Specialist in the history of relations between Indigenous peoples and Europeans, Alain Beaulieu joined the History department at UQAM in 1999, after working several years as a history consultant for various organizations. He was first interested in the history of the missionary offensive in New France before turning his attention to political history and re-examining French-Iroquois relations between 1600 and 1660. For the past twenty years, he has been particularly interested in the history of French-Indigenous and English-Indigenous alliances, as well as the process by which First Nations groups in eastern and central Canada were progressively dispossessed of their land and placed under wardship of the Canadian government. The study of this process was the heart of his work as Canadian Research Chair in the Aboriginal Land Question, which he led from 2004 to 2014.
Spécialiste de l’histoire des relations entre les Autochtones et les Européens, Alain Beaulieu est entré en fonction au département d’histoire de l’UQAM en 1999, après avoir agi, durant quelques années, comme consultant en histoire auprès de plusieurs organismes. Il s’est d’abord intéressé à l’histoire de l’offensive missionnaire en Nouvelle-France, avant de se tourner vers l’histoire politique, réexaminant les relations franco-iroquoises pour la période allant de 1600 à 1660. Depuis une vingtaine d’années, il s’intéresse particulièrement à l’histoire des alliances franco et anglo-autochtones, de même qu’au processus par lequel les Autochtones de l’est et du centre du Canada ont été progressivement dépossédés de leurs terres et placés sous la tutelle de l’État canadien. L’étude de ce processus a d'ailleurs été au cœur des travaux menés dans le cadre de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone, qu’il a dirigé entre 2004 et 20214.
Jusqu’au début du xixe siècle, les Britanniques recherchent surtout l’appui militaire des Premièr... more Jusqu’au début du xixe siècle, les Britanniques recherchent surtout l’appui militaire des Premières Nations. Après la guerre de 1812, ils s’engagent progressivement dans une nouvelle politique, celle de « civilisation » : à partir des années 1830, ce programme se traduit dans plusieurs lois destinées à contrôler la vie des autochtones et à favoriser leur intégration à la société dominante. Les structures politiques traditionnelles sont rapidement visées par cet effort. En 1869, le Parlement canadien adopte des mesures destinées à abolir les chefferies traditionnelles pour les remplacer par des conseils de bande élus, mais ce n’est qu’à la fin des années 1890 qu’Ottawa parvient à les imposer au Québec. Ce système perdure encore aujourd’hui, les pouvoirs des conseils de bande ayant toutefois été élargis après 1951, entre autres avec l’adoption d’une nouvelle loi sur les Indiens. L’objet de cet article est d’éclairer l’étude de l’implantation et du fonctionnement des conseils de bande ...
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is clearly one of the key documents in Britain’s policy regarding ... more The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is clearly one of the key documents in Britain’s policy regarding Aboriginal peoples after the Conquest of 1760. As the Proclamation provided specific protection for Aboriginal land, it was hailed in the 19th century as the “Indians’ Charter of Rights.” The Proclamation also reflected the central view of British colonial policy regarding the Aboriginal peoples of North America: segregation. By prohibiting colonists from settling on the vast swaths of land temporarily reserved for the Aboriginal nations, the Proclamation drew a precise line of demarcation between the colonial world and that of the Aboriginal peoples. Creating this reserved land stemmed from a political desire to appease the Aboriginal peoples of the continent’s interior who had just begun to take up arms (Pontiac’s War), but it demonstrated how little importance the British at the end of the 18th century placed on integrating the Aboriginal peoples into the colonial world. During the first half-century of Britain’s presence in Canada, the Aboriginal policy was largely shaped by strategic and military matters. The role of the Department of Indian Affairs, established in the mid-1750s during the war with France, was mainly to ensure military support from the Aboriginal peoples, or at least their neutrality. The American Revolutionary War and the subsequent rivalry between Great Britain and the United States helped maintain this policy, where the promises of protected land and annual gifts (clothing, weapons, ammunition) were a central focus. Although expensive, this policy was still essential because the Aboriginal peoples played a strategic role in North American conflicts. The policy, however, changed rapidly and radically in the early 19th century. The new official objective of Britain’s policy quickly became civilizing the Aboriginal peoples. “It appears to me,” wrote George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies, for example, “that the course which has hitherto been taken in dealing with these people, has had reference to the advantages which might be derived from their friendship in times of war, rather than any settled purpose of gradually reclaiming them from a state of barbarism, and of introducing amongst them the industrious and peaceful habits of civilized life. […] Whatever may have been the reasons which have hitherto recommended an adherence to the present system, I am satisfied that it ought not be persisted in for the future.” This article will analyze the evolution of Britain’s Aboriginal policy in Canada, focusing particularly on the period during which the Aboriginal civilization program emerged. It will situate the economic, political and military factors that initiated the change and influenced its specific form. Among the factors that played a role in this reform was the decline of the Aboriginal peoples’ military importance after the War of 1812, the final conflict between Great Britain and the United States. After this war, the British authorities prescribed a major overhaul of Aboriginal affairs management, particularly to reduce the costs of this administrative branch. The yearly gifts given to the Aboriginal nations, which were the largest portion of the Indian Affairs’ budget, were increasingly criticized. They came to symbolize Aboriginal dependence, which could only be overcome through civilization. The appearance of new economic realities also led to a thorough review of the Aboriginal policy. The fur trade, which provided the Aboriginal peoples front-line economic importance, became less important in the colonial economy as of the 19th century. At the same time, the forestry industry, stimulated by the Empire’s needs, was rapidly expanding, leading to the colonization of areas that had previously only been populated by nomadic Aboriginal groups. As a result, Upper and Lower Canada experienced intense demographic growth, thus increasing the colonists need for land. The Aboriginal peoples’ subsistence economy, which relied largely on fishing and hunting, became more precarious. Consequently, talk of promoting their civilization fell on fertile ground: if they didn’t want to be wiped out by colonization, the Aboriginals peoples must imitate the “Whites” and adopt their ways. The civilization program was also partly inspired by movements in London that were concerned about the fate of the Aboriginal peoples in the British colonies. For example, in 1836, the Aborigines Protection Society was founded in England. It quickly became an powerful pressure group that was particularly concerned with the progression and civilization of the indigenous populations in the British Empire. By casting themselves as the promoters of the grand civilizing design the British inherited, these liberal, philanthropic movements influenced the redefinition of the Aboriginal policy. The link between civilization and responsibility toward the Aboriginal peoples was clearly stated in 1837 by the Select Committee on Aborigines, a special committee established by the British government to address the question of the Empire’s Aboriginal peoples. The analysis of the context and factors that led to the emergence of this new Aboriginal civilization policy will integrate the sometimes discordant views of the metropolitan and colonial actors. Indeed, the implementation of the civilization project took place amongst intense discussions between the metropolitan and colonial authorities. Colonial inquiry commissions were charged with examining the administration of Aboriginal affairs and making recommendations, which would have critical influence on the concrete implementation of the project. The increasingly direct interventions by the colonial authorities in defining the Aboriginal policy in Canada would, in fact, lead to the official transfer of responsibility of this issue from London to the colony, in 1860. The article will also examine the ambiguities within the civilization project. Although the three main elements of the project—sedentarism, education and Christianization—were initially intended to fully integrate the Aboriginal peoples into the colonial world, the new program, as it was implemented in the 19th century, instead upheld segregation. The reserves are a fitting illustration, as one of the symbols of the new Aboriginal policy in the 18th century. Originally designed as areas of temporary transition that would promote integration into the colonial world, the reserves rather became, somewhat like the land reserved by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, spaces of segregation where new Aboriginal identities were forged but still distinct from those of the colonial world. The analysis will encompass the essential period of 1815 to 1857. The first date is when the first questions regarding the Aboriginal policy were raised in Canada. In the beginning, these questions were financial in nature, but they quickly opened the door to the earliest drafts of a civilization policy. The second date is when the Parliament of the United Provinces of Canada formalized the civilization project as law, qualifying it from emancipation. Not only did the law define for the first time the inferior legal status of the Aboriginal peoples, it also established the criteria to escape this condition—criteria that shed light on the ambiguities in the new Aboriginal policy that came into effect in the 19th century.
