In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
,
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...
and
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...
. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''
Eskimo
Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related ...
'' have fallen into disuse in Canada, and most consider them to be
pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
.
''Aboriginal peoples'' as a
collective noun
In linguistics, a collective noun is a word referring to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to one kind of thing. For example, the collective noun "group" can be applied to people (" ...
is a specific
term of art
Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a partic ...
used in some legal documents, including the ''
Constitution Act, 1982
The ''Constitution Act, 1982'' (french: link=no, Loi constitutionnelle de 1982) is a part of the Constitution of Canada.Formally enacted as Schedule B of the ''Canada Act 1982'', enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 60 of t ...
'', though in most Indigenous circles ''Aboriginal'' has also fallen into disfavour.
Old Crow Flats and
Bluefish Caves are some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Canada. The
Paleo-Indian Clovis,
Plano and
Pre-Dorset
The Pre-Dorset is a loosely defined term for a Paleo-Eskimo culture or group of cultures that existed in the Eastern Canadian Arctic from c. 3200 to 850 cal BC, and preceded the Dorset culture.
Due to its vast geographical expanse and to history ...
cultures pre-date the current Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Projectile point
In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have ...
tools,
spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...
s,
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
,
bangle
Bangles are traditionally rigid bracelets which are usually made of metal, wood, glass or plastic. These ornament are worn mostly by women in the Indian subcontinent, Southeastern Asia, Arabian Peninsula, and Africa. It is common to see a brid ...
s,
chisels
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, s ...
and
scrapers mark archaeological sites, thus distinguishing cultural periods, traditions, and
lithic reduction
In archaeology, in particular of the Stone Age, lithic reduction is the process of fashioning stones or rocks from their natural state into tools or weapons by removing some parts. It has been intensely studied and many archaeological industrie ...
styles.
The characteristics of Indigenous culture in Canada includes a long history of permanent
settlements,
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
, civic and ceremonial
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
, complex
societal hierarchies, and
trading network
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
s. Métis of mixed ancestry originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations and Inuit married European fur traders, primarily the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
.
[ The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period.][ Various ]laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...
, treaties
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...
, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Today, it is a common perception that Aboriginal peoples in Canada have the right to self-government
__NOTOC__
Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
to provide an opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within First Nation's communities. However, some Canadian legislation may contradict this, for example the Indian act states 35 (3), ''"the Governor in Council may, in lieu of the province, authority or corporation taking or using the lands without the consent of the owner, authorize a transfer or grant of the lands to the province, authority or corporation, subject to any terms that may be prescribed by the Governor in Council."''
As of the 2021 census, Indigenous peoples in Canada totaled 1,807,250 people, or 5.0% of the national population, with 1,048,405 First Nations people, 624,220 Métis, and 70,540 Inuit. 7.7% of the population under the age of 14 are of Indigenous descent.[ ndigenous peoples in Canada: Key results from the 2016 Census/ref> There are over 600 recognized ]First Nations governments
In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...
or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music.[2011 National Household Survey: Indigenous Peoples in Canada: First Nations People, Métis and Inuit](_blank)
/ref> National Indigenous Peoples Day recognizes the cultures and contributions of Indigenous peoples to the history of Canada
The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to History of colonialism, European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Canada were inha ...
.[ First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of all backgrounds have become prominent figures and have served as role models in the Indigenous community and help to shape the Canadian cultural identity.
]
Terminology
In Section 35 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982
The ''Constitution Act, 1982'' (french: link=no, Loi constitutionnelle de 1982) is a part of the Constitution of Canada.Formally enacted as Schedule B of the ''Canada Act 1982'', enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 60 of t ...
'', "Aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes First Nations, Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...
, and Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...
peoples. ''Aboriginal peoples'' is a legal term encompassing all Indigenous peoples living in Canada. ''Aboriginal peoples'' has begun to be considered outdated and is slowly being replaced by the term ''Indigenous peoples''. There is also an effort to recognize each Indigenous group as a distinct nation, much as there are distinct European, African, and Asian cultures in their respective places.
''First Nations'' (most often used in the plural) has come into general use since the 1970s replacing ''Indians'' and ''Indian bands'' in everyday vocabulary. However, on reserves, ''First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
'' is being supplanted by members of various nations referring to themselves by their group or ethnic identity. In conversation, this would be "I am Haida
Haida may refer to:
Places
* Haida, an old name for Nový Bor
* Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands
* Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia
Ships
* , a ...
