Settlement and Conflict

•  Less than 50 years after the first land surrenders for settlers in Upper Canada, the non-First Nations population outnumbered the settler population in the Great Lakes basin.
• Military threats to the colonies faded with the end of the War of 1812, and the army was able to draw on the ever-growing settler population to meet the colony's defensive needs.
• First Nations populations were now regarded as an impediment to growth and prosperity and British administrators therefore began to regard First Nations as dependents, rather than allies.
• A treaty concluded in 1836 by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir Francis Bond Head, established Manitoulin Island in Georgian Bay as a reserve for the dispossessed First Nations population.

Fur Trade Wars

• With an exclusive monopoly, the HBC traded with the First Nations of what is now Northern Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.
• In exchange for a wide variety of goods (knives, kettles, beads, needles and blankets), the Cree traded vast amounts of animal furs from the Interior.
• As the fur trade grew, the Cree became a sort of intermediary between the Company and the Interior groups. They collected furs and pelts from other First Nations hunters and took them to the HBC posts on the coast.
• Several new, French companies began to challenge the HBC, the most successful being the Northwest Company.
• Using the system of Interior trading posts and routes established by the French before 1763, the Nor'Westers, as they were known, went out to trade and collect the furs themselves.
• Aided by the paddling and hauling skills of French-Canadian, Métis and First Nations voyageurs, went directly to the source of the furs.
• In this way, they were able to redirect a large quantity of furs away from the Cree and therefore the HBC posts in the north.
• The Northwest Company controlled the bulk of the fur trade heading to Montreal and across to Europe and eventually expanded into the Prairies.
• Faced with a sharp decline in fur stocks, the HBC responded by abandoning the use of First Nations middlemen.
• First Nations also joined the competition in order to secure the best prices and goods for their furs.
• In 1821, the two companies merged into one large Hudson's Bay Company, which stretched across the northern half of the continent and held a near total monopoly on trade from the Pacific Coast to Hudson Bay and down to Montreal.
• European desire for fur radically transformed Indigenous economies.
• Rather than small-scale hunting for furs, First Nations were dedicating more and more time and resources to fill the European demand for animal pelts.
• The HBC's desire for bison pelts and pemmican (a type of preserved bison meat popular among traders and voyageurs) transformed the Plains First Nations' buffalo hunt from one of subsistence to one of commerce
• This proximity to traders meant easy access to alcohol, which would have devastating effects on First Nations.