Until the early nineteenth century, the British mainly sought the military support of First Natio... more Until the early nineteenth century, the British mainly sought the military support of First Nations. After the war of 1812, they gradually engaged in another policy, that of “civilization”: from the 1830’s onwards, this program lead to several laws controlling Aboriginal life and aiming at their better integration into the white society. Traditional political structures were quickly affected by this change. In 1869, the Canadian Parliament adopted measures to abolish the traditional system of chiefs and replace them with elected band councils, but it was not until the late 1890s that Ottawa managed to impose them in the province of Quebec. This system still exists today, the powers of band councils having however been extended after 1951, with the adoption of a new Indian Act. The purpose of this article is to study the implementation and operation of band councils examining a particular example, the case of Pointe-Bleue’s Innu reserve (Mashteuiatsh).
At the heart of the complex political network developed by the French with the Canadian Aborigina... more At the heart of the complex political network developed by the French with the Canadian Aboriginal Peoples from the 17th century onwards, treaties remain, after the British Conquest in 1760, essential to secure the new relationships between the English and Native Peoples. However, at that time already a shift in their use was noticeable. Being in principle, as diplomatic tools, the tangible proof of each signatory's autonomy, they rapidly became the means for the spreading out of an overwhelming colonial power over native nations, extension almost achieved in Central and East Canada at the end of the second half of 19th Century. Analyzing the political signification of these treaties shift in meaning between the end of New France in 1760 and the first Indian Act in 1876, this paper aims to analyze why they were to be inscribed in a process of colonial subjugation, territorial dispossession being just one of the many expressions of it.
Monuments intellectuels de la Nouvelle-France et du Québec ancien. Aux origines d’une tradition culturelle, sous la direction de Claude Corbo, Montréal, Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2014
dans 1763. Le Traité de Paris bouleverse l’Amérique, sous la direction de Sophie Imbault, Denis Vaugeois et Laurent Veyssière, Québec, Septentrion, 2013, p. 278-301.
Canadian Historical Review, 94, 1, March 2013, p. 1-27, 2013
"At the conquest of New France, the British had already built a long tradition of purchasing Abor... more "At the conquest of New France, the British had already built a long tradition of purchasing Aboriginal land. This policy, made official in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, was implemented in an extensive portion of the Canadian territory, but not in the Saint Lawrence Valley, heart of the former French empire in America, and what is now the province of Quebec. The British, followed by the Canadian government, adopted a policy of unilateral land appropriation in that area, dispossessing the Aboriginals without reliance on a treaty system. This particularity of the Indian land policy in Quebec has given rise to divergent interpretations that rest on the same implicit premise that a structuring legal framework existed, which, when reconstituted, gives meaning to history, either by legitimizing the unilateral dispossession process or by stigmatizing it. This article attempts to locate the process of dispossessing Aboriginal land outside the normative framework imposed by the law. The objective is not to identify a standard to explain why the British did not conclude treaties, but rather to follow a process of legal standardization, in which colonial practice is inscribed, through trial and error, detours, shifts in meaning, and improvisations into a legitimizing framework.
Au moment de la conquête de la Nouvelle-France, les Britanniques avaient déjà une longue tradition d’achat de terres autochtones. Cette politique, officialisée par la Proclamation royale de 1763, fut appliquée sur une très grande portion du territoire canadien, mais pas dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent, cœur de l’ancien empire français en Amérique, ni dans l’actuelle province de Québec. Les Britanniques et le gouvernement canadien à leur suite ont adopté une politique d’appropriation territoriale unilatérale dans cette région, dépossédant les Autochtones sans s’appuyer sur quelque système de traités. Cette particularité de la politique relative aux terres indiennes au Québec a donné naissance à des interprétations divergentes qui reposent sur la même prémisse implicite voulant qu’un cadre juridique structurant ait existé, lequel, lorsque reconstitué, donne sens au passé, soit en légitimant le processus de dépossession unilatérale, soit en le stigmatisant. Cet article tente de situer le processus de dépossession des terres autochtones en dehors du cadre normatif imposé par le droit. Il n’entend pas mettre à jour une norme expliquant pourquoi les Britanniques n’ont pas conclu de traités, mais plutôt suivre un processus de normalisation juridique dans lequel la pratique coloniale est inscrite à coup d’essais et d’erreurs, de détours, de redéfinitions et d’improvisations dans un cadre théorique qui lui donne une légitimité."""
La indianización: cautivos, renegados, «hommes libres» y misioneros en los confines Americanos (s. xvi-xix), Salvador Bernabéu, Albert Christophe Giudicelli y Gilles Havard (coords.), Madrid, Ediciones Doce Calles, 2013
Parlant des Innus avec qui les Français de l’Habitation de Québec sont en contact depuis le début... more Parlant des Innus avec qui les Français de l’Habitation de Québec sont en contact depuis le début du 17e siècle, Champlain constate en 1624 : « l’on n’a point d’ennemis plus grands que ces sauvages. » La formule, qui surprend de prime abord, reflète pourtant une réelle dégradation des rapports entre ces deux nations. Cette dimension conflictuelle des relations franco-innues reste encore peu explorée. Elle a surtout retenu l’attention dans une perspective juridique. Les meurtres de quelques Français par des Innus et les réactions que cela suscita à Québec offrent, en effet, un terrain idéal pour mesurer l’écart qui sépare les prétentions françaises en matière de justice et la réalité des rapports avec les Autochtones. Quels sens faut-il donner aux sursauts de violence qui ponctuent les relations franco-innues dans les années 1610, 1620 et 1630 ? Comment expliquer la « normalisation » subséquente de ces relations et quel sens faut-il lui donner ? Ces questions sont à la base de cet article, qui réexamine la première phase de l’alliance franco-innue à travers le processus de constitution d’un rapport de domination colonial sur les populations autochtones.
English
Referring to the Innu with whom the French settlers at Quebec had been in contact since the beginning of the seventeenth century, Champlain noted in 1624 that, « we have no greater enemies than these savages. » This statement, surprising at first glance, nevertheless reflects a very real deterioration in the relationship between these two nations. The question of conflict in French-Innu relations has attracted relatively little attention, save for the work of those approaching it from a legal perspective. The murders of several French colonists by Innu and the reactions that these events elicited at Quebec offer an ideal context for studying the divide between French legal claims and the reality of their relationship with Aboriginal peoples. What meaning should be ascribed to these outbursts of violence that punctuated French-Innu relations between the 1610s and the 1630s ? How can the subsequent « normalisation » of these relations be explained and what meaning can be ascribed to this process ? These questions form the foundation of this article, which re-examines the initial phase of the French-Innu alliance through the process of the creation of a relationship of colonial domination over the Aboriginal population.
Vert, le droit ? Conférence des juristes de l'État 2009, 2009
La question des influences du droit sur l’écriture de l’histoire autochtone suscite beaucoup d’in... more La question des influences du droit sur l’écriture de l’histoire autochtone suscite beaucoup d’intérêt depuis quelques années auCanada, ce qui s’explique essentiellement par la systématisation du recours au passé dans le processus visant à déterminer l’existence de droits particuliers pour les Premières Nations. Le phénomène, qui émerge au Canada à la suite de la décision de la Cour suprême du Canada dans l’affaire Calder, en 1973, a connu une brusque accélération au lendemain du rapatriement de la Constitution canadienne, en 1982, en raison des protections particulières qui y sont inscrites à l’égard des droits des Autochtones. Devant les tribunaux, l’histoire est devenue un instrument que l’on manipule pour faire valoir des droits particuliers ou en contester l’existence. S’appuyant sur cette idée d’une instrumentalisation de l’histoire, cet article explore quelques- unes des influences du droit sur la production historique se rapportant aux Premières Nations. Trois éléments retiennent principalement l’attention : les balises imposées par les préoccupations et les questions des juristes ; la place prépondérante du présent dans la reconstitution du passé des Autochtones ; enfin, le rôle central des normes dans la conception et l’écriture de cette histoire.
