History Essay

The earliest encounter between Europeans and Natives in Canada can be dated back the 1500’s. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Empire, European powers like England, France, and Spain were forced to find different routes to Asia. All these countries had their own obstacles, between Europe and Asia was present day North and South America. But they soon realized that these continents had more than an obstacle but an opportunity. The earliest European and Native encounter could be dated back to the arrival of Englishmen John Cabot in 1497, when he landed in Newfoundland and encountered the Beothuk. Cabot noted that ““waters were filled with fish…and the land was covered with timber.” Soon after, France contracted Jacques Cartier; he would travel the St. Lawrence River landing in Stadacona and continued to Hochelaga. Cartier bring back two natives from in first voyage in 1534 and “led to the establishment of a French claim to Canada”, which would eventually become a French colony. In 1608, France founded the voyage of Samuel de Champlain, helping the French take over New France. But before a commercial relationship could be established, the natives had to agree to military allegiance. In 1625, Jesuits (or Black Robes) landed in New France, in hopes of evangelizing the Natives as a part of the allegiance made between the Huron and the French. With that said, there were still many doubts whether the relationship between the Native and Europeans was indeed cooperation. In J.R. Miller’s, Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A History of Native-White Relations in Canada, he attempts to prove that the European and Native relationship was cooperative. Cooperation is defined “an act or instance of working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit.” Is J.R. Miller accurate in the assertion that the Native-European Relationship was cooperation? Letters written by Jesuits compiled in The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents do not support J.R. Miller’s theory that the Native-European Relationship was cooperative. Letters from Father Jean de BrÐ"©beuf and Le Mercier prove that there was little cooperation between the Natives and Europeans. Therefore, J.R. Miller’s assertion that the European and Native relationship was cooperative was incorrect but rather a relationship based on mutual dependence.

Since the mid 1600’s there has been many ways to characterize the relationship between natives and Europeans. Many historians such as J.R. Miller believed that the relationship was based on cooperation but letters written by Jesuits during the 1600’s prove other wise. The relationship between the natives and Europeans was merely for reasons of mutual dependence rather than the working together towards a common goal. Father Jean de BrÐ"©beuf was a Jesuit priest who helped establish the Huron mission and was also one of the most respect clergymen during his time. He first landed in Quebec in 1625 and after a treacherous 800-mile voyage he settled in with the Huronians, people whom have previously traded with Samuel de Champlain. In 1644, BrÐ"©beuf finally settled among the Hurons after years of traveling to other French settlements. After years of living with the Huron, BrÐ"©beuf watched as the Huronian population was slowly disintegrated by war and disease. In his writing, Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A History of Native-White Relations in Canada, J.R. Miller describes the earliest Jesuits mission to Huronia. People of Huronia had never been accustomed to products like kettle, glass, and metal among other things. When Europeans arrived they brought along things Huronia’s had never seen before and J.R. Miller noted that the Indians “respected European technology and were prepared to associate themselves with those who produced it.” J.R. Miller’s account of Huronia’s thoughts about technology differed from that recounted by Father BrÐ"©beuf. J.R. Miller implied that the natives understood the technology, where as Father BrÐ"©beuf explains how extremely fascinated and clueless the natives were, with regards to the new technology. “As to the clock, a thousand things are said of it. They all think it is some living thing … they think it hears, especially when, for a joke, one of our Frenchmen calls out at the last stroke of the hammer, “That’s Enough” and then it immediately becomes silent.” This proves that the natives had no understanding of the new technology; therefore they could not respect the Europeans contrary to what J.R. Miller noted. The Europeans failed to explain the meaning of the clock, thus inadvertently hiding information from the natives. Two parties cannot cooperate if they are not both aware of things that are going on. It seems as if the Europeans believed that they are far more intelligent than the natives and don’t bother explaining certain things to them. The Europeans used clocks to help program the natives into realizing when it was time for prayers and such, and the natives tolerated the Europeans lack of information given because they wanted different metals and materials that they didn’t have in Canada at the time. Therefore, J.R. Miller’s assertion that the European and Native relationship was cooperative was incorrect but rather a relationship based on mutual dependence.

Father Francois-Joseph Le Mercer spent years living amongst Natives and also overseeing Jesuit operations as a superior in New France. Father Le Mercier learnt many native customs and tradition during his stay, as well as the native language. Cooperation requires that a unit work together towards a common goal, and in order for that to happen, the unit must come together and accept all members. The European and Native working relationship comprised of tolerance not cooperation. There were always ulterior motives for both sides to work together. The French wanted trading goods that only the Natives could provide and the Natives wanted French technology and tools. In J.R. Miller’s writing Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A History of Native-White Relations in Canada he states, “From the Indian side of this commercial nexus the advantage in the fur trade was access to European technology” and that “European presence in North America was dependent on native goodwill and cooperation because the Indian was vital to realization of all the purposes that the European had in coming to the continent.” J.R. Miller continued stating, that natives made no effort in involving Europeans and Europeans believe that “Indians