"We are working with organizations across the country to end violence against women and girls and to offset its destructive impact on our communities,"said MacKay. "This project will engage local men and boys to play an important leadership role in ending the violence."
MacKay said that his department hopes to introduce a Victims Bill of Rights this fall so that the innocent are not re-victimized by the system.
He thanked "Chrysalis House staff and all transition houses across the province for a true labour of love. It makes a difference."
Rhonda Fraser, executive director of Chrysalis House Association, said she’s excited about the project.
"It is important to do all we can to prevent violence against women and girls," said Fraser. "We are pleased to partner with the government of Canada on this project to engage local men and boys in understanding the roots of gender-based violence and leading the way to safer communities for everyone."
Sociologist Bruce Dienes, who will co-ordinate the project, said he was very excited to be involved in this worldwide movement.
He indicated the aim is to educate males at a young age through to adults about how to intervene to prevent violence.
ONE BILLION RISING-SHANIA TWAIN- breaking the chains of abuse...
IDLE NO MORE CANADA- Shania Twain was adopted by her stepfather Ojibway Jerry Twain and grew up on the reserve as non-status indian.... Shania always said Jerry Twain (and she adored Grandpa Twain) treated respectfully and loved Shania's mother Sharon so much..
..... but Shania said the enormous abuse among the Reservations should shame all of Canada.... and men need counselling and respect as much as women...
White Ribbon is the world’s largest movement of men and boys working to end violence against women and girls, promote gender equity, healthy relationships and a new vision of masculinity.
Starting in 1991, we asked men to wear white ribbons as a pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls. Since then the White Ribbon has spread to over 60 countries around the world.
We work to examine the root causes of gender-based violence and create a cultural shift that helps bring us to a future without violence.
Our vision is for a masculinity that embodies the best qualities of being human. We believe that men are part of the solution and part of a future that is safe and equitable for all people.
Through education, awareness-raising, outreach, technical assistance, capacity building, partnerships and creative campaigns, White Ribbon is helping create tools, strategies and models that challenge negative, outdated concepts of manhood and inspire men to understand and embrace the incredible potential they have to be a part of positive change.
Board of Directors:
Chair: Raymond Ludwin
Treasurer: Craig Walter
Members:
Laurie Freudenberg
Sulemaan Ahmed
Alexis Morgan
Ralph Chattoor
Marlene Hore
Dionne O’Gorman
Please contact info@whiteribbon.ca for more information.
White Ribbon positively engages men, young men and boys through relevant educational programming that challenges language and behaviours, as well as harmful ideas of manhood that lead to violence against women.
White Ribbon Programming includes:
Workshops, Talks and Presentations
?Engaging workshops. presentations and talks for middle, high school and post-secondary students as well as people from all walks of life.
?Trainings and presentations for educators and teacher candidates around promoting gender equality in classrooms and schools.
?Sessions explore realities for women and girls as well as pressures on men and boys and ways they can become allies for change that affects everyone.
?Sessions & topics include "Who’s The Man?’, "Blueprints for Change’, "Behind The Masc" and "How Homophobia Impacts Heterosexual Males"
Please visit our Events page for a calendar of upcoming workshops, seminars, talks and more!
It Starts With You, It Stays With Him
?Encouraging and inspiring fathers, father figures, educators, community leaders, coaches and family members to embrace being positive, strong role models for the young men and boys around them by valuing women as equal and teaching how to have healthy, equal relationships.
?Tips, Tools, e-Modules and Videos to view and share.
Boys Conferences
?Annual Conferences in partnership with Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario bringing boys together to discuss gender equality, respect and healthy relationships and steps they can take to make a difference. Uses interactive workshops, drama, art, video, peer educators and other engaging facilitation styles, guest speakers
‘What Makes A Man’ Conference
?This annual White Ribbon event is a discussion-focused day, where speakers give a short 5-10 minute talks designed to spark dialogue of reflection and reactions with the audience. Everyday examples and stories are shared to help us explore how gender & gender roles affect aspects of all our life and experiences.
The Education and Action Kit
?White Ribbon’s Education and Action Kit is used by hundreds of thousands of teachers and students in 3000 schools across North America. Teachers and students have used the Kit and related White Ribbon resources with enormous success. The Kit combines in-class lessons with school-wide projects to raise awareness about violence against women, and to promote ideals about gender equality and healthy relationships. It is designed as a positive resource for both females and males.
White Ribbon is also:
- Capacity building for educators and community workers to carry out White Ribbon activities.
- Providing technical consultation for NGOs, governments, and United Nations
- A member of the steering committee of MenEngage Global Alliance
People who’ve signed up to learn how to reduce bullying, build relationships and learn from the province’s anti-bullying leadership conference can now register for workshops.
A government news release Tuesday said Marilyn More, the minister for the action team on sexual violence and bullying, announced a lineup o f workshops and enter tainment for the Sp eak Up! event.
The symp osium is b eing held Aug. 16-17 in Halifax.
Musician David Myles will headline Friday evening’s entertainment, the release said. He received a Juno award this year for rap recording of the year, and has numerous Music Nova Scotia and East Coast Music Awards.
Although registration for the conference is closed, people are invited to put their name on a waiting list at bit.ly/11INqmh or by calling 902-422-1886 or phoning toll free at 1-877-731-1333.
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MISPLACED CHARITY -NDP NOVA SCOTIA- just $200,000 for 13 organizations fighting sex assault and bullying???
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
The Nova Scotia government recently announced $200,000 in new funding for 13 organizations, including Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, Pictou Women’s Centre and Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network, to allow them to better work against sexual assault.
This works out to only $15,000 per centre. What a slap to all women and children who seek assistance as they face sexual and other kinds of brutality, primarily from their intimate partners. This paltry sum is all the more astonishing in the wake of the Rehtaeh Parsons case, which demonstrated the huge need to fight sexual assault of girls as young as 15.
Meanwhile, our NDP government has given more than $260 million to the Irvings in anticipation of the federal ships contract. The government has also paid $10 million a year for the next 10 years to IBM to outsource the government payroll.
And the government gave Cooke Aquaculture $25 million to help with their fish-farm business. Irving, IBM, and Cooke are not charities, but the 13 women’s advocacy centres are. Shame on the government. Where are its priorities?
Judy Haiven, Halifax
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CHECK OUT- MEN breaking the chains of abuse- bullying - no more abuses-no more excuses
when there's no one 2 catch ur fall u feel like ur just- 3 foot tall
Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse - It can be stopped
Download the PDF version
What is intimate partner violence and abuse?
Intimate partner violence and abuse is an abuse of power that includes a wide range of threats and acts:
•Physical violence that may involve a threat with a fist or object; being pushed or shoved in a way that could result in injury; being slapped, hit or beaten; being hit or attacked with an object. There may be no obvious physical injuries, or there may be bruises, cuts, broken bones, internal injuries, disfigurement, disablement and even death.
•Sexual assault may be part of a physical attack. Sexual acts within a relationship must take place with consent. There is no "right" to sexual relations.
•Emotional abuse that can include threats and intimidation, demeaning and degrading verbal and/or body language, control and isolation, subordination and humiliation. Victims may suffer serious loss of self-esteem and experience feelings of shame, anxiety, hopelessness, depression and terror.
Intimate partner violence and abuse
Violence and/or abuse by an intimate partner is not a crime of passion and it is not a private matter.
Intimate partner violence and abuse can be committed by a spouse, ex-spouse, a current or former common-law partner, a current or former girlfriend or boyfriend or a person in a dating relationship. The victim may think that she or he somehow provoked the abuse but the abuser is responsible for his or her own behaviour.
An abusive relationship is often a confusing mix of love, fear, dependency, intimidation, guilt and hope. There is a shared life involving family, finances and a home. Victims of violence and abuse usually return to the relationship many times before leaving it.
To harm, or threaten to harm, another person is against the law under the Criminal Code of Canada regardless of the relationship between the two parties.
An effective legal response to intimate partner violence and abuse requires coordination by all parts of the criminal justice system. The Criminal Code and the Canada Evidence Act provide protection for victims as well as sanctions for offenders. Prosecution policies and guidelines ensure that charges proceed in court, however, the police are usually the first step in the legal process and the major point of contact in intimate partner assault cases.
When called to an incident of intimate partner violence and abuse, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are responsible for restoring order, protecting victims, investigating and gathering evidence. This may involve arresting or taking into custody the perpetrator of the violence or abuse. If the investigation finds reasonable and probable grounds that a crime has been committed, appropriate criminal charges can be laid.
Relationship abuse is tragically common. It is also very complex. How can you bring her flowers one day and hit her the next? Why does she stay? How can she leave? What happens when that safe place called home becomes a prison or war zone? What about the children? How does society step into these private, personal spaces and help make a difference? Let’s find the answers — because spousal and partner abuse can be stopped.
Even if criminal charges are not laid, an individual can apply for a peace bond or restraining order to prohibit their partner from threatening or harassing them further.
The roots of intimate partner violence and abuse
Intimate partner violence and abuse is rooted in a power imbalance between individuals, within families and in society. Basically, when one person is controlled and/or considered less worthy than another one -- because they are a vulnerable person or part of a vulnerable population -- there is the potential for abuse.
What makes intimate partner violence and abuse occur in one relationship and not another? According to the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, we know that partners in violent and abusive relationships have often experienced family violence themselves as children. There are also known factors that increase the risk of partner abuse, especially the risk of serious abuse:
•Men who have witnessed violence by their fathers toward their mothers inflict more severe and repeated violence in their own relationships than men whose fathers were not violent.
•Alcohol is a prominent but not a causal factor in relationship abuse. In just over half of all violent incidents, the violent partner was drinking.
•Women are at greater risk of severe violence
•The risk of being killed by a spouse or partner is eight times higher for women in common-law relationships than in registered marriages.
Top of page
Who experiences relationship abuse?
Intimate partner violence and abuse is pervasive: no one is immune. It affects people of all ages, rich and poor, rural and urban, from every cultural and educational background. The majority of abusers are men and the majority of victims are women. Serious abuse is most often committed by men against women and children.
However, men are also victims of intimate partner violence and abuse. The rate is significantly lower than among women and the severity of abuse, especially homicide, often less. We are just beginning to learn more about the abuse of adult men.
There are other groups, such as same sex intimate partners, for which the violence and abuse needs more recognition and remedies. Since these groups may already be stigmatized in society, it can be difficult for either partner to reach out for appropriate help and support. Disabled and dependent persons are also particularly vulnerable in abusive situations. Aboriginal women and men experience higher rates of spousal violence than the general population.
New Canadians should know that landed immigrants will not be deported if they leave a partner because of abuse, even if that partner is their sponsor. (Immigrants without legal status should get legal advice.)
Children are often victims of intimate partner abuse. Estimates are that in 30 to 40% of reported cases where the partner is abused, so are the children. However, there is a growing understanding that simply witnessing intimate partner violence in their home can affect children the same way as abuse directed at them. (Ask for the RCMP’s booklet Where Does It Hurt? The Effects of Family Violence on Children.) What every person involved in an abusive relationship should know is that the RCMP will investigate all incidents of violence and abuse, regardless of sex, ethnicity, background or lifestyle.
Do you have a safety plan?
Safety plans help you reduce or eliminate the risks that you and your children face by an abuser. Creating a safety plan will help you and your children get away from potential risks safely.
Safety planning should include:
•letting someone you trust know about the abuse even if you do not report it to the police;
•creating a code word with friends or family that lets them know to call for help when leaving is not an option;
•having one safe location to keep your identification, important documents (passport, Social Insurance Number), bank cards, credit cards, keys and cell phone that you can grab quickly in an emergency;
•having a physical plan to get out of your house in an emergency and a place to go, including the nearest shelter if necessary, once you have left the abusive situation; and
•practicing your safety plan with your children to keep them safe as well.
If you have left the abuser and the situation is still volatile, make sure that the school, day care, and police have a copy of all court orders, including restraining orders, custody and access orders, as well as a picture of the abusive partner.
Getting help
The facts show that partner assault has declined in recent years. That is proof that relationship abuse can be stopped; it can be prevented. Changing attitudes, services for victims, treatment programs for violent men, stronger laws and pro-arrest policies are all making a difference. The first step for anyone in, or close to, an abusive relationship is to get help.
Help for the Abused
In an emergency, call the police. Seek medical attention (injuries may be internal as well as external). In a crisis, call a women’s shelter, crisis line, or counseling agency. Talk to your family doctor or community health center. Tell someone you trust, such as a friend or relative. Believe in yourself. You are not to blame.
Help for the Abuser
If you abuse your partner, get help now. In most cases, abusive behaviour is learned as a child. It is also often accompanied by low self-esteem, frustration and guilt. You can change. You can take responsibility for your actions and seek counseling. The best way to start is through a family doctor or social service agency. Abusive behaviour often goes hand in hand with alcohol or drug abuse and you may need to address these problems as well.
Top of Page
Help for the Witness
If you believe someone you know is being abused, do not turn a blind eye. Call the police in an emergency; do not attempt to intervene at risk to yourself. Listen to the affected person, whether abused or abuser. They may be asking for help. Offer support and refrain from judgment. Ask how you can be of help. Do not take over. Help the person explore their options. Tell him/her it is dangerous to do nothing about the abuse.
Community involvement and responsibility
All forms of violence and abuse are serious criminal matters with a huge impact on society. As the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence states, "Health costs for injuries and chronic health problems caused by abuse amount to about a billion dollars every year. We also pay a social cost in the form of children too traumatized to learn or develop normally, adult victims unable to function to their full potential, and diminished quality of family and community life".
Intimate partner violence and abuse flourishes in an environment where the misuse of power against the vulnerable or less powerful is tolerated. That environment may be behind closed doors or in the larger community. That is why we all need to work to prevent violence and to build a society where abuse of power is not tolerated. By seeing intimate partner violence and abuse for what it is -- a crime -- we can all take responsibility and work together as a community to stop the violence.
Help is available
Contacts and Resources
•crisis line
•abuse counseling
•women’s groups
•immigrant and ethno-cultural groups
•Aboriginal groups
•women’s shelters
•women’s resource centres
•community health centres
•family doctor
•police
•RCMP victim services
•legal aid
For more information and resources on family and relationship violence, please view our other brochures:
•Dating Violence - Say NO!
•Effects of Family Violence on Children - Where does it Hurt?
•Criminal Harassment – Stalking: It’s not love
These brochures can also be ordered at a cost from St. Joseph Corporation. For ordering information, contact them at their toll free number: 1-888-562-5561.
Justice Minister Peter MacKay announced support on July 26 for a new project in western Nova Scotia that will engage men and boys in ending violence against women and girls. Shown listening to him are Shannon Young, who chairs the Chrysalis House board, and project co-ordinator Bruce Dienes. - Wendy Elliott, www.kingscountynews.ca
Published on July 29, 2013
By Wendy Elliott welliott@kingscountynews.ca KingsCountyNews.ca
Peter MacKay, the new Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, was in Kentville July 26 to announce support for a new project that will engage men and boys in ending violence against women and girls.
Chrysalis House Association is receiving $185,000 in funding for a 24-month project that will engage the population in the rural counties of West Hants, Kings and Annapolis in the western region of Nova Scotia.
"We are working with organizations across the country to end violence against women and girls and to offset its destructive impact on our communities,"said MacKay. "This project will engage local men and boys to play an important leadership role in ending the violence."
MacKay said that his department hopes to introduce a Victims Bill of Rights this fall so that the innocent are not re-victimized by the system.
He thanked "Chrysalis House staff and all transition houses across the province for a true labour of love. It makes a difference."
Rhonda Fraser, executive director of Chrysalis House Association, said she’s excited about the project.
"It is important to do all we can to prevent violence against women and girls," said Fraser. "We are pleased to partner with the government of Canada on this project to engage local men and boys in understanding the roots of gender-based violence and leading the way to safer communities for everyone."
Sociologist Bruce Dienes, who will co-ordinate the project, said he was very excited to be involved in this worldwide movement.
He indicated the aim is to educate males at a young age through to adults about how to intervene to prevent violence.
Dienes spoke about the Steubenville High School rape in Ohio, where two male students were sent to jail, and stated that the perpetrators had the power to do damage while still children.
A needs assessment in each county will be the first priority. The project runs until March 2015.
An advisory committee made up of 20 community partners and stakeholders will help guide the project. They include members from the RCMP, NSCC, First Nations, African Nova Scotians and Acadian communities.
This project to end gender-based violence is being supported under Status of Women Canada’s call for proposals, Working Together: Engaging Communities to End Violence against Women and Girls.
ONE BILLION RISING- HEALING THE CHAINS- of abuse of young boys and young men- the miracles of training service dogs 4 disabled and homes by young incarcerated youth- 2nd chances- it's time...
ONE BILLION RISING- breaking the chains of abuse...
An inmate rehab project with some (fur r y) legs
IDLE NO MORE CANADA- Shania Twain was adopted by her stepfather Ojibway Jerry Twain and grew up on the reserve as non-status indian.... Shania always said Jerry Twain (and she adored Grandpa Twain) treated respectfully and loved Shania's mother Sharon so much..
..... but Shania said the enormous abuse among the Reservations should shame all of Canada.... and men need counselling and respect as much as women...
