b'TRADE HISTORYwegettoLatePrecontact,thelast 2,000 years, the trade networks were THE IPETCAhighly established.WAMPUM BELT Walker says it is likely that trading groupsfromtheinteriorofBritish Fo r m a l g i ft - g i v i n g a s a n i n t e g r a lColumbiawerecomingthrough p a r t o f I n d i g e n o u s t r a d e n e g o t i a t i o n sthemountainpassesoutontothe northernplains,tradingforbison parts while in the American South-westtherewerealmost-professional traders coming in through Mexico.EXTENSIVE EARLY TRADEInECHO:Ethnographic,Cultural andHistoricalOverviewofYukons FirstPeoples,VictoriaElenaCastillo, Christine Schreyer and Tosh Southwick of the University of British Columbia assimilate numerous research sources thatshowhowextensivelyYukon Indigenous groups were trading with one another: Hn with Tutchone and Gwichin, and Gwichin with the Inuit near the mouth of the Mackenzie River.Gift-giving has long been part of trade negotiations among Indigenous peoples, so when the International Inter-tribal Trade and Investment Organization (IITIO)In addition, in the 1800s, the Coastal was engaged in discussions about IPETCA, we decided that we wanted toChilkatTlingitofsouthernAlaska give the Crown of Canada a gift, says IITIO chair Wayne D. Garnons-Williams.maintained a network of trade routes that only they could use. These routes This fitting gesture, which took place in Ottawa on June 23, 2022, echoes thou- wereguardedverycarefully,and sands of years of Indigenous practice. peoplewerenotpermittedtopass Gifts could take many forms. In the West, jade objects may have been ainlandortothecoastunlessthey common choice, according to University of Saskatchewan Professor Emeritus ofhadpermissionfromtheTlingit, Archaeology and Anthropology David Meyer. Jade is found in large quantitiestheywrite.Seafood,textiles,furs along the Fraser River in B.C. Indigenous people used it to make axe bladesandcoppernuggetswereamong and adze blades because it can be ground to produce a really sharp cuttinggoods that were exchanged through edge, Meyer says. A lot of the intricate artisanal woodwork like totem polescomplexsystemsthatwouldsee were made with jade blades. Tlingitcaravanstraversingbroad geographical expanses to trade with Decorative jade blades are found on the Pacific coast, and we get just a scat- their neighbours.tering of them through central Alberta and Saskatchewan, Meyer says. We think that, in some cases, people would trade ordinary material, but they wouldThepeoplewhobelongtowhat also exchange presents before the real trading got underway. We think thatarcheologistscallOldCopper these wonderful jade items were passed from trade partner to trade partner.Culture(whichendedabout1000 Theyre aesthetic items, but never used. BC) produced a wonderful array of In choosing an appropriate gift for the Crown, however, IITIO drew insteadspear points, little axe heads, knives upon the Woodlands tradition of using wampum belts made with shell beadsand ice chisels out of copper; these to honour and record an agreement. The gift was a wampum belt created byare very common in sites in Minnesota Lori Spirit-Hawk, a clan-mother of the Hawk clan and a member of the Abenakiand Wisconsin, reaching into southern Nation, with glass beads instead of shell. It was presented in a cedar box madeManitoba,andwegetafewitems by Jack Stafford of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The intention is to createinSaskatchewanandevenAlberta, future belts in true wampum as international Indigenous trade agreements resultsays David Meyer, Archaeology and in greater wealth for the communities that participate in them. AnthropologyProfessorEmeritusat the University of Saskatchewan. By Wampum belts carry meaning and act as memory-keepers, and the design ofthe way, this use of copper is as old as the IPECTA wampum belt is significant. The background blue is for the oceans,metalworking anywhere in the world. and the pattern depicts pairs of figures that stand for the partnership of the Crown and Indigenous peoples. The figures are close together, as if in agree- Certainly, there appears to have been ment, but neither dominates the other. The repeated pattern represents thetrading between the buffalo hunters potential for IPETCA to be embraced by people all over the world. ontheCanadianPrairiesandthe villagers of the middle Missouri River 50A CCAB PUBLICATION2023'