How We Got Here (Missing Facts Part 4)

Your future is built on the actions you take today and what Canada is dealing with today. The state of Indigenous Canadian relationships is based on what happened in the past. That's why it's so important that we review these missing pieces of information and know the facts so we know how we got here and hopefully how we can get out of this mess. So let's continue with the missing facts. We're going to look at the 1800s and you're going to see the seeds that are resulting in the situation today. So let's talk about it. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Sandy. Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And I have something stabbing me in the eye. Why every time I start a video, oh, I think I got it. Random hair. Okay. We are looking at the 1800s as promised. Now, it's going to start with the War of 1812. And during the War of 1812, large numbers of Indigenous nations and Indigenous people helped Britain. And this was to protect Upper and Lower Canada from invasion by the U.S. and you know, when people are talking about how Indigenous people are drained on the public coffers, they forget all these times that we were the allies that Canada and future, future Canadians needed. This is one of those times. So then by 1814, there's almost 10,000 indigenous people who are either dead or wounded because they chose to assist the British. So now we come to one of what you're going to see as we go through this history is a whole bunch of agreements that were made, signed and not honored. And one of those was the treaty of Ghent. Ghent promised the return of all. I'm reading this off my handy dandy index card here. The return of all possessions, rights, privilege and privileges to Indigenous people affected by the war. 1 guess what happened. Yeah. The treaty was ignored. No such return ever happened. Now it starts to get really scary. You may think 1828 is a long time ago, but repercussions into the modern day. In 1828, the Mohawk Institute is opened in Brantford. It starts out as a day school. It goes by so many different names, including the Mush hole. But by 1831, it becomes the first residential school and is the precursor to the entire residential school system. The Mohawk Institute in Brantford closed 142 years later. Now think about that. Think about your elementary school, your public school in your area. Imagine it being open for 142 years. Imagine how many kids will go through that school. Into grade one out of grade six, grade seven, grade eight, whatever your school is. Imagine the number of school of children. That's how many went through the Mohawk institute. It closed 142 years later in 1970. Now, I don't know how old you are, but I was around in 1970 and in fact, I was in public school at that time. Scary. Scary. So all those people that. Why don't you get over it? This happened so long ago. The indigenous people, you know, today are the survivors, the children of survivors or the grandchildren of residential school survivors, every single one of them. Now, 1850 to 1854, this really starts applying in my area. So in that time period, the Robinson Superior and the Robinson Huron treaties are signed. So I live in the city of Thunder Bay, which is in the Robinson Superior treaty area. And Robinson Huron is more Sault Ste. Marie area. These were signed Robinson Superior, Robinson Huron were signed in Ontario and the Douglas treaties were signed in B.C. now these treaties, there's no other way to put this. They allowed for the. What's the term? Exploitation of the natural resources. And it was supposed to be in return for cash payments. Now, if you're on top of your current history, you know that Robinson Huron just won a huge court case because at the signing of the treaty back in 1854, that cash payment was in. I believe their treaty is $4 per person per year. Are you ready for it? Are you ready for it? That has never increased. So do you pay more for wood nowadays? Do you pay more for the minerals they tear out of the ground nowadays? You talk about your grocery prices have gone up. Well, those payments hadn't gone up. And Robinson Huron just won. And now the Ontario government owes that treaty area serious dollars because they did not honor the spirit of the treaty. They thought he we're making more money, but we're not going to pay more money to the people whose lands are getting ripped apart when we take these resources. Well, the courts didn't agree. And you can bet Robinson Superior will be following suit. Of that I have no doubt. Now, if I asked you what happened in 1967, could you tell me? I think you got that one. Canada came into being. And you notice the one thing that always struck me when they show those pictures of the Founding Fathers in their interesting uniforms, interesting outfits gathering together to discuss what Canada would look like. There are no chiefs in the picture. The leaders are gathered. Indigenous leaders were not considered. And that never went unnoticed by me. I noticed right away. Now, the part I loved is in 1967, with the formation of Canada, the responsibility for Indigenous people gets transferred to the federal government. Why are we someone's responsibility when we didn't choose that? That's the. The settlers and this settlement chose that. Keep that in mind. Now, not everyone's thrilled with this. A lot of people aren't thrilled with this. So 1869 to 1870, we're talking about the Red River Resistance. They're trying. The Metis and the first nations in that error area are trying to protect the Red River Colony. We're talking about Winnipeg area here. They're trying to protect the Red River Colony because it's about to be transferred and become part of Canada. And no one consulted them. Sound familiar? We're still fighting this battle today. So a provisional government was set up by Louis Riel, Certain you've heard the name. I hope you've heard the name. Now I'm going to show you a map for the next one. In 1871-1921, the 11 numbered treaties are signed. So this is mostly northern Ontario, southern Manitoba. And then it starts stretching out west. When you hear me at the beginning of every one of my videos saying, I'm from Treaty 3, even though I live in Robinson Superior, Seine River First Nation is part of Treaty 3, which is one of the numbered treaties. That's what I'm referring to. Now, what is really important to realize, and I bring this one up all the time, the treaties opened up land for settlers to come on in and set up their establishments. But in exchange, there was going to be the treaty lands, which is the reserve system, cash payments, agricultural tools, and hunting and fishing rights. Yeah, night people. I hear people complaining all the time about our hunting and fishing rights. I don't hear anyone complaining about the fact that you got the right to use the land. You see, it's a contract. There's benefits on both sides. But we're supposed to feel guilty about our benefits. Canada's not feeling guilty about their benefits. Me no understand. Huh? 1867. Last but not least, this is where we're going to end off today, though. 1876. Welcome to the Indian Act. Now, I could do a series of videos just on the Indian act, and I'm not sure you would believe me, although you could Google it and look it up. It is a piece of legislation that you can look up. But what I'm going to recommend instead is that you get your hands on the 21 things you may not know about the Indian Act. It's an easy read and it'll make sense of insanity. So I will put the links in the notes before below the video so you can get your hands on that. And there we have it. We have come from the 1800s or 1801. We started and moved. Now we have Canada and now we have the Indian act and the residential school system. All of those are still playing into modern day occurrences. We're getting closer to modern day. Watch for the next video. If you have questions, feel free to comment. I'm always here to help you understand. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.