Indigenous People Of Manitoba: Lifestyle And Values

Essay Topics

In the following essay, as we are talking about the indigenous people, the focus is to make people understand the difference between indigenous and new comers. New comers are those who arrive after the settlement of a state, while the indigenous people refer to those set of people who were original citizens of a state. This group has been the original descendent of the state (Hendry).

Manitoba is located in the central of Canada, in the territories of the Dakota, Cree, Ojibway, Dene and Oji-Cree first nations along with the Métis nations. According to the tourism information in the indigenous Canada, there are total 63 Manitoba first nations which exist as a part of 5 main linguistic based groups. These groups are a part of traditional territories which includes many areas that have access through air only. The introduction of Manitoba includes its foundation in the 1870s by a leader of Métis, named as Louis Riel. Since then, the Métis culture has been an integral part of Manitoba even till the present day (Hendry).

The Canadian aboriginal groups consist of following groups- Sagkeeng first nation, plain first nation, pine creek first nation, nisichawayashik Cree nation, opaskwayak Cree nation, fox lake Cree nation, hollow water first nation, black river first nation, waywayseecappo first nation, skowman first nation, lake sty. Martin first nation, buffalo point first nation, Roseau river anishinabe first nation, dauphin river first nation, o-pipon-na-piwin Cree nation, shoal lake 40 first nation, northlands denesuline first nation etc (Tunnicliffe).

There are thousands of indigenous categories all over the world and all are famous for their own way of lifestyle. The indigenous culture is often disturbed by the arrival of new comers. Hence, now we will study about the life of the following Canadian indigenous population (George).

The first peoples of Canada are denoted by more than just one group of people. In Canada, these indigenous tribes are divided amongst three groups- Métis, first nations and Inuit. All the three groups have different set of cultural beliefs and distinct language of their own. The Cree community was involved in the communal principles of respect and cooperation for the land they lived in (George). Their belief carried the statement that every living or non living thing is dependent on each other and therefore all of it deserves to be respected. The Cree language is considered to be the most spoken language amongst all the indigenous languages. The name of “Winnipeg” came from the Cree language which explained “muddy water of red river”. The northern Manitoba is full of Cree community even today.

Canadian Aboriginal Groups

Prior to the appearance of Europeans, First Nations in what is currently Canada had the option to fulfil the majority of their material and profound needs through the assets of the natural world. First Nations in Canada as indicated by the six fundamental geographical territories of the nation just same as it exists today. Inside every one of these six territories, First Nations had fundamentally the same as societies, to a great extent molded by a typical domain (Francisco).

The six gatherings were: Woodland First Nations, who lived in thick boreal timberland in the eastern piece of the nation; Plains First Nations, who lived on the meadows of the Prairies; Iroquoian First Nations, who possessed the southernmost zone, a rich land reasonable for planting corn, beans and squash; Plateau First Nations, whose topography extended from semi-desert conditions in the southern part to high mountains and thick backwoods in the north; the First Nations of the Mackenzie and Yukon River Basins, whose cruel condition comprised of dim timberlands, fruitless grounds and the swampy territory known as muskeg and Pacific Coast First Nations, who approached bounteous salmon and shellfish and the massive red cedar for structure enormous houses. The accompanying segment features a portion of the wide varieties in the six gatherings’ social association, nourishment assets, and homes, methods of transportation and apparel – just as profound convictions broadly shared by all Early First Nations (Fonda).

Woodland First Nations were comprised of numerous free gatherings, each with its very own area. These gatherings for the most part had less than 400 individuals. In contrast to Woodland First Nations, Iroquoian First Nations didn’t relocate looking for nourishment. Magnificent ranchers, these southern people groups collected yearly nourishment yields of beans, corns and squash. On the Plains, the individual transient gatherings, each with their very own boss, collected throughout the late spring a long time for otherworldly functions, moves, galas and public chases (Francisco). Despite the fact that each gathering was savagely free, Plains First Nations had military social orders that done capacities, for example, policing, managing life in camp and on the walk, and sorting out guards. Notwithstanding these three particular social requests, Pacific Coast First Nations had a well-characterized refined class that was viewed as prevalent by birth. The essential social unit for every single First Nation in this piece of the nation was the more distant family (heredity) whose individuals asserted drop from a typical precursor.

