Nations, Allies and Partners: First Nations, Métis and Inuit, 1713 to 1760

Remember from Grade 5

In Grade 5 you learned that First Nations were partners in the fur trade, that the Great Peace of Montreal (1701) brought dozens of Nations together with the French, and that the Métis were beginning to form as a new people. Now let's see what happened next.

Who held the power?

In many history books, the 1700s look like a contest between France and Britain. But in North America, neither empire could do much without First Nations.

• First Nations knew the land, the waterways and how to survive the winters.
• They supplied the furs that made the trade profitable, and the canoes, food and guides that traders needed.
• In war, First Nations warriors were often the deciding force.

First Nations were independent nations. They made alliances with France or Britain when it helped their own people, and they expected their allies to show respect with councils, gifts and fair trade. European officials sometimes called them "subjects", but First Nations leaders said clearly that they were allies, not subjects.

The Peace and Friendship Treaties

After 1713, Britain claimed Nova Scotia, but the Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik and Peskotomuhkati had never agreed to give up their lands. Between 1725 and 1779, they made a series of Peace and Friendship Treaties with the British.

• These treaties promised peace and set rules for trade.
• They did not say that the Nations gave up their land.

These treaties still matter. In 1999, in the Marshall decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that treaties of 1760 and 1761 protect the right of Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik people to fish, hunt and gather to earn a moderate livelihood. Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik communities continue to work to have these rights respected.

Métis communities around the Great Lakes

In the fur trade, many French traders married First Nations women. The women's skills and family connections were essential: they prepared food, made clothing and snowshoes, translated, and linked traders to their Nations.

Their children and grandchildren grew into Métis families with their own way of life, mixing First Nations and French traditions, and later their own culture and identity. Métis communities grew at fur trade centres such as Sault Ste. Marie, Michilimackinac and Detroit.

Today the Métis are a distinct Indigenous people with rights recognized in Canada's Constitution. In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada's Powley decision confirmed the harvesting rights of the Métis community around Sault Ste. Marie, a community whose roots go back to this period.

Inuit in the 1700s

Inuit lived across the Arctic, travelling by qajaq (kayak), umiak and dog sled, and hunting seals, whales and caribou. Most Inuit had little contact with Europeans in this period.

On the Labrador coast, Inuit met European fishers and traders. Sometimes they traded; sometimes there was conflict. In 1771, Moravian missionaries from Europe set up a mission and trading post at Nain. Today Nain is a community in Nunatsiavut, the Inuit region of Labrador.