Tag Archives: first nations history

Post 1 – Blanket Exercise

I participated in my first blanket exercise. I was killed by small pox. My co-worker was taken from her land and moved to a Residential school. Another colleague survived Residential Schools but later died due to the negative impact it had on her life.

These experiences are not our own, but were lived by us during our last Non-Instructional Day. The Blanket Exercise shares First People’s history from across Canada in a unique way. I began to better understand what it meant to be killed by a disease I had no control over, I watched people be removed form their land, to be taken to Residential schools. This experience is one I want to share with my classes in the future.

https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/about/

POST 2 – Origins of Canada’s First Peoples – David Loti

http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_groups_origins.html

Visited 5 September 2018

With support from the Canadian Studies Program, Canadian Heritage: Canada’s First Peoples states “First Nations people [of North America] are genetically related to people in parts of Asia.”

Inquiry: How long does a group of people need to be present in a place to be classified as Indigenous to that place?

 

POST 1 – Unraveling the Genetic History of a First Nations People – David Loti

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mapping-history-first-nations-people-through-their-genes-180968899/

Visited 5 September 5 2018

Ryan P. Smith reports on Emory University genetic anthropologist John Lindo’s examination of the genetic history of Tsimshian DNA of Prince Rupert Harbour, Canada:

“the population of the ancient Tsimshian people was in decline long before the arrival of Europeans. Slowly and steadily, since their first settlement in modern Canada, the Tsimshian had been decreasing in number, not expanding as one might presume . . . all Native American peoples have their own stories to tell, and academics do a disservice when they proffer sweeping assertions.”

In short, this is an example of an Indigenous people who were in decline before the arrival of Europeans, which indicates the complexity of teaching historic narratives.