," or "we are Kwantlens," in recognition of their First Nations ethnicities. Also coming into general use since the 1970s, First Peoples refers to all Indigenous groups, i.e. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.
Native
Notwithstanding Canada's location within the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
, the term ''Native American'' is not used in Canada as it is typically used solely to describe the Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of the present-day United States. ''Native Canadians'' was often used in Canada to differentiate this American term until the 1980s.
In contrast to the more-specific ''Aboriginal'', one of the issues with the term is its general applicability: in certain contexts, it could be used in reference to non-Indigenous peoples in regards to an individual place of origin/birth. For instance, people who were born or grew up in Calgary may call themselves "Calgary natives", as in they are ''native'' to that city. With this in mind, even the term ''native American'', as another example, may very well indicate someone who is ''native to America'' rather than a person who is ethnically Indigenous to the boundaries of the present-day United States. In this sense, ''native'' may encompass a broad range of populations and is therefore not recommended.
Indian
The '' Indian Act'' ( R.S.C., 1985, c. I-5) sets the legal term ''Indian'', designating that "a person who pursuant to this Act is registered as an Indian or is entitled to be registered as an Indian." Section 5 of the act states that a registry shall be maintained "in which shall be recorded the name of every person who is entitled to be registered as an Indian under this Act." No other term is legally recognized for the purpose of registration and the term ''Indian'' specifically excludes reference to Inuit as per section 4 of the act.
''Indian'' remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution
The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents ar ...
; however, its usage outside such situations can be considered offensive.
Eskimo
The term ''Eskimo
Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related ...
'' has pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
connotations in Canada and Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
. Indigenous peoples in those areas have replaced the term ''Eskimo'' with ''Inuit'', though the Yupik Yupik may refer to:
* Yupik peoples, a group of indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Russian Far East
* Yupik languages, a group of Eskimo-Aleut languages
Yupꞌik (with the apostrophe) may refer to:
* Yup'ik people
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg ...
of Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
and Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
do not consider themselves Inuit, and ethnographers
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
agree they are a distinct people.[ They prefer the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or Eskimo. The ]Yupik languages
The Yupik languages () are a family of languages spoken by the Yupik peoples of western and south-central Alaska and Chukotka. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that they are not mutually intelligible, although speakers of one ...
are linguistically distinct from the Inuit languages
The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and adjacent subarctic, reaching farthest south in Labrador. The related Yupik languages (spoken in weste ...
, but are related to each other. Linguistic groups of Arctic people have no universal replacement term for ''Eskimo'', inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik across the geographical area inhabited by them.
Legal categories
Besides these ethnic descriptors, Aboriginal peoples are often divided into legal categories based on their relationship with the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
(i.e. the state). Section 91(24) of the ''Constitution Act, 1867
The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...
'' gives the federal government (as opposed to the provinces) the sole responsibility for "Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians." The government inherited treaty obligations from the British colonial authorities in Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrado ...
and signed treaties itself with First Nations in Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada ...
(the Numbered Treaties
The Numbered Treaties (or Post-Confederation Treaties) are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada (Victoria, Edward VII or George V) ...
). It also passed the ''Indian Act'' in 1876 which governed its interactions with all treaty and non-treaty peoples.
Members of First Nations bands who are subject to the ''Indian Act'' are compiled on a list called the Indian Register
The Indian Register is the official record of people registered under the ''Indian Act'' in Canada, called status Indians or ''registered Indians''. People registered under the ''Indian Act'' have rights and benefits that are not granted to othe ...
, and such people are designated as status Indians. Many non-treaty First Nations and all Inuit and Métis peoples are not subject to the ''Indian Act''. However, two court cases have clarified that Inuit, Métis, and non-status First Nations people, all are covered by the term ''Indians'' in the ''Constitution Act, 1867''. The first was ''Re Eskimos
is a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the constitutional status of Canada's Inuit, then called " Eskimos." The case concerned section 91(24) of the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', then the ''British North America Act, 1867'', which a ...
'' in 1939 covering the Inuit, the second being ''Daniels v. Canada
is a case of the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled that Métis and non-status Indians are "Indians" for the purpose of s 91(24) of the ''Constitution Act, 1867''.
Parties
The plaintiffs were Harry Daniels, a Métis activist from Saskatch ...
'' in 2013 which applies to Métis and non-status First Nations.
History
Paleo-Indian period
According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
were the last continents in the world with human habitation
Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...
