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Grade 5 · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 6

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.

Saskatchewan Curriculum outcome: DR5.3 · the fur trade and its effects on people and communities

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

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