Claire McIlveen is a columnist and editorial writer
An inmate rehab project with some (fur r y) legs
It’s curious that the province’s opposition parties, those serial seekers of the second chance, are poking fun at a program to rehabilitate jail inmates. The Tories and Liberals have heaped scorn on a project to teach inmates how to train dogs at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth. The program started as a pilot a year ago and the government said last week it will fund it to the tune of $60,000 for the coming year. "I can’t imagine what they’d be training the dogs to do," said Tory MLA Allan MacMaster when the pilot was first announced. "Are they going to be doing tricks for the prisoners or something?" Well, no. Under the program, a professional dog trainer is teaching corrections officers how to work with a dozen inmates to train dogs from the SPCA. The agency gets adoptable dogs, the officers get administrative experience and the inmates learn animal training skills they can use upon release, says the province. As a former reporter who did a stint covering court, I think it’s money well sp ent . Reporting on the justice system taught me that some people catch no breaks in life. The names, faces and crimes o f the guilty are gone from my memory, but I will never forget the histories of parental neglect, abuse, addiction, intellectual disability or severe mental health problems that accompanied almost every kid who appeared before the courts. Some would argue that plenty of people have unhappy childhoods and turn out fine. That’s true. Maybe some people are stronger, smarter or more resilient than others. Or they meet someone who sees the good in them. One man I know b ecame a ward of the province at age six and had a history o f lighting fires, tor turing small animals and breaking and entering . His life was turned around by a youth worker who became the father figure he never had. That’s what a program like this can do: foster ties between guards and inmates, teach inmates that practice, patience and respect are keys to discipline, bring some canine love into their lives, inspire hop e. At least one veteran corrections officer at the jail is on board. "Initial evaluation of the program has been very positive," said Capt. John Landry, a guard at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility. "The staff at the facility report improved offender behaviour and reduced tension in the day rooms where the program is held, which is a win-win for the o ffenders, the staff and the puppies." For staff, it’s about better working conditions. For a 19-year-old with a history of neglect, it’s the chance for one-on-one attention from a standup adult, a whole lot of puppy love and a new direction for his life. As a society, we have a responsibility to try to rehabilitate inmates, particularly young ones. And if the rehabilitation argument isn’t persuasive, perhaps the financial one is. The costs of incarceration in Canada are staggering. While provincial jails are cheaper, it costs about $114,000 a year to keep someone in federal penitentiary in Canada . Over 30 years, that adds up to $3.4 million. If even one kid learns marketable skills and makes connections that put him on a better path when he gets out of jail, that $60,000 a year will turn out to be some bargain. ---------------------------- ONE BILLION RISING- breaking the chains of abuse Suits over alleged crimes can proceed in Canada TORONTO (CP) — Three lawsuits against a Canadian mining company over alleged shootings and gang rapes at a Guatemalan project will be allowed to proceed in Canada following a ruling that makes it possible for firms to face liability at home for incidents that occur overseas. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, 13 Mayan Guatemalans, said the decision is a "wake-up call" for Canadian firms about responsibilities at foreign mining projects. "This step in the case uses existing legal rules that have not been applied in this way before," lawyer Murray Klippenstein said Tuesday. "Mining companies, and maybe other companies operating abroad, need to take a very, very, serious look at the possibility or likelihood that shenanigans abroad that they thought would never result in liability may result in accountability in Canadian cour ts." The suits allege security personnel and members of the police and military, attacked and raped 11 women in 2007 who were forcibly removed from their village in relation to the Fenix project. Two related suits seek to hold HudBay Minerals Inc. and a subsidiary resp onsible for the later killing of community leader Adolfo Ich over a land dispute and the shooting and paralysis of local resident German Chub. --------------- ONE BILLION RISING- BREAKING THE CHAINS - of abuse Premiers: Probe women’s fate Leaders back inquir y into missing, murdered First Nations people MARIA BABBAGE THE CANADIAN PRESS NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont . — Provincial and territorial leaders threw their support Wednesday behind a national public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, ratcheting up the pressure on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to follow suit . There was support for an inquiry among the premiers who met with aboriginal leaders Wednesday ahead of the Council of the Federation meeting, said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who will chair the premiers’ summit Thursday. She said violence against aboriginal women is a very important issue that has touched every Canadian juris diction and is extremely important to all the leaders who attended the meeting. Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Newfoundland Premier Kathy Dunderdale were absent, but Wynne said that doesn’t mean they don’t support an inquiry. "There were reasons why they couldn’t be at the table, but certainly I will b e sp eaking to them and asking them if they wou ld b e able to support the NAO’s call for an inquiry." But Michele Audette, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, said she views their absence as a message. "It’s probably for me, my perception or interpretation, that they’re sending a message saying they’re not in support for this national public inquiry," she said. Redford was in Toronto on Wednesday for a meeting with the Insurance Bureau of Canada and various CEOs of insurance companies in Toronto, trying to garner support for the southern Alberta communities devastated by flooding . First Nations’ calls for a public inquiry on violence against aboriginal women have garnered support across the country in recent years. Aboriginal leaders praised the attending premiers for supporting the caus e, hailed as a major step in their crusade for an inquiry, which has been endorsed by Amnesty International Canada. "This is an important expression of support," said Shawn Atleo, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. The Native Women’s Association of Canada has been saying for 13 years that there’s a rise in missing aboriginal women, Audette said. The organization has documented about 582 cases of missing or murdered women and girls. Audette said she’ll phone the federal government Thursday and push for a letter from the premiers to be sent to Harper and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt. She’ll also be reaching out to the two missing premiers to see if they’ll support an inquiry. "We did a major, major step today — or a major moccasin step, I always say," she said. Violence against aboriginal women is a "huge" issue in Manitoba, which has a lot of missing people, said Premier Greg Selinger. "It speaks to the most vulnerable p eople in our community and when they go missing, we are all worse off," he said. "And we want to make sure they’re safe and our streets are safe and our neighbourhoods are safe and young women are safe regardless of who they are." It’s a big problem in the North too, particularly in small, isolated communities where women can’t get help, said Northwest Territories Premier Bob MacLeod. "I think this gives a statement that this is a serious problem and that all of the premiers want to see something done," he said. Others issues discussed at the premiers’ meeting with aboriginal groups included improvements in education for aboriginal students on and off reserve. Funding for students on reserve is up to $3,500 less per pupil than students off reserve, Wynne said. But Wynne and Atleo say they’re not looking for Ottawa to hand over the responsibility to the provinces. They’d rather see the government work with the provinces and aboriginal communities to help stu dents su cceed, said Wynne. "The kinds of solutions that are working in P.E.I., that are working in British Columbia, that are going to work in Quebec and Ontario may be slightly different," she said. "But what we need is the federal government at the table as a full partner in terms of funding their resp onsibilities and at the same time, recognizing that provincial governments bring huge expertise in education." PHOTO Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, centre, Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, right, and Nova Scotia Premier Darryl Dexter listen to Elder Walter Cooke conduct the opening prayer for premiers from across the countr y and National Aboriginal Organization leaders during a meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on Wednesday. AARON LYNETT • CP -----------------------------
The spirit of l’Acadie runs deep in Nova Scotia. As one of the province’s founding cultures, there are reminders of the intrepid French settlers who first claimed Nova Scotia as their home in the seventeenth century. Explore Acadian history through historical sites, culture and language, genealogy, music, food, and crafts.
Some of Canada's First Acadian Settlements
On the south shore, the Fort Point Museum in LaHave commemorates the May 8, 1604 arrival of Samuel de Champlain's ship Le Don de Dieu in the New World. Champlain was instrumental in LaHave being chosen by King Louis XIII to be the site of the 'First Capital of New France'. In 1632, Isaac de Razilly, French General and Viceroy, landed at Fort Point on the beautiful LaHave and carried out the command of his king.
At Port-Royal, Acadian history is reconstructed at the French Habitation, providing a glimpse into life as part of the first European settlement in Canada. See Acadian-built dykes as you journey to Grand-Pré National Historic Site, once home to the largest Acadian community on the Bay of Fundy and immortalized in Longfellow’s poem Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie.
Acadian Villages
Throughout the Yarmouth and Acadian Shore region, you will pass through several French-speaking villages and will marvel at the soaring beauty of Acadian churches, such as Église Sainte-Anne Church at Ste-Anne-du-Ruisseau, the oldest Acadian church on mainland Nova Scotia or Église Sainte-Marie/St Mary’s Church at Church Point, the largest wooden church in North America. For a taste of Acadian music and culture, visit Church Point, an Acadian village dating back to 1761. It hosts the music-filled Festival acadien de Clare each summer.
On the southern section of the Yarmouth and Acadian Shore region in Southwestern Nova Scotia, the collection of Pubnico villages makes up the oldest Acadian settlement in the province. Their colourful early 1900's history is celebrated at Le Village historique acadien de la Nouvelle-Écosse, a part of the Nova Scotia Museum network.
Cape Breton also has rich Acadian roots. Enjoy Acadian food in a local restaurant, watch demonstrations of traditional rug hooking techniques first-hand at Les Trois Pignons: Museum of the Hooked Rug and Home Life, and marvel at folk art in Chéticamp. The Acadian Museum at La Co-opérative Artisanale and Les Trois Pignons cultural and information centre will open the door to this area’s rich Acadian history.
Visit Acadian attractions throughout Nova Scotia
•Acadian Centre Archives at Université Sainte-Anne, where you can research Nova Scotia genealogy
•A guided interpretive walk along Saint Mary’s Bay in Clare as part of the Histoire de la Baie program
•Acadian cuisine from the bakery and restaurants of Louisdale and Isle Madame, along the beautiful Fleur-de-lis Trail, Cape Breton
•The picturesque Acadian village of Tor Bay / Larry’s River
•The Acadian House Museum in the scenic coastal community of West Chezzetcook
From the brightly painted houses and towering churches of the seaside villages to the quiet beauty of the masterfully created hooked rugs, Acadian culture infuses much of Nova Scotia with its vibrancy, jaunty rhythms and the romance of its history and language. To view locations for Acadian centres across the province, look for the Acadian flag symbol Acadian Flag on the Tourism Regions Map.
The Acadians began as a group of (primarily French) settlers in 17th century Canada. Over the years, they have been subjected to numerous hardships that usually result in the disappearance or assimilation of a culture. The Acadians were able to retain large portions of their identity, even after their homeland was taken and they were exiled. Although some were later incorporated into other cultures and societies, their heritage is still evident in the lives of their descendants.
This online presentation will begin with the origin of the Acadians. We will then look at the Acadians as they settled a new land and created their own culture. The next major chapter in Acadian history is the Grand Derangement ... when the Acadians were stripped of their land and exiled. Following this tragic dispersion, the Acadians found themselves in new lands. Although scattered, there still remained large numbers of Acadians in two places. Those who escaped (and returned) to Canada developed their own Acadian culture (in Canada) in several areas. The other major group of Acadians found themselves in Louisiana and became today's Cajuns. Along the way, you will find several other aids, such as a History Timeline, Maps, and Additional Resources.
Acadia, 1755 • Acadian Origins
• First-Hand Accounts of Old Acadie
• Acadia ... 1632 to 1755
• Acadian Settlements
• The Exile
• Resettlement
• Acadians in Canada
• Cajun History - Acadians in Louisiana
Acadian History thru the years in books
Raynal wrote about Acadia in 1779 (A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies). He was born in 1713, but never visited the country. But the work does reflect the ideas of France at that time. Thomas Chandler Haliburton wrote a history of Nova Scotia 40 years after Raynal. He stated that Raynal’s account wasn’t far from the truth. He lived in the area, and in fact was a judge there. His book was published in 1829. Rameau wrote La Franceaux Colonies in 1859 and Une Colonie Feodale en Amerique in 1889. Beamish Murdoch wrote the History of Nova Scotia in 1865. The volumes of Nova Scotia Archives were started in 1857 and completed in 1869, though the compilation by Akins may have omitted a lot of material that held the Acadian point of view. Both the History of Nova Scotia by Campbell and Histoire de l’Acadie by Moreau were completed in 1873. Hannay completed his History of Acadia in 1879. Philip H. Smith wrote Acadia - A Lost Chapter in American History in 1884. Casgrain wrote Pelerinage au Pays d’Evangeline in 1888. Parkman’s work Montcalm and Wolfe, which included information on Acadia, was done in 1884. Murdoch really didn’t express his own opinion. Most (except for Parkman and Hannay) held the same view as Haliburton. Richard's Acadia (written in 1895) tries to take the Acadian point of view. It focuses most of its attention on the deportation and the events leading to it. Bona Arsenault's History of the Acadians, done in the 1950s, also tries to be fair to the Acadians' plight. Many other works, such as the recent (1995) A Land of Discord Always by Charles Mahaffie, try to explain the true story that was hidden for so long.
Situated in Halifax Harbour, Georges Island was established as a military garrison to defend the city of Halifax and Nova Scotia. Its fortifications have been strengthened over the years. It currently no longer functions as a military installation. It is operated by Parks Canada but remains off limits to the public. The event, "Explore Georges Island," has attracted visitors to tour the island and its fortifications. This episode includes the tour of Fort Charlotte on the island.
EXPULSION OF ACADIANS... WERE KEPT ON GEORGES ISLAND NOVA SCOTIA 1700S
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Unearthing Poplar Grove history-ANNAPOLIS VALLEY
Elizabeth and Patrick Tremblay, of Windsor, help Natalie Lavoie and Joanna Gould-Thorpe search for artifacts at a dig site in Poplar Grove, Hants County. Ashley Thompson photo
Published on July 30, 2013
Topics : Nova Scotia Archaeological Society , Hants Journal , Boreas Heritage Consulting , Acadian , Poplar Grove , Avondale Road
By Ashley ThompsonThe Hants JournalNovaNewsNow.com
Sara Beanlands is digging deeper to learn more about a Popular Grove property’s place in Acadian and Planter history.
Beanlands is an archaeologist and owner of the Halifax-based Boreas Heritage Consulting and is leading an exploratory dig at the Shawbrook Farm. The farm, located around the 800-block of the Avondale Road, is a Shaw-family property that, it is believed, was a part of the Village Thibodeau Acadian settlement prior to the deportation in 1755.
About 30 people visited the site July 13 to help Beanlands unearth hidden tidbits of Poplar Grove’s history.
In introducing the crowd, comprised of members of the Nova Scotia Archaeological Society and locals interested in the history of their hometown, Beanlands said the Shaw family acquired the land in 1760 when the British brought in settlers from New England. It is now owned by her uncle, Allen Shaw.
"He is a direct descendent of the planter family who arrived on this land in 1760."
With the passing of the land from farmer to farmer came the birth of an oral tradition.
"The oral tradition was that in 1760, when the planters arrived there was a structure that they called the old French house still standing," Beanlands said.
The intent of the dig is to find and study the original cellar of the old French house and determine if a photo taken of a rundown house in 1960 is a photo of a pre-deportation Acadian home.
"The theory right now is that when the Planters arrived in 1760, the Thibodeau family had been living in this house since the late 1600s," Beanlands said.
"They were deported in 1755. The Shaw family came to the area five years later; they saw this lovely house sitting there with a mill all ready to go, they moved into the French house."
Beanlands believes the Planter family built a larger home around the French house rather than demolishing the structure.
"If we can establish that there are two walls and they are built differently or that we find a lot of Acadian artifacts under the Planter artifacts, then we can come to the conclusion that that is what is happening here," she explained.
The excavation site, located in a vacant field, was plotted out using geophysical technology that detects magnetic properties in rock. The group has already uncovered the foundation for what is believed to be a northern wall.
<p>Alexandre Pelletier-Michaud, of Wolfville, uses a screen filter to separate potential artifacts from dirt.</p><p>Ashley Thompson photo</p>
<p>Heather, Greg and Aidan Desveaux, of Belmont, search for Planter and Acadian artifacts in a Poplar Grove field.</p><p>Ashley Thompson photo</p>
<p>Sara Beanlands, an archaeologist leading a research project in Poplar Grove, discusses some of the artifacts that have been unearthed at the Shawbrook Farm site this summer.</p>
View the gallery
Beanlands says the grassroots research project "could significantly increase our understanding of not only Acadian history but, as importantly, Planter history, because we have so few Planter sites that are excavated."
Exploration will continue throughout the summer. Volunteers with little to no archaeological experience work under the supervision of an archaeologist.
Sarah Marie McDonald, president of the Nova Scotia Archaeological Society, said the group’s membership is thrilled to have the opportunity to explore the accessible site.
"We have both professional archeologists as members as well as some… amateur hobbyists who don’t necessarily get much opportunity to come out digging, but they really are enthusiastic, so this is a good way for them to be able to get their hands dirty," she said.
She says there have been some interesting finds at the site, and the non-profit group is happy to supply Beanlands with some extra hands for the dig.
"It’s good for our members in particular who don’t get out to a big variety of sites so they get a lot of good stuff all in one compact area."
Greg and Heather Desveaux, of Belmont, participated in the exploration along with their three-year-old twins, Aidan and Evangeline. The first timers were trained on site.
"It’s an opportunity to see some of the artifacts that were here with the Acadians and kind of get a feel of what life was like back then," said Greg, who felt the activity would give him a greater understanding of his family’s heritage.
Heather said their daughter was named Evangeline in honour of the area’s rich past, and she’s hoping some of the artifacts found on the site will eventually be on display at the Avon River Heritage Museum in Newport Landing.
"The history of Acadian culture and life here is waiting to be discovered," Heather added.
The French authorities were well aware of the travesties the English could inflict upon another race or culture. A report the French Governor and the Intendent at Quebec had submitted in 1745, ten years before the Expulsion, stated:
"We cannot imagine that they could entertain the idea of removing those people [the
Acadians] in order to substitute Englishmen in their stead, unless desertion of the
Indians would embolden them to adopt such a course, inhuman as it may be."
Though these French authorities could not imagine such an inhuman act, the English could. The event made famous by the American poet Longfellow in his poem "Evangeline" was soon under way. In early 1755 the Acadian Deputies were summoned to Halifax by Governor Lawrence and ordered to swear an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. They refused, contending, as they had with Cornwallis in 1749, that if they did so the French would set the Indians against them and they would be massacred.
The English lost no time in responding. On July 28, 1755 Lawrence got the full approval of Nova Scotia's Colonial Council to start dispersing the Acadians among the American Colonies. He sent Colonel Robert Monckton to Chignecto and Chepody, Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow to Minas, Pisiquid, and Cobequid, and Major John Handfield to Annapolis Royal to carry out the orders.
Colonel Robert Monckton rounded up the Acadians in Chignecto, while Colonel John Winslow ordered those at Minas to assemble at Grand Pré. They were loaded into the holds of ships and scattered to the four corners of the world. Families were separated, never to see one another again, and untold numbers died in transport. This included those who had sworn allegiance to the British Crown, there were no exceptions.
The Mi'kmaq faithfully stuck by their Acadian allies to the bitter end. Some of the Acadians tried to escape and were aided and protected by them to the best of their ability. They also joined forces with them to drive back the British, as was reported by the French Governor:
The British burned the Village, including the Church at Chipoudy and was responded
to thus. Mr. Boishebert, at the head of 125 Indians and Acadians, overtook them at
the River Pelkoudiak, attacked and fought them for three hours, and drove them
vigorously back to their vessels. The English had 42 killed and 45 wounded.
Mr. Gorham, a very active English Officer, was among the number of the wounded.
We lost 1 Indian, and had three others wounded.
Many Acadians went into hiding among the Mi'kmaq and remained with them until the British and French ended their hostilities in 1763. A group of several hundred were hidden by the Mi'kmaq in the area known today as Kejimkujik National Park.. See the story of Jacques Morrice, the name the English used for him, in We Were not the Savages for more details.
**********
Text: Charles Lawrence's Acadien expulsion orders
to
Captain John Handfield
Halifax 11 August 1755
Instructions for Major Handfield, Commanding his Majesty's garrison of Annapolis Royale in relation to the transportation of the Inhabitants of the District of Annapolis River and other French Inhabitants out of the Province of Nova Scotia.
Sir,
Having in my Letter of the 31st of July last made you acquainted with the reasons which Induced His Majesty's Council to come to the Resolution of sending away the French Inhabitants and clearing the whole Country of such bad subjects, it only remains for me to give you the necessary orders for the putting in practice what has been so solemnly determined.
That the Inhabitants may not have it in their power to return to this Province nor to join in strengthening the French of Canada in Louisbourg; it is resolved that they shall be dispersed among his Majesty's Colonies upon the Continent of America.
