Grade 5 · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 12
The Fur Trade
Trade, sharing and consequences
What your child practises
Who traded what and why, what each side gained, the harm of disease and lost land, and how the Métis people emerged. Needs review with Indigenous partners.
Ontario Curriculum expectation: A1.1, A1.2, A3.5, A3.6 · the fur trade, its benefits and harms, and the ethnogenesis of the Métis
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What did First Nations traders often receive in exchange for furs?
- Metal tools, kettles and cloth
- Cars
- Plastic toys
Show answer
Metal tools, kettles and cloth
Hint: Metal pots and tools were valuable trade goods.
Question 2
What is a trading post?
- A school
- A kind of canoe
- A place where people traded goods such as furs
Show answer
A place where people traded goods such as furs
Hint: Traders swapped furs for tools and cloth.
Question 3
Who designed the birch-bark canoe used in the fur trade?
- Indigenous peoples
- English shipbuilders
- French sailors
Show answer
Indigenous peoples
Hint: Newcomers adopted Indigenous canoe designs because they were light and fast.
Question 4
Which was a way First Nations helped newcomers?
- They built castles for them
- They taught them to speak French first
- They shared knowledge of travel, such as canoes and snowshoes
Show answer
They shared knowledge of travel, such as canoes and snowshoes
Hint: Many newcomers survived because of Indigenous knowledge of the land.
Question 5
Which animal's fur was the most valuable in the fur trade?
- Mouse
- Moose
- Beaver
Show answer
Beaver
Hint: Beaver fur made warm felt for hats.
Question 6
The fur trade made it harder for some First Nations because…
- competition for furs and loss of access to lands changed their ways of life
- they had no beavers anywhere
- it ended all trade
Show answer
competition for furs and loss of access to lands changed their ways of life
Hint: More hunting and settlement changed the land and left less space for traditional ways of life.