Contributions

"God blessed [male and female] and said to them: Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every living creature that moves on the ground."

The Bible Genesis 2, 28

"The language we speak [indigenous peoples] is an affront to the ears of the colonist in every way, because it is a language that challenges the fundamental tenant of Western thinking – that humans alone are possessed of rights and all the rest of the living world exists for human use."

Robin Wall Kimmerer

[More than 50% of our farm products consists of plants used by the Indigenous peoples. They include tomatoes, pumpkins, potatoes, corn, beans, peanuts, beans and chocolat. They also provided us with many medicines.]

"The Indians (north and south) gave the world three fifths of the crops now under cultivation."
Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers

[potatoes, cotton (long strand), rubber, tobacco, corn, beans, squashes, peanuts, sunflowers, Sweet potatoes, cacao, amarunth, peppers, tomatoes, cranberries, chili, tapioca, pecans, papaya, cashews, blueberries, avacado, etc.]

"Hospitals for the poor would be useless among them because there are no beggars. Those who have are so liberal to those who are in want, that everything is enjoyed in common. The whole village must be in distress before any individual is left in necessity."
Jesuits describing the Iroquois

"The canoe . . .  was to be used as our principal means of transportation – personal, governmental, military and commercial – for several centuries. Why? Because the First Nations had developed the appropriate means of transport for our road system, that is, our rivers and lakes."
John Ralson Saul, A Fair Country

"Every inch of penetration westwards by first the francophone and then the anglophones was dependent on Native support for guidance, food, tactics and negotiations."
John Ralston Saul, Reflections of a Siamese Twin

"The most consistent theme in the descriptions penned about the New World was amazement of the Indians personal liberty, in particular their freedom from rulers and from social classes based on ownership of property. . . Modern democracy as we know it today was as much the legacy of the American Indians, particularly the Iroquois and Algonquins, as it is of the British settlers, or French political theory, or of all the failed efforts of the Greeks and Romans."
Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers

"When all the men are heavy laden, they can neither hunt nor travel to any considerable distance . . . Women, added he [Matonabbee, Hearne's Chipewyun guide], were made for labour; one of them can carry, or haul, as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night; and, in fact, there is no such thing as travelling any considerable distance, or for any length of time, in this country, without their assistance. Women, said he again, though they do every thing, are maintained at trifling expense; for as they always stand cook, the very licking of their fingers in scarce times, is sufficient for their subsistence. . .  In a country like this. . . a partner in excessive hard labour is the chief motive for the union. . . when the men kill any large beast, the women are always sent to bring it to the tent: when it is brought there, every operation it undergoes, such as splitting, drying, pounding, etc. is performed by the women. When any thing is to be prepared for eating, it is the women who cook it."
Samuel Hearne, Oct. 1770

"Indian trails throughout North America invariably follow the best line of travel through a wild country."
Henry Spencer Palmer, Royal Engineer Report on the Harrison-Lillooet Trail, 1859

"If one understands the native religion of my people, it is not difficult to understand why so many of us embraced the gospel of Christianity. There was simply not that much difference between what we already believed and what the missionaries preached to us. . . The Christian concept of sharing was nothing new to us."
Chief John Snow, These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places

"We found almost everywhere Indians willing to labour hard for wages, and bargaining acutely for [them]; and perfectly acquainted with gold-dust, and the minute weights for measuring one and two dollars worth . . . It was the uniform practice of storekeepers to entrust these Indians with their goods, generally 100 lbs. of flour, beans, or pork, and provisions for their burdens . . . My impression of the Indian population is, that they have far more natural intelligence, honesty, and good manners, than the lowest class – say the agricultural and mining population – of any European country I ever visited, England included."
Mathew Baillie Begbie, 1861

"Nearly every Stó:lo adult male found employment in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad between 1879 and 1885. BC Indian Commissioner I. W. Powell… 'paid out nearly $300,000 for Indian labour alone. Stó:lo men supplied the C.P.R. with timbers for bridges and tunnels, worked as labourers laying down rails, and assisted in the masonry work reinforcing hill-sides, among other tasks."
Keith Thor Carlson, ed. You Are Asked to Witness: The Stó:lo in Canada's Coast History

"Taking them altogether, the British Columbia Indians are remarkably industrious, enterprising, self-reliant, honest, sober and law-abiding. They are good neighbours."
Department of Indians Affairs, Annual Report, 1902.