Prepare an essay of approximately 3,000 words on a topic of your choice. While a list of suggested topics is provided, you may choose a topic of your own after consultation with the course instructor. The object of this essay assignment is to develop your analytical abilities, critical faculties, and writing skills. Be sure to use your source materials appropriately and to document all references using one consistent documentation system such as MLA, APA, or Chicago style. Your essay must be typed and double-spaced. (Reminder: The information gathered in your first assignment should be a good starting point as you work on this essay.)
Suggested Essay Topics
1. Why did Cartier receive a warm reception from the Mi’kmaq and Haudenosaunee peoples he encountered on his early voyages to the Atlantic coast of Canada?
2. What happened to the “Saint Lawrence Iroquois” between the voyages of Cartier and Champlain?
3. Why did Champlain find it so difficult to make progress into the heart of North America on his voyages in the early seventeenth century?
4. Account for the Haudenosaunee “Mourning War.” Why did other nations (like the Mi’kmaq) adopt the Haudenosaunee view of warfare?
5. Why did the Jesuits succeed in converting the Wendat people?
6. Why were the Five Nations Iroquois so successful in their destruction of Wendake (also known as Huronia) in 1649?
7. Why did the Haudenosaunee launch the attack on Wendake in the first place?
8. What happened to the Wendat people after their home was destroyed?
9. With the fall of the Wendat civilization, New France was left without an ally in the pays d’en haut (the upper Great Lakes). To whom did the French turn for help? Why?
10. Why did the Ojibwa and Odaawa Nations trade furs with the French at Bawating, Michilimackinac, and Montreal?
11. Prepare a brief history of the “Fox Wars.”
12. What was life like at a Hudson’s Bay Post?
13. What role did the Odaawa and Ojibwa Nations play in the wars of the eighteenth century?
14. Write an account of Obwandiyag’s (also known as Pontiac) siege of the fort at Detroit OR the attack at Michilimackinac.
15. Why did Thayendanegea (or Joseph Brant) side with the British against the Americans?
16. In the early nineteenth century, many of the Odaawa and Ojibwa peoples of Michigan went to Manitoulin Island or to the new reserves in southern Lake Huron. Why?
17. What was life like at a residential school?
18. Discuss the nature of the contribution Louis Riel made to the history of the Canadian West.
19. What did Mistahimaskwa (also known as Big Bear) and Pitikwahanapiwiyin (also known as Poundmaker) hope to achieve by challenging the Dominion government?
20. Evaluate the choices First Nations peoples made during the treaty-making process. Choose a particular treaty as an example and determine whether or not the process was fair.
21. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian Act of 1876?
22. With reference to a particular land claims case, define the concept of land rights as it has been developed since the treaty-making process. How has this concept changed since the precontact period?
23. Will the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report benefit First Nations peoples?
24. How did the events at Oka in the summer of 1990 change the lives of Indigenous Peoples across Canada?
25. Account for the failure of the proposed First Nations Governance Act.
26. What important lessons can be drawn from the final report of the Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Committee?