For this purpose Transports are ordered to be sent from Boston to Annapolis to ship on board one thousand persons reckoning two persons to a ton, and for Chignecto, transports have been taken up here to carry off the Inhabitants of that place; and for those of the District around Mines Bason Transports are in from Boston. As Annapolis is the place where the last of the transports will depart from, any of the vessels that may not receive their full compliment up the Bay will be ordered there, and Colonel Winslow with his detachment will follow by land and bring up what stragglers he may meet with to ship on board at your place.
Upon the arrival of the vessels from Boston in the Bason of Annapolis as many of the Inhabitants of Annapolis District as can be collected by any means, particularly the heads of families and young men, are to be shipped on board of them at the above rate of two persons to a ton, or as near it as possible. The tonnage of the vessels to be ascertained by the charter partys, which the masters will furnish you with an amount of.
And to give you all the ease possible respecting the victualling of these transports, I have appointed Mr. George Sauls to act as agent Victualler upon this occasion and have given him particular instructions for that purpose with a copy of which he will furnish you upon his arrival at Annapolis Royale from Chignecto with the provisions for victualling the whole transports; but in case you should have shipped any of the Inhabitants before his arrival you will order five pounds of flour and one pound of pork to be delivered to each person so shipped to last for seven days and so until Mr. Saul's arrival, and it will be replaced by him into the stores from what he has on board the provision vessel for that purpose.
The destination of the Inhabitants of Annapolis River and of the transports ordered to Annapolis Bason:
To be sent to Philadelphia such a number of vessels as will transport three hundred persons.
To be sent to New York such a number of vessels as will transport two hundred persons.
To be sent to Connecticut such a number of vessels / whereof the Sloop Dove, Samuel Forbes, Master to be one / as will transport three hundred persons.
And To be sent to Boston such a number of vessels as will transport two hundred persons, or rather more in proportion to the province of Connecticut, should the number to be shipped off exceed one thousand persons.
When the people are embarked you will please to give the master of each vessel one of the letters of which you will receive a number signed by me of which you will address to the Governor of the Province or the Commander in Chief for the time being where they are to be put on shore and enclose therein the printed form of the Certificate to be granted to the Masters of the vessels to entitle them to their hire as agreed upon by Charter party; and with these you will give each of the Masters their sailing orders in writing to proceed according to the above destination, and upon their arrival immediately to wait upon the Governors or Commanders in Chief of the Provinces for which they are bound with the said Letters and to make all possible dispatch in debarking their passengers and obtain certificates thereof agreeable to the form aforesaid.
And you will in these orders make it a particular injunction to the said Masters to be as careful and watchful as possible during the whole course of the passage to prevent the passengers making any attempt to seize upon the vessel by allowing only a small number to be upon the decks at a time and using all other necessary precautions to prevent the bad consequence of such attempts; and that they be particularly careful that the Inhabitants carry no arms nor other offensive weapons on board with them at their embarkation. As also that they see the provisions regularly issued to the people agreeable to the allowance proportioned in Mr. George Saul's instructions.
You will use all the means proper and necessary for collecting the people together so as to get them on board. If you find that fair means will not do with them, you must proceed by the most vigorous measures possible, not only in compelling them to embark, but in depriving those who shall escape of all means of shelter or support by burning their houses and destroying everything that may afford them the means of subsistence in the country, and if you have not force sufficient to perform this service, Colonel Winslow at Mines or the Commanding Officer there will upon your application send you a proper reinforcement.
You will see by the Charter partys of the vessels taken up at Boston that they are hired by the month; therefore I am to desire that you will use all possible dispatch to save expense to the public.
As soon as the people are shipped and the transports are ready you will acquaint the Commander of His Majesty's Ship therewith that he may take them under his convoy and put to sea without loss of time.
**********
Lawrence's incursion
The following year, on Friday, 20 April 1750, Charles Lawrence with a fleet of seven warships, decided to make an incursion into the Basin of Chignecto in order to assess the state of the place and the reaction of the Habitants. He had with him Charles Leblanc of Grand Pré and Mr. Landry, the deputy of the Basin of Mines, who Lawrence forced to come aboard in order to have him try to convince the Habitants of the region to co-operate with the English. But the expedition was a failure.
In order to assure docility of his "guests", Lawrence had ordered Captain Handfield, who was still commander of the Grand Pré's fort, to place in custody Mrs. Landry and her children. Some hostages! The adventure ended with the return of the ships on April 26 and the release of the hostages
ACADIAN HISTORY- Nova Scotia Nouvelle-Écosse- lookee here- Acadians and Planters and Mi'kmaq
Thibodeaus dig into family histor y
Eastern Canadian, U.S. efforts in Hants County community yielding many artifacts
GLEN PARKER
POPLAR GROVE — People sharing the Thibodeau surname are finding some common ground in this rural Hants County community.
The Thibodeaus are of Acadian descent and they have come from all over Eastern Canada and the United States to Poplar Grove to join in a special archeological dig.
Joining local volunteers, they are looking for Acadian and Planter ar tifacts, and the site is yielding b oth .
"I’ve been on my hands and knees finding bits and pieces of pottery and ceramics," Greg Thibodeau of Blue Hill, Maine, said last week at the dig site.
"I can’t believe I found this piece of pottery that was last touched by human hands more than 200 years ago, and maybe even by someone in our family."
The field where he is working is part of a farm owned by the Shaw family, direct descendants of a Planter family.
The New England Planters settled lands left vacant by the Acadian Expulsion. Arnold Shaw took possession in 1760 and it has remained in his family all these years.
For Thibodeau and his father, Martin, the experience has been multi- dimensional.
"Getting together with extended family, that has been great," Greg said.
About two dozen Thibodeaus participated in the dig. They came from Florida, California, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, New Hampshire and Maine. They joined local volunteers and Thibodeaus from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Many of the local volunteers are members of the Nova Scotia Archaeology Society.
Stephen Thibodeau made the trip from Santa Rosa, Calif.
"It’s an awesome experience, especially to have been here with all the other family members," he said. "This was a chance in a lifetime."
The "amateur" archeologist painstakingly scooped earth from designated areas. The soil went into buckets and then was sifted through wire mesh screens to catch any hidden treasures.
"We screen every bit of dirt that we dig up," explained Sara Beanlands, principal and senior archeologist for Boreas Heritage Consulting Inc. of Halifax.
"We know there was an Acadian settlement in the area and we are pretty sure it was the Thibodeau village."
There were five homesites in the village developed by Pierre Thibodeau, the ancestor who came to the area from France.
Those participating in the dig are pleased with the mixture of Planter and Acadian artifacts they have uncovered. They include ceramics, buttons, s ewing needles, an ornamental piece o f metal believed to be from a rifle, building materials and sections of rock walls and foundations.
Anything that is fragile (metal) will go to conservation. Ceramics will be cleaned, catalogued and processed. Everything will eventually go to the Nova Scotia Mus eum .
To help in the dig, Boreas used a new piece o f equipment called a Geonics EM-38 to scan the site. The technology allowed archeologists to "see" underground and identify potential search areas.
The scan turned up a number of possibilities like building foundations, rock walls and wells. They were plotted on a map and b ecame the initial dig site.
One of the sites is believed to be the original location of an old French house.
"We have a photograph of a barn that appears to have been built around the little Acadian house," Beanlands said. "The building was moved in the late 1800s and it eventually collapsed."
The Acadians arrived in Poplar Grove in the late 1600s from Annapolis County and were here until 1755. The Planters arrived around 1760.
Allen Shaw, the current owner of the farm, is Beanlands’ uncle. She gives him a lot of credit for their su ccess.
"He has been so supportive. We wouldn’t be here without his blessing," Beanlands said. "It’s his family history, too."
The volunteers, including the Thibodeau family members, said they felt a clos eness to the Acadian and Planter families who once lived and farmed in the area. Many described the experience as moving .
"I’ve been very excited about the whole thing. I couldn’t believe what was happening. There were Thibodeaus everywhere and we are all related," Martin Thibodeau said with a huge grin on his face.
"It was a pretty phenomenal week all the way around."
The Poplar Grove dig will continue through the rest of the summer.
photo
Volunteers sift through soil during an archeological dig in Poplar Grove, Hants County. GLEN PARKER
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NOVA SCOTIA
Research My Roots ~ Genealogy
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Since Champlain first arrived in 1604, Nova Scotia has welcomed people from all over the world. As a result, Nova Scotia genealogy is deep and diverse. As well as our native Mi'kmaq ancestry, Nova Scotia's founding cultures include Acadian, English, German, African Nova Scotian, Scottish, Irish, and yes, even Americans. Twenty-five million people in North America can trace their families back to Nova Scotia during the past 400 years. Are you one of them?
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MUTUAL RESPECT AND ADMIRATION: idle no more - Major General Sir Isaac Brock and Chief Tecumseh. Together, British troops, First Nations, and Canadian volunteers defeated an American invasion in 1812-14
SIDEBAR - Queen Victoria adored her Red Children..... and America knew it... and the Empire
Chief Red Shirt
of the tribe became a favourite with Queen Victoria, who ... Manypeople in
Salford today could be the descendants of some of these ... Year, demanded
several performances and adored the
chief Red Shirt.
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Canada's First People the First to sign up for war conflicts.... and 2 often the first to die....
Canadian youngfolks are finally recognizing the privilege of being Canadian and our enormous cultural history and the incredible ties of our First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples- IT'S TIME WE THANK THEM.... and bring our love and pride of our First Peoples and their enormous contributions to our Canada- and Canada's war of 1812 is truly the highlight of Canada's First Nations and Canada Militia- who were brilliant and determined NOT TO BECOME America...
- one of the very huge differences in Canada and USA is our cultural significance of our First Peoples whereby, America is so integrated into the black slave culture- and rarely gives credence to their First Peoples..... Charles Dickens son Frances served the the first (what is now Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in 1834 onwards and his stories on the huge difference in attitutde and behaviour of Queen Victoria's reign of Canada and that of the United States- America.... towards the First Peoples of America- ..... the war of 1812 is VERY significant.... and it's sad that political games can't step back and reflect and honour- our Canada and magnificant historical significance of the people of the times.
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_ Brock died in battle on Oct. 13, 1812, and he was wearing the sash Tecumseh gave him- BATTLE Image of the death of General Brock at the Battle of Queenston Heights by John David Kelly - Push_on_brave_York_volunteers
Tecumseh’s Ghost
By Allan R. Gregg — Oct 5 2013
200
years ago today, in what is now called Moraviantown, Ontario, the great
Shawnee warrior, Tecumseh was killed defending Canada against invading
American troops during the War of 1812. After waging a fearsome battle
with the encroaching American militia for over five years, Tecumseh had
struck terror in the hearts of American settlers, soldiers and
commanders alike. His alliance with the British General, Isaac Brock,
and their victory at Detroit, decisively shifted the early momentum in
the War to Canada’s favour. No longer could the Americans boast that
victory would be (as Thomas Jefferson promised then President James
Madison) “a mere matter of marching.” Indeed, it can be said that it
was Tecumseh – as much as any other single individual – who saved Canada
in the War of 1812.
- the story
Growing up in
Canada’s public school system, I was never taught this. Attending a PhD
program with a minor in Canadian history, I never learned this. More
recently, my son took a 4th year university course in Canadian Native
history where his syllabus consisted of three novels and no definitive
textbook on his chosen subject. Needless to say, he knew nothing about
Tecumseh’s defining role in a war that’s been described as the
foundation of Canada’s national identity.
Oddly, it was my casual
reading of American history that introduced me to Tecumseh. He was a
compelling figure and the more I learned about him, the more fascinating
he became. How could I have missed his remarkable story?
Yet it
is not like we never heard of Tecumseh – or more correctly, the name
Tecumseh. My wife attended Tecumseh Public School in Scarborough,
Ontario (and basically, knew nothing of his role in Canadian history).
There is a town of Tecumseh in Ontario (in fact two – New Tecumseh and
plain old Tecumseh) and one in Saskatchewan. There are Tecumseh Streets
in Ottawa, Niagara, Winnipeg and Toronto. Naval Academies, nuclear
submarines, University departments of Aboriginal Studies are named after
him. In fact, if you care to look, Tecumseh seems to be everywhere. But
for most of us though, Tecumseh is a Mall, or a Tae-kwon-do studio or a
boat motor or even an uber modern Loft in the trendy King West
neighbourhood of Toronto.
Since I first encountered Tecumseh, and
perhaps in the spirit of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812,
there has been modest redemption made to his historical importance to
Canada. Added to his desultory and remote memorial, erected in 1963 near
where he was slain, and to the sad plaque on a rock in Upper Canada
Village, near Morrisburg,Ontario, (where he never set foot), Tecumseh
has now been commemorated on a Canadian quarter and on his own stamp, as
well as one shared with Sir Isaac Brock. The noted academic and
activist, James Laxer, has published a very credible account of the War
of 1812 that prominently features Tecumseh’s central role in the defense
of Canada.
But in this orgy of celebration of the War of 1812,
it strikes me that his true legacy has been badly (and perhaps,
conveniently) miscast. Far from being ignored, he is now being
appropriated by white society and cast as a “good Indian” – brave,
heroic, co-operative, and at the ready to do the bidding of his British
brethren. He is being placed aside Issac Brock, and the Canadian militia
as the great defenders of Canada. His historical role has been reduced
to Laura Secord with a feather.
A more thorough reading of
Tecumseh’s life and influence – not just in the War of 1812 but much
more broadly in setting a pattern of aboriginal and non-aboriginal
discord over the last two centuries – tells a very different story.
While he was undoubtedly brave and heroic, he was anything but
compromising or in the thrall of British objectives. He had been present
at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1795 when the British closed the
doors of Fort Miami on defeated Natives seeking refuge and was under no
illusions about the British indifference to the Indians’ conflict with
the Americans. He was fierce and determined to take back the land in the
Ohio Valley that Americans had taken from his people and cared little
for the white man, let alone Canada. To the contrary, his contact with
the British and Americans alike led him to conclude that Indians and
Whites “were bestowed with different characteristics, beliefs and modes
of existence” and thus were meant to be separate and live apart. (Sugden
p.118)
Tecumseh’s true historical significance is derived from
much more than his feats on the battlefield in the War of 1812. It was
his statesmanship, diplomacy and charisma that convinced and motivated
Indian braves throughout the length and breadth of the North American
frontier to put aside their tribal differences and loyalties, and join a
pan-Indian Confederacy to take back the land that had been stolen from
them through dozens of unscrupulous treaties. He also brandished a
powerful vision and philosophy that combined spiritualism with
militarism which still reverberates in the protests of modern day
Aboriginal leaders and the Idle No More movement.
More than this,
what he represented also ignited the intense fear and subsequent
dehumanizing of the Indian by the white man that lurks at the root of
Canadian attitudes today. It was his ideas, as much as his tomahawk and
scalping knife that made him an inspiration to Indians and dangerous in
the extreme to non-Indians.
FACTS ON TECUMSEH- BROCK WORSHIPPED HIM.. AND BROCK WAS WEARING TECUMSEH'S SASH WHEN HE WAS KILLED
While
few Canadians know anything about Tecumseh, in his time, he was one of
the most famous and feared, men alive – and that legacy would endure for
decades after his death. Immediately after the War of 1812, the British
built and named a schooner after him. The 1820s were marked by songs,
poems and paeans to Tecumseh, honouring his bravery and heroic demise.
William Tecumseh Sherman, the hero of the Civil War half a century
later, was named after him. Robert Johnson, Martin Van Buren’s
Vice-President, ran his campaign in 1836 on the admittedly amateurish
slogan, “Rumsey, dumpsey, rumsey, dumpsey … Colonel Johnson killed
Tecumseh.” (He claimed to have shot the Shawnee leader in Southern
Ontario 23 years before). Three future Presidents – Andrew Jackson,
William Harrison and Zachary Taylor– and a Presidential candidate –
Winfield Scott -would launch their political careers based on the
reputations they had gained by fighting Tecumseh and his allies.
No
authenticated portrait of the great warrior exists. Because he spoke no
English and did not write, there are only secondhand accounts of his
words and deeds. But from what we know, Tecumseh was a remarkable
specimen. He was routinely described in diaries as “one of the finest
looking men I ever saw” or “one of the most finished forms I ever met”
(Sugden p. 5). The great defender of Canada, Sir Isaac Brock, referred
to him as, “The Wellington of the Indians,” and declared that “a more
sagacious and gallant warrior does not, I believe exist.” (Berton p166).
John Richardson, a teenaged militia volunteer who claimed to have
encountered Tecumseh during the War of 1812, and went on to become one
of Canada’s first novelists, offered a more fulsome description:
“Habited
in a close leather dress, his athletic portions were admirably
delineated, while a large plume of ostrich feathers, by which he was
generally distinguished, overshadowing his brow, and contrasting with
the darkness of his complexion and the brilliance of his black and
piercing eyes, gave a singularly wild and terrific expression to his
features. It was evident that he could be terrible.” (Sugden p. 358)
By
all accounts, he was eloquent, fearless and thoughtful … and his entire
life had been marked by war with the Americans. Between 1774, (when he
was 6 years old), and 1784, his village was attacked five times. His
father was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1776 and his older
brother died on the Tennessee frontier around 1788. Naturally, he had
little love for the “Long Knives”.
But his hatred was not just
reserved for the Americans’ battlefield slaughter; it extended to their
relentless acquisition of Native land in the period between 1794 and
1809 and even to the Indian Chiefs, whom he viewed as complicit in its
surrender.
Tecumseh’s brother, the so-called Prophet, awoke the
Indian indignation at what was happening to their homes and way of
life. The Prophet gave his fellow Indians reason to believe that they
could resist American encroachment on their lands and offered a vision
that revived Native spiritualism. Calling for the rejection of alcohol
and a return to tradition, he preached about the unity of the land with
mankind and contended that no single tribe had the right to cede
territory without the consent of all.
In 1808 the brothers decide
to give physical shape to this philosophy and established Prophetstown,
where the Tippecanoe River meets the Wabash in what is now Indiana.
Almost immediately Indians throughout North America began to gather
there to return to their spiritual roots, embrace this way of life once
more and ready for battle when the time was right.
Tecumseh came
to embody the Prophet’s philosophy and insisted that, “…instead of each
Indian group or tribe possessing an exclusive right to a territory…the
land must be regarded as common property for all Indian people, and it
could only be sold with the consent of all Indian people.” (Sugden p.
44) The basis for his position was Tecumseh’s fundamental belief in the
unity of the land with the Indian people. He claimed, “No tribe has the
right to sell (land) even to each other, much less strangers … Sell a
country? Why not sell the air, the great sea as well as the earth?”
(Owens p. 18). Quite simply, the land was, “a dish with one spoon.”
(Sugden p.45) To enforce this principle, Tecumseh made it clear that he
was prepared, “…to destroy village Chiefs by whom mischief is done. It
is they who sell our lands to Americans. Our object is to let all our
affairs be transacted by warriors.” (Sugden p. 189). His message was
unambiguous and threatening … if the Chiefs who were ceding Indian land
were not prepared to get in line, he would overthrow them, as well as
the Americans, by forming a new pan-North American warrior nation.
