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French Canadians, furs, and Indigenous women in the making of the Pacific Northwest Cover Image Book Book

French Canadians, furs, and Indigenous women in the making of the Pacific Northwest

Barman, Jean 1939- (author.).

Summary: In French Canadians, Furs, and Indigenous Women, Jean Barman rewrites the history of the Pacific Northwest from the perspective of French Canadians involved in the fur economy, the indigenous women whose presence in their lives encouraged them to stay, and their descendants. Joined in this distant setting by Quebec paternal origins, the French language, and Catholicism, French Canadians comprised Canadiens from Quebec, Iroquois from the Montreal area, and métis combining Canadien and indigenous descent. For half a century, French Canadians were the largest group of newcomers in this region extending from Oregon and Washington east into Montana and north through British Columbia. Here, they facilitated the early overland crossings, drove the fur economy, initiated non-wholly-indigenous agricultural settlement, eased relations with indigenous peoples, and ensured that, when the Pacific Northwest was divided in 1846, the northern half would go to Britain, giving today's Canada its Pacific shoreline. In the generations that followed, Barman argues, descendants did not become Métis, as the term has been used to describe a people apart, but rather drew on both their French Canadians and indigenous inheritances to make the best possible lives for themselves and those around them. -- Review from ubcpress.ca

Record details

  • ISBN: 0774828048 (cloth)
  • ISBN: 9780774828048 (cloth)
  • Physical Description: print
    xiv, 458 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
  • Publisher: Vancouver, BC : University of British Columbia Press, [2014]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references (p. 368-430) and index.
Formatted Contents Note: List of illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I: French Canadians and the fur economy: I. To be French Canadian -- 2. Facilitating the overland crossing -- 3. Driving the fur economy -- 4. Deciding whether to go or to stay -- Part 2: French Canadians, Indigenous women, and family life in the fur economy: 5. Taking indigenous women seriously -- 6. Innovating family life -- 7. Inititating permanent settlement -- 8. Saving British Columbia for Canada -- Part 3: Beyond the fur economy: 9. Negotiating changing times -- 10. Enabling sons and daughters -- 11. To be French Canadian and Indigenous -- 12. Reclaiming the past -- Appendix: French Canadians arrived with the fur economy who figure in the text -- Notes -- Works cited -- Index.

Search for related items by subject

Subject: Northwest, Pacific -- History
Fur trade -- Northwest, Pacific -- History
French Canadians -- Northwest, Pacific -- History
Indigenous women -- Northwest, Pacific -- History
Indigenous peoples -- North America

Available copies

  • 2 of 2 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Prince Rupert Library. (Show preferred library)

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  • 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Holdable? Status Due Date
Prince Rupert Library 979.5 Barm (Text) 33294001889740 Adult Non-Fiction Volume hold Available -
Sechelt Public Library FN 979.5 BARM (Text) 3326000340279 First Nations Volume hold Available -
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  • Choice Reviews : Choice Reviews 2015 April

    Barman (emer., Univ. of British Columbia), a leading historian of Canada, has written one of the "few comprehensive modern histories of the province"—The West and beyond the West: A History of British Columbia (1991).  She has examined the neglected regional legacies of Hawaiians, French Canadians, and Indigenous women.  This new volume depicts the unheralded French Canadian men and, more frequently, their obscure Indigenous women partners who contributed to the development of the Pacific Northwest.  The fates of the earliest of them were intertwined with the first five non-indigenous continental crossings made in 1793–1812 and the lucrative fur trade in the west.  Barman asserts that French Canadians made these ventures safe and expeditious.  They were blacksmiths, traders, and coopers and were lauded for their facility with boats.  Indigenous women had a degree of mobility within the fur trade economy.  They were often demonstrably responsible for their French Canadian partners' attachment to work and place.  The economy relied on reciprocity between Indigenous populations and trading companies, thus their agency was critical.  They and their progeny provided a home life for male partners in this "obscure hole" of the Pacific Northwest.  Barman documents her work and provides sources and guides to other work on her subject. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.

    --L. De Danaan, Evergreen State College

    Llyn De Danaan

    Evergreen State College

    http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/CHOICE.188516

    Copyright 2014 American Library Association.
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