What was the general Canadian attitude to ‘Nature’ in the early years of Canada’s existence as a nation?

In this symbolic allegory, Richardson, makes Wacousta, a child of nature and colonel de Hardimar, a product of civilisation and its corruptions. At the end of the novel, Richardson makes an ironic compromise by killing both Wacousta and Colonel De Hardimar. It is Hardimar’s son, an idealized Englishman who carries on the burden of the imperial mission and makes peace with the Indians. Richardson thus sees Nature as alien territory that must be dominated, just as man’s passional self must be constrained. Until it is civilised, the wilderness is an enemy who has to be conquered. That is the message of the book.