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Contents vii
Glossary 254
References 261
Index 281
Preface
Over the past three years, major social and legal events in Canada have i nfluenced—
some might say forced—the changing relationship between governments and
Indigenous people, and this relationship is central to the present work. The reader
familiar with earlier editions of this text also will see that the scope of the book has
been enlarged, encompassing First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and non-status Indigen-
ous peoples. Moreover, in most cases, when statistics are presented here, there will
be a “comparison group” so the reader can see the big picture.
The court decisions, social movements, and political action that have occurred
in recent years remind us of the dynamic nature of the relationship between the
settler majority society and its governments and the many governments and cul-
tures of Canada’s Indigenous peoples. I hope that by challenging readers to be more
than a reflection of the relationships we have inherited, they will transform the way
Canadians think about themselves and Indigenous people. Through the explora-
tion of several significant issues, I show that Canadians seem to be embarking on
a new path towards reconciliation that will help them recreate their laws and im-
aginations, all of which will achieve social inclusion of Indigenous people. In the
end, I hope that I have shown that the relationship between Indigenous peoples
and Canadian governments is as much about the global process that has incorpor-
ated Indigenous peoples into the world capitalist system as it is the result of settler
society values.
This is a book focused on Indigenous people, otherwise known in Canada’s
legal language as “Aboriginal,” who encompass the Indian, Inuit, and Métis
peoples. I seek to demonstrate how the federal government and Indigenous peoples
are trying to resolve many significant issues such as Aboriginal rights, land title,
education, and their rightful place in Canadian society. Moreover, the topics cov-
ered in this book are central to the evolution of Canadian society, and resolutions
to today’s problems (whatever form such resolutions take) will have major impacts
on the future of Canadian society.
Colonial thought during the 1800s reconstructed Indigenous people as homo-
geneous, unchanging, and limited to a state of “uncivilized” nature (Brownlie,
2005). As such, at the time of Confederation, as well as before and after that seminal
date, Euro-Canadians generally placed Indigenous people outside of history and
merely identified them as background as the settlers evolved into a more civilized
and technological society. Others took an easier route and simply wrote them out
of history. One way of doing this was simply to write about the history of settlers in
Canada as they came into the new land.
More recently, Indigenous leaders and scholars have taken on the task of writ-
ing their own history. Prior to the 1950s, there was an unreceptive climate regard-
ing writing about Indigenous people. However, George Copway and Peter Jones
(neither of whom are widely recognizable names and remained outside the scope
x Preface
of academic historians until recently) were the first Indigenous scholars to write
about their history. Today their works are considered invaluable contributions to
understanding Canadian history and the role Indigenous people played in the de-
velopment of Canadian society. Nevertheless, publications written by Indigenous
people were scarce until the 1970s (Timpson, 2009). Edward Ahenakew’s (1929)
brief tales about First Nations life, outlined in a scholarly journal, were among
the few exceptions during this time. Joseph Dion (1979) and Michael Mountain
Horse (1979) were among the early Indigenous historians who provided insights
about First Nations history. While their books were published in the last quarter
of the twentieth century, they had initiated their work many years before, trying
to bring Indigenous history to the foreground and inform Canadians of the role
that Indigenous people played in the social, economic, and political development
of Canada. The works of Harold Cardinal (1969) and Howard Adams (1975) also
are relatively recent accounts of Indigenous life, although they are as much political
statements as they are historical. Nevertheless, these scholars championed Indigen-
ous history and created the groundwork for those who have followed, perhaps most
notably Métis scholar Olive Dickason, whose Canada’s First Nations remains the
authoritative history of Indigenous peoples in Canada from the earliest times.
To understand the relationship of Indigenous people and government today, we
need an understanding of history. How Indigenous people find themselves today is a
result of government and Indigenous peoples’ actions and inactions over a long period
of time. The general theme of this book is that European colonization and colonialism
have had a long-term impact on the lives of Indigenous people and transformed them
into a marginal people within Canadian society. Moreover, it has been an insidious
process, encroaching upon Indigenous communities without a face—government just
acts and consequences follow. As Lutz (2009) so cogently argues, the displacement of
Indigenous people was carried out through peaceable subordination. However, he goes
on to note that it was subordination without subjugation. But colonization also has im-
pacted non-Indigenous people. It provided non-Indigenous people with the standards
by which they evaluated the performance of others; it allowed them to build stereo-
types about Indigenous people; and it provided non-Indigenous Canadians with the
normative support to engage in individual and systemic discrimination against them.
The issues discussed in this book are major and far-reaching, and will trans-
form the nature of Canada when they are addressed. We have an opportunity in
the twenty-first century to deal with the architecture of Canadian society and our
relationship with Indigenous people. The formal apology made by Prime Minister
Stephen Harper in 2008 and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Com-
mission are a good beginning, and perhaps that bodes well for how relations be-
tween Indigenous people and other Canadians will unfold. The current Trudeau
government has tried to develop new policies: a nation-to-nation relationship, the
development of a Recognition and Implementation of Rights Framework, revised
negotiation mandates for land claims and self-government, new fiscal relations,
and many working groups, tables, and memorandums of understanding.
Preface xi
In the end, we must fully appreciate that no matter what actions are taken to
restore relations, it will take time. The impact of colonization took many years and
so we can’t look for the magic “solution” that will restore the identity, integrity, and
trust that many Indigenous people had when they first encountered the settlers. It
will take years to make the social change, and then, only if we, as Canadians, insist
that our politicians make special efforts to deal with the legacy of colonialism.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank those scholars who reviewed an earlier draft of this work and pro-
vided feedback. Their thorough reviews and critiques have made this book a more
positive contribution to this complex area of study. The encouragement they pro-
vided also led me to accept the challenge of trying to address thorny and contro-
versial topics in the area of Indigenous–government relations. My work has been
Preface xiii
nurtured by an amazing Indigenous community who shared their views and ex-
planations regarding Indigenous knowledge.
