A study on the relationship between Canadian aboriginal peoples and the Canadian State
Aboriginal peoples are considered as one founding nation of Canada. Before European settlers arrived, Aboriginal peoples already had governance structures and legal systems. Aboriginal peoples had two choices: either adapt or assimilate to the foreign culture and system, or to keep its own and ignore the settlers, which ended up in conflict. The relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the settlers started through the signature of treaties. This relationship began with the French who arrived first and continued with the British, who won the war against the French in the 1860s.