First Nations War

Location
 Causes
 Result
* Defeat of the First Nations
 Territorialchanges
 **Alliance**

 **United States** (2065-67)
 Canada
 Quebec

 Tlicho
 Nunavut
 **Allied Leaders**
 Fred Johnson
 François Mareau
 Carla Anderson
 David Sawkiw
 Erik McCormick
 76,000
 1,000

The **First Nations War** also known as the **Canadian Crisis** was an armed conflict that persisted from 2064 to 2067 in Canada and the Arctic Nations. The conflict began on November 1st, 2064 when the First Nations, facing economic collapse after the Refreeze, invaded the warmer prairie provinces of Canada.

## Background

### First Nations Secession (2048)

The secession of the First Nations from Canada in 2048.

### The Refreeze (2054-2065)

In 2054 the Earth Working Group positioned Mars Solar Reflectors in Earth Polar Orbit in a geoengineering projects to return global temperatures, and by extent sea levels to pre-anthropocene levels. The project was widely supported by most of the planet which had been adversely effected by the environmental devastation of the Flood, however the Arctic Nations stood in vehement opposition to the project. The solar reflectors would functionally black out the skies over the First Nations, killing crops and reducing temperatures to inhospitable levels; additionally the return of the polar caps would close the Northwest Passage which the first nations depended on as both a major trade rout and access for arctic fishing and hydrocarbons. After several loud protests at the Organization of American States and the Global Environmental Council, the First Nations outrage was ultimately ignored and the project proceeded.

## Course of the War

To survive, the First Nations allied to invade Canada's northern territories which were still warm enough to support some agriculture and industry (thanks in part to the Earth Working Group's "rewilding" of the subarctic). The Arctic Nations had long prepared to defend their valuable oil supplies and funded a military buildup before the Refreeze. Canada and Quebec quickly found themselves being invaded by the First Nations. In 2065, only three weeks into her presidency, President Anderson deployed US troops into Canada to end the civil war. US forces in occupied Cascadia and the Yukon invaded westward, while forces from Newfoundland pushed into Quebec to aid the nation in repelling an invasion from the North. With America's entrance into the First Nations War, Canada had hoped that victory would be assured, but one year on, the President Anderson's commitment was clearly marginal at best as she kept US forces in a purely defensive role, mainly to keep the war from reaching American interests. Facing an impatient public in the 2066 midterms, President Anderson put the US on a more direct path to end the conflict. The US successfully captured and occupied Calgary within two weeks after the surge, pushing north into Tlicho proper. Fighting in Alberta calmed, but as Tlicho and Sahtu began to take control of northern Canada's prairies and by extension the majority of Canadian farmlands, the government in Ottawa fell to internal fighting in Manitoba and Ontario. To secure American interests on a larger scale, the US sent peace keeping forces to restore order and installed a military government in Ottawa. By 2067 the US had deployed Space and Naval forces into the Arctic nations, and forced a ceasefire.

## Aftermath

While Canada was placed under US military administration, the First Nations were able to negotiate the terms of surrender. The Spring Truce allows the First Nations tribes to keep the land they originally had, which is no longer worth nearly what it was during the Flood, but Mammoth populations have made it worth more than it was pre-Flood. They are also given financial assistance (they cover a portion of the cost) to build new infrastructure for tourism. Finally, tribal reservations are transferred to the states, Tribes are recognized as private corporations (a similar arrangement was in place in the First Nations) and therefore tribes are given the right to buy and sell Indian land as they see fit and can be represented at the state level as quasi-autonomous districts within states. To some native tribes, the First Nations won the war.

The signing of the Spring Truce ended the conflict, but did not resolve the issues facing Canada. The refreezing of the polar caps crippled Canada's economy, while the first nations homelands were left uninhabitable. The two cultures benefited a great deal from the warming climate, and the return of cold temperatures left millions of acres of farmland useless and arctic trade routs closed. Compounding these issues was the new refugee crisis. Most of the residents in the First Nations were not actual citizens of the tribes, but people who emigrated to take advantage of the booming arctic economy in the 2040s. Many of these residents had started families in the First Nations, and while some were able to return to southern Canada and the US, many of these people were former citizens of the United Kingdom and Australia, one country that no longer existed, and another who's environment was expected to take decades to fully recover. American forces were left to patrol refugee camps in Southern Canada for years as resettlement became an increasingly complex issue. Former citizens of the UK were slowly being resettled into the restored British Isles, but most refused to return to their former home, as they had intermarried with Canadians, Australians, Americans, and First Peoples. The American economy was also under threat of recession as new farmland became available further south, but fewer farmers were available to work the land.

After a year of inaction, the Anderson Administration signed several executive actions permitting free travel for former US Citizens and their families back into the United States, and approved a number of visas for Canadians and Australians who were also living in the First Nations at the time. This aided the American economy, but Canada was at risk of falling from a recession into a depression. With massive drop offs in tax revenue, most of Canada's social welfare programs were now unfunded. Additionally, American businesses had difficulty operating in Canada and the former First Nations territory (some of which was still usable for mining, logging, and fishing) while the occupation was in effect. As winter approached, President Anderson signed a series of executive orders that effectively extended military healthcare to former Canadians and First Nations citizens. This was ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court the following year, but it provided some relief to the former Canadians. Cascadia, a freely associated state with the US, extended a number of social programs to Canadians, as did several northern states. Visas were eventually granted to the majority of Canadians, so they could enjoy American social services as guest workers, despite not actually living inside the Untied States at the time.

In 2073, President Anderson formally annexed Canada along with the rest of the Anglosphere under the Union Act of 2073, which the previous Congress narrowly passed under pressure from American businesses and nationalist groups.