3.6: Impact of Imperialism on Canada's Indigenous People

Historical Impact on Indigenous People in Canada

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples investigated the relationship of the government and the First Nations.
After several public hearings they released their report detailing the relationship. In it they made several observations;
  • the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is a central facet of Canada's heritage
  • the distortion of that relationship over time
  • of the terrible consequence of this distortion for Aboriginal people: loss of lands, power and self-respect
As a result the commission found that "the main policy direction, pursued for more than 150 years, first by colonial then by Canadian governments, has been wrong."

The Indian Act was created by the government of Sir John A Macdonald to absorb First Nations people into the dominant European culture of the time. It was an attempt to assimilate a culture, but also to control the people. To do this, it defined who was an Indian and at the same time it also defined who could not be an Indian. Many important First Nations ceremonial practices, such as potlatches and the Sun Dance were banned because they were seen as threats to the success of assimilation.

Even today the Indian Act is a controversial legacy of imperialism. Although it has had some changes, for First Nations people it maintains the spirit of imperialism. They believe that it:
  • keeps First Nations people from receiving equal treatment
  • limits self-determination and self-government
  • maintains the supremacy of federal officials

Efforts to change the Indian Act are still ongoing, but progress has been slow.

Negative Effects of Imperialism

Indigenous communities in Canada that had existed for centuries lost their self-sufficiency by the end of the nineteenth century.

Depopulation: The Aboriginal population of Canada was estimated at about 250 000 before the Europeans colonized North America. By 1822, that number had dropped to 100 000, only 40% of the pre-colonization population. Diseases raced ahead of immigrants, and in some cases, whole communities had been destroyed by disease before the first Europeans arrived.


Howell Walker/National Geographic Stock

Disease was one of the first problems to plague the Aboriginal inhabitants of Canada. Because they had never encountered many of the diseases to which Europeans had developed immunity, contact with Europeans devastated their communities. As many as 90% died in a single season.

Starvation was a problem as European settlement encroached on the native way of life, making traditional hunting and fishing areas inaccessible. Over-hunting and over-fishing by the new residents meant that the game on which the Native people relied was no longer available. Government established reserves had insufficient game to feed the people who lived there, and they were unable to follow their traditional nomadic hunting routes due to settlement.

Warfare had two effects on the Indigenous people of Canada. As different tribes allied themselves with the French and the British for trade and protection, they were brought into battles that had little to do with their people. Many Native people died in the name of France, in the name of Britain, or in the defense of Canada against the United States. Because these same tribes were provided with weapons, they were able to wage war against each other for territory and possessions. This led to the Cree extending their territory all the way to Alberta and British Columbia and the Iroquois Confederacy launching raids from northeastern U.S. into Canada.


Alcoholism: Alcohol was introduced to the Native peoples of Canada as an inducement to trade for furs. The Northwest Company and the Hudson's Bay Company provided large quantities of liquor as they competed for the business of the Native people. Liquor was unknown in most native communities and people had little resistance to it. Alcoholism began a major social problem for many First Nations people and remains an issue today.

Loss of Self-Reliance: Trade had both negative and positive effects. The Native tribes stood to gain a great deal by establishing trade alliances with the French and the British. The goods the Europeans supplied, including metal pots, tools, and weapons, made their lives much easier. After a market for furs was established, many Native tribes gave up their traditional nomadic ways of life to begin trapping. This changed their traditional culture, making them dependent on the Europeans, which disrupted Aboriginal seasonal hunting and fishing. For example, the time when arctic fox furs are prime is the same time when, in earlier years, the central Inuit would have been sealing from their winter communities located out on the ice. Because they could not do both, the Inuit who had become involved in whaling and trapping gave up important aspects of their former lifestyles and became dependent on many European goods. This dependence also made them vulnerable to the variations of the European market for these products.

Loss of Traditional Values: A new value and moral system took over as well. Instead of working for the collective good of the community, individual wealth determined status and power. Instead of making decisions by consensus, decisions were made by individuals or an elite group that did not necessarily have the needs of the community at heart. Native people did not have the right to vote in Canada until 1960. The traditional native spiritual beliefs with respect to nature and the land were undermined by European ideas that the land and all that it produces are for human use. Paternalistic government took away the sense of self-determination and made Native people dependent upon government handouts. Missionaries and accompanying residential schools caused many Aboriginal people to lose their native languages, their cultures, their connections with their families, and their traditional beliefs.


Another Perspective: Some historians believe that as many as 100 million Indigenous people died in North, South, and Central America during colonial times. They even suggest that the extermination of Native people was a deliberate act of genocide. However, this view is not held by all people. Many of the diseases that were killing First Nations people were also killing Europeans, and medical science had not yet progressed to the point that the diseases could be effectively prevented or cured. Atrocities were committed on both sides, and many Europeans were doing what they believed was best for the First Nations people by assimilating them into a culture they believed was better.

Today's High Aboriginal Population: Despite the huge losses over time in the Aboriginal population, Canada has the second highest proportion of Aboriginal population in the world. Only New Zealand has a higher percentage of Aboriginal ancestry. The United States has just 1.5% of its population with native roots.

Today, Canada has 744 855 Status Indians and more than 1.6 million Canadians who claim some Aboriginal ancestry. That's almost five percent of the total Canadian population. Those numbers are increasing. Aboriginal people in Canada have a birth rate that is almost twice the national average. (Statistics Canada, 2016)