.[
] During the Wisconsin glaciation
The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...
, 50,000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge
Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of ...
that joined Siberia to northwest North America (Alaska).[
] Alaska was ice-free because of low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist. The Laurentide Ice Sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million year ...
covered most of Canada, blocking nomadic
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
inhabitants and confining them to Alaska (East Beringia) for thousands of years.
Aboriginal genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single ancestral population, one that developed in isolation, conjectured to be Beringia. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10,000–20,000 years.[
][page 2]
Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond.[
]
The first inhabitants of North America arrived in Canada at least 14,000 years ago. It is believed the inhabitants entered the Americas pursuing Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
mammals such as the giant beaver, steppe wisent, musk ox
Musk ( Persian: مشک, ''Mushk'') is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial sub ...
, mastodons
A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...
, woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus s ...
s and ancient reindeer (early caribou). One route hypothesized is that people walked south by way of an ice-free corridor on the east side of the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, and then fanned out across North America before continuing on to South America. The other conjectured route is that they migrated, either on foot or using primitive boats, down the Pacific Coast to the tip of South America, and then crossed the Rockies and Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
. Evidence of the latter has been covered by a sea level rise
Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...
of hundreds of metres following the last ice age.
The Old Crow Flats and basin was one of the areas in Canada untouched by glaciations during the Pleistocene Ice ages, thus it served as a pathway and refuge for ice age plants and animals. The area holds evidence of early human habitation in Canada dating from about 12,000. Fossils from the area include some never accounted for in North America, such as hyenas and large camels. Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
, Canada from which a specimen of apparently human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon dated to 12,000 years ago.
Clovis sites dated at 13,500 years ago were discovered in western North America during the 1930s. Clovis peoples were regarded as the first widespread Paleo-Indian inhabitants of the New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
and ancestors to all Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Archaeological discoveries in the past thirty years have brought forward other distinctive knapping
Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing w ...
cultures who occupied the Americas from the lower Great Plains to the shores of Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
.
Localized regional cultures developed from the time of the Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas (c. 12,900 to 11,700 years BP) was a return to glacial conditions which temporarily reversed the gradual climatic warming after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, c. 27,000 to 20,000 years BP). The Younger Dryas was the last stag ...
cold climate period from 12,900 to 11,500 years ago. The Folsom tradition
The Folsom Complex is a Paleo-Indian archaeological culture that occupied much of central North America from c. 8500 BCE to c. 4000 BCE. The term was first used in 1927 by Jesse Dade Figgins, director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History.
...
are characterized by their use of Folsom point
Folsom points are projectile points associated with the Folsom tradition of North America. The style of tool-making was named after the Folsom site located in Folsom, New Mexico, where the first sample was found in 1908 by George McJunkin within t ...
s as projectile tips at archaeological sites. These tools assisted activities at kill sites that marked the slaughter and butchering of bison.
The land bridge existed until 13,000–11,000 years ago, long after the oldest proven human settlements in the New World began. Lower sea levels in the Queen Charlotte sound and Hecate Strait
, image = HecateStrait(PittIsland).JPG
, image_size = 260px
, alt =
, caption = Hecate Strait and Pitt Island
, image_bathymetry = Loc-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png
, alt_bathymetry =
, caption ...
produced great grass lands called ''archipelago of Haida Gwaii
Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...
''.
Hunter-gatherers of the area left distinctive lithic technology
In archaeology, lithic technology includes a broad array of techniques used to produce usable tools from various types of stone. The earliest stone tools were recovered from modern Ethiopia and were dated to between two-million and three-million ...
tools and the remains of large butchered mammals, occupying the area from 13,000– 9,000 years ago. In July 1992, the Government of Canada officially designated X̱á:ytem (near Mission, British Columbia) as a National Historic Site, one of the first Indigenous spiritual sites in Canada to be formally recognized in this manner.
The Plano cultures
The Plano cultures is a name given by archaeologists to a group of disparate hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America during the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period.
Distinguishing characteristics
The Plan ...
was a group of hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. The Paleo-Indians moved into new territory as it emerged from under the glaciers. Big game flourished in this new environment. The Plano culture are characterized by a range of projectile point tools collectively called Plano point
In archaeology, Plano point is flaked stone projectile points and tools created by the various Plano cultures of the North American Great Plains between 9000 BC and 6000 BC for hunting, and possibly to kill other humans.
They are bifacially work ...
s, which were used to hunt bison. Their diets also included pronghorn
The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...