Vert, le droit ? Conférence des juristes de l'État 2009, 2009
In the last few years, there has been a great deal of interest in Canada on the issue of how the ... more In the last few years, there has been a great deal of interest in Canada on the issue of how the law influences the writing of Native history. This is mainly due to the systematization of the appeal to the past within the process of determining the existence of specific rights for First Nations. This phenomenon, which emerged in Canada following the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in the Calder case, intensified suddenly after the 1982 patriation of the Canadian Constitution, because of the specific protections for First Nations contained in the Constitution. Before the courts, history has become an instrument that is manipulated in order to assert or contest the existence of specific rights. Building on this idea of the instrumentalization of history, this article explores the influence that the law has had on historical works relating to the First Nations. We focus on three main aspects: the historic markers that are imposed as a result of legal scholars' concerns and questions; the prominence of the present in reconstructing the past of Native peoples; and finally, the central role played by standards in the design and writing of this history.
For the past years, the treaties between the Aboriginal Peoples of Eastern Canada and the British... more For the past years, the treaties between the Aboriginal Peoples of Eastern Canada and the British, at the fall of New France, have been arousing a great deal of interest, on a legal point of view, because they could possibly bear specific rights for the Natives. This article tries to define the terms of the agreement negotiated at Oswegatchie, the 30th of August 1760, by the Seven Nations representatives and William Johnson, British superintendent of Indian Affairs. In order to be able to identify the commitments that were agreed on at that moment, we have to rely on the native oral tradition that have been collected during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, because there is no existing written documents related to that agreement. After confronting that oral source with what we know about the British policies concerning the Native allies of the French at the end of the Seven Years war, it is possible to make the general frame of the talks of Oswegatchie emerge, and its four central concerns: the absence of reprisals; the free exercise of the catholic religion; the protection of existing rights and privileges during the French Regime; and the protection of the Aboriginal lands and possessions.
Jusqu’au début du xixe siècle, les Britanniques recherchent surtout l’appui militaire des Premièr... more Jusqu’au début du xixe siècle, les Britanniques recherchent surtout l’appui militaire des Premières Nations. Après la guerre de 1812, ils s’engagent progressivement dans une nouvelle politique, celle de « civilisation » : à partir des années 1830, ce programme se traduit dans plusieurs lois destinées à contrôler la vie des autochtones et à favoriser leur intégration à la société dominante. Les structures politiques traditionnelles sont rapidement visées par cet effort. En 1869, le Parlement canadien adopte des mesures destinées à abolir les chefferies traditionnelles pour les remplacer par des conseils de bande élus, mais ce n’est qu’à la fin des années 1890 qu’Ottawa parvient à les imposer au Québec. Ce système perdure encore aujourd’hui, les pouvoirs des conseils de bande ayant toutefois été élargis après 1951, entre autres avec l’adoption d’une nouvelle loi sur les Indiens. L’objet de cet article est d’éclairer l’étude de l’implantation et du fonctionnement des conseils de bande ...
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is clearly one of the key documents in Britain’s policy regarding ... more The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is clearly one of the key documents in Britain’s policy regarding Aboriginal peoples after the Conquest of 1760. As the Proclamation provided specific protection for Aboriginal land, it was hailed in the 19th century as the “Indians’ Charter of Rights.” The Proclamation also reflected the central view of British colonial policy regarding the Aboriginal peoples of North America: segregation. By prohibiting colonists from settling on the vast swaths of land temporarily reserved for the Aboriginal nations, the Proclamation drew a precise line of demarcation between the colonial world and that of the Aboriginal peoples. Creating this reserved land stemmed from a political desire to appease the Aboriginal peoples of the continent’s interior who had just begun to take up arms (Pontiac’s War), but it demonstrated how little importance the British at the end of the 18th century placed on integrating the Aboriginal peoples into the colonial world. During the first half-century of Britain’s presence in Canada, the Aboriginal policy was largely shaped by strategic and military matters. The role of the Department of Indian Affairs, established in the mid-1750s during the war with France, was mainly to ensure military support from the Aboriginal peoples, or at least their neutrality. The American Revolutionary War and the subsequent rivalry between Great Britain and the United States helped maintain this policy, where the promises of protected land and annual gifts (clothing, weapons, ammunition) were a central focus. Although expensive, this policy was still essential because the Aboriginal peoples played a strategic role in North American conflicts. The policy, however, changed rapidly and radically in the early 19th century. The new official objective of Britain’s policy quickly became civilizing the Aboriginal peoples. “It appears to me,” wrote George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies, for example, “that the course which has hitherto been taken in dealing with these people, has had reference to the advantages which might be derived from their friendship in times of war, rather than any settled purpose of gradually reclaiming them from a state of barbarism, and of introducing amongst them the industrious and peaceful habits of civilized life. […] Whatever may have been the reasons which have hitherto recommended an adherence to the present system, I am satisfied that it ought not be persisted in for the future.” This article will analyze the evolution of Britain’s Aboriginal policy in Canada, focusing particularly on the period during which the Aboriginal civilization program emerged. It will situate the economic, political and military factors that initiated the change and influenced its specific form. Among the factors that played a role in this reform was the decline of the Aboriginal peoples’ military importance after the War of 1812, the final conflict between Great Britain and the United States. After this war, the British authorities prescribed a major overhaul of Aboriginal affairs management, particularly to reduce the costs of this administrative branch. The yearly gifts given to the Aboriginal nations, which were the largest portion of the Indian Affairs’ budget, were increasingly criticized. They came to symbolize Aboriginal dependence, which could only be overcome through civilization. The appearance of new economic realities also led to a thorough review of the Aboriginal policy. The fur trade, which provided the Aboriginal peoples front-line economic importance, became less important in the colonial economy as of the 19th century. At the same time, the forestry industry, stimulated by the Empire’s needs, was rapidly expanding, leading to the colonization of areas that had previously only been populated by nomadic Aboriginal groups. As a result, Upper and Lower Canada experienced intense demographic growth, thus increasing the colonists need for land. The Aboriginal peoples’ subsistence economy, which relied largely on fishing and hunting, became more precarious. Consequently, talk of promoting their civilization fell on fertile ground: if they didn’t want to be wiped out by colonization, the Aboriginals peoples must imitate the “Whites” and adopt their ways. The civilization program was also partly inspired by movements in London that were concerned about the fate of the Aboriginal peoples in the British colonies. For example, in 1836, the Aborigines Protection Society was founded in England. It quickly became an powerful pressure group that was particularly concerned with the progression and civilization of the indigenous populations in the British Empire. By casting themselves as the promoters of the grand civilizing design the British inherited, these liberal, philanthropic movements influenced the redefinition of the Aboriginal policy. The link between civilization and responsibility toward the Aboriginal peoples was clearly stated in 1837 by the Select Committee on Aborigines, a special committee established by the British government to address the question of the Empire’s Aboriginal peoples. The analysis of the context and factors that led to the emergence of this new Aboriginal civilization policy will integrate the sometimes discordant views of the metropolitan and colonial actors. Indeed, the implementation of the civilization project took place amongst intense discussions between the metropolitan and colonial authorities. Colonial inquiry commissions were charged with examining the administration of Aboriginal affairs and making recommendations, which would have critical influence on the concrete implementation of the project. The increasingly direct interventions by the colonial authorities in defining the Aboriginal policy in Canada would, in fact, lead to the official transfer of responsibility of this issue from London to the colony, in 1860. The article will also examine the ambiguities within the civilization project. Although the three main elements of the project—sedentarism, education and Christianization—were initially intended to fully integrate the Aboriginal peoples into the colonial world, the new program, as it was implemented in the 19th century, instead upheld segregation. The reserves are a fitting illustration, as one of the symbols of the new Aboriginal policy in the 18th century. Originally designed as areas of temporary transition that would promote integration into the colonial world, the reserves rather became, somewhat like the land reserved by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, spaces of segregation where new Aboriginal identities were forged but still distinct from those of the colonial world. The analysis will encompass the essential period of 1815 to 1857. The first date is when the first questions regarding the Aboriginal policy were raised in Canada. In the beginning, these questions were financial in nature, but they quickly opened the door to the earliest drafts of a civilization policy. The second date is when the Parliament of the United Provinces of Canada formalized the civilization project as law, qualifying it from emancipation. Not only did the law define for the first time the inferior legal status of the Aboriginal peoples, it also established the criteria to escape this condition—criteria that shed light on the ambiguities in the new Aboriginal policy that came into effect in the 19th century.