There are a few people who were essential to the writing of this book and I could
not have written it without their input. I would like to thank those who have given
their support and advice as I struggled to update each of the topics examined in the
text. Specific thanks to Vanessa Vredenburg, Monique Passalec-Ross, Shawna Cun-
ningham, Dr Mike Lickers, Line Pare, David Laidlaw, Dr Reg Crowshoe, and Su-
zanne McLeod. From the academy, I’d like to thank my colleagues Dr Yvonne Pratt,
Dr Marie Delorme, Dr Cash Ahenakew, and Dr Vivian A youngman, all of whom
have a better grasp of the situation than I but have shared their insights and know-
ledge with regard to specific topics. Each of these individuals has made a unique
contribution to this work and they have provided me with information, advice, and
criticism when I needed it. While they have supported me in this p roject, they are
not to be held responsible for the contents of the book.
I also am grateful for the support of the editorial and production staff at
Oxford University Press. First of all, I would like to thank Amy Gordon (associate
editor), who entered this journey with me by reviewing each of the chapters and
identifying issues that needed clarification, citation, and additional information.
She identified sources that I could investigate that reflected her broad knowledge of
the topic, and also identified sources that had escaped my attention. Her input was
substantive and she was especially focused in her comments and suggestions. I’d
also like to thank Mariah Fleetham (developmental editor), who read and critiqued
the original manuscript and then continued to lend her insights and careful read-
ings to critique the subsequent revisions. She was an incisive reader and her critical
questions, suggestions, and guidance in the production of the book is deeply appre-
ciated. Thanks are also extended to Richard Tallman, copy editor, whose keen eye
caught many an error. His editing also revealed areas that needed clarification and
more substantive comment. I deeply appreciate his careful editing and suggestions.
In the end, the book reads better and with greater clarity due to his diligent work.
I also would like to thank Phyllis Wilson, managing editor; Lisa Ball, senior
production coordinator; and Dave Ward, editor-in-chief.
1 Knowing Your History
Learning Objectives
• To recognize that history is a key to understanding current events.
• To learn to appreciate why it is important to know the authors of history.
• To learn to critically evaluate the histories of Indigenous peoples currently available.
• To discover how colonialism has impacted the traditional ways of life for Indigenous peoples.
• To appreciate how Indigenous–government relations changed over time.
Introduction
The denial of Indigenous sovereignty and the imposition of patriarchal, European
sovereignty represent the historical foundation of Canada’s policy and framework
regarding Indigenous peoples (Searle & Mulholland, 2018), and to maintain a cer-
tain bureaucratic order and logic the Canadian government has built upon those
foundational principles. At the same time, Canadians believe that society is pre-
dictable and represents a just place—a society in which people get what they de-
serve. Where there is evidence to suggest that the world is not just, individuals have
two options: (1) to restore justice through helping the victim, or (2) to convince
themselves that no injustice has occurred. As particular perspectives are built into
our institutions, they become part of “the way things are,” and thus we partici-
pate, intentionally or not, in the support of a society that deflates the value of one
culture while inflating the value of another (Kendall, 2002), as if the social con-
tract is a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Consequently, if we deem ourselves
to be “winning,” we conclude that action on our part is not needed. This raises
the issue of bias and narrative privilege of people writing histories. The settlers of
Canada had, and continue to have, a settler imaginary that represents a constella-
tion of ideas and values underpinning their views of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis
people (Taylor, 2004; Bell, 2014). This imaginary constitutes a set of assumptions
and common understandings that allow us to carry out the collective practices that
make up our social life (Taylor, 2004).
2 Indigenous Peoples in the Twenty-First Century
Settlement Agreement (TRC , 2015). One might hope that Canadians would see
this inequality as problematic, yet many non-Indigenous people in Canada are
reluctant to attribute the socio-economic disparities between Indigenous people
and non-Indigenous people to any bias within the social institutional structures
(Knowles & Lowery, 2012). Why is this so? First, most non-Indigenous people
see the status quo as legitimate. Others claim there is no problem in protecting
their advantaged position in society. Or, as Knowles and Lowery (2012) argue,
non-Indigenous people deny inequity because the greater importance they place
on the value of meritocracy as a norm for distributing valued goods, the less will-
ing they are to see this norm as having been violated. In the end, non-Indigenous
people see themselves as personally possessing merit (e.g., talent, hard work, dedi-
cation), and thus dismiss the claim that any inequities are based on white privilege
(Gagnon, 2014).
Some authors preface their work on Indigenous issues with reference to how
Canada engaged in genocide (physical, social, cultural) with regard to Indigenous
people. However, this term has been rejected by many Canadians, perhaps because
“genocide” has taken on meanings and become a metaphor in the past century (the
Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, the slaughter of one ethnic group by
another in Rwanda) to characterize the actions taken by government or its de facto
representatives as the pinnacle of evil. In other words, the feeling is that this could
not have happened in Canada; this could not be happening in Canada (Girvan,
2010). Put another way, such a term, it is believed, is too harsh to characterize how
Indigenous people have been treated over the past three centuries. Others argue
that the actions by government in dealing with Indigenous people were undertaken
with a sense of righteousness and were justified in the defence of a communal good.
Nevertheless, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin,
noted in 2015 that Canada had developed an ethos of exclusion and annihilation
regarding Indigenous people that amounted to cultural genocide, and that this has
lasted into the twenty-first century.
We know that individuals who created the laws and policies of Canada rarely
showed signs of guilt or remorse. However, it is clear from Canadian history that
Canadians were complicit in the disenfranchisement of Indigenous people, active
participants in their removal from the land, and supportive of the assimilation
policies of the Crown because they thought it was the appropriate thing to do.
Settlers did not view their actions as criminal or step back from their opportun-
ities to inflict pain and suffering on Indigenous people. For example, the churches
running residential schools had little interest in addressing cultural concerns of
Indigenous people; rather, their goal was similar to that of the Crown—to “take
the Indian out of the child,” a policy largely acquiesced to or actively supported
by all Canadians, or at least by all Canadians who gave it so much as a thought.
