
During this time, the relationship of indigenous and French people was informal. There was no evidence regarding how the French were going to use the native land or the resources that they found there. In 1756 the New France and British were at war. The British won. As part of their peace treaty new France was transferred to British. They named it Quebec. When British took over they made a more formal relationship with the indigenous people with regards to the use of their land. In 1763 they signed the first treaty with the indigenous and it was known as royal proclamation of 1763. There are numerous of treaties created by the British government; however these treaties can be misinterpreted. The British and Canadian government had a misinterpretation of the treaty. The British thought that the native lands would be transferred over to them while the indigenous government did not believe in the concept of land ownership, for the treaties were an agreement to share their land to the British government. Another political impact was the 1969 white paper. The white paper is a law or act of parliament takes years to develop. Plenty of people in government must work for many years to get all their ideas together. During this time of information gathering a document of ideas emerges. The idea of white paper came from the Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He believes in a just society and democracy, where all of Canada’s citizens could participate equally. The aim or goal of the white paper was “to enable the aboriginal people to be free to develop Indian culture in an environment of legal, social and economic equality with other Canadians.” Although the indigenous saw this to assimilate them and that if this happens they will lose their right for the land. Harold Cardinal was a native leader that wrote the book unjust society to contradict Pierre Trudeau’s white paper. Another political impact is the Indian act. When