Canadians at Table. Dorothy Duncan

and hunts. A few bands appear to have settled in extended family groups or tribes in different geographical areas and survived by adapting in different ways to the food that could be found there. For example, the archaeological record tells us that among the oldest sites on the West Coast of Canada was one that occurred in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haidi Gwaii) of present-day British Columbia between 10,000 BC and 8000 BC. There a combination of rich marine resources, bird flocks, and animal herds would have eased the challenge of survival.[3] Archaeologists believe there are many other early sites on Canada’s coastlines. However, they are probably now underwater.

      Abundant coastal vegetation provided both food and medicines. Blackberries and thimbleberries were flavourful additions to the diet and, in combination, were often used to cure nausea and vomiting. Roots of wild ginger were employed not only as a seasoning, but were also boiled to produce tea that was taken to cure indigestion and colic.

      Like the early settlers on the Pacific Coast, other bands and nations eventually chose specific locations — on the dry, short grass of the prairies, for instance, some grew adept at hunting bison, one of the few big-game species to survive the Ice Age. These animals were found in large numbers after the glaciers retreated; in fact, it is believed that at one point six million roamed the prairies. Incredible patience was needed to pursue bison on foot, for it took days of slow stalking and an intimate knowledge of the animal’s habits. Perhaps several bands would co-operate in a game drive. They would encircle a few beasts or, more often, stampede a herd into a swamp or a narrow defile. In some cases, they would drive the frightened creatures over a cliff or into dune areas.[4] After the slaughter, every part of the animal was utilized to survive — for food, medicine, clothing, and shelter. A large animal like the bison could provide meat for weeks, even months, if it was properly preserved by drying or smoking.

      Farther to the east the woodlands and lakes teemed with smaller game, fish, and birds, and this plenitude attracted other bands. Communities developed at strategic locations on rivers and creeks to take advantage of caribou crossings, fish runs, and places where passenger pigeons nested. The men hunted while the women tended the nets and gathered wild plant foods, berries, and nuts. Ancient hearths have been discovered where meat and fish were cooked slowly on hot rocks.[5] Here, too, in the Great Lakes region, stretching from today’s Manitoba through Ontario and into Quebec, was clay suitable for forming bowls and pots for food storage and preparation, and some pottery shards have been found that resemble cooking vessels from Siberia.[6]

      In this area, the rich soil was cleared and crops were planted using pointed digging sticks, then was tended with crude wooden hoes, fertilized with whole fish, and harvested. Those tribes that realized the benefits of staying in one location and nurturing certain plants and crops were transformed from hunters and gatherers into farmers. Such tribes learned that maize (corn), beans, and squash assured them an annual and adequate food supply that was easily stored and traded to non-farming people as needed. These three foods took on a symbolic role. Native peoples considered maize to be their Sacred Mother, one of the Three Sisters, along with beans and squash, that should be planted together in hills and eaten in tandem.

      In this region, too, were sugar maple trees with the gift of sweet sap, proving that the Great Creator was again providing both food and a strengthening medicine for their needs. When the “sugar moon” appeared in the spring, it was the signal that the people should move to the sugar maple groves and prepare for the ceremony of thanksgiving, in which they feasted, told stories and legends surrounding other harvests, and then began the harvest of the sap. The sap was placed in wooden or birchbark containers, then hot rocks were dropped into them until eventually the sap thickened into syrup to be used in cooking soups, puddings, fish, fowl, or game. Quantities of the thick syrup were also poured into cooling troughs and kneaded by hand or with a paddle until they were thick and creamy. This soft sugar was poured into moulds and stored to be used later by the harvesting families, or to barter with other tribes.

      In the cool, rich virgin soil of the hardwood forests lurked a plant that became known as ginseng (Panax quinquefolium). This traditional Native medicine was called ginens and was used as a stimulant and to ease stomach pains and bronchial disorders, as well as to alleviate headaches, fever, asthma, and nausea. Long before European explorers ventured onto the North American continent, Dr. Stanley Holling tells us that medicine men in the Lake of the Woods area were using local plants to heal the sick.

      Sarsaparilla was employed for coughs, while small spruce cones were eaten to cure sore throats. Blueberry flowers were dried and placed on hot rocks, and the fumes were inhaled to cure “craziness.” Common chickweed leaves, steeped in hot water, were applied to sore eyes. The root of the lady’s slipper was chopped up and moistened to form a poultice to be applied to relieve a toothache. Nettle roots were steeped to cure urinary-system difficulties and dysentery. Sumac blossoms, cut when the white bloom was on and boiled down in water, cured dysentery. Chewing the sumac root cured a sore mouth or aided a youngster who was teething.[7]

      In the north, the evergreen forests were dotted with rivers and lakes and provided wildlife in abundance — moose, deer, and bear, as well as small game. In marshy areas, wild rice grew freely, another gift of the Great Creator. In the fall, when the “rice moon” appeared, the people would move out to camps near the rice fields in preparation for the ceremony of the first rice and for the harvest, which was carried out by the women.[8] The men then processed the rice in preparation for storing it for the long winter ahead, either as food or as another valuable barter item.

      Farther east still, in the St. Lawrence River region and the land bordering the Atlantic Ocean, other bands and tribes harvested the riches of the land, rivers, and sea. The discovery of artifacts at several sites on the Atlantic seaboard has established a human presence dating back at least ten thousand years, when the land that later became Prince Edward Island was still joined to the mainland. Here nomadic bands are believed to have hunted caribou, seal and walrus, fish and birds.[9] They combined hunting with foraging, turning to the pursuit of the white-tailed deer and other smaller mammals as many of the large Ice Age animals vanished. By 8000 BC, a widespread shift to more generalized hunting and gathering was underway. The peoples of the eastern woodlands exploited a broad variety of foods and forest resources, consuming such foods as grey squirrels, nuts from the annual harvests, and seed-bearing grasses. It is believed that small game, fish, mollusks, and vegetable foods assumed greater importance in Native diets.[10]

      In eastern Canada, the First Nations used local plants such as fiddleheads and blueberries for food, dyes, and medicine. Seed-bearing grasses, bark, and other natural materials were utilized for weaving baskets to hold and store food and other possessions. These, too, were valuable barter items among their own tribes and nations, and later proved to be appealing to the newcomers as barter or sale items.

      For centuries First Nations and newcomers have treasured fiddleheads, the small green curled fronds of the ostrich fern that appear in low-lying wooded areas along streams in March and April.

      On the island that became known as Newfoundland and the area known as Labrador, the First Nations had a rich diet of salmon, flounder, smelt, geese, cormorants, seabird eggs, beaver, moose, wolves, lynx, hare, porcupine, and bear. They would hunt caribou during the animal’s annual fall migration, not only for food but for the skins, which would be sewn together (fur inward for warmth) for cloaks and moccasins. Tools made of four-thousand-year-old walrus ivory and others made of bone, ivory, antler, and stone, dating to periods over the past eleven thousand years and including some artifacts produced by the now-extinct Beothuk people, have survived. Expert knowledge of fish behaviour and seasonal spawning patterns was key to the survival of Native communities who valued the hide, ivory, and oil of the walrus, and the oil of the porpoise.[11]

      In the spring, many First Nations would move to the shores of the waterways and oceans to dig clams, mussels, and oysters, while others would spear shad, bass, salmon, and gaspereau (alewives). In mid-April, the suckers (a relative of the carp) began to run, and traps were set for them. The fish were filleted, tied in bales, and carried from camp to camp. During the summer, the First Nations speared pickerel, sturgeon, trout, and whitefish, which were either dried or eaten fresh, wrapped in bark or leaves, and