It also is important to realize that discrimination and harm towards Indigenous
people by the settlers was voluntary. As Brannigan (2013) points out, individuals
who engaged in violence against minority groups—sometimes reluctantly and at
4 Indigenous Peoples in the Twenty-First Century
other times enthusiastically—reveal they had freedom to refuse and acted without
undue pressure or compunction to carry out violence against Indigenous people.
Supporting such actions by the settlers was the legal institutional order created at
the same time colonization was taking place. This process allowed for the “convention-
alization” of criminal activities by settlers, business people, and politicians (Carson,
1979). In this manner, a variety of criminal activities against Indigenous people were
undertaken by individuals and the state, and although technically “against the law”
they were freely resorted to. Occasionally one of the perpetrators would be prosecuted
but few were found guilty, and the punishment, if found guilty, was minimal. The lack
of sanctions for such actions resulted from several justifications that tended to under-
mine the seriousness of the offence and thus minimized the response of the public
and legal authorities. Few settler authorities objected, and thus there was little moral
or legal challenge to the policies being established by the Crown. Some people might
have noted that the actions of the Crown towards Indigenous people were unpleas-
ant, but then would justify them by saying they were unavoidable. Legal and political
authorities argued that the motives for carrying out illegal acts against Indigenous
people were not criminal but supportive of the emerging capitalistic economic struc-
ture that focused on the creation of national wealth through a “productive” use of
the land. As such, the absence of moral objections by non-Indigenous people to the
policy of removing Indigenous people from the land and its embeddedness in the
legal system of Canada allowed the violence directed against Indigenous people to be
carried out without any restraint. This ethos continues.
The writing of any people’s history reflects the cultural ethos and perspective
of the writer. How accurate could your history of a people be without your being
“in their skin,” without being one of them and having the experience and know-
ledge of generations that comes with being part of a historical-cultural group? For
example, you would need to become an expert in the language so you could com-
municate and understand the people. Does this mean that only Indigenous people
can write Indigenous history? As J.R. Miller (2009) points out, this suggestion is
unjustified because what is being considered is not something that only Indigenous
people have experienced or can comment on; rather, Indigenous history is part of
Canadian history and, equally important, Canadian history is part of Indigenous
history. On the other hand, if we are talking about secret societies, traditional
homelands, or traditional ecological knowledge, then certainly Indigenous people
have a proprietary right and I, as an outsider, might not be privy to such informa-
tion. Individuals writing a history will find that it is difficult to represent a culture
outside of their own cultural bias. In the end, such restrictions will bear heavily on
your reconstructed history, and even with the best of intentions it is likely you will
get some things wrong.
Indigenous History
The view that Indigenous people played no significant role in Canada’s history was
first set in place when non-Indigenous people began to write the history of Canada.
Today we find that many written historical sources, from which First Nations and
Inuit histories are constructed, are from elites who had an interest in representing
Indigenous social life in negative terms (Francis, 1992). For example, the historian
G.F.G. Stanley set in motion a belief that First Nations widely supported the Riel
Rebellion of 1885, although later researchers, such as Stonechild and Waiser (1997),
have shown this claim to be false. Nevertheless, for much of the twentieth century
and earlier, a pervasive belief held that Indigenous societies had contributed little
to the development of Canadian society, had lost their cultural vibrancy, and were
a people headed for extinction. The histories of Indigenous peoples, by and large,
have been written by non-Indigenous people using non-Indigenous sources. This
is not bad per se, but it does point out the limitations of writing history from one
perspective—that of the dominant settler group.
Over the past centuries, the dynamic of concealment (consciously and un-
consciously) has ultimately served the settler population in covering up the
violence—physical and, especially, cultural and psychological—that was visited
upon Indigenous people. The implementation, cover-up, and resistance for nearly
a century to address the residential school atrocities also reflect a kind of sanitized,
revisionist history as presented by the dominant majority. These concealments have
been embedded in the political, social, and economic history of Canada (Reid, 2008),
which makes it difficult to accept as accurate much of what has been written about
Indigenous–settler relations.
6 Indigenous Peoples in the Twenty-First Century
Indigenous people argue that Canada’s history is based on several false assump-
tions dating back over a millennium and that these assumptions present a biased
view of what “really happened.” For example, early European explorers and settlers
are portrayed as clever in their adaptation to and settlement of a “New World,” not
to mention their “discovery” of that world, and this cleverness is related to their su-
perior technology. Often forgotten is the extent to which Indigenous technologies,
means of social organization, ecological knowledge, and direct assistance made
that adaptation and settlement possible.
First, these false assumptions of inherent European superiority build on the
belief that Indigenous people were (and are) incapable of self-government. Second,
there is a belief that the treaties between First Nations and the settler-colonial gov-
ernments are not really binding covenants of trust and obligation, that they are not
living agreements but rather are simple negotiated contracts from the past that have
long outlived their usefulness and legal basis. Third, for over a century the belief—
and the policy that followed from it—was that the relationship between Indigen-
ous people and the government was one of wardship, meaning that when social
changes had to be made, Indigenous people were incapable of making decisions
and did not need to be consulted. And finally, it is believed that the development
of Indigenous communities must take place through the dominant society’s neo-
liberal philosophy and not on terms desired by Indigenous people (Nobles, 2008).
However, over the past five decades, dating from the 1966 Hawthorn Report,
which recommended a “citizens plus” approach to the government’s treatment of
its Indian citizens, and the infamous 1969 White Paper on Indian Policy, which
failed to heed anthropologist Harry Hawthorn’s recommendations, more and more
materials have been produced by Indigenous people with regard to their cultures
and histories (Dickason, 2002), and we shall weave this information and these per-
spectives into this book. For example, John Borrows (2002), a Chippewa, has skil-
fully integrated evidence from both Western and Indigenous ways of knowing in
his work with a result of producing new insights into Canadian law. Indigenous
historians have shown that contact between the two cultures brought both nega-
tive and positive consequences to both sides. As Miller (2009) points out, to study
the treaty-making process one must go beyond the Euro-Canadian perspective to
consider, as well, the contributions of First Nations to the process. Only by incor-
porating a history that accounts for both settler and Indigenous narratives can our
understanding of the past become fuller and more comprehensive.
