Culturally, Native societies, in what became the province
of Alberta, practiced community building and sharing. More
than just assuring people’s survival, such as donating the
shares of a hunt to their less fortunate members, Native
people also incorporated sharing in their trading alliances.
An archeological dig in Alberta’s Cypress Hills has
excavated a campsite that was used by First Nations people
for more than 8,000 years. According to archeologist Dr.
Gerry Oetelaar, people have lived in Alberta for 10,800
Trading among different Native groups existed long before
the arrival of Europeans. For example, archaeological
evidence indicates that the Assiniboine and the Cree traded
fur hides and preserved meats for corn, bean, and squash
with the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa to the south.
Complex trading patterns among Native allies often
involved travelling over long distances by well-known
waterways. Cooperation, sharing, generosity, and trading
were essential to community building and survival. These
trading sessions could last for weeks with ceremonies and
gifts exchanged before the actual trading began.
Europeans encountered a people who were accustomed to
trading and sharing. Trading goods and forming kinship
alliances through marriage was not a foreign concept to
Native societies. For many Native groups, the arrival of
Europeans meant opportunities to increase their power, trade
for desired goods such as horses, gunpowder, firearms, awls,
fabric, sewing needles, kettles, knives, and hatchets, and
to form kinship alliances. For Europeans, the fur trade and
partnerships with Native groups meant that not only could
they survive in an unknown wilderness, it meant they could
profit from European's ravenous appetite for fur.
Numerous accounts by early fur traders and explorers
reveal that they would have died, especially during their
first winter, had it not been for Native people taking them
in, feeding them, protecting them – and in many instances,
it had nothing to do with anticipating a material exchange.
In 1788, explorer David Thompson wrote:
I became emaciated till the berries became ripe and the
kind hearted indian women brought me plenty… for my support.
This was pure charity for I had nothing to give them and I
was much relieved.
Charles McKenzie, who was in charge of a small post near
Lac Seul, married Mary McKay, a daughter of Nor'Wester
William McKay and Josette Latour. Known for her
industriousness, Charles wrote his children in the early
1850s about their mother's hunting prowess and generosity.
Your Mother …is still as brisk as a Bee — She must take
her hunting exercise. … I believe She snared upwards of 600
Rabbits this winter — merely to give them to the people —
whose wives do not set a snare.
Generosity and sharing was reciprocal. As fur trading
forts and posts were established, many would shelter and
give sustenance to Native people, especially if there were
Potentially, some forms of volunteer effort can put
individuals into dangerous, possibly life threatening
situations. For example, Treaty Natives were not compelled
to enlist during World War I or World War II, yet many did
volunteer and gained a widespread reputation for their sharp