First Nations Challenges

The First Nations and Europeans both faced challenges at this point of time due to the Indian Act and other legislation. The First Nations got a large part of the problems. Natives on the reserves suffered because the Europeans took virtually everything from them. Taking their freedoms caused the Natives to be dependant on Europeans for their necessities and things they needed to survive. Many of the Aboriginals on reserves were killed by diseases the Europeans brought to them. Those who weren’t killed lived with the grief of having lost so many people they knew. No one had a cure and the Europeans didn’t jump to find one. Another Challenge faced by the Natives on reserves was the mass change of lifestyle. An example would be the Sioux, they
lived as hunters travelling with the buffalo. Not gathering a lot and never growing food. They were told by the Europeans they had to have a homestead where they would live for the rest of their life, and farm off their land-something they had never done and didn’t have experience with. This made it very hard to adapt. The First Nations seemed to have trouble wherever they went, whether on the reserves or out in ‘regular’ society. Out in society they dealt with complete change in religion and culture. Everyone expected them to be ideal Christians and live the traditions and beliefs of Europeans. They were taught that their religion was false and the Europeans’ religion was the only true religion.
Natives were far more pressured to be exactly like Europeans out in society, and to assimilate. To dress like Europeans, speak English, have the same traditions as Europeans. Even after all the effort that First Nations off of reserves used to fit in, they were still outsiders. The colour of their skin made every European think they were still uncivilized people. Europeans also had challenges with the legislation they made concerning the First Nations. Confusion was probably a big problem when they got to the North America. Most Europeans didn’t want to hurt the First Nations, they had no idea what to do with them. Soon though, the greed for land and money influenced them to mistreat the Natives. After a few bad encounters with the Aboriginals such as the fight at Little Bighorn, fear was the biggest problem for Europeans. The Natives seemed like monsters to them, because they weren’t seeing both sides of the story. Settlers were frightened by First Nations, and scared that if they weren’t stopped that their families would be next. After they had all the Natives trapped at the reserves the next challenge was taking care of them. Giving them food, shelter, and
clothes. They had many people working on the reserves that they had to pay as well. That would come from the taxpayers’ money. Challenges came to both groups through their conflict, and the impacts from it are still evident in Canadian society today.