Northwest Coast, because of the riches of the sea, notably salmon and shellfish, lived
a sedentary and hierarchically ordered life in villages along the coast. A lthough
many political institutions were developed by First Nations people, families were the
basic social unit in pre-contact time. These were tied to the land and supported by
tight kinship units such as the extended family and clans. This was reiterated in the
report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (rcap, 1996), which notes
that the family is the foundation of culture, society, and economy. Furthermore, the
social and political structure of First Nations life was not separated into the differ-
ent dimensions we find in Western culture, although among many groups different
leaders were chosen for different activities, so that there would be leaders or chiefs
of the hunt, of warfare, and for peace. G enerally, however, there was little separa-
tion of the political, social, economic, and spiritual dimensions of people’s lives.
As Helin (2006) points out, many Indigenous people had a more holistic world view
that placed social concerns at the centre of everything.
Prior to European contact, First Nations families were organized communally
and non-hierarchically, without coercive authority (Leigh, 2009). Some First N ations
societies were, to varying degrees, women-centred, matrilineal, and inclusive of
women in the political aspects of the society (Mihesuah, 2003). In many societies
women were considered sacred and respected as wise advisers. As E mberley (2001)
points out, Cree women were considered the centre of the circle of life. Moreover, in
a hunting society, the distinction between work and home was not important. Only
with the introduction of a wage economy did the roles people play become linked to
economics, making that of the “breadwinner” the more powerful role (Dick, 2006).
Women tended crops in agricultural societies, gathered roots and berries, and pre-
pared the products of the hunt for food, clothing, and various household needs.
Much of this would change when European colonialism and settlement began.
Pre-contact Inuit culture reveals a number of settlement types as well as the
features of these camps. Nevertheless, there were cultural commonalities across
the Arctic due to interlocking regional trade networks. Inuit life was organized
around a schedule of game harvesting and a periodic bringing together of local
groups and then dispersion at other times. Kin and gender social categories were
the most important but there were other roles to be played (e.g., shaman, angagoks),
Loose alliances occurred between different families but there always was a sense of
community and place, and sharing of accumulated wealth was expected.
Before the Europeans arrived, there was considerable contact and trade, as
well as warfare, among First Nations and Inuit. Through trade networks and estab-
lished trade routes, goods travelled considerable distances: for example, archeolo-
gists have found coastal seashells well into the interior of Canada. Conflict between
some of the tribes was ongoing. For example, by the early seventeenth century
the Algonquins had been driven from their homeland by the Kanienkehaka and
Mi’kmaq; conflict between the Mi’kmaq and the Wabenaki continued for nearly
the first seven decades of the seventeenth century before it subsided. These con-
flicts focused on obtaining slaves, controlling trade routes, and obtaining loot from
8 Indigenous Peoples in the Twenty-First Century
the villages captured. Larger units, called “tribes,” were political arrangements that
a llowed smaller groupings to have some linguistic or cultural affinity with others.
In other cases, they formed alliances among themselves, such as the Wabenaki,
Wendat, and Haudenosaunee confederacies, which allowed greater political organ-
ization and control, as well as expanded trade, and ensured that enough food was
available for survival (Harris, 1987).
Across what would become Canada, prior to contact there were seven major cul-
ture areas and over 50 languages that linguists have divided into about 12 language
groups (Morrison & Wilson, 2004, pp. 4–5, 14–18); the peoples in each culture area
developed their own political, economic, and social structure that allowed them
to fit into their ecological niche. For well over 10,000 years, these units were self-
sustaining and prospered (Helin, 2006). There were times of famine and times of
war, but these were episodic in nature and each of the tribes developed strategies
to deal with the exigencies. But all of this would change when the Europeans came
to colonize. As Helin points out, a way of living involving co-operation that had
worked well for Indigenous people prior to contact would be a major weakness once
contact occurred.
While many Inuit and First Nations people were hunters and gatherers, their
lives were ruled by a high degree of co-operation, not only within communities but
also between them and sometimes inter-tribally. Traditional First Nations and Inuit
communities were generally egalitarian. There is considerable agreement between
First Nations and non-First Nations people that most tribes were self-governing
nations, and this view was recognized by the United States Supreme Court in the
famous Marshall decision of 1831 in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, when the Court
determined that the “Cherokee Indians” were a “domestic dependent nation.”
A lthough there is no equivalent court decision in Canada, the Royal Proclamation
of 1763 suggests that First Nations people did control their own lives in the eyes of
the British government, and the Proclamation set conditions by which land could
be taken from First Nations people living in the “unsettled” lands beyond Quebec
and the Appalachian Mountains.
When settlers entered the country, they brought with them the notion of a
patriarchal family as the most important component of settlement. Thus, to civil-
ize First Nations (the White Man’s burden, in the later phrasing of the English
author, Rudyard Kipling), the Europeans subjected them to reorganization along
patriarchal lines, aligning the interests of First Nations families and the social
organization of the communities with the interests of the colonial power (Leigh,
2009). This brought about the displacement of First Nations women from the
positions of government and power they had traditionally held within some groups,
such as the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat. Leigh argues that First Nations men
were brought into line with the patrilineal system of the settlers through punitive
strategies for those who resisted and rewards for those who accepted this new role
and reorganization of the family.
Finally, the introduction of the 1876 Indian Act cemented the new social or-
ganization for First Nations people when it defined Indian women through their
relation to men (an arrangement that continues even with the passing of Bill C-31
in 1985). As Leigh (2009) points out, under the new Indian Act, First Nations men
gained recognition under European law in exchange for dispossessing First Nations
women of their power. Women were denied any vote in the government-imposed
system involving chief and council. As such, they were stripped of any formal in-
volvement in the political process. As Christianity was introduced, from a very
early time in New France, it added to the shaping of First Nations families so that
they met the settlers’ conception of “family.” Thus began the transition of Indigen-
ous cultures to better align with the settler society. The Indian Act also began to
create the gender tensions in First Nations communities that continue to this day.