, elk, deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
, raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
and coyote. At the beginning of the Archaic Era, they began to adopt a sedentary
Sedentary lifestyle is a lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like soci ...
approach to subsistence. Sites in and around Belmont, Nova Scotia
Belmont is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Colchester County
Colchester County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. With a population of 51,476 the county is the fourth largest in Nova S ...
have evidence of Plano-Indians, indicating small seasonal hunting camps, perhaps re-visited over generations from around 11,000–10,000 years ago. Seasonal large and smaller game fish and fowl were food and raw material sources. Adaptation to the harsh environment included tailored clothing and skin-covered tents on wooden frames.
Archaic period
The North American climate stabilized by 8000 BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
(10,000 years ago); climatic conditions were very similar to today's. This led to widespread migration, cultivation and later a dramatic rise in population all over the Americas. Over the course of thousands of years, Indigenous peoples of the Americas domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide.
The vastness and variety of Canada's climates, ecology, vegetation, fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...
, and landform separations have defined ancient peoples implicitly into cultural or linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
divisions. Canada is surrounded north, east, and west with coastline and since the last ice age, Canada has consisted of distinct forest regions. Language contributes to the identity of a people by influencing social life ways and spiritual practices. Aboriginal religions developed from anthropomorphism and animism
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather syst ...
philosophies.
The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status. There is a continuous record of occupation of S'ólh Téméxw by Aboriginal people dating from the early Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
period, 10,000–9,000 years ago. Archaeological sites at Stave Lake
Stave Lake is a lake and reservoir for the production of hydroelectricity in the Stave River system, located on the northern edge of the District of Mission, about east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The main arm of the lake is about ...
, Coquitlam Lake, Fort Langley
Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company ...
and region uncovered early period artifacts. These early inhabitants were highly mobile hunter-gatherers, consisting of about 20 to 50 members of an extended family. The Na-Dene
Na-Dene (; also Nadene, Na-Dené, Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit, Tlina–Dene) is a family of Native American languages that includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. Haida was formerly included, but is now considered ...
people occupied much of the land area of northwest and central North America starting around 8,000 BCE. They were the earliest ancestors of the Athabaskan-speaking peoples, including the Navajo and Apache. They had villages with large multi-family dwellings, used seasonally during the summer, from which they hunted, fished and gathered food supplies for the winter. The Wendat peoples settled into Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...
along the Eramosa River around 8,000–7,000 BCE (10,000–9,000 years ago). They were concentrated between Lake Simcoe
Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly in the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century the lake was called ''Ouentironk' ...
and Georgian Bay
Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...
. Wendat hunted caribou to survive on the glacier-covered land. Many different First Nations cultures relied upon the buffalo starting by 6,000–5,000 BCE (8,000–7,000 years ago). They hunted buffalo by herding migrating buffalo off cliffs. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a buffalo jump located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the prairie 18 km (11.2 mi) west of Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada on highway 785. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site an ...
, near Lethbridge, Alberta
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to ...
, is a hunting grounds that was in use for about 5,000 years.
The west coast of Canada by 7,000–5000 BCE (9,000–7,000 years ago) saw various cultures who organized themselves around salmon fishing. The Nuu-chah-nulth
The Nuu-chah-nulth (; Nuučaan̓uł: ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifte ...
of Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...
began whaling with advanced long spears at about this time. The Maritime Archaic
The Maritime Archaic is a North American cultural complex of the Late Archaic along the coast of Newfoundland, the Canadian Maritimes and northern New England. The Maritime Archaic began in approximately 7000 BC and lasted into the 18th century ...
is one group of North America's Archaic culture of sea-mammal hunters in the subarctic. They prospered from approximately 7,000 BCE–1,500 BCE (9,000–3,500 years ago) along the Atlantic Coast of North America. Their settlements included longhouses
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from timber and often rep ...
and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses. They engaged in long-distance trade, using as currency white chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...
, a rock quarried from northern Labrador to Maine. The Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
culture, whose members were called Red Paint People
The Red Paint People are a Pre-Columbian culture indigenous to the New England and Atlantic Canada regions of North America. They were named after their burials, which used large quantities of ochre, normally red, to cover both the bodies of the d ...
, is indigenous to the New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
and Atlantic Canada regions of North America. The culture flourished between 3,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE (5,000–3,000 years ago) and was named after their burial ceremonies, which used large quantities of red ochre to cover bodies and grave goods.
