Aboriginal Nations and the Canadian Nation

In the winter of 1763, Nipissing and Algonquin messengers were dispatched across Indian country. They carried strings of wampum and spread word of an important conference to be held at Niagara Falls. Two thousand chiefs gathered the next summer. There were Mic Mac from the east coast, Cree from the north, Iroquois from Lake Ontario, Lakota from the west—twenty-four nations in all. They were met by William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, who presented wampum belts and gifts to negotiate a peace between the British and the First Nations