The result of colonialism has been the forced acceptance of settler family struc-
tures, values, and behaviours by Indigenous people, a process that has permeated
Indigenous cultures. The consequences of the settler project of assimilation have
been dramatic, perhaps most especially in regard to the residential school system,
which we shall examine in Chapter 4.
Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples can be described as a series of
phases in which interests and policy changed substantially. Generally, five phases
have characterized the relationship with Indigenous people, although it might be
argued that in recent decades we have moved into a sixth phase.
Phase 1 (1610–1680)
By the early seventeenth century both the French and English had made inroads
into the northern half of North America. Small French settler communities were
established, trade routes were formed, and a thriving barter system had developed
with the First Nations populations (Rutherdale, Abel, & Lackenbauer, 2017).
Of course, considerable conflict between the two European powers vying for con-
trol of the continent continued, and each side sought First Nations allies in their
ongoing dispute.
10 Indigenous Peoples in the Twenty-First Century
First Nations peoples were essential to the survival of the early colonial settle-
ments in Canada. This early contact between First Nations and Inuit populations
and the settlers could be best described as symbiotic in that each group was able
to benefit and learn from the other. First Nations and Inuit taught European set-
tlers and explorers about the land and about survival in a harsh northern climate—
about the wild foods and game to eat, the clothing to wear, the shelters to construct
in an unforgiving environment, canoes and komatiks for transport, and physical
geography and travel routes. In return, Europeans provided metal, firearms, and
other materials and foodstuffs that, it appeared, would enhance the quality of life
of First Nations and Inuit (Patterson, 1972). As such, the initial contact brought an
influx of material objects (technology) that led to significant changes in the lifestyle
and culture of the Indigenous populations.
Phase 2 (1680–1815)
The second phase of contact saw Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis, and
Inuit) drawn deeper into the economy of the settlers through the fur trade as they
became more dependent on the trade goods brought by the Europeans. During
this phase, too, the devastation of First Nations and Inuit populations by European
diseases such as smallpox began to have a huge impact, so that the pre-contact es-
timated Indigenous population of half a million was reduced to barely 100,000 by
the end of the nineteenth century.
The French had established various posts in which they could carry out trade
with the First Nations. At the same time, Jesuit missionaries were sent to the inter-
ior of Canada to convert the Indigenous people. The French fur trade in its infancy
was linked to the European hat trade and was controlled by the Ministry of Marine,
responsible for colonial affairs. It created a company called Compagnie des Indes
occidentales, which controlled the fur and moosehide trade in Canada. While it was
made to look like a private enterprise, it was in fact a French Crown corporation.
As such, all permanent residents of the French colony were compelled to deal with
the Crown company while others could trade with other companies. The intent of
the company was to begin with the fur and moosehide trade but then to develop
trade in timber, minerals, and foodstuffs for the West Indies plantations. Thus, the
French sent thousands of single young men to the new colony to begin development
of the new land. Until the 1750s, the fur trade expanded, and it served both eco-
nomic and political purposes for the French (Miller, 2018). The fur trade was profit-
able, and it also allowed the Crown to control the settler population. Such trade also
influenced the ways of life of Indigenous peoples: in some instances, local animal
populations were decimated and the pursuit of furs drew the men away from their
traditional activity of hunting to provide for families and communities.
In 1670, the English Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was chartered and
given control over a large area of present-day Canada. The Company was given
wide powers, including exclusive trading rights within the area called Rupert’s
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"Monsieur le Comte perishing of loneliness," murmured de Gêvres,
feebly.
"'Twas not his beauty, Baron. I am most tender of his modesty. But, next
time I plead with Mlle. Mercier for life and hope, I shall imitate the look he
wore at that moment."
"Take care, my dear Richelieu. She will marry you if you do."
"On my faith, that would not be bad. 'Tis an excellent way to rid one's
self of a woman. Baron, the carp is marvellous. Madame, of course, offered
the glove that you have seen as gage of triumph. It is worth eighty livres.
Lesage himself did the miniatures. When we finally set off, Louis' eyes were
bright with certainty of success; for who would dare to engage in rivalry
with the King?"
"Come, come, du Plessis, finish the tale. You are straining the budding
nonchalance of de Mailly here to an alarming degree."
"Monsieur, you might dare Satan for a lady if you would; but no one
should dare the King."
"Dare the King he did. In five minutes all of us were far enough behind
to watch, while they two—de Mailly and de Bourbon, gentlemen—were
neck and neck among the hounds. Presently the Count fired, and—missed. I
hoped that it was purpose, for he did not reload. Then the stag ran through a
little clearing, so that for fifty yards it was a perfect mark. Louis fired, of
course, but the game kept on. I saw the King throw back his head with his
gesture of anger. Then de Mailly—oh! how couldst thou, Claude?—drew a
pistol from his holster and fired. That bullet was made for death, I never saw
a prettier shot. It went straight into the deer's neck. Another five yards. The
animal wavered. The King was reloading his weapon. Claude was like
lightning with his hands. Before his Majesty's gun was ready the pistol
sounded again, and the beast fell."
"Good Heaven, Claude! You have done badly!" cried Henri, leaning over
the table.
"Fear for the Count, du Plessis. The King needs small sympathy."
"Possibly thou'rt right, Baron. Who so happy as the King? What does he
lack? He is a King; he has France for his purse; he is as handsome as the
Queen is ugly; and the most stately woman in Europe inhabits the little
apartments. What more could he wish for?"
Claude bit his lip and his eyes sparkled with anger.
"Soho! I did well not to have a second course, then. Now, gentlemen, the
toasts. M. de Mailly-Nesle, I propose your marquise."