Until the early nineteenth century, the British mainly sought the military support of First Natio... more Until the early nineteenth century, the British mainly sought the military support of First Nations. After the war of 1812, they gradually engaged in another policy, that of “civilization”: from the 1830’s onwards, this program lead to several laws controlling Aboriginal life and aiming at their better integration into the white society. Traditional political structures were quickly affected by this change. In 1869, the Canadian Parliament adopted measures to abolish the traditional system of chiefs and replace them with elected band councils, but it was not until the late 1890s that Ottawa managed to impose them in the province of Quebec. This system still exists today, the powers of band councils having however been extended after 1951, with the adoption of a new Indian Act. The purpose of this article is to study the implementation and operation of band councils examining a particular example, the case of Pointe-Bleue’s Innu reserve (Mashteuiatsh).
At the heart of the complex political network developed by the French with the Canadian Aborigina... more At the heart of the complex political network developed by the French with the Canadian Aboriginal Peoples from the 17th century onwards, treaties remain, after the British Conquest in 1760, essential to secure the new relationships between the English and Native Peoples. However, at that time already a shift in their use was noticeable. Being in principle, as diplomatic tools, the tangible proof of each signatory's autonomy, they rapidly became the means for the spreading out of an overwhelming colonial power over native nations, extension almost achieved in Central and East Canada at the end of the second half of 19th Century. Analyzing the political signification of these treaties shift in meaning between the end of New France in 1760 and the first Indian Act in 1876, this paper aims to analyze why they were to be inscribed in a process of colonial subjugation, territorial dispossession being just one of the many expressions of it.
Monuments intellectuels de la Nouvelle-France et du Québec ancien. Aux origines d’une tradition culturelle, sous la direction de Claude Corbo, Montréal, Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2014
dans 1763. Le Traité de Paris bouleverse l’Amérique, sous la direction de Sophie Imbault, Denis Vaugeois et Laurent Veyssière, Québec, Septentrion, 2013, p. 278-301.
Canadian Historical Review, 94, 1, March 2013, p. 1-27, 2013
"At the conquest of New France, the British had already built a long tradition of purchasing Abor... more "At the conquest of New France, the British had already built a long tradition of purchasing Aboriginal land. This policy, made official in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, was implemented in an extensive portion of the Canadian territory, but not in the Saint Lawrence Valley, heart of the former French empire in America, and what is now the province of Quebec. The British, followed by the Canadian government, adopted a policy of unilateral land appropriation in that area, dispossessing the Aboriginals without reliance on a treaty system. This particularity of the Indian land policy in Quebec has given rise to divergent interpretations that rest on the same implicit premise that a structuring legal framework existed, which, when reconstituted, gives meaning to history, either by legitimizing the unilateral dispossession process or by stigmatizing it. This article attempts to locate the process of dispossessing Aboriginal land outside the normative framework imposed by the law. The objective is not to identify a standard to explain why the British did not conclude treaties, but rather to follow a process of legal standardization, in which colonial practice is inscribed, through trial and error, detours, shifts in meaning, and improvisations into a legitimizing framework.
Au moment de la conquête de la Nouvelle-France, les Britanniques avaient déjà une longue tradition d’achat de terres autochtones. Cette politique, officialisée par la Proclamation royale de 1763, fut appliquée sur une très grande portion du territoire canadien, mais pas dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent, cœur de l’ancien empire français en Amérique, ni dans l’actuelle province de Québec. Les Britanniques et le gouvernement canadien à leur suite ont adopté une politique d’appropriation territoriale unilatérale dans cette région, dépossédant les Autochtones sans s’appuyer sur quelque système de traités. Cette particularité de la politique relative aux terres indiennes au Québec a donné naissance à des interprétations divergentes qui reposent sur la même prémisse implicite voulant qu’un cadre juridique structurant ait existé, lequel, lorsque reconstitué, donne sens au passé, soit en légitimant le processus de dépossession unilatérale, soit en le stigmatisant. Cet article tente de situer le processus de dépossession des terres autochtones en dehors du cadre normatif imposé par le droit. Il n’entend pas mettre à jour une norme expliquant pourquoi les Britanniques n’ont pas conclu de traités, mais plutôt suivre un processus de normalisation juridique dans lequel la pratique coloniale est inscrite à coup d’essais et d’erreurs, de détours, de redéfinitions et d’improvisations dans un cadre théorique qui lui donne une légitimité."""
La indianización: cautivos, renegados, «hommes libres» y misioneros en los confines Americanos (s. xvi-xix), Salvador Bernabéu, Albert Christophe Giudicelli y Gilles Havard (coords.), Madrid, Ediciones Doce Calles, 2013
Parlant des Innus avec qui les Français de l’Habitation de Québec sont en contact depuis le début... more Parlant des Innus avec qui les Français de l’Habitation de Québec sont en contact depuis le début du 17e siècle, Champlain constate en 1624 : « l’on n’a point d’ennemis plus grands que ces sauvages. » La formule, qui surprend de prime abord, reflète pourtant une réelle dégradation des rapports entre ces deux nations. Cette dimension conflictuelle des relations franco-innues reste encore peu explorée. Elle a surtout retenu l’attention dans une perspective juridique. Les meurtres de quelques Français par des Innus et les réactions que cela suscita à Québec offrent, en effet, un terrain idéal pour mesurer l’écart qui sépare les prétentions françaises en matière de justice et la réalité des rapports avec les Autochtones. Quels sens faut-il donner aux sursauts de violence qui ponctuent les relations franco-innues dans les années 1610, 1620 et 1630 ? Comment expliquer la « normalisation » subséquente de ces relations et quel sens faut-il lui donner ? Ces questions sont à la base de cet article, qui réexamine la première phase de l’alliance franco-innue à travers le processus de constitution d’un rapport de domination colonial sur les populations autochtones.
English
Referring to the Innu with whom the French settlers at Quebec had been in contact since the beginning of the seventeenth century, Champlain noted in 1624 that, « we have no greater enemies than these savages. » This statement, surprising at first glance, nevertheless reflects a very real deterioration in the relationship between these two nations. The question of conflict in French-Innu relations has attracted relatively little attention, save for the work of those approaching it from a legal perspective. The murders of several French colonists by Innu and the reactions that these events elicited at Quebec offer an ideal context for studying the divide between French legal claims and the reality of their relationship with Aboriginal peoples. What meaning should be ascribed to these outbursts of violence that punctuated French-Innu relations between the 1610s and the 1630s ? How can the subsequent « normalisation » of these relations be explained and what meaning can be ascribed to this process ? These questions form the foundation of this article, which re-examines the initial phase of the French-Innu alliance through the process of the creation of a relationship of colonial domination over the Aboriginal population.
Vert, le droit ? Conférence des juristes de l'État 2009, 2009
La question des influences du droit sur l’écriture de l’histoire autochtone suscite beaucoup d’in... more La question des influences du droit sur l’écriture de l’histoire autochtone suscite beaucoup d’intérêt depuis quelques années auCanada, ce qui s’explique essentiellement par la systématisation du recours au passé dans le processus visant à déterminer l’existence de droits particuliers pour les Premières Nations. Le phénomène, qui émerge au Canada à la suite de la décision de la Cour suprême du Canada dans l’affaire Calder, en 1973, a connu une brusque accélération au lendemain du rapatriement de la Constitution canadienne, en 1982, en raison des protections particulières qui y sont inscrites à l’égard des droits des Autochtones. Devant les tribunaux, l’histoire est devenue un instrument que l’on manipule pour faire valoir des droits particuliers ou en contester l’existence. S’appuyant sur cette idée d’une instrumentalisation de l’histoire, cet article explore quelques- unes des influences du droit sur la production historique se rapportant aux Premières Nations. Trois éléments retiennent principalement l’attention : les balises imposées par les préoccupations et les questions des juristes ; la place prépondérante du présent dans la reconstitution du passé des Autochtones ; enfin, le rôle central des normes dans la conception et l’écriture de cette histoire.
