Page 96 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 9 to 12 | First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies

Grade 10, Open
THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 9–12 | First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies
B1.3 identify key political pacts, treaties, alliances, and confederacies among First Nations prior to 1500 in what would be called North America, and explain their purpose (e.g., the Great Law of Peace solidified the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and served as a covenant with respect to represen- tation and good governance; peace and friendship treaties represented in wampum belts among the Three Fires Confederacies helped members gain access to trade routes controlled by Haudenosaunee nations)
Sample questions: “What conditions prompted First Nations to develop pacts, treaties, and alliances with each other during the precontact period?” “What role did the commodities trade play in the development of alliances between nations?”
B2. Communities, Conflict, and Cooperation
FOCUS ON: Historical Significance; Cause and Consequence
By the end of this course, students will:
B2.1 analyse historical statistics and other sources to identify populations, settlement patterns, and traditional territories of First Nations and Inuit societies at the time of contact in what would be called North America, with a particular focus on the territories that would become Canada (e.g., the geographic and/or linguistic groups prior to contact in territories in and bordering on what would become Canada; migration patterns
of pre-Dorset and Thule peoples; overlapping territories; population estimates prior to sustained contact with Europeans), and explain their significance
Sample questions: “What were the migration routes of various Arctic peoples?” “Why did so many precontact First Nations live in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands? Why were populations sparser on the plains and in the
North?” “How is the fact that First Nations have lived on their lands since time immemorial relevant to modern-day land claims?” “What means did First Nations and Inuit use to avoid and/or address conflict with each other over their hunting, gathering, and/or settlement regions? What protocols/practices were used to recognize First Nations’ traditional territories?”
B2.2 analyse the key causes and consequences of the creation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (e.g., with reference to trade and the economy, community well-being, internal cooperation between member nations, external conflict with other nations, the role of The Peacemaker and Hiawatha)
Sample questions: “What do you think were the most significant short-term consequences of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy?” “What values and beliefs are expressed in the Great Law of Peace? What is their significance for the Six Nations? For other First Nations?”
B3. Identities, Cultures, and Self-Determination
FOCUS ON: Historical Significance; Historical Perspective
By the end of this course, students will:
B3.1 describe some First Nations and Inuit accounts of their origins and early history
(e.g., creation stories, migration stories, peace
and friendship histories), and analyse some ways in which these accounts have been treated in Canadian history as well as some factors that have contributed to this treatment (e.g., the dom- inance of Western religious beliefs and political ideologies; power inequalities; imperialism/ colonialism; federal/provincial governments’ interest in challenging the validity of land claims or Indigenous rights; scientific practices; conflicting beliefs about what constitutes historical evidence)
Sample questions: “When you consult a source about the origins of Indigenous peoples in North America, are you more likely to find archaeologists’ perspectives or Indigenous creation stories? If both approaches are presented, is one characterized as more credible? If so, why do you think that is the case?” “How were historical accounts documented, maintained, and passed down by Indigenous communities?” “Why might a historical idea, account, or explanation accepted in the past not be accepted today?”
B3.2 analyse ways in which social and political structures, including roles and kinship systems, of some First Nations and Inuit societies prior to 1500 in what would be called North America contributed to the identities and well-being of these societies and interrelationships in them (e.g., with respect to the roles of chiefs, council members, shamans, prophets, Elders, storytellers, sewers and garment makers, drum keepers, healers, warriors, hunters, gatherers, farmers; kinship systems such as clans; patrilineal and matrilineal societies)
Sample questions: “What social roles were common to most First Nations? What roles were unique to specific nations?” “In what ways did the social and/or political structures of First Nations of the Northwest Coast tend to differ from those of nations in what is now
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