Henri flushed. The lady whom he deeply and sincerely loved was a far
tenderer subject with him than his reckless and heartless companions
dreamed of or could have understood. But he drank the toast without
comment, and was relieved to find that the conversation was straying from
her as well as from his cousin's affair. Claude, perhaps, was not so well
pleased. He was too young a lover, and too much in love, to rejoice that
other women were being brought up for discussion; and he was too heedless
of the delicacy of his position to care to contemplate its different aspects
while the others talked. For, as to the matter of royal disfavor, it disturbed
him not in the least; rather he looked upon the prospect of it as something
which should redound to his credit in the eyes of her who at present
constituted the single motive of his life. For the next twenty minutes, then,
he sat over his wine, drinking all the toasts, and joining in the conversation
when Mme. de Lauraguais, another sister of Henri's, was mentioned. But the
interest had gone out of his eyes. Richelieu marked him silently; d'Holbach
smiled with kindly humor on perceiving his preoccupation; and his cousin
the Marquis read his mood with regret. Henri de Mailly-Nesle had long since
given up any hope of control over his sister, the favorite; and, through a life-
long companionship, Claude had been to him closer than a brother. Thus,
whatever interest he felt in the latest developments of the Count's rash
rivalry with the King, was all on behalf of the weaker side, that of his friend.
The six gentlemen had not been more than twenty minutes over their
wine when de Gêvres finally rose from his chair, and, as host for the
remainder of the night, made suggestion of departure.
"How shall we cross to my hôtel? It rains too heavily for riding. Shall we
go by chair?"
"My dear Baron," expostulated d'Epernon, "my surtout would not stand
it, I swear to you!"
"And I also," added Claude. "I wish to ruin my boots completely. I have
given Rochard too many things of late."
"A bad idea, Count. Pay your servants, and they leave you at once; it is
such a bourgeois thing to do."
"We walk, then?" inquired d'Epernon. "I am sure we must be going to do
so when M. de Gêvres addresses M. de Mailly upon the care of servants.
Monsieur le Marquis—your servant."
Richelieu and the Baron were already at the door. D'Epernon and Henri
followed. There was nothing for it but for the third Duke to accept the
companionship of the Count, and prepare to ruin his surtout also. As the
small party passed out of the door of the café, Richelieu called over his
shoulder:
"Your horse is here, Claude. I had mine sent to my hôtel. Surely you will
not attempt to ride back to Versailles to-night. Will you lodge with me?"
"Thank you; but Henri will house me, I think—will you not, cousin?"
"Certainly, Claude. Madame will scarcely have any one in my wing to-
night, I think; though I confess that I have not been there for a week."
"A bad idea," muttered Richelieu to the Baron. "I kept my ladies in better
training—when I had them."
It was fifteen minutes' rapid walk from the Procope to the Hôtel de
Gêvres. From the Quai des Tournelles the six proceeded to the Pont St.
Michel, over the river, across the island, and to the new city by the Pont au
Change, at the east end of which, near the Place du Chat, stood the most
recent and most noted gambling-house in Paris. Three or four lanterns,
shining dimly through the dripping night, lighted the doorways, which were
open to the weather. Richelieu, d'Holbach, d'Epernon, and Henri entered
together, with Claude and de Gêvres close behind. It was Richelieu who
accosted the manager of the house in the entresol; for the owner of the place
was not desirous of recognition. M. Basquinet, discerning that the new-
comers were of rank, in spite of the fact that they came on foot, at once
offered a private room.
"By all means, rum," nodded the Baron d'Holbach. "What other beverage
would harmonize with this scene? We are surrounded by those a step lower
than the bourgeoisie. For the time we also are lower than the bourgeoisie."
The rum was brought, however, together with dice, and those long-
stemmed clay pipes of which one broke three or four of an evening, and but
rarely drew more than one mouthful of smoke from a light. Still imitating the
manners of those about them, each two gentlemen played with a single cup,
thus doing away with any possibility of loaded dice. Unlike the common
people, however, they used no money on the table; perhaps for the simplest
of reasons—that they had no money to use. "Poor as a nobleman, rich as a
bourgeois," was a common enough expression at that day, and as true as
such sayings generally are. How debts of honor were paid at Versailles none
but those concerned ever knew. But paid they always were, and that within
the time agreed upon; and there was no newly invented extravagance, no
fresh and useless method of expenditure for baubles or jewelled garments,
that every courtier did not feel it a duty as well as pleasure to indulge at
once. For the last twenty-five years there had been, as for the next five there
would be, a continually increasing costliness in the mode of Court life, and a
consequent diminution in Court incomes, until the end—the end of all things
for France's highest and best—should come with merciful, swift fury.
Each member of the party, this evening, played with him in whose
company he had walked from the café: de Gêvres and the Count; Richelieu
and d'Holbach; d'Epernon and Mailly-Nesle. The three games were in
marked contrast to those carried on about them. Not a word relative to losses
or winnings was spoken. The stakes were agreed upon almost in whispers;
the cubes were rattled and thrown—once; then again from the other side.
The differences were noted mentally. Winner and loser sipped their rum,
drew at a pipe, and made a new stake. Sometimes ten minutes would be
spent in watching the noisy eagerness of men at a neighboring table, for that
was the chief object in their coming to-night.
The great hall was filled with those of an essentially low order. Coarse
faces, coarse manners, coarse garments, and coarse oaths abounded there,
though now and again might be found a velvet coat, a lace ruffle, and a
manner badly aped from the supposed elegancies of the Court. A strange and
motley throng gathered from all Paris wherever this common vice held men
in its grip. Here those from the criminal quarters, from the Faubourg St.
Antoine, from the streets of petty shopkeepers and tradesmen, from the little
bourgeoisie, came to mingle together, indiscriminately, equalized, rendered
careless of the origin of companions by their common love of the dice. Here
were men of all ages, from the fierce stripling who regarded a franc as a
fortune, to the senile creature, glued to his chair, the cubes rattling
continually in his trembling cup, and the varying luck of the evening his life
and death. All the pettiness and some of the nobility to be found in mankind
were portrayed here, could those who had come to study have read aright.
D'Holbach, the philosopher, doubtless did so, for men had been his mental
food for many years. Nevertheless he said nothing to Richelieu of what he
discovered; but took snuff when he lost, and puffed at his pipe when he won,
and cogitated alone among those whom he knew so well.