The Arctic small tool tradition The Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) was a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula, around Bristol Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2500 BC. ASTt groups were the first human occupants of Arctic Ca ...
is a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula, around Bristol Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2,500 BCE (4,500 years ago). These Paleo-Arctic peoples had a highly distinctive toolkit of small blades ( microblades) that were pointed at both ends and used as side- or end-barbs on arrows or spears made of other materials, such as bone or antler. Scrapers, engraving tools and adze
An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...
blades were also included in their toolkits. The Arctic small tool tradition branches off into two cultural variants, including the Pre-Dorset, and the Independence traditions. These two groups, ancestors of Thule people
The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people o ...
, were displaced by the Inuit by 1000 CE.
Post-Archaic periods
The Old Copper complex
The Old Copper complex or Old Copper culture is an archaeological culture from the Archaic period of North America's Great Lakes region. Artifacts from some of these sites have been dated from 7500 to 1000 BCE. It is characterized by widesprea ...
societies dating from 3,000 BCE – 500 BCE (5,000–2,500 years ago) are a manifestation of the Woodland Culture
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...
, and are pre-pottery in nature. Evidence found in the northern Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
regions indicates that they extracted copper from local glacial deposits and used it in its natural form to manufacture tools and implements.
The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2,000 BCE – 1,000 CE, and has locales in Ontario, Quebec, and Maritime regions. The introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the earlier Archaic stage inhabitants. Laurentian people of southern Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada. They created pointed-bottom beakers decorated by a cord marking technique that involved impressing tooth implements into wet clay. Woodland technology included items such as beaver incisor knives, bangles, and chisels. The population practising sedentary agricultural life ways continued to increase on a diet of squash, corn, and bean crops.[
]
The Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE – 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System networked cultures and societies with the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...
. Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Points ...
, Saugeen, and Laurel complexes.
First Nations
First Nations peoples had settled and established trade routes across what is now Canada by 500 BCE – 1,000 CE. Communities developed each with its own culture, customs, and character. In the northwest were the Athapaskan, Slavey
The Slavey (also Slave and South Slavey) are a First Nations indigenous peoples of the Dene group, indigenous to the Great Slave Lake region, in Canada's Northwest Territories, and extending into northeastern British Columbia and northwestern ...
, Dogrib, Tutchone, and Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), . Along the Pacific coast were the Tsimshian
The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only r ...
; Haida; Salish; Kwakiutl; Heiltsuk
The Heiltsuk or Haíɫzaqv , sometimes historically referred to as ''Bella Bella'', are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people ...
; Nootka; Nisga'a
The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga'a language as (pronounced ), are an Indigenous people of Canada in British Columbia. They reside in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. The name is a ...
; Senakw
() or (), rendered in English as Snawk, Snawq, Sneawq, or Snawkw, is a village site of the Indigenous Squamish people, located near what is now known as the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1869 the Colonial Go ...
and Gitxsan
Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approxi ...
. In the plains were the Niisitapi; Káínawa; Tsuutʼina; and Piikáni. In the northern woodlands were the Nēhiyawak and Chipewyan
The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...
. Around the Great Lakes were the Anishinaabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawat ...
; Algonquin
Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to:
Languages and peoples
*Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia
**Algonquin la ...
; Haudenosaunee
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
and Wendat. Along the Atlantic coast were the Beothuk
The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland.
Beginning around AD 1500, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples w ...
, Wəlastəkwewiyik, Innu, Abenaki
The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...
and Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...
.
Many First Nations civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks that included permanent urban settlements or cities, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. These cultures had evolved and changed by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and have been brought forward through archaeological investigations.
There are indications of contact made before Christopher Columbus between the first peoples and those from other continents. Aboriginal people in Canada first interacted with Europeans around 1000 CE, but prolonged contact came after Europeans established permanent settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries. European written accounts generally recorded friendliness of the First Nations, who profited in trade with Europeans. Such trade generally strengthened the more organized political entities such as the Iroquois Confederation. Throughout the 16th century, European fleets made almost annual visits to the eastern shores of Canada to cultivate the fishing opportunities. A sideline industry emerged in the un-organized Fur trade, traffic of furs overseen by the Indian Department.
Prominent First Nations people include Joe Capilano, who met with King of the United Kingdom, Edward VII, to speak of the need to settle land claims and Ovide Mercredi, a leader at both the Meech Lake Accord constitutional reform discussions and Oka Crisis.
