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Analysis Of The Book ' The Visions ' By Brett Rushforth Essay

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Contrary to popular belief, unfreedom and slavery was not unheard of in early Canada. In Jacques Viger L 'esclavage en Canada/The Slave in Canada, he presents documentation of "purchase, regulation, and manumissions of Panis (Aboriginal) and Black slaves in early Canada," shining a light on an "often ignored" part of Canadian history . Through his article in the Visions textbook, Brett Rushforth exposes the horrifying ways in which unfreedom was practiced within Indigenous populations in the Pays d’en Haut. While Robin Winks focuses on the reason for the slow emergence of Negro salves within New France, and Kenneth Donovan concentrates on the role and experience of slaves, specifically in Ile Royale. Through their articles, these historians pull back the curtain that shrouds the truth of slavery and unfreedom in early Canada, unmasking the widely accepted deception that Canada was slave free.
According to Brett Rushforth, slavery already existed within Indigenous groups in the Pays d’en Haut pre-contact; it was not something that the English or the French introduced. Through Jesuit missionaries’ documentation, Rushforth paints a gory picture of how these Indigenous groups practiced forms of unfreedom. The role of slavery within these groups are strongly focused on the act of dominance and power over their enemies, and less on "the production of commodities" . In Rushforths ' article, he quotes the writings of Sebastien Rale, who states that when an Indigenous warrior

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