Time drew on apace and the evening was passing. There were few
arrivals now; the rooms were filled, and it was too early for departure. M. de
Gêvres wished, possibly, that the hours would hurry a little, for he was
losing heavily to Claude. Nevertheless he gave no sign of discomfort, and
even interrupted the Count's purposeful pauses to continue the game. Just as
de Mailly shook for a stake of five hundred livres, two people, gentlemen by
dress, entered the room. Claude threw high. The Duke, with an inward
exclamation of anger, gently received the cup. He shook with perfect
nonchalance, and finally dropped the ivory squares delicately before him.
The Duke started to his feet. His example was speedily followed by the
rest of the party, who, after bowing with great respect, stood looking in
amazement at the new-comer. His companion, who was bareheaded,
remained a little behind, grinning good-naturedly at the gamesters. Richelieu
spoke first:
"I, Sire, I think, since your coming has turned my luck," remarked
Claude, with the double meaning in his words perfectly apparent to every
one there.
"Do not stand," continued the King. "I am merely Chevalier to-night."
"We rode to Versailles first, Sire; changed our clothes there, and came
hither immediately."
"And now the truth, Richelieu. I will brook nothing less. He did not see
madame after he left the hunt?"
The Duke opened his eyes. "We left Mme. de Châteauroux with you. We
have not seen her since."
The King drew a deep breath. "She left the hunting-party half an hour
after you, knowing that it was not in my power to follow her. I feared it was
to join—him. I have left everything to make sure of his whereabouts. The
fellow drives me mad."
While Louis spoke a gleam came into the Duke's eyes. He smiled
slightly, and said; with a nod towards de Berryer, and that daring which was
permitted to him alone, "Your Majesty brought a lettre-de-cachet in some
one else's pocket?"
"The dice, then!" cried the King. "Richelieu, your cup. We will play with
but one."
"And he who throws twice best shall win?" repeated the Duke.
"Yes."
Claude's heart sank, while his cousin dared not allow his sympathy to
appear. It was frequently ruinous work, this gaming with a King; and the
revenues of the younger branch of the house of de Mailly were not great.
"The stakes," returned Louis, with a long glance at his opponent, "shall
be, on my side—" he threw back his cloak, unbuttoned a plain surtout, and
from his ruffles unfastened a diamond star of great value—"this." He placed
it upon the table.
Louis coughed, and waved one hand, with a gesture of deprecation at the
question. "Yours should not be so large. We play to the goddess of chance.
You—um—ha—you won, to-day, a certain gauntlet of white leather; a
simple thing, but it will do. I will play this for that. You see the odds are
favorable to you."
Claude flushed scarlet, and not a man at the table moved. "The gauntlet
was a gage, Sire."
"We play!" cried his Majesty, smiling as he seized the leathern cup. He
shook well, and dropped the dice vigorously before him.
Claude received the implements from the King's hands, tossed and threw.
The King bit his lip, and hastily played again. The cubes stared up at him
impudently. On one was a three, on the other a one. None spoke, for Louis
frowned.
Claude was very sober but very composed as he tried his second chance.
It seemed that he could not but win. The courtiers hung quietly on the play.
When the cup was lifted from the dice there was a series of exclamations.
Claude himself laughed a little, and the King drew a long sigh of relief. Two
and one had de Mailly thrown.
It was Henri who voiced the general interest. "You are even," he said,
quietly.
The King suddenly rose to his feet. "Not for long!" he exclaimed. For
some seconds he rattled the dice in the box, not attempting to conceal his
palpable nervousness. When the black spots which lay uppermost were
finally counted, a smile broke over the royal lips. Ten points he had made
this time.
De Mailly, who had also risen, looked at them for a second with
compressed lips, but did not hesitate in his throw. Like de Gêvres, he
dropped the squares before him with pointed delicacy. Then he stepped
quietly back, with a throb at his heart, but no change in his face. Not a
courtier spoke.
"We will play again!" cried the King, loudly, for they were, indeed, no
longer even. M. de Mailly had thrown six and six.
"Pardon, your Majesty," said Claude, in reply to the King's voiced desire.
"I could not play again against France and hope to win, though by but a
single point. Therefore I beg that you will spare my humiliation, and accept
the gauntlet as proof of your gracious forgiveness of my daring."
The small ceremony over, and the light of royal favor glittering in the
candle-rays over the Count de Mailly's heart, his Majesty, with tender touch,
took up the coveted gauntlet, put it inside his embroidered waistcoat, and,
placing his hand on de Berryer's shoulder, bowed a good-night to the party
and the Hôtel de Gêvres.
Immediately after the King left, the other participant in the struggle for a
woman's gage also rose. Claude was tired. He had no mind to be assailed
with the volley of epigrams, bons-mots, and various comments that he knew
would soon begin to be discharged from the brains of his companions.
Certainly, he should have considered the episode a happy one. Already, since
that talk of esteem and good-will from the King, he could feel the change in
attitude assumed towards him by de Gêvres and d'Epernon. But the sight of
these figures wearied him now; and he suddenly longed for a solitude in
which to face his rapidly growing regret that his cousin's glove had passed
out of his possession.
"What, monsieur!" cried de Gêvres, when he rose, "you will not give me
the chance to retrieve myself to-night?"
"Small hope for you with such luck as the Count's," returned d'Holbach.
"When a man wins two points off a king, by how much may he defeat a
duke? Reply, Richelieu. It is geometry."
De Mailly bowed. Then, turning to the Marquis, he held out his hand.
"Will you come, Henri, or must I beg shelter of Madame la Marquise
alone?"
"I come, Claude. Good-night, and thanks for a most charming evening,
and a comedy worthy of Grandval, messieurs."
"I am afraid so. I did not think to order my coach, and not a chair will be
obtainable on such a night."