Inuit
Inuit are the descendants of what Anthropology, anthropologists call the Thule culture, which emerged from western Alaska around 1,000 CE and spread eastward across the Arctic, displacing the Dorset culture (in Inuktitut, the Tuniit). Inuit historically referred to the Tuniit as "giants", who were taller and stronger than the Inuit. Researchers hypothesize that the Dorset culture lacked dogs, larger weapons and other technologies used by the expanding Inuit society. By 1300, the Inuit had settled in west Greenland, and finally moved into east Greenland over the following century. The Inuit had trade routes with more southern cultures. Boundary disputes were common and led to aggressive actions.
Warfare was common among Inuit groups with sufficient population density. Inuit, such as the Nunatamiut (Uummarmiut) who inhabited the Mackenzie River delta area, often engaged in common warfare. The Central Arctic Inuit lacked the population density to engage in warfare. In the 13th century, the Thule culture began arriving in Greenland from what is now Canada. Norse accounts are scant. Norse-made items from Inuit campsites in Greenland were obtained by either trade or plunder. One account, :is:Ívar Bárðarson, Ívar Bárðarson, speaks of "small people" with whom the Norsemen fought. 14th-century accounts relate that a western settlement, one of the two Norse settlements, was taken over by the Skræling.
After the disappearance of the Norse colonies in Greenland, the Inuit had no contact with Europeans for at least a century. By the mid-16th century, Basque people, Basque fishers were already working the Labrador coast and had established whaling stations on land, such as those excavated at Red Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Red Bay. The Inuit appear not to have interfered with their operations, but they did raid the stations in winter for tools, and particularly worked iron, which they adapted to native needs.
Notable among the Inuit are Abraham Ulrikab and family who became a zoo exhibit in Hamburg, Germany, and Tanya Tagaq, a traditional Inuit throat singing, throat singer. Abe Okpik was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames rather than disc numbers and Kiviaq (person), Kiviaq (David Ward) won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktituk name.
Métis
The Métis are people descended from marriages between Europeans (mainly French) and Cree, Ojibway, Algonquin, Saulteaux, Menominee, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and other First Nations.[
] Their history dates to the mid-17th century.
When Europeans first arrived to Canada they relied on Aboriginal peoples for fur trading skills and survival. To ensure alliances, relationships between European fur traders and Aboriginal women were often consolidated through marriage. The Métis homeland consists of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, as well as the Northwest Territories (NWT).
Amongst notable Métis people are singer and actor Tom Jackson (actor), Tom Jackson, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories Tony Whitford, and Louis Riel who led two resistance movements: the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885, which ended in his Trial of Louis Riel, trial and subsequent execution.
The languages inherently Métis are either Métis French or a mixed language called Michif language, Michif. Michif, Mechif or Métchif is a Pronunciation spelling, phonetic spelling of Métif, a variant of Métis. The Métis today predominantly speak Canadian English, English, with Canadian French, French a strong second language, as well as numerous Indigenous languages of the Americas, Aboriginal tongues. A 19th-century community of the Métis people, the Anglo-Métis, were referred to as Countryborn. They were children of Rupert's Land fur trade typically of Orcadian, Scottish, or English paternal descent and Aboriginal maternal descent. Their first languages would have been Aboriginal (Cree language, Cree, Saulteaux language, Saulteaux, Assiniboine language, Assiniboine, etc.) and English. Their fathers spoke Canadian Gaelic, Gaelic, thus leading to the development of an English dialect referred to as "Bungee language, Bungee".
S.35 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' mentions the Métis yet there has long been debate over legally defining the term Métis, but on September 23, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Métis are a distinct people with significant rights (Powley ruling).
Unlike First Nations people, there has been no distinction between status and non-status Métis; the Métis, their heritage and Aboriginal ancestry have often been absorbed and assimilated into their surrounding populations.
Forced assimilation
From the late 18th century, European Canadians (and the Canadian government) encouraged Cultural assimilation, assimilation of Aboriginal culture into what was referred to as "Culture of Canada, Canadian culture." These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with a series of initiatives that aimed at complete assimilation and subjugation of the Aboriginal peoples. These policies, which were made possible by legislation such as the ''Gradual Civilization Act'' and the ''Indian Act'', focused on European ideals of Christianity, sedentary living, agriculture, and education.
