How
the Fur Trade Began, Part 6: New World Good for Aboriginal Trading
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The "opening of the west" represented the close of an era in
Aboriginal
history. For many years, fur traders and missionaries lived in
Western Canada by the consent and grace of Aboriginal peoples. Had the latter
decided that this presence was no longer welcome, it would have been
relatively easy to eliminate it. This did not occur, however.
Intrigued by trade
goods, Aboriginal peoples were willing to share their hunt and the land. They enjoyed
considerable power in dealings with the fur companies-they set the price
and quality of the furs which were traded and hence exerted great
influence on the British economy.
The first Methodist missionaries came from Britain at the invitation of the Hudson's Bay
Company (HBC), and all correspondence and support for these
missions came via the HBC from mother England-Eastern Canada and its development played no part.
Following the arrival of the Methodists, the
Catholic church also sent missionaries west. Drawing upon francophone missionaries from Quebec and
France, Roman Catholicism found large appeal among the Métis peoples. Thus began a pattern of
religious and cultural orientation that remains to the present
day.
The HBC was largely governed by men of Christian Protestant
persuasion while the fur-trade workers in the field were predominantly
Roman Catholic. Both groups
were familiar with the rites and practices, as well as the divisions,
within Christianity. The governors of the HBC were not adverse to
the presence of Christian missionaries,
as long as it did not interfere with business. The differing approaches to
Christian worship and understanding presented by Protestants and Roman
Catholics resulted in some confusion among Aboriginal peoples in the
region.
Homesteading,
Part 2: Advertising for Settlers
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With the sale of Rupert's Land to the Canadian government, the signing of
treaties, establishment of Aboriginal reserve lands and the advance of the railroad,
the vision of the settled west was being realized and Canada as a nation expanded.
This meant that the Methodist
missionaries were Canadians who shared the optimism and participated in
the Canadian dream:
Being a loyal Canadian, I was delighted with what I saw, and already
began to speculate on the great possibilities of such a land as I was now
entering . . . Then it was without a single settler; but the whole land
seemed to me as speaking out in strong invitation to someone to come and
occupy.
-John McDougall, Pathfinding on Plain and Prairie
This aspiration for Canada was not viewed as contrary to those who would be gravely affected by this expansion and
settlement. To men such as John
McDougall, the dislocations and changes
were inevitable-it was their calling
to help those who would be marginalized by this westward expansion.
Methodism was founded on the conviction that human kind was sinful,
but could be redeemed and achieve "Christian perfection" through a devout
and disciplined Christian life. To the Methodist missionary, Aboriginal people
were equals before God with all others, although somewhat deficient
in terms of civilized conduct and understanding. It was thus that missionaries applied themselves
to both improving treatment of Aboriginal people by non-Aboriginals, as well as
changing their ways and customs.
Increasing expansion of trade routes led to intensified trade,
government intervention, designated land ownership and immigrant
settlement.
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