He
then began the first of what would be many journeys across the length
and breadth of Central and South Eastern United States organizing fellow
Natives to join his cause. When Chiefs resisted his entreaties, he
appealed directly to the young braves to take up arms and push the
Americans out of Indian lands.
On one of these recruiting
missions, while Tecumseh was in Georgia and Florida, William Harrison,
the governor of Indiana and the man tasked with expanding the American
frontier, took advantage of his absence and marched on Prophetstown.
Ignoring his brother’s instructions to avoid engagement with the
Americans, the Prophet ordered an attack and was routed by Harrison’s
forces. (The battle is later immortalized in one of the most famous
campaign slogans in US electoral history – “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” –
which propels Harrison to the White House in 1840). Tecumseh returned to
his razed and smoldering village, resolved to take his battle to an
entirely new level.
Meanwhile, half a world away, Napoleon
was marching his troops across Europe towards Russia. U.S. President
James Madison, who began his term by seeking neutrality in the
British-French war, was now being ridiculed as a weakling and “whiffling
Jemmy” by a new generation of “War Hawks” in Congress who were trying
to rekindle the revolutionary zeal of the Founding Fathers.
This
would not be the last time that the US would construct a somewhat flimsy
rationale for going to war, but faced with internal revolt and the
prospect of losing the upcoming Presidential election, Madison
opportunistically declared war on Britain in June 1812.
With
equal opportunism – and working on the assumption that the enemy of my
enemy is, if not my friend, at least a potential ally – Tecumseh
recognized that Madison’s declaration might give him the leverage he
needed to beat back the Americans. He headed to Fort Malden in
Amherstburg, Ontario to meet with the Canadian Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, Matthew Elliot. But while he negotiated an alliance with the
British against the Americans, he had little interest in helping to
defend Canada, but instead was keenly intent on using the British to
drive the Americans out of his home in the Ohio Valley.
If the
purpose of the War of 182 was to “invade and take over Canada” then
capturing the populous Eastern and Central fronts, which housed the
Capitals of Upper and Lower Canada, were surely the most strategically
important targets. But this is not what happened. Instead, the American
focused on Tecumseh’s turf and the Western Front.
It quickly
became apparent that beyond the internal politics behind the decision to
go to war, the real goal of the conflict was to subdue Tecumseh’s
forces and drive the Indian and British presence out of the Ohio Valley.
Madison and his cabinet understood that a war against the Indians was
far more popular – and winnable – than a conflict over some vague
concept of maritime rights. So the War of 1812 began not so much as a
war between Canada and the United States, but a war between Tecumseh and
the Americans.
The commander of the Western front, William Hull
approached Detroit and prepared his assault into Canada, but his men
refused to cross the border and fight on foreign soil, leaving Hull in a
bit of a quandary. Isaac Brock, the Major General overseeing the forces
of Upper Canada, and the first to understand that the key to Canada’s
defense would rest with the Indians, polled his own officers who
expressed similar reluctance.
Tecumseh took it upon himself to
brow beat, cajole, inspire and ultimately, convince the British to
attack. But before they did, Brock wisely engaged in a bit of
psychological warfare. In a letter to Hull he described the real threat
facing the Americans:
“It is far from my intention to join in a
war of extermination, but you must be aware that the numerous body of
Indians who have attached themselves to my troops will be beyond my
control the moment the contest commences.” (Berton p. 171)
Brock’s
message to Hull was far from subtle – it is hard not to know what ‘war
of extermination’ means, especially in light of Tecumseh’s well-known
reputation for his take-no-prisoners ferocity.
Canadian novelist, John Richard recorded the terrifying scene that Hull faced on the eve of the Battle of Detroit.
“(B)odies
stained and painted in the most frightening manner for the occasion
…some painted white, some black, others half black and half red … all
with their hair plastered in such a way as to resemble the bristling
quills of a porcupine, with no other covering than a cloth around their
loins, yet armed to the teeth with rifles, tomahawks, war-clubs, spears,
bows, arrows and scalping knives. Uttering no sound, intent only on
reaching the enemy unperceived, they might have passed for the spectres
of those wilds, the ruthless demons which War had unchained for the
punishment and oppression of man.” (Berton p. 159-60)
When the
battle finally began, it was over without a shot being fired. Just the
sight of Tecumseh and his braves, outfitted for slaughter, left the
American forces in a state of awestruck panic. A terrified General
Hull, described as being rendered “catatonic” at the sight, surrendered
without a fight. (Berton p.175)
This encounter set the tone for
the following year. By then, it was apparent to the British that the
real value of the Indians was not just to fight, but to terrify. (Berton
p.216)
While much of our understanding of the War of 1812
focuses on our own border, in the south, a very different kind of war
was taking place. As charismatic, persuasive and commanding as he was,
not all Indians fell under Tecumseh’s sway. His message posed a direct
threat to many Chiefs who had benefited, at least for the present, from
the sale of their lands and through an alliance with the Americans. The
Creeks in particular were divided as young Tecumseh supporters splinter
off to form the Red Sticks and civil war broke out between the two
factions. Another tribe that Tecumseh had wooed, the Seminoles, joined
the Spanish and escaped Black slaves and confronted American filibusters
who were threatening to seize Florida. Further North, Indian tribes
became emboldened by news of Tecumseh’s victories and began
confrontations with settlers that spread news of bloody massacres.
Pierre Berton described the carnage that was taking place in this way –
“hearts cut out and eaten raw, throats slit, torture and clubbing to
death of white men who are forced to run the gauntlet”. (Berton 191-7)
For
the Americans, it suddenly seemed that their simple border skirmish was
spreading throughout the length and breadth of their much-coveted
frontier. Again their enemy was not so much the British, but the
Indians, and Tecumseh’s fingerprints were on every conflict.
With
his humiliating surrender, Hull was replaced by the despised William
Harrison. His arrival in the Niagara area coincided with the first major
setback for the British – the death of Isaac Brock in October, 1812.
While the British suffered few casualties other than Brock in the Battle
of Queenston (and the Americans were ultimately forced to surrender
because their terrified militiamen, once again, refused to cross the
river to engage the Indians), Tecumseh lost the one ally who fully
understood his importance to the defense of Canada.
Notwithstanding
this development and the muscular forces the US were amassing on the
Western front, Tecumseh and his allies continued to wreak havoc on the
Americans throughout the first part of 1813. Massacres occurred
repeatedly throughout what are now Ohio, Indiana and Illinois — in
Raisin River in January, at Fort Meigs in May and Fort Mims in August.
As reports of slaughter and atrocities grew, they became the source of
outrage among previously disinterested American citizens. In response,
the US Government unleashed the ferocious Indian hater, Andrew Jackson,
to subdue the Creeks and Seminoles in the South.
If
Tecumseh’s memories of the Battle of Falling Timbers caused him to
doubt the dependability of the British to serve Indian interests, his
apprehension was significantly heightened by Brock’s replacement, Henry
Proctor.
Proctor and Tecumseh locked horns many times since
Brock’s death. Continuing a pattern that had been apparent since the
start of the War, the British had proved reluctant to push back the
growing American forces and lay claim to the territory that was
Tecumseh’s home. Their differences were fundamental – Proctor wanted to
defend Canada; Tecumseh wanted to retake the Ohio Valley. As Proctor
retreated further into the Thames Valley of the Niagara peninsula it was
clear to Tecumseh that he is going in the wrong direction and the
Shawnee warrior was forced to confront Proctor. Fearing that he will
lose the support of the Indians, Proctor promised Tecumseh that they
will stand and fight the American invaders at the Lower Thames (now
Chatham, Ontario). But when Tecumseh and his 1,200 warriors arrived,
they find that the area had not been fortified and Proctor has retreated
even further inland to Moraviantown. Convinced that their British
allies were once again abandoning them, half of Tecumseh’s warriors
simply turn back, leaving him to forge ahead with a badly diminished
force. Meanwhile Harrison crossed into Canada and was advancing rapidly
with 5,000 American troops.
When Tecumseh reached Moraviantown,
Harrison’s army was in sight and Proctor finally agreed to take a stand
and fight. Almost immediately however, the British line broke and they
began to surrender. Sensing a rout, Proctor turned on his heels and
rode away, leaving Tecumseh and his warriors to carry the battle alone.
The
specifics of what happened next in the Battle of Moraviantown are
murky. History is unclear about what happened to Tecumseh’s body but it
is beyond dispute that he was killed that day and that his surviving
braves dispersed and retreated into the swampy grass of the Thames
Valley. For his role, Henry Proctor was later returned to England to
face court martial where he was stripped of his rank and died nine years
later.
After Tecumseh’s death, the War
of 1812 continued to rage on. The Americans never captured and held any
territory of significance in Canada but they did succeed in breaking
through the Central front and laying siege to Fort York (now Toronto).
The British spectacularly invaded Washington, DC and burned down the
White House, forcing Madison and his Cabinet to flee the new capital.
Andrew Jackson cemented his hero’s status by slaughtering 557 of
Tecumseh’s Red Stick warriors at Horseshoe Bend in what is now central
Alabama and then went on to command one of the more lopsided victories
in military history, the Battle of New Orleans — after the war was
officially declared over.
Notwithstanding the many ongoing
conflicts, by 1814, peace talks were the most critical component of the
US government’s strategy. Even though Napoleon was now in full retreat
and the British were able to re-dedicate their war machine to the North
American continent, their assessment of the situation was that the “war
was unlikely to be lost but impossible to win.” (Zuehle, p 315) So the
two warring factions sent their respective representatives to neutral
ground in Ghent, Belgium to negotiate a peace treaty.
To the
great surprise of the American delegation, the rights and residency of
the Indians once again resurfaced as the centre piece of not just the
waging of war, but now to the making of peace. In fact, the British made
it clear that the “sine qua non” of any cessation of hostilities was
that the Americans agree to an Indian Territory and buffer zone, “as a
useful and permanent barrier between both parties, rendering British,
United Sates and Indians as peaceful neighbours.” (Zuehle, p.298) The
American’s were flabbergasted. Basically, the British were demanding
that they give up what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, 4/5ths of
Indiana and 1/3rd of Ohio to become dedicated Indian Territory.
Basically, this was the boundary that had existed before the Treaty of
Fort Wayne that set off Tecumseh’s campaign 5 years earlier. It was as
if Shawnee warrior himself was somehow engineering the terms of peace
from the grave.
For the shocked Americans, this was a
non-starter. Agreeing to the central British demand would mean
abandoning 100,000 US citizens, curtailing any ambition for further
western expansion and potentially strengthening the bond between the
British and the troublesome Indians. Lead negotiator, (and another
future American President), John Quincy Adams countered that agreeing to
these terms would amount to “the surrender of national independence.”
In
the end, the armistice and Treaty of Ghent resulted in no territory
exchanging hands. What had begun for the British negotiators as their
“sine qua non” of peace was abandoned. As the negotiations went back and
forth, the British realized that a possible end to hostilities meant
that they no longer needed their Indian allies to defend the borders of
their colony. At the same time, with the death of Tecumseh, it was
equally clear to the Americans that the Indians would never again pose
the same kind of substantive military threat. In short, absent any need
for, or fear of the Indians, both sides concluded that their interests
were of little concern. As a result, the Indians were only granted “all
the possessions, rights and privileges which they may have enjoyed or
been entitled to in 1811.” In other words, the efforts of Tecumseh’s
confederacy, his death and his defense of Canada were for naught.
While both the British and the Americans would declare victory, it was
clear that the real losers of the War of 1812 were the Indians.
But
the end of the War didn’t mean that the Americans were finished with
the Indians. The next year, the Cherokees, who had sided with the
Americans in subduing the Tecumseh-inspired Creek War, were forced to
sell the last of their land in South Carolina. Two years later, the last
of Tecumseh’s Red Sticks were hunted down and killed in the Florida
swamps as Jackson waged the first Seminole War. In 1822, in direct
defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, the Georgia legislature began
efforts to remove all Indian tribes from its territory. The United
States Congress subsequently made Georgia’s initiative a nation-wide
initiative and passed the Indian Removal Act. In the last act of
resistance to removal, now-President Andrew Jackson finished what he
started and waged the second Creek and Seminole Wars. By 1838, The
Indians were fully defeated, and that year were marched out of the South
on the ‘Trail of Tears’ to Oklahoma.
In Canada,
the Indians fared better … but only until Confederation, when the
Government became sufficiently organized to follow America’s lead.
Before
1867, the colonial government had signed numerous, sometimes vague or
even blank treaties with Canada’s Aboriginals. The first of these were
largely “Peace and Friendship” treaties, designed to forge political
alliances with the Indians and gain their assistance in trade or
conflicts with the French. These documents rarely involved the transfer
of land or promises of annuities. Throughout the last decades of the
18th century and the first half of the 19th, most treaties arose to
accommodate growing British settlement along Lake Ontario and the St.
Lawrence, and involved small one-time payments that did not forcibly
relocate the Indians off the treaty land.
The discovery of
minerals along the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron however, changed
the game entirely. The Robinson Treaties in 1850, involving massive
transfers of land in relatively unpopulated areas, in exchange for
reserves, lump sum payments, annuities and defined hunting and fishing
rights in unoccupied Crown lands, became the model for future Aboriginal
agreements.
But it was Confederation and the British North
America Act that introduced a new set of problems and took the nature of
relations between the Indians and the new Government of Canada to a
whole different level.
The problem, of course, was that Canada,
consisting of the Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Ontario and British
Columbia, had a gaping hole in it that extended from Lake Superior to
the Rocky Mountains. This was partly solved by the acquisition of
Rupertsland from the Hudson Bay Company in 1869 and the introduction of
the Manitoba Act the following year. But these efforts to close “the
gap” created another issue – what to do with the Metis and Indians who
believed that the vast expanse of land between Manitoba and British
Columbia belonged to them? Canadian native history provides a sad and
definitive answer to that question – confiscate that land, move the
Indians to reserves and if they resist, follow the American model and
crush the resistance, either by force or through (what we now know was a
planned policy of) starvation (Daschuk).
The pace and scope with
which the new government pursued this goal however was truly
breathtaking. After putting down Manitoba’s Red River rebellion in 1870,
the Government of Canada entered into seven numbered treaties in six
years that saw one of the largest confiscations of lands in modern
history. The entirety of what is now the central and southern Prairie
provinces were transferred to the federal government. In fact, even
before the railroad, this was Canada’s first act of national enterprise.
Having
secured the northern part of the continent, the new Government of
Canada saw no need for any further negotiations. But because Macdonald
and others also saw nothing worth preserving in Indian culture, they
still sought to expunge it. Indian agents and missionaries were
dispatched to reservations to manage the affairs and Christianize the
“wards of the state.” Ceremonies such as potlatches and the sun dances
were outlawed; a pass system was introduced that controlled both entry
to and exit from the reserves; and “nations” were broken down into
bands, with tribes relocated at will.
After over 20 years of
inactivity – and only because of the discovery of gold in the Yukon in
1896 – treaty negotiations began anew. Three years later, Treaty #8 was
finalized and ceded parts of Northern British Columbia, Alberta and
Saskatchewan and the southern portion of the Northwest Territories.
After a short lull of 6 years Treaties #9 and #10 saw Northern Ontario
and the rest of Northern Alberta transferred from the Indians to the
federal government. The last of the numbered Treaties had to wait almost
15 years but with the discovery of oil in Norman Wells, the government
saw the need to acquire the rest of the Northwest Territories and the
Yukon. The coup de grace came two years later in 1923 with the Williams
Treaties which cleaned up earlier, ambiguous and blank treaties going
back to the 1700s and forced the Aboriginals to give up hunting and
fishing rights in previously surrendered land – a practice that had been
guaranteed in the all the treaties previous to it.
In 6 short
years the Government of Canada had secured their nation at the Indian’s
expense, and within 50 years, the mopping up was complete. By and large,
all of these numbered treaties exist unchanged to this day. Virtually
all are being contested in the courts and are subject to land claims
disputes and only a handful of new treaties have been successfully
negotiated in almost a century.
While they vary in detail, the
general thrust of all the treaties is more or less the same. Millions of
square miles of what was Indian territory were surrendered to the
federal government in exchange for a one-time “present” (of usually
around $10-12) for every man, woman and child belonging to the affected
band; an additional payoff to the Chief (of around $25) and up to four
“subordinates” (in the order of $15); a one-time provision of farm
implements and seeds “for the encouragement of the practice of
agriculture”; an annual stipend (usually around $1,000 – $1,500) for the
purchase of ammunition and twine; the promise to maintain schools on
the reserve; (until the Williams Treaties) the right to hunt and fish on
the ceded land (provided the government did not have other plans for
it, such as mining or the creation of non-aboriginal communities); and
the setting aside of “reserves” usually equal to one square mile of land
for each family of five.
As an illustration of how anachronistic
these still-enforced treaties are, they also provided for an annual
payment of $5 for every band member — a ritual that is practiced on
reserves to this day.
Not only were these treaties patently
one-sided and unfair, the understanding of their purpose and intent, and
the obligations of the parties to each other, were as unclear when they
were signed as they are contentious today.
At the center of this
misunderstanding was the very concept of what constituted “land”. For
the non-aboriginals, land was simply property that could be bought, sold
and “owned” like any other commodity in a mercantile or capitalistic
system. For the aboriginals, land was an extension of the self and the
Indian people. As Tecumseh noted, it could no more be sold than the air
or sea. The notion that land could be “surrendered” therefore, was
completely inimical to their very understanding of what was at issue. To
the aboriginals, they were not selling the land but merely sharing and
letting the crown use it.
For the Government, the treaties also
represented a straightforward legal transaction – a buy-sell arrangement
– where land was purchased in exchange for cash and services. For the
Aboriginals, the documents simply outlined relations between two
peoples. So for example, Treaty #6 (for the first time) provided the
Plain and Wood Creek Indians who signed it with a guarantee that the
Indian Agent would keep a medicine chest in his residence. To the
legalistic European mind the meaning of this provision was literal – the
Indian agent was given a physical medicine chest and their obligations
were finished. For the Indians, the “medicine chest” was metaphorical – a
guarantee of health care for all time.
At an entirely other
level of incomprehension, each party also had (and has) a completely
different interpretation of the status of the other and who they were
dealing with. The Aboriginals saw themselves as sovereign and the
negotiations as between two separate “nations”. The federal government
paid (and continues to pay) lip service to this notion, but their
behaviour makes it apparent that they viewed this as little more than a
quaint conceit and in reality, expected the First Nations to cede to the
authority and dominance of “the crown”.
It is this gaping chasm
between how the First Nations’ leadership and the federal government
view each other’s respective obligations, rights and status that has led
to the failure to modernize these treaties. It is also at the heart of
our ongoing bitter and acrimonious relations, destined to stay in this
sordid state of affairs until we come to acknowledge and accept these
differences.
