In another persons shoes November blog post

The battle of seven oaks battle massacre or incident






I believe that the metis would call it an incident because they would see it as a small footnote in history. The main problem was that they couldn't sell pemmican to the NWC because of the colony's leader. They blamed the HBC for the conflict because the of the aforementioned pemmican proclamation which the metis saw as an attack on the NWC as the NWC saw it too. The proclamation threatened their way of life because the metis could not sell the pemmican which meant they could not make a living.







The HBC would claim it was a massacre because they believe that since the British did not win the fight then the metis would only make a massacre. The British also have a history of twisting things to make the British reign supreme, they would call it a massacre because they wanted the metis to be seen as barbarians and needed public opinion low of them. This is shown by how after the battle they claimed the metis instigated the conflict and mutilated bodies after the fight. This persisted after their investigation showed that the metis did not instigate the fight and did not mutilate the bodies. They would also use the word massacre to emotionally charge people to believe the metis are monsters. None of the things Britain said was true but they always tried to lessen the power of the natives and metis. This notion of it being a massacre has persisted so much that it is hard to find a picture that is not geared to look like a massacre.







The Winnipeg free press would say it was a incident as well, after more information came to light it would be shown that the metis did not instigate the battle. In total 22 people died in total this is not enough to warrant a massacre name. The most significant was how the HBC tried to turn it all on the metis. All of this leads me to believe that they would call it an incident.

The main problem throughout history was the lies the British spread even after Coltmans report which clearly stated that the metis were not the instigators in the fight. The main reason it was called a massacre was British interference throughout history saying it was a massacre.


After the event of seven oaks lord Selkirk used his own private army to take fort William, which was the HQ of the NWC he remained at the fort for the winter and sent his men to retake fort Douglas. on the way they captured several smaller forts. this caused the NWC to take 5 HBC post, the war continued on for 5 years. Thankfully the Selkirk colony continued to grow steadily.


In 1820 the HBC started to mimic the NWC tactics, they pushed further in First Nation lands often losing money doing so. Because of all the pressure the HBC was causing the two companies merged in 1821.





References
The battle of seven oaks/2017. uploaded by Wikipedia, Available online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Seven_Oaks
My brain


-John

October blog post

My blog is about being in the shoes of an eastern Canadian explorer named Jacques Cartier. Cartier was born in the year 1491 in France. He was a very good explorer and had done three major explorations in Canada before his exploring career ended.

Jacques Cartier first exploration was in 1534. He was sent by king Francis to the new world to find riches and a new path to Asia. Cartier sailed on April of 1534 with two ships and 60 men. He arrived 20 days later. He explored the west coast of Newfoundland, discovered Prince Edward Island and sailed through the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This was then called the "northern lands."

Cartier second major exploration
Francis was impressed with what Cartier had found. He sent him back a year later. This time he left with three ships and one hundred men. Two First Nations he had captured helped Cartier. He used them as guides. They traveled through Quebec and made a base. During his time exploring the new world he sailed down river to what now would be Montreal. There he met and was welcomed by the Iroquois people. He found out from them more rivers to travel to explore farther into Canada and places where he can find goods. As it got later in the year winter came and they were no longer able to travel. Cartier and his clan angered the Iroquois. They had to wait till the spring till the ice unthawed so they could travel back home. On there way back to France once again the brought home some Iroquois people. Cartier was only able to to tell the king that riches lay farther west and that a great river, said to be about 2,000 miles long, possibly led to Asia.

Third Exploration
In May of 1541 Cartier departed on his third voyage with five ships this time. On his third trip he stoped trying to find a passage to asia. His plan was to make a permanent settlement along the St. Lawrence River. Cartier set up camp again near Quebec they found an abundance of what they thought were gold and diamonds. After these setbacks, France didn’t show any interest in the new worlds for half a century, and Cartier’s career as a explorer came to an end.

This was the end of Jacques Cartier exploring career.

This Reminds Me Of

    When I think of the Selkirk Settlers being forced to leave their home land it reminds me of when we talked about the Aboriginals were forced off there land. Both were forced out of what they are used to and told where to go. Imagine not being able to be at the placed you called home for so long and forced to you go somewhere you aren't used to.




Selkirk Settlers
   The settlers were promised land if they left their home land and moved to the new land. They were promised jobs to make their lives better by going to the new lands. The Lord Selkirk inherited money from his family's wealth and became the Earl of Selkirk. He bought enough shares in the Hudson Bay Company to purchase a large plot in Rupert's Land. This land is known as The Forks now. He was nice enough to give the settlers the land because they were being forced out of their homes and moved over seas. He thought doing this would right the wrongs. The settlers had a hard time adjusting to the new land. There was food shortages and the crops they had were very poor. While the settlers were just settling in there was an issue with the metis. They were being blamed for the ban of pemmican. This then began pemmican wars. The settles lost few lives in the incident with the metis. Many of the crops the settlers had were destroyed and all the settlers were threatened. They were taken away from  home and now they are being threatened in their new homes. That is not what they were promised when they were told to leave. Not exactly the life they thought they would have. Not that their lives would be better back home. They would deal with the Potato Famine and wars.




The Aboriginals
  The aboriginals were rudely forced off their land and put onto reserves. They had very poor land for them to grow their food on. They were put here so that the Europeans could begin to settle themselves. They had no regards to how sacred the lands were to them. The Europeans took advantage of the aboriginals just to benefit themselves. They took advantage of them during the fur trade times. The first peoples would bring them the furs and get very little in return. The money the Europeans was so more much more then what they were giving the aboriginals for the hard work they put into trapping the animals, skinning and cleaning, and then the travel to bring the furs to the Hudson Bay Company. They were forced off their land and were not given what they were promised but the Europeans brought over diseases that killed many of the members of multiple tribes. They took land and killed many, that's not fair to them at all. The aboriginals were there first and then rudely forced off. The not fair to them at all.


  In the end there are many similarities between each situation. They are both important in history and both were treated wrongly in the situations for both parties. Each situation is unique and went down in history. Also in both situation you may have different view points depending on which way you want to look at it.

Champlain tagxedo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_de_Champlain#Relations_and_war_with_natives

tagxedo champlain

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/champlain_samuel_de_1E.html