First Peoples of Canada – Cree Community

Every single First Nation chased and accumulated plants for both nourishment and therapeutic purposes. The genuine level of meat, fish and plants in any First Nation’s eating regimen relied upon what was accessibilty in the neighbourhood condition. The men cleared the land for planting, slashing down trees and cutting the brush, while the ladies planted, tended and gathered the harvests. After around 10 years, when the land was depleted, the individuals would move and clear new prolific fields. Since the wild buffalo was the principle object of their chase, Plains First Nations had a chasing society that was profoundly created more than a huge number of years. Common chases occurred in July and August when the wild animal were fat and healthy to become their prime meat (Fonda).

Every First Nation accepted that their qualities and conventions were blessings from the Creator. One of the most regular and significant lessons was that individuals should live in amicability with the normal world and all it contained. First Nations youngsters figured out how the world appeared and those they were a piece of the entire of creation. Individuals offered gratitude to everything in nature, whereupon they depended for endurance and advancement as people and as individuals from their networks. First Nations treated all articles in their condition—regardless of whether energize or lifeless—with the most extreme regard.

This shows that the indigenous people of Manitoba had a simple approach towards their life. They worked hard for completing the daily routines of their routine. Starting from the hunting for the food to creation of their homes needed them to work hard in the sun for carrying out small activities of their life. This shows the importance of togetherness in the lifestyle (Fonda). A person alone or a family alone cannot carry on with the tasks which require team work and assistance. Hence, unlike the new generations, the indigenous people carried pride in living with their group. Plus, the values passed on the people by their ancestors remained intact in the people’s minds so as to conduct their lives much peacefully and successfully. Their main activities carried permanent settlements, hunting, fishing and agriculture. The other people who derive to the indigenous family are either because of the marriage of first nation people to the other Europeans or the Inuit. The arrival of new comers came up with laws and policies that disturbed the natural laws of the indigenous. This lead to a malfunctioning of natural resources and end in the formation of groups based on culture. Culture played an important role in the lives indigenous people. They worked according to the cultural practices and took pride in them (Canada. Health Canada). Along with their own beliefs, this lead to respecting of natural resources and saving them. The indigenous never really bothered the natural resources in a negative form.

Regardless of their disparities, most native countries shared certain normal attributes, especially tracker gatherer sustenance ways of life, profound regard for nature, populist and public social qualities, and profound worldly convictions. Many had changeless lodging, ranches, and stable political structures, just as rich societies with particular conventions in workmanship, style, melody, and move. Simultaneously, their social orders were regularly ailing in other significant fields, and most local networks did not have a composed language, utilized just crude weapons, and had generally oversimplified and superstitious understandings of essential logical ideas.

References

Canada. Health Canada. Honouring Our Strengths?: A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use Issues among First Nations People in Canada, Summary Report. Health Canada, 2011.

Fonda, Marc. “The Potential Impacts of Religion and Spirituality on First Nation Teenage Fertility.” International Indigenous Policy Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, Mar. 2013, doi:10.18584/iipj.2013.4.1.4.

Francisco, Jose Mario C. “People of God, People of the Nation: Official Catholic Discourse on Nation and Nationalism.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, vol. 62, no. 3–4, 2014, pp. 341–75, doi:10.1353/phs.2014.0028.

George, Charles. History of Canada. Theclassics Us, 2013.

Hendry, Joy. Reclaiming Culture?: Indigenous People and Self-Representation. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Tunnicliffe, Jennifer. “Canada and the Human Rights Framework: Historiographical Trends.” History Compass, vol. 12, no. 10, Oct. 2014, pp. 807–17, doi:10.1111/hic3.12197.