When we puzzle at how it is possible for
Canadians – who view ourselves, above all else, as tolerant, reasonable
and a “good people” – to look on the plight of Canada’s indigenous
peoples with such indifference, we would be well advised to trace the
deeply rooted fear and misunderstanding Tecumseh triggered towards
Indians in his time. His uncompromising fierceness – both physically and
intellectually – was a direct threat to the North American ambition and
made him too dangerous to live. And to eliminate the Indian, it became
necessary to demonize and dehumanize the Indian. In this regard,
Tecumseh can be seen a metaphor for all Indians. The threat he posed and
the danger he represented was inherited by all Aboriginals at the time
and arguably, all who came after.
The significance of
Tecumseh in our history cannot be underestimated, yet for most of the
last 200 years, his power and the influence he wielded over Indian
thought has not been recognized as a significant part of our national
story. Perhaps more importantly, our failure to acknowledge the central
role indigenous people played in shaping our history – and the distorted
picture of that role, when it is offered – plays out in aboriginal and
non-aboriginal affairs to this day.
As with the tale of Tecumseh,
these modern relations have been marked by a repeated pattern – - of
misunderstanding, betrayal and ignoring.
While our record is far
from unblemished, Canadians did not massacre Indians on anywhere near
the same scale as the Americans. But we did “remove” them in much the
same way, relocating them to isolated and remote areas, relegating them
to the status of “the other” and hiding them out of sight from our
conscience. But it will be impossible to ignore them for much longer, as
indigenous people are now the fastest growing demographic in Canadian
society. Not only do we have a moral responsibility to come to grips
with what has become a stain on Canada’s international reputation, but
given the recognition of aboriginal rights in the Canadian Charter and
in a series of recent court rulings, failure to do so will invariably
mean that economic and resource development will come to a grinding
halt.
Tecumseh believed that his people and whites were
essentially different. He was and is right in this regard. The
temperament, world vision, spiritualism and especially the history of
aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians are worlds apart. Nothing in our
history or experience would provide non-aboriginals with a frame of
reference to understand why anyone would chose to live a 16th century
and isolated lifestyle in our interconnected digital world; or why
individual ownership of property would be contentious or divisive; or
why preserving and protecting “the land” would take priority over
exploiting and exhausting our resources; or why spiritualism, ceremony
or respect could be more valued than materialism, competition and
“winning”. And we lack this perspective not just because our history
does not include the surrender of our property, or the removal from our
homes or residential schools or the stigma of systematic second class
citizenship … in sum, of being misunderstood, betrayed and ignored for
200 years. We lack this understanding because we have never cared enough
to acknowledge these differences, learn their importance and accept
their permanence.
On this, the 200 anniversary of Tecumseh’s
death, if we really want to honour his contribution to saving Canada
perhaps it is time to end this pattern and set out to mend the wounds of
the past… or forever be haunted by his ghost. http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2013/10/05/tecumsehs-ghost/#.UlLxSFqEi1s
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Canadian students are becoming much more interested in Canada and our history.... ie the War of 1812 and the huge part Canadian Militia and above all First Nations heroes played - the First Nations knew they had to win our Canada.... and created the start of Confederation..... regardless of political identity- Canada and our history and our youth must come above all else..,.. wonderful for educators... students.... and Canada and our National Identity ...
Canada National Aboriginals Monument- 2013 now has DECODING ART
War of 1812 Bicentennial Highlights Unsung Aboriginal Heroes in Canada’s Creation
By ICTMN StaffJune 16, 2012
Though not much remembered south of the 49th Parallel, the War of 1812, seminal in the creation of Canada, was marked by alliances between aboriginals and the British. In fact, there are those who say that First Nations were integral to British victory and thus the very existence of Canada.
This weekend officially begins three years of bicentennial celebrations of the conflict in Canada, kicked off with a major ceremony in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where the Battle of Queenston was fought. Attended by Governor General David Johnston, the country’s commander in chief and the Crown’s representative in Canada, the events will also honor the role that aboriginals played in the war, a contribution that generally has been left out of history books and curricula.
"Ontario, and probably a good part of the rest of present day Canada, would now be part of the United States were it not for the native warriors who overwhelmingly came to the defense of the British Crown in the first year of the War of 1812–1814," writes James Bartleman, Chippewas of Rama First Nation and a sixth-generation descendant of an 1812 warrior, in The Globe and Mail.
"When Congress declared war on Britain on June 18, 1812, former president Thomas Jefferson, speaking from his estate at Monticello in Virginia, said ‘the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching.’ Henry Clay, speaker of the House of Representatives, claimed the conquest of Canada could be handled by the militia of Kentucky without any other help."
With Britain enmeshed in fighting against Napoleon, Bartleman points out, it was left virtually to the First Nations of the area to defend what would become Canada. For many key battles, the aboriginals, fighting alongside sparse British troops, were instrumental in driving back the American invaders. Most notable on that front was the memorable battle led by the great Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, who headed forces so formidable that they frightened the Americans into submission by preying on their fear of scalping.
Some thanks the aboriginals got, though: The ensuing decades brought the residential schools era, the Indian Act and the reserve system as Canada’s thirst for industrial development came to the fore. And that betrayal started at the tail end of the war.
"On April 27, 1813, Ojibwa and Mississauga sharpshooters were left to stop the landing of more than a thousand American soldiers at the Battle of York as the British troops conducted a strategic retreat out of the capital of Upper Canada," Bartleman writes. "On October 5, 1813, British troops under Major-General Henry Proctor fled the scene of battle at Moraviantown (the Battle of the Thames), leaving behind Tecumseh to be killed and his men to be mauled and eliminated as a fighting force."
Aboriginals are busy highlighting their role in the conflict and their contribution to Canada’s formation as a nation, both to get their contributions recognized and to draw continued attention to Canada’s origins as a cooperative venture that was supposed to take the best of what each side, aboriginal and European, had to offer, rather than subjugate one set of parties.
The Dakota Whitecap nation in Saskatchewan stands out when it comes to what was then the western frontier. They sent a few hundred fighters, headed by Scottish fur trader Robert Dickson (known as the Red-Haired Man in aboriginal circles), to help capture American installations on Mackinac Island on the western end of Lake Huron, Postmedia News reported. It was the war’s first victory.
The Dakota Sioux still know the War of 1812 as Pahinshashawacikiya, "When The Red Head Begged for Our Help," Postmedia News said.
"In Western Canada, there’s not really a lot of awareness of the War of 1812," Chief Darcy Bear, leader of Whitecap’s 600-member community, told Postmedia News. "But it’s basically the humble beginnings of our nation. Canada didn’t just happen in 1867—turn on a switch and Canada was there. There were actually relationships prior to that, and the British really relied on their First Nations allies."
Deadmans Island is the burial site of some 450 people from
around the world...prisoners of war...quarantine patients...
refugees...brought to Melville Island to be housed by
the Royal Navy...a considerable number died...
— Debate, Nova Scotia Legislature, 29 April 2004
War of 1812
Records Relating to
American Prisoners of War
Records Relating to American Prisoners of War, (1812-1815)
eleven microfilm reels
Special Collections Division, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri —
The records relating to Americans taken prisoner by British forces
during the War of 1812 form a portion of the Admiralty records in the
Public Records Office. The largest group of material is Medical Department:
Registers. This consists of ledgers of information on American
prisoners-of-war for prison ships and depots. The records were generated
in the process of receiving and housing prisoners and monitoring their
passage through the prison system. The ledgers recorded prisoners by
number, name, place of birth, age, and physical attributes. They also
recorded how the prisoners were taken, time and place of capture,
ship from which prisoners were taken, supplies issued, and disposition
of the prisoners. American prisoners were detained in
England (8 locations), Canada (3 locations), Bermuda, New Providence,
Barbadoes, Jamaica, Gibraltar, Malta, and Cape of Good Hope.
and..
cbc.ca
War of 1812 dead honoured in Halifax
Last Updated: Monday, May 31, 2010 | 6:03 PM AT
CBC News
A small ceremony was held Monday in Halifax.(CBC)
On a day when the United States remembered its war dead, Americans and Canadians gathered Monday on the windswept peninsula in Halifax known as Deadman's Island to remember those who fell in the War of 1812.
The act of remembrance was for the estimated 188 American soldiers who died as prisoners of the British army in the War of 1812, and were buried on Deadman's Island.
An informal ceremony has been held every Memorial Day since 2005 when the municipality bought the land and turned it into a park to prevent condominium development on the site.
Anton Smith, the U.S. consul general for the Atlantic provinces, attended the ceremony.
"British military authorities established a concentration camp here in this area, and a number of those who were imprisoned here succumbed," he said.
Britain was at war with the United States in disputes over territory and some of the Americans unfortunate enough to be captured were brought to what would have been a desolate spot on the Northwest Arm, then on the outskirts of the fortress town of Halifax.
"Disease was often a problem in the camps, sanitation was poor. This is an outpost — as we have experienced even today here in late spring — that can be pretty cold, and in those days, it wasn't very well protected," Smith said.
The soldiers who died were buried in the hillside alongside Chesapeake Black Loyalist refugees who died of small pox while in quarantine on nearby Melville Island.
When developers were about to put condominiums on the land, the issue that it was an unmarked burial ground was raised.
Smith said there are a lot of reasons the war dead were forgotten for nearly 200 years.
"Because it was a relatively small concentration camp, that period was very confusing. You had people going south, people going north. It was a period of confusion between our two countries," Smith said.
Smith said he's grateful to Canada and the people of Halifax for helping create the memorial site.
Old war's victims forgotten no longer: Privateers of War of 1812 buried in Halifax
by Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe Staff, 12 May 2000
[another copy of the above item]
and...
The WAR OF 1812 is crucial to Canada and it's time that political cheating national pride of our young Canadians (and by the by...in actuallity... their growing interest and awareness and pride in being Canadian) came before vicious political games..... IT'S ALL ABOUT FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES OF CANADA AND CANADA MILITIA.... and everyday folks.....of Canada and the beginning of our Confederation- Get used to it!... celebrate our First Nations, Inuit and Metis..... of Canada- millions of us do every day.
Heroes of the War of 1812
There were many heroes and heroines of the War of 1812, many unsung. Perhaps Brock, Tecumseh and Secord are the best known but there were others:
•British Regulars ?Major-General Sir Isaac Brock: The Hero of Upper Canada (1769-1812)
Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry, Canadian Officer in the British Army, Hero of Chateauguay (1778-1829)
James Prendergast, Unsung Hero of Crysler's Farm (1789-1834)
•First Nations Tecumseh, Shawnee War Chief (1768-1813)
John Norton (Teyoninhokarawen or "The Snipe") Six Nations War Chief (approx. 1765-1831)
John Brant , (Dekarihokenh, Ahyouwaeghs, or Tekarihogen), Mohawk War Chief (1794-1832)
Matthew Elliott, British Indian Department Superintendent, (approx. 1739-1814)
•WomenLaura Secord, Heroine of Beaver Dams (1775-1868)
Mary Henry, "A Heroine Not to Be Frightened" (approx. 1770-1830)
•Naval/Maritime Charles Frederick Rolette, Canadian Officer of the Royal Navy (1783-1831)
Joseph Barss, Privateer (1776-1824)
•African CanadianRichard Pierpoint, Black Veteran of three wars, (1744-1838)
•Upper Canadians William Hamilton Merritt, Cavalry officer and Canal Builder (1793-1862)
British Regulars
1. Major-General Sir Isaac Brock: The Hero of Upper Canada (1769-1812)
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock was born in St Peter Port, Guernsey on October 6, 1769. He was a British Army officer who was stationed in Canada in the early 1800s.
His early attempts to prepare the province for war were frustrating, especially in dealing with the Legislative Council in Upper Canada. Although the Council was willing to grant funds to strengthen the militia, they refused the suspension of habeas corpus once the war began. With the arrival of war in 1812, Brock initiated an aggressive campaign even though he was advised by his superiors to remain on the defensive.
Major General Sir Isaac Brock (a hero of the War of 1812 known for his efforts to ensure the preservation of Upper Canada).
Brock's most daring exploit occurred August 16, 1812, when he led a force of regulars and First Nations warriors in the successful capture of Detroit by creating the illusion of a much larger Canadian force with the help of Tecumseh, a leader of the Shawnee, and his warriors. He continued to strengthen Upper Canada after Detroit in preparation for an American assault somewhere on the Niagara frontier. The first major American attack occurred at Queenston Heights on October 13, 1812.
After losing his initial advantage in which the important Redan Battery cannon was captured, he rallied the troops that were present at the bottom of Queenston Heights and prepared to re-capture the Redan Battery position. Brock allegedly turned to his men and said "Take breath boys-you will need it in a few moments."
Brock led the troops himself in an attempt to charge up the Heights where he was singled out by an American marksman and killed instantly. British forces, Canadian militia, and First Nations warriors then rallied and drove back the Americans and forced nearly 1,000 to surrender. Today Brock's story serves as a reminder for all Canadians of his sacrifice at the Battle of Queenston Heights and his efforts that ensured the preservation of Upper Canada.
2. Charles de Salaberry, Canadien Officer in the British Army, Hero of Châteauguay (1778-1829)
Lieutenant Colonel Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry was born on November 19, 1778 in Beauport, Québec. He was a French-Canadian of the seigneurial class who served as an officer of the British army in Lower Canada (now Quebec) and raised a unit of light infantry from among his primarily French Canadian compatriots, known as the Canadian Voltigeurs.
In October 1813, Salaberry was summoned to proceed quickly from Châteauguay with his troops, which included French-Canadian militia and Mohawk warriors, to the Châteauguay River in order to fend off the much larger American force that was preparing to attack Montreal in order to cut off the British army in Upper Canada.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry (an officer of the British army in Lower Canada who raised a unit of light infantry from among his primarily French Canadian compatriots, known as the Canadian Voltigeurs).
Having foreseen that the Americans would cross the Châteauguay River, Salaberry placed forces, including the Canadian Voltigeurs, along with some Aboriginal forces, to form a blockade, while sending a small number of men across the river. A mile behind the blockade, about 1,400 militiamen, under Lieutenant-Colonel George Richard John Macdonell, were divided among four entrenchments one behind the other.
When the Americans began to approach the blockade, the American General Wade Hampton split his troops and sent about 1,000 men across the Châteauguay, leaving about another 1,000 in reserve at his encampment. The American troops did not manage to surprise Salaberry’s militiamen as he had succeeded in creating the illusion that his force was much stronger than it actually was and discouraged the Americans.
After about four hours of fighting on October 26, 1813, the American general ordered his troops to retreat. The Canadians remained at the blockade, ready to resume combat the following day. But the American general, who had received orders to take up winter quarters in American territory, thought that his superior had called off the attack on Montreal, and he moved his troops back towards the United States. The battle of Châteauguay therefore saved that town from a large-scale attack, with about 1,700 Canadians repelling around 3,000 Americans.
3. James Prendergast, Unsung Hero of Crysler’s Farm, (1789-1834)
James Prendergast was born in County Monaghan in 1789. In 1803, he joined the 100th Regiment of Foot of the British Army and came to Canada with that regiment soon afterwards. James worked his way up the ranks and by 1812 had been promoted to a staff sergeant, the paymaster sergeant for the regiment.
Soon after the War of 1812 broke out, James was stationed with his company on Île aux Noix in the Richelieu River in Lower Canada (Quebec). When two American gunboats, the Eagle and the Growler, which had sailed up the river, threatened the British garrison there, James Prendergast proved that he had courage and initiative. Leading some men of the 100th, he opened fire from the shore. When the American gunboats grounded in a desperate manoeuvre, James was able to capture the crew of one of the boats. For his initiative, he was promoted as Adjutant to the Corps of Canadian Voltigeurs, a French-Canadian regiment incorporated into the British Army.
While serving with the Voltigeurs, Prendergast was active in the Battle of Crysler’s Farm on November 11, 1813, when an outnumbered British force, together with the Canadian Voltigeurs militia and Mohawk warriors, drove off an American army twice the size. During the height of the battle, James led a group of soldiers in a wild charge to capture an American cannon. All but James and one other man were shot down during the charge but they managed to take the gun and then turn it on the Americans to fire into their retreating ranks.
Once again stationed in the Richelieu Valley, Prendergast again distinguished himself. When an American army invaded Lower Canada and besieged a small British force holding a blockhouse at Lacolle Mill, Prendergast rushed with reinforcements to the scene and immediately launched a desperate bayonet charge at the American cannon, carrying on through fearful casualties. The Americans were eventually forced to retreat. His commanding officer said of him: "on all occasions when engaged with the enemy, he has never failed to display the greatest energy and bravery."
After the war and the reduction of the army, James Prendergast was given an appointment as the land agent for the settlement of Clarendon Township in Pontiac County, Lower Canada. During a visit to Quebec City in 1834, he died of cholera. James Prendergast was one of the most active and courageous soldiers of the war of 1812, but his story is largely unsung. Being of humble origins without the patronage of the Upper Classes, a private soldier who had risen in the ranks in an army that was anything but egalitarian, there was no one to sing his praises and launch his name into the history books.
First Nations
4. Tecumseh, Shawnee War Chief, (1768-1813)
Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief born in 1768. He was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy that opposed the United States during the War of 1812. Tecumseh attempted to stop the advance of white settlement into the Old Northwest. Tecumseh believed that Aboriginal peoples must return to their traditional ways, forgetting intertribal rivalries and holding onto land that all Aboriginals held in common.
Tecumseh joined the British against the Americans in the War of 1812. His support for Major-General Sir Isaac Brock at the capture of Detroit was decisive. Before the British approach, Tecumseh's warriors showed themselves in a never-ending line to the Americans. The warriors at the head of the line doubled back to join the end of the line and it appeared to the American General that he was besieged by a massive force of warriors. This manoeuvre convinced the American General to surrender to avoid a massacre after Brock allegedly warned that the large support from Tecumseh's warriors would be beyond his control once a conflict had begun.
Tecumseh (Shawnee War Chief who joined the British against the Americans in the War of 1812).
Legend has it that Tecumseh rode beside Brock when he entered Detroit and that Brock gave him his sash as a mark of respect. Of Tecumseh Brock wrote: "a more sagacious or more gallant Warrior does not I believe exist. He was the admiration of everyone who conversed with him". As a brigadier general, Tecumseh led over 2,000 warriors and fought at the sieges of Fort Meigs, and Fort Stephenson, and his last battle was the Battle of the Thames at Chatham Ontario. There, clothed in traditional Aboriginal deerskin garments, he was killed leading his warriors in a final stand against the invading Americans.
