How can Canadians be proud of being Canadian after understanding that our government has strategically massacred 90% of our indigenous population through various means of brutal and savage violence? The government of our country during the founding times showed no mercy to the people on this land before them, an example of this would be the Beothuk peoples. When physical violence became unfavorable, they used biological warfare. What they did was they weaponized smallpox and hid it in gift baskets for the native people to contract. Thirdly, the government stole their cultures away from them by forcing them into schools to kill the native in them, containing them in plots of land, and they forced rules that would mainly discourage most forms…show more content… The beothuk were an Algonkian-speaking native group that resided on the island of Newfoundland who were not that large number wise. They would live on the coast and would fish daily, they had nets created that were used to collect fish easily, they would catch salmon in the rivers and would also hunt seals with harpoons. Eventually during the year 1497, the Beothuk people met an explorer named John Cabot and for years to come after this the Beothuk peoples were regularly visited by many different europeans, fishermen and fur traders. However, during the 1700’s the Europeans began to create permanent settlements on their land, causing them to distance themselves from the settlers by isolating themselves. Eventually the Beothuk, during the 1800’s, had to compete against the settlers and the fur traders for things which led to several conflicts and deaths. Furthermore, the fishermen began to overwhelm them and destroy their nets, causing them to retreat into the woods for sanctuary, though that did not help. To add to their struggles, they were now plagued with European disease and were being hunted down, killed or captured by the Europeans. They eventually were completely taken out by the Europeans purely because they wanted their land and did not care about them as people…show more content… It was permitted and suggested by Jeffery Armherst, a British army officer and commander-in-chief during Pontiac’s War, after they were stuck in Fort Pitt. At Fort Pitt, during a besiege, there were two Delaware dignitaries inside of the fort in order to keep a parlay were given two blankets and a handkerchief straight out of the smallpox hospital to infect the native groups that have not attacked yet. Furthermore, after the passing of infected items, Amherst spoke “that can serve to extirpate this execrable race.” They hoped that this means of biological warfare would further eat away at the native people and could be used to their unfair and unjust