Vert, le droit ? Conférence des juristes de l'État 2009, 2009
In the last few years, there has been a great deal of interest in Canada on the issue of how the ... more In the last few years, there has been a great deal of interest in Canada on the issue of how the law influences the writing of Native history. This is mainly due to the systematization of the appeal to the past within the process of determining the existence of specific rights for First Nations. This phenomenon, which emerged in Canada following the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in the Calder case, intensified suddenly after the 1982 patriation of the Canadian Constitution, because of the specific protections for First Nations contained in the Constitution. Before the courts, history has become an instrument that is manipulated in order to assert or contest the existence of specific rights. Building on this idea of the instrumentalization of history, this article explores the influence that the law has had on historical works relating to the First Nations. We focus on three main aspects: the historic markers that are imposed as a result of legal scholars' concerns and questions; the prominence of the present in reconstructing the past of Native peoples; and finally, the central role played by standards in the design and writing of this history.
For the past years, the treaties between the Aboriginal Peoples of Eastern Canada and the British... more For the past years, the treaties between the Aboriginal Peoples of Eastern Canada and the British, at the fall of New France, have been arousing a great deal of interest, on a legal point of view, because they could possibly bear specific rights for the Natives. This article tries to define the terms of the agreement negotiated at Oswegatchie, the 30th of August 1760, by the Seven Nations representatives and William Johnson, British superintendent of Indian Affairs. In order to be able to identify the commitments that were agreed on at that moment, we have to rely on the native oral tradition that have been collected during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, because there is no existing written documents related to that agreement. After confronting that oral source with what we know about the British policies concerning the Native allies of the French at the end of the Seven Years war, it is possible to make the general frame of the talks of Oswegatchie emerge, and its four central concerns: the absence of reprisals; the free exercise of the catholic religion; the protection of existing rights and privileges during the French Regime; and the protection of the Aboriginal lands and possessions.
L’établissement à Québec en 1650 marque un tournant dans l’histoire des Wendats. Implantés au cœu... more L’établissement à Québec en 1650 marque un tournant dans l’histoire des Wendats. Implantés au cœur de la colonie française, ils en subissent rapidement les influences, se convertissant à la religion catholique et adoptant plusieurs éléments de la culture de leurs voisins canadiens, avec qui ils entretiennent des relations régulières et à qui ont les compare souvent. Malgré ces rapprochements, ils « n’en restent pas moins distincts, par leurs habitudes et leur caractère », déjouant les prédictions de ceux qui, au XIXe siècle, prévoyaient leur disparition prochaine par amalgame avec la population coloniale.
Comme le montre cet ouvrage, à travers une étude qui couvre près de trois siècles d’histoire, les activités de subsistance des Wendats restent inscrites au cœur de leur identité spécifique, contribuant à définir les contours d’une différence significative. Cela est manifeste dans le cas de la chasse, dont l’importance s’accroît après l’installation dans la région de Québec, mais aussi des autres activités, comme l’agriculture et l’artisanat, par lesquelles les Wendats assurent non seulement leur survie, mais aussi leur prospérité après le choc de la destruction de la Huronie.
S’ils ont une connotation identitaire certaine, les changements qui ponctuent la vie économique des Wendats sont aussi largement influencés par les bouleversements qui touchent le territoire, la manière de se l’approprier, de l’occuper ou de l’utiliser. La migration forcée des rives de la baie Géorgienne jusqu’à Québec constitue à cet égard un moment fondateur. Elle propulse les Wendats dans un monde où le pouvoir colonial organise juridiquement l’espace, régissant l’occupation et l’utilisation du sol. Ces contraintes, qui se font d’abord sentir dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent, s’étendront au XIXe siècle dans l’arrière-pays, déstructurant l’espace que les chasseurs wendats avaient pu y définir.
Des premiers contacts jusqu’au récent Plan Nord, la rencontre entre les Autochtones et les descen... more Des premiers contacts jusqu’au récent Plan Nord, la rencontre entre les Autochtones et les descendants des Européens est au cœur du développement économique, politique et culturel du territoire aujourd’hui nommé Québec. Cet héritage commun, avec ses contradictions et ses tensions, nous est parfois rappelé dans des circonstances difficiles, comme celles de la Crise d’Oka, qui est devenue un symbole des relations tendues entre Blancs et Amérindiens. Plus récemment, les images du mouvement Idle No More ont fait le tour de la planète, tel un cri du cœur rappelant la profondeur du fossé qui sépare les nations américaines.
Écrit par des auteurs chevronnés issus de plusieurs disciplines – histoire, ethnographie, droit, science politique, linguistique, criminologie… –, cet ouvrage unique en son genre propose une série de dix-huit essais qui plongent au cœur des réalités et des enjeux historiques et contemporains des onze peuples autochtones du Québec.
Avec les textes de : Alain Beaulieu, Édith Cloutier, Peter Cook, Lynn Drapeau, Claude Gélinas, Maxime Gohier, Mylène Jaccoud, Jonathan Lainey, Frédéric Laugrand, Jean Leclair, Carole Lévesque, Audrey Lord, Roderick A. Macdonald, Toby Morantz, Martin Papillon, Thierry Rodon, Daniel Salée, Colin Scott, Roland Tremblay et Sylvie Vincent.
Les 30 avril et 1er mai 2009, la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autoc... more Les 30 avril et 1er mai 2009, la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone organisait à l'UQAM son cinquième colloque annuel, qui devait explorer les liens entre « les Autochtones et l'histoire ». Le champ de l'histoire autochtone a connu un développement spectaculaire au cours des dernières décennies. Condamnant la marginalisation dont les Autochtones ont été victimes dans l'historiographie occidentale, les chercheurs ont multiplié les travaux depuis les années 1970, renouvelant à la fois les interprétations, les approches et les méthodes. Ces développements, généralement salués comme un progrès, ne sont pas sans soulever des questions, qui renvoient à différentes facettes du processus de réécriture de l'histoire autochtone. Les Autochtones d'Amérique du Nord n'ont pas, sauf exception, laissé de traces écrites directes de leurs expériences. Comment, dans ces circonstances, faire leur histoire dans une perspective qui ne soit pas qu'une simple reproduction, dans une version édulcorée, de la logique coloniale inscrite au cœur des archives utilisées par les chercheurs? Ce colloque devait permettre de faire le point sur l'évolution de la recherche en histoire autochtone, tout en favorisant une réflexion historiographique et épistémologique sur les défis propres à l'écriture de l'histoire des Premières Nations.
Cette quatrième édition des actes du colloque annuel de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la q... more Cette quatrième édition des actes du colloque annuel de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone rassemble les textes remaniés des communications présentées les 30 avril et 1er mai 2008. La rencontre avait été organisée autour du thème « les Autochtones et le politique ». L’étude des rapports qu’entretiennent les Autochtones avec le domaine politique, tant sur le plan his¬torique que contemporain, a souvent tendance à se limiter au champ très restreint de l’activité gouvernementale. Que l’on s’intéresse à la Loi sur les Indiens, à l’évolution de la politique indienne du Canada, aux conflits juridiques entourant les droits autochtones, à la négociation d’ententes territoriales ou aux résistances armées, c’est généralement la politique qui retient l’attention. L’objectif des organisateurs du colloque était de proposer une autre approche et d’analyser la question autochtone sous l’angle du politique, dans la mesure où les rapports entre « Blancs » et Autochtones, qu’ils soient conflictuels ou non, comportent presque toujours une part de politique.
Cet ouvrage constitue l’aboutissement d’un processus entamé dans le cadre du deuxième colloque ét... more Cet ouvrage constitue l’aboutissement d’un processus entamé dans le cadre du deuxième colloque étudiant de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone, qui s’est tenu à l’Université du Québec à Montréal les 4 et 5 mai 2006. Organisé avec la collaboration du Centre d’étude sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions (CÉLAT), ce colloque avait pour objectif de mettre en lumière, dans une perspective pluridisciplinaire, la complexité des relations entre les Autochtones et l’État. Les communications présentées à ce colloque ont témoigné de la diversité des approches et des perspectives de recherche autour de cette question. Les rapports entre les Autochtones et l’État y furent abordés sous différents angles : traditions d’alliance, luttes et résistances politiques, négociations portant sur le territoire et ses ressources, rôle des représentations dans les projets coloniaux, etc. Les textes de ce recueil, augmentés et remaniés par leurs auteurs, ont été regroupés autour de trois thèmes : les Autochtones dans les projets coloniaux ; résistances et luttes politiques ; l’État, le droit et les Autochtones.