5. John Norton (Teyoninhokarawen or "the Snipe") ca 1765-ca 1831, Six Nations War Chief
John Norton was born in Scotland to a Cherokee father and Scottish mother. As a young man he joined the British Army in Ireland in 1784. His regiment was shipped to North America in 1785. While stationed at Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York Norton befriended a number of Six Nations people and began to learn the Mohawk language. He also became fascinated with his First Nations heritage. He deserted the army in 1787 and began teaching school to Mohawk children at the Teyendinaga settlement. He left that profession in 1791 to begin a career as a fur trader and eventually as an interpreter for the British Indian Department at Fort Niagara and Fort George in Niagara. His skills in the Mohawk language were formidable and he translated the Gospel of John from the New Testament into that language. Norton was adopted by the Mohawk Nation and was appointed to be a diplomat and war chief for that nation in 1799.
Major John Norton (Six Nations War Chief during the War of 1812, who recruited hundreds Six Nations and Delaware warriors to assist the British forces at several key battles during the war).
Soon after the declaration of War of 1812, Norton recruited a few hundred Six Nations and Delaware warriors to assist Major-General Sir Isaac Brock on the Niagara frontier, which was threatened by a huge American army at Lewiston. On October 13, 1812, the Americans invaded at Queenston Heights. Norton and 100 warriors played a key role in the defeat of the American invasion force. Norton led more warriors at the Battle of Fort George, Stoney Creek, Beaver Dams and several other actions during the war. Norton was recognized at the time as the principal leader of First Nations allies in Upper Canada. While Norton was a War Chief and Pine Tree Chief of the Six Nations, he was also commissioned as a Major in the British Army.
In 1815, after the war ended, Norton spent more than a year in Britain and there published his journal that has proven to be an invaluable historic resource for studying First Nations History. He moved back to Upper Canada, settling on the Grand River in 1816 but legal and financial troubles beset him. In 1823 he headed off to Arkansas territory in the US and for the next few years wandered the southern states, dying around 1831. His burial site is unknown.
6. John Brant, ( Dekarihokenh, Ahyouwaeghs, Tekarihogen) (1794-1832), Mohawk War Chief
John was the son of the famous Mohawk War Chief Joseph Brant and he became, along with Norton, a leading war chief of the Haudenosaunee or Six Nations during the War of 1812.
When the War of 1812 broke out, Brant and Norton immediately recruited a number of Six Nations warriors and offered their services to British Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, commander of the British forces and President of Upper Canada (Ontario). The Six Nations under Brant and Norton played a key role in the Battle of Queenston Heights and at several important battles during the three-year conflict.
Brant remains an interesting character with feet planted in both worlds. He was brought up primarily at his father’s mansion in Burlington, eating off fine china plates and silver service, tended to by the Brant family’s slaves, but also was at home in buckskins among his Six Nations cousins on the Grand River. He moved to the Grand River reservation following the death of his father in Burlington in 1807. He was a well educated man, having studied in schools in Ancaster and Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and may have gone on to bigger things if he had not died young of cholera in 1832.
Following the War of 1812 Brant worked tirelessly to secure Six Nations land rights and have the British supply the Six Nations with deeds to their lands. In 1821 he travelled to England with Robert Johnson Kerr to petition the Crown to come to an agreement with the Six Nations over land rights. Their efforts proved unsuccessful and Brant returned to Upper Canada. The land issues remain unsettled.
At the end of the War of 1812 Brant had been given a commission as a Lieutenant in the British Indian Department and in 1828 was appointed as the superintendent of the Six Nations of the Grand. Two years later he was elected to the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada but lost the seat when the election was contested and the decision went against him.
Brant died in his 38th year during the cholera epidemic of 1832 and is buried in Her Majesty’s Chapel of the Mohawks in Brantford.
7. Matthew Elliott, British Indian Department Superintendent, (ca 1739-ca 1814)
Matthew Elliott was born around 1739 in County Donegal, Ireland and came to America in 1761, settling on the frontier of Pennsylvania. During the 1763 Native uprising, Elliott served in the army, marching to the relief of Pittsburgh. During this campaign he made friends with Shawnee people accompanying the British expedition. After hostilities ended in 1764, Elliott became a merchant and trader working among the Shawnee, Delaware and Mingo people in the Ohio Valley and learning the Shawnee language.
At the beginning of the American Revolution, Elliott tried to remain neutral and continue his trading enterprises. However, he chose sides in 1778 and rapidly became one of the most successful British agents who worked to forge alliances with First Nations against the rebellious colonies. Elliott continued to operate as a merchant but also led some very successful forays against the rebels, even capturing the famous American frontiersman Daniel Boone in a raid on Blue Licks, Kentucky.
After the revolution, Elliott established a large farm in Amherstburg, eventually owning 4000 acres of land. He continued to be a very effective agent for the Crown in their dealings with First Nations people in South-western Upper Canada, and the territories of surrounding Lake Erie, Lake Michigan and the Detroit River. Elliott was also appointed the Superintendent on the Detroit frontier by the British Indian Department. He continued to trade and lost his post as Superintendent when financial irregularities were suspected but was reappointed in 1808 when tensions with the US threatened war.
Elliott was heavily engaged with various First Nations leaders to strengthen alliances between the British and various Nations from the Detroit frontier as well as the Ohio Valley. Following an American invasion of Sandwich (Windsor) in July 1812, Elliott facilitated a meeting between Major-General Brock and key Aboriginal Native leaders including the Shawnee War Chief Tecumseh. Together they launched a bold and daring but successful campaign to capture Detroit, defeating a much larger American force.
Over the next year Elliott was active in campaigns against the Americans in the Ohio Valley. In the autumn of 1813, following the recapture of Detroit by the Americans and the abandonment of Amherstburg by the British, Elliott retreated with the army to Burlington area. He was now in his mid 70’s and the retreat led to a decline in his health which ultimately led to his death in 1814. He is buried in Burlington.
Women in the War of 1812
8. Laura Secord, Heroine of Beaver Dams (1775-1868)
Laura Secord was born on September 13, 1775 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Early in the War of 1812, Laura’s husband James Secord, a sergeant in the 1st Lincoln militia, was wounded in the battle of Queenston Heights and was rescued from the battlefield by his wife.
On June 21, 1813, Laura overheard that the Americans intended to surprise the British outpost at Beaver Dams and capture the officer in charge, Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. With her husband having been wounded in battle, Laura resolved to take the message to the British herself.
Image of Laura Secord meeting British forces after travelling more than 12 miles to warn of an American invasion at the British outpost at Beaver Dams.
The distance to the outpost by direct road was 12 miles but Laura feared she would encounter American guards, so she took a route through fields and forests, making her journey extremely challenging and physically exhausting. Finally, after crossing Twelve Mile Creek on a fallen tree, Laura came unexpectedly on a First Nations’ encampment. Although initially frightened, she explained her mission, and the chief took her to FitzGibbon.
Two days later, on June 24, 1813, an American force was ambushed near Beaver Dams by some 400 First Nations warriors led by Dominique Ducharme and William Johnson Kerr. FitzGibbon then persuaded the American forces to surrender with 462 men to his own 50 men. However, in the official reports of the victory no mention was made of Laura Secord.
An American victory at Beaver Dams would have given the U.S. control over the entire Niagara peninsula, jeopardizing Upper Canada. The successful battle assured British control over the region, and is credited foremost as a victory by the First Nations peoples.
9. Mary Henry, "A Heroine Not to be Frightened" (ca 1770-ca 1830)
Mary Madden was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and married Dominic Henry, a Royal Artillery gunner from County Derry in 1790. Dominic was soon shipped back to North America and posted to Niagara, bringing Mary with him. By 1803, Dominic was a retired pensioner and was appointed the keeper of the first lighthouse on the Great Lakes, built in the Town of Niagara (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) in 1803.
One year into the War of 1812, on May 27, 1813, a large American Army made an amphibious assault on Niagara, landing not far from the lighthouse. The Battle of Fort George was fierce, with 5000 American soldiers resisted by 800 British regular soldiers, Canadian militia and Aboriginal allies. The Americans had more than 80 cannons covering their landing, firing so many cannon balls, bursting shells and iron grapeshot that the American shot was described as falling like a hailstorm on the British defenders. The British put up a stiff resistance but were slowly driven back. The Americans captured the Town and Fort George and occupied the area for the next seven months.
During the landing and the extremely heavy bombardment, casualties were heavy with half the British and Canadians killed or wounded. During this entire action, Mary Henry walked the battlefield, bringing coffee and food to the troops and tending the wounded. A chronicler describes her selfless bravery:
"Suddenly they saw a vision. Walking calmly through the shower of iron hail came Mary Madden Henry with hot coffee and food, seemingly as unconcerned as if she were in her own small garden on the shore on a Summer evening before peace was shattered. Time and again she went and came back with more sustenance, apparently guarded by some unseen angel from the peril which menaced her every step. Through the day until darkness brought respite she was caterer and nurse, the only woman in the company to bind the wounds of those maimed in the fight. These who survived never forgot that day, nor the courage of Mary Henry."
On December 10, 1813 the Americans abandoned Fort George and Niagara, burning the entire town on their departure. The inhabitants, primarily older men, women and children, were given an hour’s warning before they were forced to abandon their homes and all of their belongings to the flames. The weather was frigid and the snow deep and many faced starvation as these refugees sought shelter. Because it was an aid to shipping for both the Americans and the British, the lighthouse and keepers house were spared. Mary brought the refugees out of the cold and provided medical care, hot drinks and food. "Many a family was saved that night by the hospitality of the old soldier’s wife."
After the war, the Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada recognized Mary’s courage by granting her a gift of L25 (pounds sterling) and referred to her "a heroine not to be frightened."
While Laura Secord seems to have received much more attention and is the only well-known heroine of the war, Laura’s life was never at risk during her famous walk. Mary Henry’s deeds of selfless bravery should not be forgotten.
Naval/Maritime
10. Charles Frederick Rolette, Canadian Officer of the Royal Navy, (1783-1831)
Charles Frederick Rolette was born in Quebec City in 1783 and joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman while a young teen. He served under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile in 1799 and at Trafalgar in 1805.
Returning to his native soil in 1807, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Provincial Marine, the government’s maritime service on the Great Lakes in British North America. Just before the outbreak of the War of 1812, Rolette was posted to Amherstburg as a First Lieutenant in charge of the brig General Hunter. When word of the outbreak of war reached Amherstburg on July 3, 1812, Rolette acted immediately, capturing an American vessel, the Cuyahoga, before the Americans in the Detroit area even became aware that their country had declared war on Britain. The first shots of the War of 1812 were fired in this brief engagement. On board the Cuyahoga were American commander General Hull’s papers and dispatches, providing the British with a great deal of intelligence on American strengths and deployment. Also captured on board were the wives of American officers and the instruments of the regimental bands. The British kept the papers and the musical instruments but returned the wives to Detroit.
Rolette was very active in the war, conducting several daring captures of American supply vessels and participating in land battles at the Capture of Detroit, the Battle of Frenchtown and the skirmish at the Canard River. He was severely wounded at Frenchtown in January 1813 but was able to return to duty by late summer of that year and commanded the British vessel Lady Prevost at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. The Americans won that battle. Rolette was again gravely wounded and captured when his vessel surrendered to the Americans. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner-of-war.
When the war ended, Rolette returned to Quebec City but never fully recovered from his wounds, dying in 1831 in his 49th year.
11. Joseph Barss, Privateer (1776-1824)
Joseph Barss was born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia at the time of the American Revolution. While still a young boy, he began sailing on his father’s fishing schooners operating out of Liverpool and by the time he was 20 was commanding one of his father’s vessels. At that time, England was at war with France in a conflict that would continue until 1815. As part of the war effort, the English offered "letters of marque" to ship owners who turned their vessels into "privateers," armed vessels that preyed on enemy merchant shipping. In 1798, Barss began his career as a privateersman on one of his father’s largest ships as third-in-command and the following year was given his own small schooner to command. In this vessel he managed to capture a few French prizes of war but ran his schooner up on a reef soon afterwards. He took command of one of the French prizes and continued his life as a privateer for a few years but a lack of French shipping and an abundance of British privateers chasing them made this occupation less profitable. So Joseph turned to trade and used his vessel for strictly mercantile business by the time of the Peace of Amiens in 1803.
Word of the outbreak of war arrived in Liverpool on June 28, 1812, when the fast schooner the Liverpool Packet brought dispatches to the port. This vessel was owned by entrepreneur Enos Collins of Nova Scotia and three other shareholders including two of Barss’s brothers. In late August, the government began to issue "letters of marque" to prey on American shipping. Collins received permission to turn the Liverpool Packet into a privateer and later appointed the experienced Joseph Barss as its captain.
For the next several months, Barss cruised near the American ports off Boston and Cape Cod and during the course of the war, he captured more than 50 American vessels. More than 30 of these were taken to British ports and sold, which earned huge profits for Collins and the shareholders. His luck finally ran out in June 1813 when Barss was forced to surrender to a large American privateer out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Barss was imprisoned in Portsmouth but was later paroled, that is released from custody on the promise that he would not fight again against the Americans. Barss reportedly broke that parole, captured some more American shipping but was taken again in 1814 and this time kept behind bars until the war was over.
After the war, Barss gave up sailing, buying a farm near Kentville where he died at the age of 48. The dashing Joseph Barss was the most successful privateersman of the War of 1812.
African Canadian
12. Richard Pierpoint, a Black Veteran of three wars, (1744-1838)
Richard Pierpoint was a lad of 16 in Senegal, Africa when he was seized and sold into slavery in 1760. He was purchased by an English officer named Pierpoint who had settled in New York’s Hudson Valley. Richard became this officer’s servant and adopted his surname. The officer and Richard were mustered during the 1763 Aboriginal uprising in British North America, but likely saw no action.
After the outbreak of the American Revolution, Richard was given his freedom and eventually became a soldier, joining John Butler’s corps of Rangers operating out of Fort Niagara. When the war of the revolution ended in 1783, Butler’s Rangers were disbanded and the men were provided with land grants in what would become the Niagara region of Ontario. Richard received 200 acres of land in present-day St. Catharines and became somewhat of a community leader among Niagara’s Black population.
When the War of 1812 broke out Richard Pierpoint petitioned Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, proposing the formation of an all-Black company of militia to fight alongside the British during the war. Brock agreed with the proposal and ordered the formation of what was known as the "Coloured Corps," a small company of about 40 men from the Niagara and York districts mustered under white officers. The 68 year-old Richard Pierpoint served as a private in the corps and served on active duty throughout the conflict, including the Battle of Queenston Heights on October 13, 1812 when the corps was mentioned in dispatches as having played a key role in that British victory.
The Coloured Corps fought at the Battle of Fort George in May 1813, and were active in the Niagara campaign of 1813. In 1814 they worked on construction of fortifications, many of the men of the company having skills in carpentry and masonry.
When the war ended, the British offered land grants to the veterans of the Coloured Corps, establishing settlements in Oro and Garafraxa Townships. He petitioned the government to provide passage for him back to Senegal in Africa but this was never granted. He was given another land grant of 100 acres in Garafraxa in 1822 and was able to build a house and clear a few acres there but he was too old to farm it properly. Pierpoint died there in 1838.
Upper Canadians
13. William Hamilton Merritt, Cavalry officer and Canal Builder, (1793-1862)
William Hamilton Merritt was born in New York State but moved with his family to Upper Canada in 1795, settling in Niagara where the city of St. Catharines would one day be established. Merritt was well educated and proved to be a brilliant businessman. While still a teenager he became a partner in a store but sold that interest in 1812 to take up scientific agriculture on the family farm.
When the War of 1812 broke out, his father Thomas, a Revolutionary War cavalry officer, formed a squad of light dragoons (cavalry) to operate in the Niagara Region during the war. Young Hamilton Merritt was commissioned as an officer in that troop and most often led the unit in action during the war. Merritt was very active through 1812 and 1813, often experiencing hair-raising adventures behind enemy lines as a scout and dispatch rider. He spent long hours in the saddle riding the back ways of the Niagara Peninsula and, in doing so, formed a plan to link Lake Ontario to Lake Erie through a canal system that would follow the path of existing creeks and waterways. This idea would give rise to the Welland Canal in the decade following the war.
Merritt was at the Battle of Lundy’s Lane in July 1814 when he mistakenly rode into the American lines and was captured. He spent the rest of the war in captivity in Massachusetts, returning to Niagara in 1815. On his return, he built a store in the village of St. Catharines, and began operating a grist mill nearby. He continued to petition the government to build a canal to link the Chippawa River to the 12 Mile Creek, climbing the Niagara Escarpment to provide passage between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. In 1824 the provincial legislature began work on the Welland Canal.
Merritt continued to be a pillar of the community, investing in major projects including the construction of a suspension bridge across the Niagara River. He also got involved in provincial politics and was elected to serve in the legislative assembly of Upper Canada. Merritt was on a business trip when he died near Cornwall in 1862.
Speaking Notes for the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages on the Occasion of the Official Launch of Commemorative Events for the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812
Toronto, Ontario
June 18, 2012
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Honourable colleagues,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Students from G.A. Brown Middle School who are here
— and I also know that the Willowdale Christian School students are going to be with us as well later on this morning—
Welcome to historic Fort York, site of the battle of York during the War of 1812 and home to Canada’s largest collection of the original War of 1812 buildings.
Thank you to the staff of Fort York and indeed to the City of Toronto for the outstanding work that they have done to make today possible. It’s a pleasure to be here on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
You know the War of 1812 was a defining moment in our country’s history. The War of 1812 was the fight for Canada.
And it was here where the Battle of York came to its violent climax in 1813. The U.S. Navy stormed our shores from Lake Ontario and occupied this fort and burned our Parliament buildings during the five-day occupation.
But our British, Canadian, First Nations and Métis troops persevered. After several more U.S. raids, British troops returned to York and rebuilt these fortifications. And, in 1814, our troops successfully repelled another American invasion using the fortifications that are still standing today.
As Canadians, we are used to thinking of our neighbours to the south as friends and allies. But, 200 years ago, American troops stormed our borders. Thomas Jefferson said the American invasion would be "a mere matter of marching."
British troops, Canadian militia and First Nations and Métis allies joined together to defend our borders. They fought bravely. They repelled the American invasion, and the Canada that we know today was the ultimate result.
Which is to say that without the War of 1812, Canada as we know it would not exist.
Without their bravery in the War of 1812, we might be flying a very different flag here at Fort York today.
Without the War of 1812, the French fact in Canada would not exist.
Without the War of 1812, the identity of our Aboriginal population would have been fundamentally changed.
The War of 1812 paved the way to Confederation for Canada in 1867.
The War of 1812 was the fight for Canada.
Those who demonstrated bravery and love for our country during the War became Canadian heroes: Sir Isaac Brock, Lieutenant Colonel Charles-Michel de Salaberry, Tecumseh, Laura Secord and many others.
The 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 is an opportunity for all Canadians to take pride in our traditions and our collective history.
The War of 1812 was instrumental in the creation of our military as well, and we are honoured today to be joined by the members of the Mississauga First Nations, whose ancestors served during the Battle of York.
