The history of Christian missions coming to Canada is not the same today as it used to be. This contributes to the theme that history is constantly changing and is examined in the article “We Are As Well As We Are” by James P. Ronda. In 16 pages Ronda articulates the detailed history of the coming of christian missions to Canada and how they attempted to change the faith of the First Nations people. Ronda demonstrated how the Christian missions came to Canada and struggled to force their beliefs onto Aboriginal peoples. What I found most useful in showing the struggle the missions faced in converting the Aboriginal people of Canada was giving the perspective of the Jesuits and the Iroquois by quoting them directly. When First Nations people were presented with Christian concepts such as hell, they approached them very logically by stating that nobody in hell would be like them therefor no one would give them food. The main part of this article that I took away concerning Canadian history was how Aboriginal people were so forced to take on a European beliefs. Ronda stated that the Aboriginal people of Canada were fully aware of the potential impact the missions would have on their lives but yet the Christian missions didn’t seem to recognize this same idea. I found the idea of how unnecessary it was for the missions to attempt to convert the Aboriginal people of Canada very convincing. Why would they convert if the missions were bringing so much unhappiness to their lives, it simply didn’t make sense. This is clearly stated on the last page of the article: “you tell us god is full of goodness,” / “and then, when we give ourselves up to him, he massacres us”. In the article it mentioned that some First Nations people actually did convert to christianity. I would like to know what led them to make such a decision, considering how the majority of their people were against the idea of integration.