Les 10 et 11 mai 2007, la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone o... more Les 10 et 11 mai 2007, la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone organisait à l'UQAM son troisième colloque annuel autour du thème des « Autochtones et de la modernité ». Le choix de cette thématique a pu apparaître risqué, au premier abord, puisque le concept renvoie à une réalité, à l'origine éminemment européenne. Cependant, dans la perspective des relations entre les Autochtones et les puissances européennes qui servit de fil directeur au colloque, il fut possible de saisir un peu mieux ce mode de civilisation éminemment occidental en l'envisageant plus simplement comme une période de rupture.
En même temps qu'elle investit les espaces traditionnels en Europe, la modernité se répand progressivement hors d'Europe. Dès les premiers contacts avec l'Européen, les Autochtones s'y trouvent confrontés: qu'ils la fuient ou l'intègrent, qu'ils y soient incorporés ou qu'ils en soient exclus, ils s'y heurtent. En ce sens, l'idée de modernité permettait d'éclairer l'histoire économique, politique et culturelle des Autochtones depuis la rencontre avec les premiers colonisateurs, ce dont rendirent amplement compte les participants au colloque.
Près d'une vingtaine d'intervenants développèrent en effet des thématiques riches et variées qui cadraient avec l'approche multidisciplinaire encouragée par les organisateurs. Le cadre chronologique large permit d'analyser cette notion de 1492 jusqu'à l'époque contemporaine. Nous présentons ici huit articles qui rendent compte de la diversité des présentations.
Entre 1632 et 1672, les jésuites ont fait publier en France le récit annuel de leur entreprise mi... more Entre 1632 et 1672, les jésuites ont fait publier en France le récit annuel de leur entreprise missionnaire auprès des Amérindiens de la Nouvelle-France Destinées à édifier le public français et à favoriser la collecte de fonds auprès des grands du royaume, leurs Relations constituent une précieuse source d’informations sur l’histoire de la colonisation française en Amérique du Nord et sur la rencontre entre les Français et les premiers habitants de ce continent. Si vous ne deviez lire qu’une seule de ces Relations, c’est sans doute celle de 1634 qu’il faudrait choisir. Rédigée par Paul Lejeune, cette Relation est le fruit d’une expérience peu commune pour un Français du XVIIe siècle. De la difficile aventure qui fut la sienne naîtra l’un des plus beaux et des plus captivants textes de la Nouvelle-France du XVIIe siècle. Combinant l’inventaire ethnographique et le récit de voyage, la Relation de 1634 représente un témoignage inestimable sur un mode de vie aujourd’hui révolu et sur le choc des cultures engendré par l’arrivée des Français en Amérique du Nord.
Créée en 2004, la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone s’est not... more Créée en 2004, la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone s’est notamment donnée pour mandat de favoriser la formation aux études avancées. C’est dans cette optique que fut organisé, avec la collaboration du Réseau Dialog, le premier colloque étudiant de la Chaire, les 7 et 8 avril 2005. Plus d’une vingtaine de conférenciers et de conférencières provenant d’horizons académiques variés (histoire, littérature, droit anthropologie…), ont participé à l’événement. Ce livre, qui inaugure la série des publications de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la question territoriale autochtone, regroupe une sélection de textes, dans la plupart des cas revus et augmentés, présentés lors du colloque.
Entrevue sur l’implication des Autochtones dans la guerre de Sept Ans et les impacts de la signat... more Entrevue sur l’implication des Autochtones dans la guerre de Sept Ans et les impacts de la signature du traité de Paris de 1763. Cette entrevue s’inscrit dans l’événement Rares et précieux 2014 du Musée de la civilisation. Le traité de Paris de 1763 et ses documents afférents ont été présentés pour la première fois en Amérique du Nord, au Musée de la civilisation du 23 septembre au 13 octobre 2014, grâce à un prêt exceptionnel consenti par le gouvernement de la République française au gouvernement du Québec.
Entrevue en compagnie de Denys Delâge et de Gilles Havard pour l'émission La Fabrique de l'histoi... more Entrevue en compagnie de Denys Delâge et de Gilles Havard pour l'émission La Fabrique de l'histoire (France Culture). Le thème: l'écriture de l'histoire des Autochtones.
Ce rapport couvre la période qui va de 1850, année où fut adoptée l’Acte pour protéger les Sauvag... more Ce rapport couvre la période qui va de 1850, année où fut adoptée l’Acte pour protéger les Sauvages dans le Haut Canada, à 1951, année où le Parlement canadien adopta une version complètement reformulée de la Loi sur les Indiens. Notre attention se porte sur les origines des articles 87, 89 et 90 de l’actuelle Loi sur les Indiens, avec une insistance particulière sur les mesures concernant les exemptions fiscales pour les Indiens. Le présent rapport de recherche poursuit quatre objectifs principaux : 1) situer le contexte historique dans lequel sont apparues les pre¬mières dispositions de la Loi sur les Indiens concernant la taxation et l’inaliénabilité des biens des Indiens ; 2) reconstituer l’évolution de la Loi sur les Indiens à ce sujet ; 3) voir quelle portée on attribuait aux articles accordant des exemptions fiscales aux Indiens ; 4) saisir, dans la mesure du possible, la logique et les intentions des autorités gouvernementales lorsqu’elles inscrivirent ces dispositions dans la Loi sur les Indiens.
This report covers the period from 1850, when the Act to Protect Indians in Upper Canada was pass... more This report covers the period from 1850, when the Act to Protect Indians in Upper Canada was passed, to 1951, when the Canadian Parliament passed a completely reformulated version of the Indian Act. Our attention focuses on the origins of sections 87, 89 and 90 of the current Indian Act, with a particular emphasis on measures concerning tax exemptions for Indians. This research report has four main objectives: (1) to provide a historical context for the early provisions of the Indian Act relating to the taxation and inalienability of Indian property; (2) to reconstruct the evolution of the Indian Act in this regard; (3) to determine the scope of the sections granting tax exemptions to Indians; and (4) to capture, to the extent possible, the logic and intentions of government authorities when they incorporate these provisions into the Indian Act.
The 1764 Congress at Niagara, attended by Sir William Johnson, the British Superintendent of Indi... more The 1764 Congress at Niagara, attended by Sir William Johnson, the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and several Aboriginal nations from the Great Lakes, lasted nearly a month. This Congress, which took place at a time when the British were deploying hundreds of soldiers throughout the Niagara area, was the first important diplomatic step in the process leading to the pacification of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley Aboriginal nations in the wake of Pontiac’s War in 1763. The Niagara Congress is mentioned in past and recent studies on the history of British-Aboriginal relations immediately after the Conquest of New France. This “Indian Congress” has received special attention in Canada since the publication of an article by John Borrows in 1997 that developed the thesis that a single treaty was negotiated at Niagara, one that allegedly incorporated the Royal Proclamation. This interpretation raises a number of historical problems, mainly because it largely overlooks the colonial context in which the meeting took place and fails to take into account the actual nature of the discussions that occurred there, the goals of those who attended the gathering, the strategies they chose to use and the factual results of this “Indian Congress.”
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During the first half-century of Britain’s presence in Canada, the Aboriginal policy was largely shaped by strategic and military matters. The role of the Department of Indian Affairs, established in the mid-1750s during the war with France, was mainly to ensure military support from the Aboriginal peoples, or at least their neutrality. The American Revolutionary War and the subsequent rivalry between Great Britain and the United States helped maintain this policy, where the promises of protected land and annual gifts (clothing, weapons, ammunition) were a central focus. Although expensive, this policy was still essential because the Aboriginal peoples played a strategic role in North American conflicts.
