THE BEAUTIFUL BISON WHO USED TO ROAM THE LAND THE INDIGENOUS ONCE CALLED HOME.

Look around. Phones from China, clothing from Bangladesh and food imported from everywhere. Lots of different sources to get our most simple daily requirements. Okay cool, now say bye bye to all of them. You're probably thinking "Okay holy shit what just happened?!". I understand, I'm also glad that you understand. Luckily, what I'm saying is a fantasy however, the Canadian Indigenous community went through their equivalent of this mystical armageddon during the destruction of the bison in the early 1800's.

The bison were more than just food and clothing to the Indigenous. The picture to the left of this beautifully written paragraph by me explains the different uses of the bison. Unfortunately, due to the intentional overhunting and, the unintentional disease brought by the Europeans, the bison population went from flourishing at 30 million down to about a measly 1000. More Europeans messing up more stuff.

Comparing it to our current situation (Read the first couple sentences of the blog if you don't understand). You can really start to understand how the loss and destruction of such a vast population could change up the world for the Indigenous. Try to relate to it personally, you'll understand.

Putting myself in their shoes, I can relate to this significant historical event through arguably my favourite childhood game, Minecraft. I easily played that game everyday of my childhood life for like 3 years at least. Playing in survival mode, its you and your surroundings, do the best you can and thrive. Break down trees, get wooden plants, theres floorboards for your little cave. It's quite simple. Take away the trees, the cows, chickens, pigs and, sheep. You're not making it through the first night. The game's whole purpose is to use your surroundings in order to survive, if you manage to survive, then you start to have a little bit of fun. (I basically just described real life.) However, my favourite way to spend an evening while watching tv with my brother was just digital. The Indigenous community had to deal with these repercussions in real life.

The destruction of this species was so influential. Not only did it rattle the Indigenous community, it also opened the doors for the reserve system, forced the Indigenous community adopt agriculture and unfortunately led to a lot of starvation. I think thats pretty messed up. Put yourself in the same shoes, how do you relate to the destruction of the bison?

ALSO! Something tells me that the majority of my upcoming blogs are gonna be in regards to Indigenous history and the community at large. Probably going to talk a lot about the mistakes Canada has made (theres a lot). Some of you like them, some of you don't. I personally am finding their history to be very interesting and learning a lot about their struggles. I'll do my best to make them interesting. Not that many of you care as the majority of my audience is other blog writers just here to copy and paste for a few minutes. But hey, if you're here for a few minutes, I might as well entertain you.

Links to Useful Resources!

Check out Minecraft:

https://minecraft.net/en-us/

What are bison?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison

Defining Indigenous:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/indigenous

Understanding the Reserve System:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-92_FqotnuvqbPGTFhmNu6ceMmrj6SmqXkbj0z7Ccy0/edit?usp=sharing