The year is 1611 – our count, not theirs – and Henry Hudson has just sailed down into James Bay and ripped on the first Indian he meets, thereby establishing the ground rules for the fur trade. The year is 1685, one of the two 'founding' nations is in charge, and the Marquis de Denonville, governor of New France, sends word home that Indians only 'pass on to us a great degree of what is most malicious in them and take themselves only what is bad and vicious in us.'
The year is 1763, the second 'founding' nation is taking over, and the commander-in-chief of British North America, Jeffrey Amherst, suggests his successor 'infect the Indians with sheets upon which smallpox patients have been lying, or by any other means by which may serve to exterminate this accursed race.' The year is 1841, democracy is coming, and Lord Sydenham, the governor feels compelled to point out that the native 'does not become a good settler . . . He occupies valuable land, unprofitably to himself and injuriously to the country. He gives infinite trouble to the government.
The year is 1886, democracy is thriving, and John A. Macdonald, the prime minister of the day, tells the House of Commons that natives 'are simply living on the benevolence and charity of the Canadian Parliament, and, as the old adage says, beggars should not be choosers.' The year is 1905, and finally the Canadian government is attempting to make treaty with native groups. 'Civilization' for natives announces Indian Commissioner Duncan Campbell Scott, is probably still four centuries off.
The year is 1975, modern times, and James Richardson, the defence minister asks, 'What did they ever do for Canada? Did they discover oil? They didn't even invent the wheel. Why, when we came here, they were still dragging things around on two sticks.'