The policy, however, changed rapidly and radically in the early 19th century. The new official objective of Britain’s policy quickly became civilizing the Aboriginal peoples. “It appears to me,” wrote George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies, for example, “that the course which has hitherto been taken in dealing with these people, has had reference to the advantages which might be derived from their friendship in times of war, rather than any settled purpose of gradually reclaiming them from a state of barbarism, and of introducing amongst them the industrious and peaceful habits of civilized life. […] Whatever may have been the reasons which have hitherto recommended an adherence to the present system, I am satisfied that it ought not be persisted in for the future.”
This article will analyze the evolution of Britain’s Aboriginal policy in Canada, focusing particularly on the period during which the Aboriginal civilization program emerged. It will situate the economic, political and military factors that initiated the change and influenced its specific form. Among the factors that played a role in this reform was the decline of the Aboriginal peoples’ military importance after the War of 1812, the final conflict between Great Britain and the United States. After this war, the British authorities prescribed a major overhaul of Aboriginal affairs management, particularly to reduce the costs of this administrative branch. The yearly gifts given to the Aboriginal nations, which were the largest portion of the Indian Affairs’ budget, were increasingly criticized. They came to symbolize Aboriginal dependence, which could only be overcome through civilization.
The appearance of new economic realities also led to a thorough review of the Aboriginal policy. The fur trade, which provided the Aboriginal peoples front-line economic importance, became less important in the colonial economy as of the 19th century. At the same time, the forestry industry, stimulated by the Empire’s needs, was rapidly expanding, leading to the colonization of areas that had previously only been populated by nomadic Aboriginal groups. As a result, Upper and Lower Canada experienced intense demographic growth, thus increasing the colonists need for land. The Aboriginal peoples’ subsistence economy, which relied largely on fishing and hunting, became more precarious. Consequently, talk of promoting their civilization fell on fertile ground: if they didn’t want to be wiped out by colonization, the Aboriginals peoples must imitate the “Whites” and adopt their ways.
The civilization program was also partly inspired by movements in London that were concerned about the fate of the Aboriginal peoples in the British colonies. For example, in 1836, the Aborigines Protection Society was founded in England. It quickly became an powerful pressure group that was particularly concerned with the progression and civilization of the indigenous populations in the British Empire. By casting themselves as the promoters of the grand civilizing design the British inherited, these liberal, philanthropic movements influenced the redefinition of the Aboriginal policy. The link between civilization and responsibility toward the Aboriginal peoples was clearly stated in 1837 by the Select Committee on Aborigines, a special committee established by the British government to address the question of the Empire’s Aboriginal peoples.
The analysis of the context and factors that led to the emergence of this new Aboriginal civilization policy will integrate the sometimes discordant views of the metropolitan and colonial actors. Indeed, the implementation of the civilization project took place amongst intense discussions between the metropolitan and colonial authorities. Colonial inquiry commissions were charged with examining the administration of Aboriginal affairs and making recommendations, which would have critical influence on the concrete implementation of the project. The increasingly direct interventions by the colonial authorities in defining the Aboriginal policy in Canada would, in fact, lead to the official transfer of responsibility of this issue from London to the colony, in 1860.
The article will also examine the ambiguities within the civilization project. Although the three main elements of the project—sedentarism, education and Christianization—were initially intended to fully integrate the Aboriginal peoples into the colonial world, the new program, as it was implemented in the 19th century, instead upheld segregation. The reserves are a fitting illustration, as one of the symbols of the new Aboriginal policy in the 18th century. Originally designed as areas of temporary transition that would promote integration into the colonial world, the reserves rather became, somewhat like the land reserved by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, spaces of segregation where new Aboriginal identities were forged but still distinct from those of the colonial world.
The analysis will encompass the essential period of 1815 to 1857. The first date is when the first questions regarding the Aboriginal policy were raised in Canada. In the beginning, these questions were financial in nature, but they quickly opened the door to the earliest drafts of a civilization policy. The second date is when the Parliament of the United Provinces of Canada formalized the civilization project as law, qualifying it from emancipation. Not only did the law define for the first time the inferior legal status of the Aboriginal peoples, it also established the criteria to escape this condition—criteria that shed light on the ambiguities in the new Aboriginal policy that came into effect in the 19th century.
Au moment de la conquête de la Nouvelle-France, les Britanniques avaient déjà une longue tradition d’achat de terres autochtones. Cette politique, officialisée par la Proclamation royale de 1763, fut appliquée sur une très grande portion du territoire canadien, mais pas dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent, cœur de l’ancien empire français en Amérique, ni dans l’actuelle province de Québec. Les Britanniques et le gouvernement canadien à leur suite ont adopté une politique d’appropriation territoriale unilatérale dans cette région, dépossédant les Autochtones sans s’appuyer sur quelque système de traités. Cette particularité de la politique relative aux terres indiennes au Québec a donné naissance à des interprétations divergentes qui reposent sur la même prémisse implicite voulant qu’un cadre juridique structurant ait existé, lequel, lorsque reconstitué, donne sens au passé, soit en légitimant le processus de dépossession unilatérale, soit en le stigmatisant. Cet article tente de situer le processus de dépossession des terres autochtones en dehors du cadre normatif imposé par le droit. Il n’entend pas mettre à jour une norme expliquant pourquoi les Britanniques n’ont pas conclu de traités, mais plutôt suivre un processus de normalisation juridique dans lequel la pratique coloniale est inscrite à coup d’essais et d’erreurs, de détours, de redéfinitions et d’improvisations dans un cadre théorique qui lui donne une légitimité."""
English
Referring to the Innu with whom the French settlers at Quebec had been in contact since the beginning of the seventeenth century, Champlain noted in 1624 that, « we have no greater enemies than these savages. » This statement, surprising at first glance, nevertheless reflects a very real deterioration in the relationship between these two nations. The question of conflict in French-Innu relations has attracted relatively little attention, save for the work of those approaching it from a legal perspective. The murders of several French colonists by Innu and the reactions that these events elicited at Quebec offer an ideal context for studying the divide between French legal claims and the reality of their relationship with Aboriginal peoples. What meaning should be ascribed to these outbursts of violence that punctuated French-Innu relations between the 1610s and the 1630s ? How can the subsequent « normalisation » of these relations be explained and what meaning can be ascribed to this process ? These questions form the foundation of this article, which re-examines the initial phase of the French-Innu alliance through the process of the creation of a relationship of colonial domination over the Aboriginal population.
During the first half-century of Britain’s presence in Canada, the Aboriginal policy was largely shaped by strategic and military matters. The role of the Department of Indian Affairs, established in the mid-1750s during the war with France, was mainly to ensure military support from the Aboriginal peoples, or at least their neutrality. The American Revolutionary War and the subsequent rivalry between Great Britain and the United States helped maintain this policy, where the promises of protected land and annual gifts (clothing, weapons, ammunition) were a central focus. Although expensive, this policy was still essential because the Aboriginal peoples played a strategic role in North American conflicts.
The policy, however, changed rapidly and radically in the early 19th century. The new official objective of Britain’s policy quickly became civilizing the Aboriginal peoples. “It appears to me,” wrote George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies, for example, “that the course which has hitherto been taken in dealing with these people, has had reference to the advantages which might be derived from their friendship in times of war, rather than any settled purpose of gradually reclaiming them from a state of barbarism, and of introducing amongst them the industrious and peaceful habits of civilized life. […] Whatever may have been the reasons which have hitherto recommended an adherence to the present system, I am satisfied that it ought not be persisted in for the future.”
This article will analyze the evolution of Britain’s Aboriginal policy in Canada, focusing particularly on the period during which the Aboriginal civilization program emerged. It will situate the economic, political and military factors that initiated the change and influenced its specific form. Among the factors that played a role in this reform was the decline of the Aboriginal peoples’ military importance after the War of 1812, the final conflict between Great Britain and the United States. After this war, the British authorities prescribed a major overhaul of Aboriginal affairs management, particularly to reduce the costs of this administrative branch. The yearly gifts given to the Aboriginal nations, which were the largest portion of the Indian Affairs’ budget, were increasingly criticized. They came to symbolize Aboriginal dependence, which could only be overcome through civilization.