And I would also like to acknowledge the presence of members of the Queen’s York Rangers.
It was just last month, in the presence of Prime Minister Harper and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, that the Queen’s York Rangers were recognized for two regiments of the York militia that served in defence of Toronto during the Battle of York.
This honour, won by the sacrifice of early Ontarians just two centuries ago, will now also be carried by the Queen’s York Rangers and three other Ontario regiments of the Canadian Army.
For more than 200 years, the Rangers have come to embody the spirit of sacrifice and service to our country.
I know the Rangers and their comrades in arms across the Canadian Armed Forces are proud to commemorate the War of 1812. That’s because today’s men and women in uniform will be the first to tell you of the importance of remembering the sacrifices of those who fought for Canada. These regiments perpetuate the legacy of those who fought for Canada, as do the proud descendants of our heroes from the War of 1812.
And, with respect to those heroes and their descendants, I would just like to point out some special guests who are with us here today. Actually, I would like to ask them to rise, if they wouldn’t mind.
Shari Graydon, who’s a direct descendant of Laura Secord is with us here today.
Nicholas de Salaberry, who’s a direct descendant of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles de Salaberry is here with us today.
And Gilbert Wahiakeron, a descendant of Major John Norton is also with us here today.
We’ll have the opportunity to hear from them briefly in a moment.
Recognizing Canada’s past is so essential to this country’s health and well-being today and indeed for the generations to come.
Over the next few years, our Government will continue to promote and recognize Canada’s history and our historic moments like the War of 1812.
We’ve already announced improvements to approximately 40 national historic sites, including here at Fort York, and we will continue to recognize and honour current Canadian Forces regiments in 1812 ceremonies.
During this bicentennial period, I invite all Canadians to visit a national historic site, take part in a local celebration or re-enactment, visit a local museum, talk to your friends and family, and learn about our country’s rich history so we can appreciate and cherish our heritage.
As I often say, Canada is the second-largest country in the world. But, in terms of population, we’re the 36th-largest country in the world. What binds us together is culture, a shared history, and the ability to talk to one another and understand our past and why we are the way we are today so we can pave the way for a prosperous and united future together.
Recognizing today’s anniversary, the bicentennial of the War of 1812, is an important step in recognizing our past, celebrating our heroes and understanding all those who have sacrificed so that Canada can today stand tall and proud.
Thank you all very much for being here. I appreciate your attendance. And thank you so much to all those who’ve made this day a reality. Thank you very much.
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Backgrounder
The Creation of the Commemorative Theatre Honour and Honorary Distinction "DEFENCE OF CANADA – 1812-1815 – DÉFENSE DU CANADA"
BG–12.045 - September 14, 2012
As part of the Government of Canada’s commemoration of the War of 1812, on September 14, 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the creation of an emblazonable Theatre Honour and a non-emblazonable Honorary Distinction, both entitled "DEFENCE OF CANADA – 1812-1815 – DÉFENSE DU CANADA". These new unit honours will be awarded to historical Canadian colonial units which saw active service during the War of 1812. In turn, these units will be perpetuated by current serving Canadian Forces (CF) units.
The Theatre Honour and the Honorary Distinction "DEFENCE OF CANADA – 1812-1815 – DÉFENSE DU CANADA" were created to recognize the contribution of historical units to the success of the War of 1812. They also serve to recognize their contribution to the foundation of Canada and the modern military forces in this country. The Theatre Honour is awarded to units who participated in a successful engagement against an armed enemy, whereas the Honorary Distinction is awarded to units who participated in other active service, such as garrison duties, or being held in reserve but have not been successfully engaged with the enemy.
For the purpose of the War of 1812 commemoration, the newly created Theatre Honour can be emblazoned or embroidered onto perpetuating unit Colours, Guidons, or Standards in the traditional battle honour scroll format. The Honorary Distinction is non-emblazonable and cannot be embroidered onto perpetuating unit Colors, Guidons, or Standards. It may, however, be placed on unit accoutrements such as letterhead, drum major’s sashes, drums and websites. In the latter case, there is no associated symbol or image to the Honorary Distinction and will be displayed in full, italicized text, as "DEFENCE OF CANADA – 1812-1815 – DÉFENSE DU CANADA".
In accordance with CF traditions and unit honours policy, historical Canadian militia units which are awarded these new honours can be perpetuated by current CF units. Other current units have been awarded the new honours directly to commemorate the service of Fencible regiments of the British Army that were recruited in North America. As such, to date the Chief of the Defence Staff has approved awards and the perpetuations listed below:
The Emblazonable Theatre Honour "DEFENCE OF CANADA – 1812-1815 – DÉFENSE DU CANADA" to be emblazoned on regimental colours
Historic Unit Awarded the Theatre Honour
Selection of Successful Engagements in which the Historic Unit Participated
Current Unit Inheriting the Theatre Honour through Perpetuation
5th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
Châteauguay (1813)
The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
1st Militia Light Infantry Battalion
Châteauguay (1813)
The Canadian Grenadier Guards
2nd Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
Châteauguay (1813)
The Canadian Grenadier Guards
4th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
Châteauguay (1813)
Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent
Longue-Pointe Division (1812-15)
Plattsburgh (1813)
Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal
1st Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
Châteauguay (1813)
Le Régiment de la Chaudière
Les Chasseurs
Châteauguay (1813)
Royal 22e Régiment
Beauharnois Division (1812-15)
Châteauguay (1813)
Royal 22e Régiment
Boucherville Division (1812-15)
Châteauguay (1813)
Royal 22e Régiment
Canadian Light Dragoons
Beaver Dams (1813); Fort Schlosser (July 1813)
The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal)
Frontier Light Infantry
Lacolle Mills (1814)
The Sherbrooke Hussars
Provincial Corps of Light Infantry (Canadian Voltigeurs)
Châteauguay (1813); Crysler’s Farm (1813)
Les Voltigeurs de Québec
3rd Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
Châteauguay (1813)
Not currently perpetuated
The Provincial Artillery Company
Stoney Creek (1813)
56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA
Provincial Royal Artillery Drivers (The Car Brigade)
Queenston (1812); Niagara (1814)
56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA
1st Regiment of Norfolk Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Niagara (1814)
56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA
2nd Regiment of Norfolk Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Niagara (1814)
56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA
Battalion of Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada
Niagara (1814)
The Brockville Rifles
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
The Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment
The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)
1st Regiment of Leeds Militia (1812-15)
Ogdensburg (1813)
The Brockville Rifles
The Loyal Kent Volunteers (Kent Rangers)
Niagara (1814)
The Essex and Kent Scottish
The Western Rangers (Caldwell’s Rangers)
Maumee (1813); Niagara (1814)
The Essex and Kent Scottish
1st Regiment of Essex Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Maumee (1813); Niagara (1814)
The Essex and Kent Scottish
2nd Regiment of Essex Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Maumee (1813); Niagara (1814)
The Essex and Kent Scottish
1st Regiment of Kent Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Maumee (1813)
The Essex and Kent Scottish
The Coloured Corps (Captain Runchey’s Company of Coloured Men)
Queenston (1812)
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
1st Regiment of Lincoln Militia (1812-15)
Queenston (1812); Niagara (1814)
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
2nd Regiment of Lincoln Militia (1812-15)
Queenston (1812); Niagara (1813-14)
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
3rd Regiment of Lincoln Militia (1812-15)
Queenston (1812)
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
4th Regiment of Lincoln Militia (1812-15)
Queenston (1812); Niagara (1814)
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
5th Regiment of Lincoln Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Queenston (1812); Niagara (1814)
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
1st Regiment of York Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Queenston (1812)
The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)
3rd Regiment of York Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Queenston (1812)
The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)
1st Regiment of Middlesex Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Niagara (1814)
The Royal Canadian Regiment
1st Regiment of Oxford Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812)
The Royal Canadian Regiment
2nd Regiment of York Militia (1812-15)
Detroit (1812); Queenston (1812); Niagara (1814)
The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment)
1st Regiment of Dundas Militia (1812-15)
Crysler’s Farm (1813)
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
1st Regiment of Glengarry Militia (1812-15)
Ogdensburg (1813)
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
2nd Regiment of Glengarry Militia (1812-15)
Ogdensburg (1813)
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
1st Regiment of Stormont Militia (1812-15)
Ogdensburg (1813)
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
Captain Fraser’s Troop of Provincial Light Dragoons
In addition, the current serving The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment and the 1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment will also receive the Theatre Honour to commemorate the service of the 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment of Foot. Likewise, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment will also receive the Theatre Honour to commemorate the service of the Royal Newfoundland Fencible Infantry, as will the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders to commemorate the service of the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles and the Royal 22e Régiment to commemorate the service of the Canadian Fencible Infantry.
The Non-Emblazonable Honorary Distinction
"DEFENCE OF CANADA – 1812-1815 – DÉFENSE DU CANADA"
Historic Units
Perpetuating Unit
1st Battalion, Shelburne Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, Shelburne Regiment (1812-15)
3rd Battalion, Shelburne Regiment (1812-15)
4th Battalion, Shelburne Regiment (1812-15)
84th Independent Field Battery, RCA
1st Battalion, County of Sydney Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, County of Sydney Regiment (1812-15)
1st Battalion, Cumberland Regiment (1812-15)
Parrsborough Corps (1812-15)
1st Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders
1st Battalion, East Annapolis Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, East Annapolis Regiment (1812-15)
1st Battalion, King’s County Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, King’s County Regiment (1812-15)
1st Battalion, West Annapolis Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, West Annapolis Regiment (1812-15)
The West Nova Scotia Regiment
1st Battalion, Charlotte County Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, Charlotte County Regiment (1812-15)
3rd Field Artillery Regiment, RCA
1st Battalion, Westmorland County Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, Westmorland County Regiment (1812-15)
8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s)
1st Battalion, Northumberland County Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, Northumberland County Regiment (1812-15)
3rd Battalion, Northumberland County Regiment (1812-15)
1st Battalion, Saint John County Regiment (1812-15)
1st Battalion, York County Regiment (1812-15)
2nd Battalion, York County Regiment (1812-15)
The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment and 1st Battalion,
The Royal New Brunswick Regiment
Corps of Provincial Royal Artillery Drivers
Royal Militia Artillery
2nd Field Artillery Regiment, RCA
8th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
Trois-Rivières Division (1812-15)
12e Régiment blindé du Canada
Corps of Canadian Voyageurs
Montreal Incorporated Volunteers
Montreal Militia Battalion
Provincial Commissariat Voyageurs
1st Battalion (City of Montreal) "British Militia" (1812-15)
The Canadian Grenadier Guards
2nd Militia Light Infantry Battalion
Canadian Chasseurs
Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent
2nd Battalion (City of Montreal) (1812-15)
3rd Battalion (City of Montreal) (1812-15)
Pointe-Claire Division (1812-15)
Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Dorchester Provincial Light Dragoons
1st Lotbinière Division (1812-15)
Le Régiment de la Chaudière
7th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
Beloeil Division (1812-15)
Chambly Division (1812-15)
Isle Jésus Division (1812-15)
St. Denis Division (1812-15)
St. Hyacinthe Division (1812-15)
St. Ours Division (1812-15)
Verchères Division (1812-15)
Royal 22e Régiment
Company of Guides
Royal Montreal Troop of Volunteer Cavalry
Argenteuil Division (1812-15)
Vaudreuil Division (1812-15)
The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal)
1st Battalion, Eastern Townships District (1812-15)
4th Battalion, Eastern Townships District (1812-15)
The Sherbrooke Hussars
6th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
1st Battalion (City of Quebec) (1812-15)
2nd Battalion (City of Quebec) (1812-15)
Beauport Division (1812-15)
Les Voltigeurs de Québec
Quebec Light Cavalry
Quebec Volunteers
3rd Battalion (City of Quebec) "British Militia" (1812-15)
L’Acadie Division (1812-15)
L’Assomption Division (1812-15)
Berthier Division (1812-15)
Blainville Division (1812-15)
Isle d’Orléans Division (1812-15)
Lavaltrie Division (1812-15)
Rivière du Chêne Division (1812-15)
Terrebonne Division (1812-15)
Yamaska Division (1812-15)
Not currently perpetuated
The Incorporated Artillery Company
7th Toronto Regiment, RCA
Provincial Corps of Artificers
31 Combat Engineer Regiment (The Elgin’s)
2nd Regiment of Leeds Militia (1812-15)
The Brockville Rifles
The Loyal Essex Volunteers (Essex Rangers)
The Essex and Kent Scottish
1st Regiment of Durham Militia (1812-15)
1st Regiment of Hastings Militia (1812-15)
1st Regiment of Northumberland Militia (1812-15)
1st Regiment of Prince Edward Militia (1812-15)
The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
1st Regiment of Addington Militia (1812-15)
1st Regiment of Frontenac Militia (1812-15)
1st Regiment of Lennox Militia (1812-15)
The Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment
The Loyal London Volunteers
The Royal Canadian Regiment
1st Regiment of Prescott Militia (1812-15)
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
Captain Adam’s Troop of Provincial Light Dragoons
Not currently perpetuated
In addition, the current serving The Halifax Rifles (RCAC) will also receive the Honorary Distinction to commemorate the service of the Nova Scotia Fencible Infantry. The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment and the 1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment, will also receive the Honorary Distinction to commemorate the service of the New Brunswick Fencibles.
The Making of Canada- thanks to our Aboriginals Peoples- who made us strong- British, French and r Militia.
Canada's Defence Minister Peter MacKay-
Backgrounder
War Of 1812 Battle Honours
BG–12.044 - September 14, 2012
June 2012 marked 200 years since the start of the War of 1812 – a war that saw Aboriginal peoples, local and volunteer militias, and English- and French-speaking regiments fight together to save Canada from the American invasion.
The War helped establish our path toward becoming an independent and free country, united under the Crown with a respect for linguistic and ethnic diversity. The heroic efforts of Canadians helped define who we are today, what side of the border we live on, and which flag we salute.
Commemorating key milestones of our nation’s history and rich military heritage, such as the War of 1812, serves to remind us of defining moments that made our country what it is today, and to honour those who fought valiantly to defend our values and freedom.
To pay tribute to regiments and soldiers who successfully defended Canada in the War of 1812, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on September 14, 2012, announced that battle honours will be awarded to select regiments that perpetuate 1812 units which participated in decisive battles for the defence of Canada in the War. The following Battle Honours commemorate the most significant victories of the War of 1812: "QUEENSTON", "MAUMEE", "CHÂTEAUGUAY", "CRYSLER’S FARM", "NIAGARA", and as previously announced. "DETROIT".
Queenston
On October 13, 1812, British, Canadian and First Nations Forces marched to Queenston to oppose an invasion by a numerically superior American army, forcing the surrender of nearly 1,000 soldiers. This victory early in the war was vital in bolstering the morale of Upper Canada as it showed that Canada could be successfully defended.
On September 14, 2012, the following regiments, linked to this pivotal engagement, were presented with Battle Honour "QUEENSTON":
•The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) Royal Canadian Armoured Corps (RCAC) (perpetuating unit of the 1st and 3rd Regiments of York Militia (1812-15));
•56th Field Artillery Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) (perpetuating unit of the Provincial Royal Artillery Drivers (The Car Brigade));
•The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment) (perpetuating unit of the 2nd Regiment of York Militia (1812-15)); and
•The Lincoln and Welland Regiment (perpetuating unit of the The Coloured Corps (Captain Runchey’s Company of Coloured Men) and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Regiments of Lincoln Militia (1812-15)).
Maumee
The Battle of Maumee took place on May 5, 1813, on the Maumee (or Miami) River in Ohio, USA. This battle occurred during the first siege of the American installation Fort Meigs, which was built in the aftermath of their loss of Detroit and the defeat at the battle of Frenchtown in January 1813. In an effort to forestall an American offensive against British-held Detroit, a small force consisting of British regulars, including the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, Canadian militia and First Nations allies attempted to capture the fort.
At the battle of Maumee during that siege, American forces suffered significant casualties and while the siege of Fort Meigs ultimately proved unsuccessful, the victory at Maumee bought the defenders of Upper Canada (Ontario) preciously needed time. Ultimately the American forces in the western theatre of the war were never able to combine with American troops in Niagara that year.
On September 14, 2012, the following regiments were presented with Battle Honour "MAUMEE":
•The Essex and Kent Scottish (perpetuating unit of The Western Rangers (Caldwell’s Rangers), the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Essex Militia (1812-15) and the 1st Regiment of Kent Militia (1812-15); and
•The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (to commemorate the service of the Royal Newfoundland Fencible Infantry).
Châteauguay
Fought on October 26, 1813, along the shores of the Châteauguay River near Montréal, the famous Battle of the Châteauguay proved to one of the most significant battles in Canadian history. Facing an American force almost ten times their size, a small band of only Canadian troops stopped the invading army from attacking Montreal. "Les héros de Chateauguay" became instantly famous throughout the province.
In late October 1813, two American armies were preparing to move on Montreal. The taking of Montreal would cut the supply line to the defenders of Upper Canada (Ontario) and position American forces to strike Quebec City the following spring. One American army of nearly four thousand troops, under Major General Wade Hampton, advanced on Montreal and took up position at Four Corners, New York, near the Chateauguay River. To counter Hampton’s army, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry was summoned to the Châteauguay River. Accompanying De Salaberry and his Canadians was a force of Seven Nations warriors.
Defensive positions were quickly established along on the west side of the river. On October 26, Hampton chose to strike. Aware of Canadian entrenchments, the American General divided his army in two. The plan was one half of his army would attack de Salaberry on the west side of the river. Meanwhile the other half of his army would cross the river and outflank or bypass de Salaberry’s men. Outnumbered, de Salaberry encouraged his buglers to play indiscriminately in order to make the enemy think his force was larger than it actually was.
Soon a force of almost two thousand American troops attacked de Salaberry and his four hundred defenders. Safe behind his abattis, de Salaberry’s stopped the American advance with a brisk and accurate fire. Meanwhile, to challenge the Americans moving forward on the east side of the river, Lieutenant-Colonel "Red George" Macdonell positioned to the rear sent two light companies from the 1er and 3e Select Embodied Militia. "In gallantry cannot be surpassed" is how de Salaberry described the bravery of these two companies who fought against the American troops in the thick woods on the east bank. After about four hours of fighting, the American general ordered his troops to retreat.
Expecting another attack, the Canadians stayed in their entrenchments for weeks, exposed continually to the rain and cold. Many suffered significantly from the foul weather and fell ill daily while they continued to defend their province. However the Americans had abandoned his plans and Montreal would never again be threatened so closely by an invading army.
On September 14, 2012, the following regiments were presented with Battle Honour "CHÂTEAUGUAY" to honour the defenders that fought there in 1813:
•Royal 22e Régiment (perpetuating unit of Les Chasseurs, Beauharnois Division (1812-15) and Boucherville Division (1812-15) and to commemorate the service of the Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry ;
•The Canadian Grenadier Guards (perpetuating unit of the 2nd Battalion, Select Embodied Militia and the 1st Militia Light Infantry Battalion);
•The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada (perpetuating unit of the 5th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia);
•Les Voltigeurs de Québec (perpetuating unit of the Provincial Corps of Light Infantry (Canadian Voltigeurs)).
•Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent (perpetuating unit of the 4th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia); and
•Le Régiment de la Chaudière (perpetuating unit of the 1st Battalion, Select Embodied Militia).
Crysler’s Farm
On November 11, 1813, as part of the same two-pronged thrust at Montreal that led to the battle of Chateauguay, a second American army landed near present-day Morrisburg, Ontario. In the Battle of Crysler’s Farm, the outnumbered British (including the Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry), reinforced by three companies of Quebec’s Canadian Voltigeurs, a troop of the Provincial Light Dragoons and thirty First Nations allies, staved off several American attacks, inflicting heavy casualties and forced the Americans to retreat from the field. As a result of the combined successes at Châteauguay and Crysler’s Farm, neither Montreal nor Kingston would be seriously threatened for the rest of the War.
On September 14, 2012, the following regiments were presented with Battle Honour "CRYSLER’S FARM":
•Royal 22e Régiment (to commemorate the service of the Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry);
•Les Voltigeurs de Québec (perpetuating unit of the Provincial Corps of Light Infantry (Canadian Voltigeurs));
•Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders (perpetuating unit of the 1st Regiment of Dundas Militia (1812-15)).
Niagara
Fought on the Niagara peninsula between December 1813 and September 1814, the Niagara campaign, which includes the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, was the last determined effort by the invading American army to gain exclusive possession of Upper Canada. Had the Americans succeeded in their invasion of the Niagara Peninsula, it could have led to their dominance of Lake Ontario and of Upper Canada. This also would have led to the isolation of Lower Canada and possibly to complete victory. Only through the determined efforts of allied forces was this offensive defeated.
After the War of 1812, the "NIAGARA" battle honour was originally awarded by the British Government to three units from Ontario and New Brunswick, specifically: The 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment of Foot, the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles and the Battalion of Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada.
On May 22, 2012, the following regiments were presented with Battle Honour "NIAGARA" through their collective perpetuation of the Battalion of Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada:
•The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC);
•The Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment;
•The Lincoln and Welland Regiment; and
•The Brockville Rifles.
In addition, to commemorate the service of the 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment of Foot, the Battle Honour "NIAGARA" will also be awarded to The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment stationed in Bathurst, N.B. and to the 1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment, stationed in Fredericton, N.B. Likewise, to commemorate the service of the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles, the Battle Honour "NIAGARA" will be awarded to the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders stationed at Cornwall, Ont.
On September 14, 2012, it was announced that the following regiments will also receive the Battle Honour "NIAGARA" to fully recognize the service of militia units during the Niagara campaign. These are:
•56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA (perpetuating unit of the Provincial Royal Artillery Drivers (The Car Brigade) and the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Norfolk Militia (1812-15));
•The Essex and Kent Scottish (perpetuating unit of The Loyal Kent Volunteers (Kent Rangers), The Western Rangers (Caldwell’s Rangers) and the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Essex Militia (1812-15));
•The Royal Canadian Regiment (perpetuating unit of the 1st Regiment of Middlesex Militia (1812-15));
•The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment) (perpetuating unit of the 2nd Regiment of York Militia (1812-15)); and
•The Lincoln and Welland Regiment (perpetuating unit of the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Regiments of Lincoln Militia (1812-15)).
Battle Honour previously announced for the War of 1812:
Detroit
The Battle of Detroit was fought in the territory bordering the Detroit River on August 15-16, 1812. After a failed attempt by the Americans to invade Canadian soil, a small force of regulars, including the Royal Newfoundland Fencible infantry, Canadian militia and First Nations allies set up cannon positions in Upper Canada and crossed the Detroit River to lay siege. With only a few shots from the cannon and a display of force, the Americans were bluffed into surrendering Fort Detroit, some 2,500 troops, and the entire territory of Michigan. From their new base at Fort Detroit, the British were able to support Tecumseh and his First Nations warriors in a joint offensive against the Americans in north-western Ohio early in 1813.
On August 15, 2012, the following regiments were presented with Battle Honour "DETROIT":
•The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC) (perpetuating unit of the 1st and 3rd Regiments of York Militia (1812-15));
•56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA (perpetuating unit of the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Norfolk Militia (1812-15));
•The Royal Canadian Regiment (perpetuating unit of the 1st Regiment of Middlesex Militia (1812-15) and the 1st Regiment of Oxford Militia (1812-15)); and
•The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment) (perpetuating unit of the 2nd Regiment of York Militia (1812-15));
•The Lincoln and Welland Regiment (perpetuating unit of the 5th Regiment of Lincoln Militia (1812-15));
•The Essex and Kent Scottish (perpetuating unit of the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Essex Militia (1812-15) and the 1st Regiment of Kent Militia (1812-15)); and
•The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (to commemorate the service of the Royal Newfoundland Fencible Infantry).
---------------------------
The enormous hardships of the American Indians made me weep after watching Steven Spielberg's INTO THE WEST.... ABOUT THE LAKOTA PEOPLES- Sitting Bull and the American Indians came 2 Canada in droves knowing they would be protected by GRANDMOTHER (Queen Victoria)- they loved her dearly- the AMERICAS FIRST PEOPLES 10,000 from Canada, America, Mexico onwards- then Australia and so on have been so hard done by... but nothing compares 2 America's Indians... and Into The West movie... imho
Siouan language speakers may have originated in the lower Mississippi River region and then migrated to or originated in the Ohio Valley. They were agriculturalists and may have been part of the Mound Builder civilization during the 9th–12th centuries CE.[1] In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Dakota-Lakota-Nakota speakers lived in the upper Mississippi Region in present day Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. Conflicts with Anishnaabe and Cree peoples pushed the Lakota west onto the Great Plains in the mid- to late-17th century.[1] Early Lakota history is recorded in their Winter counts (Lakota: waníyetu wówapi), pictorial calendars painted on hides or later recorded on paper. The Battiste Good winter count records Lakota history back to 900 CE, when White Buffalo Calf Woman gave the Lakota people the White Buffalo Calf Pipe.[3] Around 1730, Cheyenne people introduced the Lakota to horses,[4] called šuŋkawakaŋ ("dog [of] power/mystery/wonder"). After their adoption of horse culture, Lakota society centered on the buffalo hunt on horseback. The total population of the Sioux (Lakota, Santee, Yankton, and Yanktonai) was estimated at 28,000 by French explorers in 1660. The Lakota population was first estimated at 8,500 in 1805, growing steadily and reaching 16,110 in 1881. The Lakota were, thus, one of the few Indian tribes to increase in population in the 19th century.[5] The number of Lakota has now increased to about 70,000, of whom about 20,500 still speak the Lakota language.[6]
Scenes of battle and horse raiding decorate a muslin Lakota tipi from the late 19th or early 20th century.
After 1720, the Lakota branch of the Seven Council Fires split into two major sects, the Saône who moved to the Lake Traverse area on the South Dakota–North Dakota–Minnesota border, and the Oglála-Sičháŋǧu who occupied the James River valley. By about 1750, however, the Saône had moved to the east bank of the Missouri River, followed 10 years later by the Oglála and Brulé (Sičháŋǧu). The large and powerful Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa villages had long prevented the Lakota from crossing the Missouri. However, the great smallpox epidemic of 1772–1780 destroyed three-quarters of these tribes. The Lakota crossed the river into the drier, short-grass prairies of the High Plains. These newcomers were the Saône, well-mounted and increasingly confident, who spread out quickly. In 1765, a Saône exploring and raiding party led by Chief Standing Bear discovered the Black Hills (the Paha Sapa), then the territory of the Cheyenne. Ten years later, the Oglála and Brulé also crossed the river. In 1776, the Lakota defeated the Cheyenne, who had earlier taken the region from the Kiowa.[citation needed] The Cheyenne then moved west to the Powder River country,[4] and the Lakota made the Black Hills their home. Initial United States contact with the Lakota during the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806 was marked by a standoff. Lakota bands refused to allow the explorers to continue upstream, and the expedition prepared for battle, which never came.[7] Nearly half a century later, after the United States Army had built Fort Laramie without permission on Lakota land, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was negotiated to protect travelers on the Oregon Trail. The Cheyenne and Lakota had previously attacked emigrant parties in a competition for resources, and also because some settlers had encroached on their lands.[8] The Fort Laramie Treaty acknowledged Lakota sovereignty over the Great Plains in exchange for free passage on the Oregon Trail for "as long as the river flows and the eagle flies". The United States government did not enforce the treaty restriction against unauthorized settlement. Lakota and other bands attacked settlers and even emigrant trains, causing public pressure on the US Army to punish the hostiles. On September 3, 1855, 700 soldiers under American General William S. Harney avenged the Grattan Massacre by attacking a Lakota village in Nebraska, killing about 100 men, women, and children. A series of short "wars" followed, and in 1862–1864, as refugees from the "Dakota War of 1862" in Minnesota fled west to their allies in Montana and Dakota Territory. Increasing illegal settlement after the American Civil War caused war once again. The Black Hills were considered sacred by the Lakota, and they objected to mining. In 1868, the United States signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, exempting the Black Hills from all white settlement forever. Four years later gold was discovered there, and prospectors descended on the area. The attacks on settlers and miners were met by military force conducted by army commanders such as Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. General Philip Sheridan encouraged his troops to hunt and kill the buffalo as a means of "destroying the Indians' commissary."[9] The allied Lakota and Arapaho bands and the unified Northern Cheyenne were involved in much of the warfare after 1860. They fought a successful delaying action against General George Crook's army at the Battle of the Rosebud, preventing Crook from locating and attacking their camp, and a week later defeated the U.S. 7th Cavalry in 1876 at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which the Lakota call the Greasy Grass Fight. Custer attacked a camp of several tribes, much larger than he realized. Their combined forces killed 258 soldiers, wiping out the entire Custer battalion, and inflicting more than 50% casualties on the regiment. Their victory over the U.S. Army would not last, however. The US Congress authorized funds to expand the army by 2500 men. The reinforced US Army defeated the Lakota bands in a series of battles, finally ending the Great Sioux War in 1877. The Lakota were eventually confined onto reservations, prevented from hunting buffalo and forced to accept government food distribution.
January 17, 1891: Young Man Afraid of his Horses at Camp of Oglala tribe of Lakota at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, 3 weeks after Wounded Knee Massacre, when 150 scattered as 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 U.S. soldiers died.
Lakota storyteller: painting.
Oglala Sioux tribal flag
In 1877 some of the Lakota bands signed a treaty that ceded the Black Hills to the United States; however, the nature of this treaty and its passage were controversial. The number of Lakota leaders that actually backed the treaty is highly disputed. Low-intensity conflicts continued in the Black Hills.. Fourteen years later, Sitting Bull was killed at Standing Rock reservation on December 15, 1890. The US Army attacked Spotted Elk (aka Bigfoot), Mnicoujou band of Lakota at the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890 at Pine Ridge. Today, the Lakota are found mostly in the five reservations of western South Dakota: Rosebud Indian Reservation (home of the Upper Sičhánǧu or Brulé), Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (home of the Oglála), Lower Brule Indian Reservation (home of the Lower Sičhaŋǧu), Cheyenne River Indian Reservation (home of several other of the seven Lakota bands, including the Mnikȟówožu, Itázipčho, Sihásapa and Oóhenumpa), and Standing Rock Indian Reservation (home of the Húŋkpapȟa), also home to people from many bands. Lakota also live on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation of northwestern North Dakota, and several small reserves in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Their ancestors fled to "Grandmother's [i.e. Queen Victoria's] Land" (Canada) during the Minnesota or Black Hills War. Large numbers of Lakota live in Rapid City and other towns in the Black Hills, and in metro Denver. Lakota elders joined the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) to seek protection and recognition for their cultural and land rights. It is a little known fact that some of the American Sign Language came from the Lakota Sioux[citation needed].
Legally[10] and by treaty a semi-autonomous "nation" within the United States, the Lakota Sioux are represented locally by officials elected to councils for the several reservations and communities in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska. They are represented on the state and national level by the elected officials from the political districts of their respective states and Congressional Districts.[11] Band or reservation members living both on and off the individual reservations are eligible to vote in periodic elections for that reservation. Each reservation has a unique local government style and election cycle based on its own constitution[12][13] or articles of incorporation. Most follow a multi-member tribal council model with a chairman or president elected directly by the voters.
The current President of the Oglala Sioux, the majority tribe of the Lakota located primarily on the Pine Ridge reservation, is Theresa Two Bulls.
The President of the Sičháŋǧu Lakota at the Rosebud reservation is Rodney M. Bordeaux.
The Chairman of the Standing Rock reservation, which includes peoples from several Lakota subgroups including the Húŋkpapȟa, is Charles W. Murphy.
The Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe at the Cheyenne River reservation, comprising the Mnikȟówožu, Itázipčho, Sihá Sápa, and Oóhenuŋpa bands of the Lakota, is Kevin Keckler.
The Chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, which is home to the Lower Sicangu Lakota, is Michael Jandreau.
Tribal governments have significant leeway, as semi-autonomous political entities, in deviating from state law (e.g. Indian gaming.) They are ultimately subject to supervisory oversight by the United States Congress[10] and executive regulation through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The nature and legitimacy of those relationships continue to be a matter of dispute.[14]
There are nine bands of Dakota and Lakota in Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan, with a total of 6,000 registered members. They are recognized as First Nations but are not considered "treaty Indians". As First Nations they receive rights and entitlements through the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada department. However as they are not recognized as treaty Indians, they did not participate in the land settlement and natural resource revenues.[15] The Dakota rejected a $60 million land rights settlement in 2008.[16]
Beginning in 1974, some Lakota activists have taken steps to become independent from the United States, in an attempt to form their own fully independent nation. These steps have included drafting their own "declaration of continuing independence" and using Constitutional and International Law to solidify their legal standing. A 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision awarded $122 million to eight bands of Sioux Indians as compensation for land claims, but the court did not award land. The Lakota have refused the settlement.[17] In September 2007, the United Nations passed a non-binding Resolution on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada,[18] the United States, Australia and New Zealand refused to sign.[19] On December 20, 2007, a group of Lakota under the name Lakota Freedom Delegation traveled to Washington D.C. to announce a withdrawal of the Lakota Sioux from all treaties with the United States government.[20] These activists had no standing under any elected BIA tribal government. The group claimed official standing under the traditional Lakota Treaty Councils, representing the traditional Tiyóšpaye (matriarchal family units). These have been the traditional form of Lakota governance. Longtime political activistRussell Means said, "We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by." He was part of the delegation's declaring the Lakota a sovereign nation with property rights over thousands of square miles in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.[21] The group stated that they do not act for or represent the tribal governments set up by the BIA or those Lakota who support the BIA system of government.[22] The Lakota Freedom Delegation did not include any elected leaders from any of the tribes. Russell Means had previously run for president of the Oglala Sioux tribe and twice been defeated. Several elected BIA tribal governments issued statements distancing themselves from the independence declaration, with some saying they were watching the independent movement closely.[23] Although some Indigenous nations and groups around the world made statements in support, no elected Lakota tribal governments endorsed the declaration. In January 2008, the Lakota Freedom Delegation split into two groups. One group was led by Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane Martin Sr.). He is a leader of Cante Tenza, the traditional Strongheart Warrior Society, that has included leaders such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. This group is called Lakota Oyate. The other group is called the "Republic of Lakotah" and is led by Russell Means. In December 2008, Lakota Oyate received the support and standing of the traditional treaty council of the Oglala Tiospayes.
The name Lakota comes from the Lakota autonym, Lakota "feeling affection, friendly, united, allied". The early French historic documents did not distinguish a separate Teton division, instead grouping them with other "Sioux of the West", Santee and Yankton bands. The names Teton and Tetuwan come from the Lakota name thítȟuŋwaŋ, the meaning of which is obscure. This term was used to refer to the Lakota by non-Lakota Sioux groups. Other derivations include: ti tanka, Tintonyanyan, Titon, Tintonha, Thintohas, Tinthenha, Tinton, Thuntotas, Tintones, Tintoner, Tintinhos, Ten-ton-ha, Thinthonha, Tinthonha, Tentouha, Tintonwans, Tindaw, Tinthow, Atintons, Anthontans, Atentons, Atintans, Atrutons, Titoba, Tetongues, Teton Sioux, Teeton, Ti toan, Teetwawn, Teetwans, Ti-t’-wawn, Ti-twans, Tit’wan, Tetans, Tieton, and Teetonwan. Early French sources call the Lakota Sioux with an additional modifier, such as Scioux of the West, West Schious, Sioux des prairies, Sioux occidentaux, Sioux of the Meadows, Nadooessis of the Plains, Prairie Indians, Sioux of the Plain, Maskoutens-Nadouessians, Mascouteins Nadouessi, and Sioux nomades.
Lakota Beaded Saddle Belt, made ca. 1850
Today many of the tribes continue to officially call themselves Sioux. In the 19th and 20th centuries, this was the name which the US government applied to all Dakota/Lakota people. However, some of the tribes have formally or informally adopted traditional names: the Rosebud Sioux Tribe is also known as the Sičháŋǧu Oyáte (Brulé Nation), and the Oglala often use the name Oglála Lakȟóta Oyáte, rather than the English "Oglala Sioux Tribe" or OST. (The alternate English spelling of Ogallala is deprecated, even though it is closer to the correct pronunciation.) The Lakota have names for their own subdivisions. The Lakota also are Western of the three Sioux groups, occupying lands in both North and South Dakota.
^"Canada votes 'no' as UN native rights declaration passes". CBCNews. September 13, 2007. "Canada's UN ambassador, John McNee, said Canada had "significant concerns" over the declaration's wording on provisions addressing lands and resources"
Christafferson, Dennis M. (2001). "Sioux, 1930–2000". In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 2, pp. 821–839). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-050400-7.
DeMallie, Raymond J. (2001a). "Sioux until 1850". In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 2, pp. 718–760). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-050400-7.
DeMallie, Raymond J. (2001b). "Teton". In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 2, pp. 794–820). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-050400-7.
Matson, William and Frethem, Mark (2006). Producers. "The Authorized Biography of Crazy Horse and His Family Part One: Creation, Spirituality, and the Family Tree". The Crazy Horse family tells their oral history and with explanations of Lakota spirituality and culture on DVD. (Publisher is Reelcontact.com)
Parks, Douglas R.; & Rankin, Robert L. (2001). "The Siouan Languages". In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 1, pp. 94–114). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-050400-5.
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1.
Ullrich, Jan. New Lakota Dictionary. Lakota Language Consortium. ISBN 0-9761082-9-1. (The most comprehensive dictionary of the language, the only dictionary reliable in terms of spelling and defining words.)
