Diplomacy

Common goal...

Relations between Europeans and Aboriginal peoples had one point in common: both parties sought to do business and thereby improve their living standards.

... with very different methods

Early explorers used diplomacy to survive the long journeys through territories where Aboriginals lived and hunted. Their deals centred on the goods that Natives had to offer and those that Europeans sought. The two main trading companies who later fought over this territory, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC), used their influence in very different ways.

Controlled from London by aristocratic governors, the HBC behaved like a nation-state with absolute authority over its employees and the inhabitants of its territories. The HBC even issued its own currency and maintained a fleet of armed ships. Relations between HBC officers and Natives were very formal, limited to meetings with tribal chiefs.

For its part, the NWC operated in a strictly commercial capacity. However, as Quebec's largest commercial enterprise, the company had political influence in Lower Canada. Diplomatic ties with Native peoples were much more direct, as witnessed by the large number of mixed marriages and the Métis descendants of these marriages.

Native diplomacy

The concept of private ownership of land was foreign to Aboriginal peoples. In their view, the need to find food justified the use of any lands. Consequently, more than one group could share a territory.

Fur trade diplomacy involved important rituals. Before negotiations began, the parties exchanged gifts - a Native protocol that Europeans adopted. The NWC offered military-styled red coats to Native trading captains, whose people appointed them to trade furs with the Company.

A ceremony ensued which involved smoking the peace pipe. Natives demanded to be treated as friends and insisted upon fair exchanges. Company clerks and bourgeois sought to assure their trading partners that they were important customers, that goods on offer were nothing but the best quality.

The voyageur's vital role

The voyageur's intimate connection with Native peoples illustrates his essential part in diplomacy. However, he was less acknowledged than his superiors, given his low rank in the company hierarchy. Having a knowledge of Aboriginal languages and worldviews, the voyageur actually played a vital role. Brigade guides and hommes du Nord were especially skilled and therefore important.

Trading en derouine was one area in which the voyageurs made a unique contribution to diplomatic relations. The bourgeois of the posts often sent experienced voyageurs to trade this way. Outfitted with trade items, the men would travel directly to a Native camp or village to exchange the goods, returning later to the post with furs. Trading en derouine often took place in winter and early spring, when Native trappers harvested the best furs.

The voyageur's influence is also evident in his role as a crucial link among widely separated regions. He was the moving force in the NWC's supply chain, akin to a 21st century trucker transporting her company's merchandise over enormous distances.

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