NEGOTIATED IDENTITIES: A HISTORY OF SHARING AND INDIGENOUS-SETTLER RELATIONS IN WESTERN CANADA, 1800-1970 A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Department of History University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By LIAM HAGGARTY © Liam Haggarty, March 2015. All rights reserved. Permission to Use In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the department Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copy or publication use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any use which may be made of any material in my thesis. I ABSTRACT This dissertation is an analysis of sharing in the history of western Canada and Indigenous-Settler relations from 1800 to 1970. Based on original research conducted with two Indigenous groups – the Stó:lō Nation of British Columbia’s Fraser River Valley and Metis communities of northwest Saskatchewan – it documents the significance of sharing to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations at the turn of the eighteenth century as well as the role it played in mediating cross cultural interactions following sustained contact in the nineteenth century. Using ethnohistorical methods, I argue that sharing has been a defining feature of Native and Newcomer lives and collective identities. In Indigenous communities it insulated family groups from environmental variability while affirming kin-based social networks. Among non- Indigenous people, sharing provided the basis for imagined communities of individuals connected by religion, occupation, and other non-kin characteristics. In situations of cross-cultural interaction, sharing provided an important lens through which Natives and Newcomers viewed themselves and each other. Indigenous people have viewed sharing as the “Indian way,” a defining feature of Indigeneity in western Canada and elsewhere. Non-Indigenous people, on the other hand, have viewed Indigenous peoples’ dependence on welfare and other government transfer payments – recent examples of sharing – as evidence of cultural difference and, often, inferiority. Sharing thus provides a window into Native and Newcomer worldviews and socio-cultural structures as well as relations forged between and among them. This history of sharing illuminates subtle, critically important events and processes in the history of Indigenous-Settler relations and the transformation of Indigenous North America into Canada. II ACKNOWLEDGMENTS From its inception, this project has been collaborative and I have incurred many debts. Thank you to my supervisor, Keith Carlson, for seeing this project through from beginning to end. Your vision, thoughtful feedback, and belief in the importance of historical inquiry are inspiring and have benefitted me greatly as a graduate student and university professor. I am also grateful to my dissertation committee – J. R. Miller, James Waldram, and Jim Handy – for their assistance and valuable comments as well as my external examiner, Susan Neylan, for her thoughtful engagement with my work and ongoing support. Thank you to Erika Dyck for her unwavering encouragement and generosity; to members of the University of Saskatchewan (USask) History Department for creating an intellectually rich environment for learning; and to the many graduate students – John Clapperton, Stephanie Danyluk, Amanda Fehr, Katya MacDonald, Omeasoo Wāhpāsiw, Sarah Nickel, Matt Todd, and Matthew Mossey, among others – who made USask such a memorable place. I wish to thank members of the Humanities Department at Mount Royal University (MRU), especially Jennifer Pettit, Jarett Henderson, Kirk Niergarth, and Emily Hutchison for reviewing and discussing various aspects of this project. I also thank the students I’ve had the pleasure of teaching at MRU over the past four years for helping me develop and refine my ideas and arguments in the classroom. I am particularly indebted to Victoria Anderson, Sabina Trimble, and Whitney Bajric for helping compile the citations and bibliography for this dissertation. Thank you to the archivists and academics who facilitated my research, namely the Stó:lō Nation Archives, the Chilliwack Archives, the BC Archives, the Saskatchewan Archives Board, and Library and Archives Canada as well as Brenda Macdougall and Leanna Parker who shared aspects of their research with me. This research was supported by scholarships and funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the USask Department of History, and the USask College of Graduate Studies. I owe a heartfelt thank you to the communities in which I’ve had the good fortune of working. The Garner house in Chilliwack has become a second home for me and I’m grateful for the generosity of Dianne, Kevin, Shannon and Matt as well as other members of the Stó:lō communities, especially Tia Halstead, Dave Schaepe, Sonny McHalsie, and Tracy Joe. I am similarly thankful for the relationships I developed in northwestern Saskatchewan with Clement Chartier, Jules Daigneault, the Favel family, the Malbeouf family, and many others. This history of sharing is a product of the knowledge and warmth you graciously shared with me. Lastly, I thank my family, especially MacKinley, for their love, guidance, support and humour. I dedicate this to you. III TABLE OF CONTENTS PERMISSION TO USE ............................................................................................................................... I ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................ III TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................... IV LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... V CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: SHARING AND THE HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS-SETTLER RELATIONS ............................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO POWER AND PRESTIGE: STÓ:LŌ SYSTEMS OF SHARING ...................................... 41 CHAPTER THREE COMMUNITY AND HYBRIDITY: CREE, DENE, AND METIS SYSTEMS OF SHARING .................................................................................................................................. 82 CHAPTER FOUR CHARITY, ALMS, AND RELIEF: SETTLER SYSTEMS OF SHARING ...... 116 CHAPTER FIVE OF STRANGERS AND KIN: SHARING IN THE “FUR TRADE” .............................. 159 CHAPTER SIX TRANSFORMATIVE EXCHANGES: SHARING IN THE ERA OF RESETTLEMENT ................................................................................................................ 198 CHAPTER SEVEN IDEOLOGIES AND ASSIMILATION: SHARING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY .............................................................................................................................. 239 CHAPTER EIGHT CONCLUSION: REINTERPRETING THE HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS-SETTLER RELATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 279 BIBLIOGRAPHY – .............................................................................................................................. 292 IV LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 2.1: Map of S’ólh Téméxw, Stó:lō Traditional Territory, prepared for the B.C. Treaty Commission, 1995 ......................................................................................... 50 FIGURE 2.2: Map of Salish Sea, comprised of Lower Fraser River, Puget Sound, Strait of Georgia, and Strait of Juan de Fuca .......................................................................... 52 FIGURE 2.3: Diagram of salmon and other resource availability in S’ólh Téméxw by ecological zone .......................................................................................................... 54 FIGURE 2.4: DIagram illustrating the relationship between specific modes of exchange and the socio-spatial difference separating exchange parties ................................... 57 FIGURE 2.5: Image of “Scramble” during Coast Salish Potlatch, circa. 1920. .................. 75 FIGURE 3.1: Map of Indigenous and fur trade settlements and place names in present day Northwest Saskatchewan .......................................................................................... 91 FIGURE 5.1: Image of HBC fort at Île à la Crosse in 1908 .............................................. 170 FIGURE 5.2: Image of exterior of Fort Langley, 1862 ..................................................... 171 FIGURE 6.1: Sketch of the Oblate Mission at Île à la Crosse in 1860 ............................