The appearance of new economic realities also led to a thorough review of the Aboriginal policy. The fur trade, which provided the Aboriginal peoples front-line economic importance, became less important in the colonial economy as of the 19th century. At the same time, the forestry industry, stimulated by the Empire’s needs, was rapidly expanding, leading to the colonization of areas that had previously only been populated by nomadic Aboriginal groups. As a result, Upper and Lower Canada experienced intense demographic growth, thus increasing the colonists need for land. The Aboriginal peoples’ subsistence economy, which relied largely on fishing and hunting, became more precarious. Consequently, talk of promoting their civilization fell on fertile ground: if they didn’t want to be wiped out by colonization, the Aboriginals peoples must imitate the “Whites” and adopt their ways.
The civilization program was also partly inspired by movements in London that were concerned about the fate of the Aboriginal peoples in the British colonies. For example, in 1836, the Aborigines Protection Society was founded in England. It quickly became an powerful pressure group that was particularly concerned with the progression and civilization of the indigenous populations in the British Empire. By casting themselves as the promoters of the grand civilizing design the British inherited, these liberal, philanthropic movements influenced the redefinition of the Aboriginal policy. The link between civilization and responsibility toward the Aboriginal peoples was clearly stated in 1837 by the Select Committee on Aborigines, a special committee established by the British government to address the question of the Empire’s Aboriginal peoples.
The analysis of the context and factors that led to the emergence of this new Aboriginal civilization policy will integrate the sometimes discordant views of the metropolitan and colonial actors. Indeed, the implementation of the civilization project took place amongst intense discussions between the metropolitan and colonial authorities. Colonial inquiry commissions were charged with examining the administration of Aboriginal affairs and making recommendations, which would have critical influence on the concrete implementation of the project. The increasingly direct interventions by the colonial authorities in defining the Aboriginal policy in Canada would, in fact, lead to the official transfer of responsibility of this issue from London to the colony, in 1860.
The article will also examine the ambiguities within the civilization project. Although the three main elements of the project—sedentarism, education and Christianization—were initially intended to fully integrate the Aboriginal peoples into the colonial world, the new program, as it was implemented in the 19th century, instead upheld segregation. The reserves are a fitting illustration, as one of the symbols of the new Aboriginal policy in the 18th century. Originally designed as areas of temporary transition that would promote integration into the colonial world, the reserves rather became, somewhat like the land reserved by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, spaces of segregation where new Aboriginal identities were forged but still distinct from those of the colonial world.
The analysis will encompass the essential period of 1815 to 1857. The first date is when the first questions regarding the Aboriginal policy were raised in Canada. In the beginning, these questions were financial in nature, but they quickly opened the door to the earliest drafts of a civilization policy. The second date is when the Parliament of the United Provinces of Canada formalized the civilization project as law, qualifying it from emancipation. Not only did the law define for the first time the inferior legal status of the Aboriginal peoples, it also established the criteria to escape this condition—criteria that shed light on the ambiguities in the new Aboriginal policy that came into effect in the 19th century.
Au moment de la conquête de la Nouvelle-France, les Britanniques avaient déjà une longue tradition d’achat de terres autochtones. Cette politique, officialisée par la Proclamation royale de 1763, fut appliquée sur une très grande portion du territoire canadien, mais pas dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent, cœur de l’ancien empire français en Amérique, ni dans l’actuelle province de Québec. Les Britanniques et le gouvernement canadien à leur suite ont adopté une politique d’appropriation territoriale unilatérale dans cette région, dépossédant les Autochtones sans s’appuyer sur quelque système de traités. Cette particularité de la politique relative aux terres indiennes au Québec a donné naissance à des interprétations divergentes qui reposent sur la même prémisse implicite voulant qu’un cadre juridique structurant ait existé, lequel, lorsque reconstitué, donne sens au passé, soit en légitimant le processus de dépossession unilatérale, soit en le stigmatisant. Cet article tente de situer le processus de dépossession des terres autochtones en dehors du cadre normatif imposé par le droit. Il n’entend pas mettre à jour une norme expliquant pourquoi les Britanniques n’ont pas conclu de traités, mais plutôt suivre un processus de normalisation juridique dans lequel la pratique coloniale est inscrite à coup d’essais et d’erreurs, de détours, de redéfinitions et d’improvisations dans un cadre théorique qui lui donne une légitimité."""
English
Referring to the Innu with whom the French settlers at Quebec had been in contact since the beginning of the seventeenth century, Champlain noted in 1624 that, « we have no greater enemies than these savages. » This statement, surprising at first glance, nevertheless reflects a very real deterioration in the relationship between these two nations. The question of conflict in French-Innu relations has attracted relatively little attention, save for the work of those approaching it from a legal perspective. The murders of several French colonists by Innu and the reactions that these events elicited at Quebec offer an ideal context for studying the divide between French legal claims and the reality of their relationship with Aboriginal peoples. What meaning should be ascribed to these outbursts of violence that punctuated French-Innu relations between the 1610s and the 1630s ? How can the subsequent « normalisation » of these relations be explained and what meaning can be ascribed to this process ? These questions form the foundation of this article, which re-examines the initial phase of the French-Innu alliance through the process of the creation of a relationship of colonial domination over the Aboriginal population.
Comme le montre cet ouvrage, à travers une étude qui couvre près de trois siècles d’histoire, les activités de subsistance des Wendats restent inscrites au cœur de leur identité spécifique, contribuant à définir les contours d’une différence significative. Cela est manifeste dans le cas de la chasse, dont l’importance s’accroît après l’installation dans la région de Québec, mais aussi des autres activités, comme l’agriculture et l’artisanat, par lesquelles les Wendats assurent non seulement leur survie, mais aussi leur prospérité après le choc de la destruction de la Huronie.
S’ils ont une connotation identitaire certaine, les changements qui ponctuent la vie économique des Wendats sont aussi largement influencés par les bouleversements qui touchent le territoire, la manière de se l’approprier, de l’occuper ou de l’utiliser. La migration forcée des rives de la baie Géorgienne jusqu’à Québec constitue à cet égard un moment fondateur. Elle propulse les Wendats dans un monde où le pouvoir colonial organise juridiquement l’espace, régissant l’occupation et l’utilisation du sol. Ces contraintes, qui se font d’abord sentir dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent, s’étendront au XIXe siècle dans l’arrière-pays, déstructurant l’espace que les chasseurs wendats avaient pu y définir.
Écrit par des auteurs chevronnés issus de plusieurs disciplines – histoire, ethnographie, droit, science politique, linguistique, criminologie… –, cet ouvrage unique en son genre propose une série de dix-huit essais qui plongent au cœur des réalités et des enjeux historiques et contemporains des onze peuples autochtones du Québec.
Avec les textes de : Alain Beaulieu, Édith Cloutier, Peter Cook, Lynn Drapeau, Claude Gélinas, Maxime Gohier, Mylène Jaccoud, Jonathan Lainey, Frédéric Laugrand, Jean Leclair, Carole Lévesque, Audrey Lord, Roderick A. Macdonald, Toby Morantz, Martin Papillon, Thierry Rodon, Daniel Salée, Colin Scott, Roland Tremblay et Sylvie Vincent.
En même temps qu'elle investit les espaces traditionnels en Europe, la modernité se répand progressivement hors d'Europe. Dès les premiers contacts avec l'Européen, les Autochtones s'y trouvent confrontés: qu'ils la fuient ou l'intègrent, qu'ils y soient incorporés ou qu'ils en soient exclus, ils s'y heurtent. En ce sens, l'idée de modernité permettait d'éclairer l'histoire économique, politique et culturelle des Autochtones depuis la rencontre avec les premiers colonisateurs, ce dont rendirent amplement compte les participants au colloque.
Près d'une vingtaine d'intervenants développèrent en effet des thématiques riches et variées qui cadraient avec l'approche multidisciplinaire encouragée par les organisateurs. Le cadre chronologique large permit d'analyser cette notion de 1492 jusqu'à l'époque contemporaine. Nous présentons ici huit articles qui rendent compte de la diversité des présentations.