I Have Lived Here Since The World Began

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Canada’s Native people have inhabited this land since the Ice Age and were already accomplished traders, artisans, farmers, and marine hunters when Europeans first reached their shores. Contact between Natives and European explorers and settlers initially presented an unprecedented period of growth and opportunity. But the two vastly different cultures soon clashed. Arthur Ray charts the history of Canada’s Native people from first contact to current land claims. The result is a fascinating chronicle that spans 12,000 years and culminates in the headlines of today. In the preface to this new edition, Ray elaborates on the increasing effectiveness of Indigenous peoples and their leaders in bringing demands for justice to centre stage. He discusses recent court decisions, the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and the hope for change following promises made by the new Trudeau government.

According to convential nineteenth-century wisdom, societies of European origin were naturally progressive; native societies were static. One consequence of this attitutde was the almost universal separation of history and anthropology. Today, despite a growing interest in changes in Amerindian societies, this dichotomy continues to distort the investigation of Canadian history and to assign native peoples only a marginal place in it. Natives and Newcomers discredits that myth. In a spirited and critical re-examination of relations between the French and the Iroquoian-speaking inhabitants of the St Lawrence lowlands, from the incursions of Jacques Cartier through the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and the Jesuit missions into the early years of the royal regime, Natives and Newcomers argues that native people have played a significant role in shaping the development of Canada. Trigger also shows that the largely ignored French traders and their employees established relations with native people that were indispensable for founding a viable European colony on the St Lawrence. The brisk narrative of this period is complemented by a detailed survey of the stereotypes about native people that have influenced the development of Canadian history and anthropology and by candid discussions of how historical, ethnographical, and archaeological approaches can and cannot be combined to produce a more rounded and accurate understanding of the past.

Arthur Ray's extensive knowledge in the history of the fur trade and Native economic history brought him into the courts as an expert witness in the mid-1980s. For over twenty-five years he has been a part of landmark litigation concerning treaty rights, Aboriginal title, and Métis rights. In Telling It to the Judge, Ray recalls lengthy courtroom battles over lines of evidence, historical interpretation, and philosophies of history, reflecting on the problems inherent in teaching history in the adversarial courtroom setting. Told with charm and based on extensive experience, Telling It to the Judge is a unique narrative of courtroom strategy in the effort to obtain constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and treaty rights.

The two major schools of thought in Indigenous-Settler relations on the ground, in the courts, in public policy, and in research are resurgence and reconciliation. Resurgence refers to practices of Indigenous self-determination and cultural renewal whereas reconciliation refers to practices of reconciliation between Indigenous and Settler nations, such as nation-with-nation treaty negotiations. Reconciliation also refers to the sustainable reconciliation of both Indigenous and Settler peoples with the living earth as the grounds for both resurgence and Indigenous-Settler reconciliation. Critically and constructively analyzing these two schools from a wide variety of perspectives and lived experiences, this volume connects both discourses to the ecosystem dynamics that animate the living earth. Resurgence and Reconciliation is multi-disciplinary, blending law, political science, political economy, women's studies, ecology, history, anthropology, sustainability, and climate change. Its dialogic approach strives to put these fields in conversation and draw out the connections and tensions between them. By using "earth-teachings" to inform social practices, the editors and contributors offer a rich, innovative, and holistic way forward in response to the world's most profound natural and social challenges. This timely volume shows how the complexities and interconnections of resurgence and reconciliation and the living earth are often overlooked in contemporary discourse and debate.

Historian Arthur J. Ray weaves Native legends of the first encounters with Europeans into the description of the impact the intruders had. He describes economic arrangements entered into with the newcomers, the assault on Native culture in the Industrial age, and the persistant efforts of Native groups to find a place in the new world order. He brings the book up to the present day, setting out historical and cultural bases for current Native land claims and grievances.

Historian Arthur J. Ray weaves Native legends of the first encounters with Europeans into the description of the impact the intruders had. He describes economic arrangements entered into with the newcomers, the assault on Native culture in the Industrial age, and the persistant efforts of Native groups to find a place in the new world order. He brings the book up to the present day, setting out historical and cultural bases for current Native land claims and grievances.

Examines the early contact between the Indians and the Hudson Bay Company.