La vie des peuples autochtones du Canada avant l'arrivée des Blancs

Spaces and exchanges :

The notion i’m going to deal with is space and exchanges. I would like illustrate this notion through the theme Canada.

Canada is the second largest country in the world, besides Canada's national motto « from sea to sea » refers to the immensity of its territory as the country extends from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

This vast country has a really diverse population, which is also the result of its colonial past. With the process of globalization, people from all over the world established in Canada and still contribute to create the multicultural side of Canada. The concentrations of different cultures in Canada have made inevitably changed native people's lives. We may answer the question «what do borders mean to first people in Canada? »

I) Native people's life before white people's arrival

The most easily recognizable categorie of indigenous inhabitant of Canada are the «first nations» and the « Inuits». The culture of Inuits is deeply rooted in the vast land they inhabit.

-For thousand years Inuits observed the climate, landscapes of their immense homeland. They have an intimate knowledge of their land and they have used it to develop skills and technology adapted to one of the harshest environment in the world. They treat nature with respect and they use its resources in order to preserve future generations. Indeed the family is the center of Inuit culture, they want to protect their culture and their values.

-At the origins, Inuits are a nomadic population whose culture is based on cooperation and sharing .Inuits share the food they have hunted and according to us, borders don’t exist. In Inuits culture, the land doesn't belong to the individual but is share collectively. Inuit have a particular view of space, they often move in their land as they are not worried about frontiers.

-Whatever the place of Canada they inhabit, Inuits keep a close relation with their homeland and remain their land unspoiled is a

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n important preoccupation for them.

Nevertheless, Inuit culture has been exposed to many outside influence over the past century, that's what we are going to study in the second part of this oral presentation.

II) Changes caused by white people's arrival

An arrival of white people started in the 15th century, when the French started colonizing Canada and established commercial relationships with the Aboriginal populations and after some time, other British colonies were set up too. So native people's way of life changed.

-First some Inuits were displaced by force most often to build military bases during the cold war. Permanent settlement was created in the Artic, plus schools and health care center were built. As a consequence, Inuits children had to go to school and many Inuits moved in town to have an access to jobs and food.

-Then superpowers like United States or European countries take control of the land, they take

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