Fact Sheet

The First Peoples Hall

Shock Wave

"When there were no people in this country but Indians (L'nu'k), and before any others were known, a young woman... dreamed that a whole island came floating in towards the land, with tall trees on it, and living beings..." - From Mi'kmaq story of first encounter with white men, 1504

Visitors entering the final zone of the First Peoples Hall confront moments of first contact between Europeans and First Peoples - events that actually occurred at various times between the eleventh and twentieth centuries. Contact was, as Cree playwright and author Tomson Highway has said, "a shock wave that was felt by Indian people right across the continent. And is still felt to this day."

Trading operations started by the new arrivals soon became permanent settlements. As interactions and relationships between Aboriginal peoples and Europeans created new families and communities, a new people, the Métis, emerged.

The consequences of European settlement were, for the most part, devastating to Aboriginal populations. The political, societal and religious views of the Europeans began to overpower complete and complex Aboriginal societies. The First Peoples experienced dark times in their history and suffered great losses, not only to their way of life, but also to their identity.

Disease, extinction, armed conflicts, colonial laws and policies took their toll on the lives and identities of the First Peoples.

While European colonial expansion and the resulting change in control relegated the First Peoples to an inferior position in Canadian society, the strong spirit of First Nations, Métis and Inuit remained. By the mid-1900s, the First Peoples had began a cultural renaissance that continues today.