Alberta Grade 7 Social Studies Practice Test

The North West Company relied on Canadien and Métis workers who knew the land, spoke the languages, and understood the trading networks across Canada. These workers often served as voyageurs, carrying goods and furs through long canoe routes, and as interpreters and traders who could negotiate and build relationships with Indigenous communities. Their regional knowledge, endurance, and skills were essential for running posts, moving furs to market, and keeping the fur-trade system connected from the interior to the trading posts. That strong, on-the-ground workforce is what made the company able to operate across such a vast and diverse landscape. In contrast, British soldiers, French monks, and Dutch traders played different roles or were not the typical labor force powering the fur trade operations.