They started at a good pace up the long, wide thoroughfare that bordered
the river, and walked for some minutes in a silence that was replete with
sympathy. It was some distance from the gambling-house to the Hôtel de
Mailly, Henri's abode, which was situated on the west bank of the Seine, on
the Quai des Théatins, just opposite the Tuileries, on the Pont Royal. The
wind was coming sharply from the east, bringing with it great, pelting rain-
drops that stung the face like bullets. Henri was glad to shield his head from
the cutting attack by holding his heavy cloak up before it. Ordinarily the
walk at this hour would have been one of no small danger; but to-night even
the dwellers in the criminal quarter were undesirous of plying their midnight
trade by the river-bank. The cousins had passed the dark cluster of buildings
about the old Louvre before either spoke. At length, however, the Marquis
broke silence.
There was a little pause. Then Claude said, in a tone whose weary
monotony indicated a subject so often thought of as to be trite even in
expression:
"Do you—ever regret—that Anne went the way—of the other two? Will
she—do you think, finish as did poor little Pauline? Or—will some other
send her from her place—as—she did—my brother's wife, Louise?"
As Claude had hesitated over the questions, so was Henri long in making
reply. "I do not allow myself, Claude, to wonder over might-have-beens.
There is a fate upon our family, I think. But of the three of our women who
have gone her way, Marie is the fittest of them all for her place. Little
Pauline—Félicité, we named her—her death—my God, I do not like to think
of it! And poor, weak Louise—your brother loved her dearly, Claude. And
he is dead, and she—is making her long penance in that great tomb of the
Ursulines. Heigh-ho! Thank the good God, my cousin, that you have neither
sister nor wife in this Court of France. There is not one of them can
withstand the great temptation. Our times were not made for the women we
love."
And for the rest of their walk both men thought upon these same last
words, which, through Claude's head, at least, had begun to ring like a dark
refrain of prophecy, of warning: "Our times were not made for the women
we love."
It was half an hour past midnight when the Marquis pounded the knocker
on the door of his hôtel by the Seine. It was opened with unusual readiness
by the liveried porter, who betrayed some surprise at sight of those who
waited to enter.
"As you see, we are here," returned Henri, adding, "My apartment is
ready?"
Five minutes later Claude was alone in his room. Henri had left him for
the night, and he refused the services of a lackey in lieu of his own valet,
who was at Versailles. The servant had lighted his candles, and a wood-fire
burned in the grate. His wet coat had been carried away to dry. His hat,
surtout, and gloves lay upon a neighboring chair. Amid the lace of his jabot
glittered the jewelled star which, two hours ago, had flashed upon the breast
of the King of France. Claude seated himself, absently, in a chair beside the
cheerily crackling fire, facing a great picture that hung upon the brocaded
wall. It was Boucher's portrait of Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, Marquise de
la Tournelle, Duchesse de Châteauroux. She looked down upon him now in
that calmly superb manner which she had used only this morning; the
manner that the Court had raved over, that women vainly strove to imitate,
that had conquered the indifference of a king. And as Claude de Mailly
gazed, his own air, shamed perhaps by that of the woman, fell from him, as a
sheet might fall from a statue. In one instant he was a different thing. He had
become an individual; a man with a strong mentality of his own. The
courtier's mask of imperturbable cynicism, the conventional domino of
forced interest, the detestable undergarments of necessary toadyism, all were
gone. Not the patch on his face, not the height of his heels, not the whiteness
of his hands nor the breadth of his cuffs could make him now. Perhaps she
whose painted likeness was before him would no more have cared to know
him as he really was than she would have liked the words that he uttered,
dreamily, before her picture. But it was the true Claude, Claude the man,
nevertheless, who repeated aloud the thought in his heart:
"Our times are not made for the women we love."
CHAPTER II
The Toilet
Dawn, the late dawn of a gray, wintry morning, hung over Versailles.
Within the palace walls those vast corridors, which had lately rung to sounds
of life and laughter, stretched endlessly out in the ghostly chill of the vague
light. Chill and stillness had crept also under many doors; and they breathed
over that stately room in which Marie Anne de Châteauroux was accustomed
to take the few hours of relief from feverish life granted her by kindly sleep.
As madame awoke, and the clock upon her mantel-piece struck eight, a
door into the room swung open, and a trimly dressed maid came in. She
pushed back the curtains from the window, looped them up, and crossed to
the bedside.
"At once."
For the following quarter of an hour, while the first part of the toilet was
being performed, the second and elaborate half of that daily function was
prepared for in the second room of the favorite's suite—the famous boudoir.
A remarkable little room this, with its silken hangings of Persian blue and
green and white; and a remarkable little man it was who sat informally upon
a tabouret, in the midst of the graceful confusion of chairs, sofas, consoles,
and inlaid stands, while in front of him was the second dressing-table,
whereon reposed the paraphernalia of the coiffeur, and beside him was a
small bronze brazier, where charcoal, for the heating of irons, burned. The
profession of M. Marchon was instantly proclaimed by his elaborate
elegance of wig. He had been, at some time, perruquier to each French queen
of the last three decades, from Mme. de Prie to the ill-fated sisters of the
present Duchess. Just now he was ogling, in the last Court manner, the
second wardrobe-girl, who stood near him, beside a spindle-legged table,
polishing a mirror. And Célestine ogled the weazened Marchon while she
worked and wondered if madame would miss her last present from
d'Argenson, a Chinese mandarin with a rueful smile, who sat alone in the
cabinet of toys, and ceaselessly waved his head. The courtly companionship
between the two servants had lasted for some time when there came a faint
scratch on the bedroom door. It was Antoinette's friendly signal. The hair-
dresser leaped to his place and bent over the irons, while Célestine forced
her eyes from the bit of porcelain and put away her polishing cloth as Mme.
de Châteauroux entered the room.
The Duchess seated herself before the first table, where Mlle. Célestine
administered certain effective and skilfully applied touches to the pale face,
and when these had rendered her to her mind for the hour, madame
surrendered herself into Marchon's hands, where she would remain for a
good part of the morning.
The preliminary brushing of the yellow locks had not yet been completed
when the first valet-de-chambre threw open the door from the antechamber
and announced carefully:
Madame shrugged. "I do not waste time in pity of his Majesty. At the
request of Mme. d'Alincourt, I spent last evening in the apartments of the
Queen."
"Madame desires, the King is at her feet. Madame requests, and the gods
obey. Where must one begin?"