Christianization
Missionary, Missionary work directed at the Aboriginal people of Canada had been ongoing since the first missionaries arrived in the 1600s, generally from France, some of whom were martyred (Jesuit saints called the Canadian Martyrs). Christianization as government policy became more systematic with the ''Indian Act'' in 1876, which would bring new sanctions for those who did not Conversion to Christianity, convert to Christianity. For example, the new laws would prevent non-Christian Aboriginal people from testifying or having their cases heard in court, and ban alcohol consumption. When the ''Indian Act'' was amended in 1884, traditional religious and social practices, such as the Potlatch, would be banned, and further amendments in 1920 would prevent "status Indians" (as defined in the ''Act'') from wearing traditional dress or performing traditional dances in an attempt to stop all non-Christian practices.
Sedentary living, reserves, and 'gradual civilization'
Another focus of the Canadian government was to make the Aboriginal groups of Canada sedentary, as they thought that this would make them easier to assimilate. In the 19th century, the government began to support the creation of model farming villages, which were meant to encourage non-sedentary Aboriginal groups to settle in an area and begin to cultivate agriculture. When most of these model farming villages failed, the government turned instead to the creation of Indian reserves with the ''Indian Act'' of 1876. With the creation of these reserves came many restricting laws, such as further bans on all intoxicants, restrictions on eligibility to vote in band elections, decreased hunting and fishing areas, and inability for status Indians to visit other groups on their reservations.
Through the ''Gradual Civilization Act'' in 1857, the government would encourage Indians (i.e., First Nations) to ''enfranchise'' – to ''remove all legal distinctions between [Indians] and Her Majesty's other Canadian Subjects''. If an Aboriginal chose to enfranchise, it would strip them and their family of Aboriginal title, with the idea that they would become "less savage" and "more civilized," thus become assimilated into Canadian society. However, they were often still defined as ''non-citizens'' by Europeans, and those few who did enfranchise were often met with disappointment.
Residential system
The final government strategy of assimilation, made possible by the ''Indian Act'' was the Canadian Indian residential school system, Canadian residential school system:
Beginning in 1847 and lasting until 1996, the Canadian government, in partnership with the dominant Christian Churches, ran 130 residential boarding schools across Canada for Aboriginal children, who were forcibly taken from their homes. While the schools provided some education, they were plagued by under-funding, disease, and abuse.
According to some scholars, the Canadian government's laws and policies, including the residential school system, that encouraged or required Indigenous peoples to Cultural imperialism, assimilate into a Eurocentrism, Eurocentric society, violated the United Nations Genocide Convention that Canada signed in 1949 and passed through Parliament in 1952. Therefore, these scholars believe that Canada could be tried in international court for genocide.[
] A legal case resulted in settlement of in 2006 and the 2008 establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Canada), Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which confirmed the injurious effect on children of this system and turmoil created between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples.
In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology on behalf of the Canadian government and its citizens for the residential school system.
Politics, law, and legislation
Indigenous law vs. Aboriginal law
Canadian Indigenous law refers to Indigenous peoples' own legal systems. This includes the laws and legal processes developed by Indigenous groups to govern their relationships, manage their natural resources, and manage conflicts. Indigenous law is developed from a variety of sources and institutions, which differ across legal traditions. Canadian aboriginal law is the area of law related to the Canadian Government's relationship with its Indigenous peoples. Section 91(24) of the ''Constitution Act, 1867'' gives the federal parliament exclusive power to legislate in matters related to Aboriginals, which includes groups governed by the '' Indian Act'', different Numbered Treaties
The Numbered Treaties (or Post-Confederation Treaties) are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada (Victoria, Edward VII or George V) ...
and outside of those Acts.
Treaties
The Canadian Crown and Indigenous peoples began Timeline of colonization of North America, interactions during the European colonization period. Many agreements signed before the Confederation of Canada are recognized in Canadian law, such as the Peace and Friendship Treaties, the Robinson Treaties, the Douglas Treaties, and many others. After Canada's acquisition of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory in 1870, the eleven Numbered treaties were signed between First Nations and Canadian crown, the Crown from 1871 to 1921. These treaties are agreements with the Crown administered by Canadian Aboriginal law and overseen by the Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations.
In 1973, Canada re-started signing new treaties and agreements with Indigenous peoples to address Indigenous land claims in Canada, their land claims. The first Comprehensive land claim, modern treaty implemented under the new framework was the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1970. The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement of 1993 lead to the creation of the Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...
-majority territory of Nunavut later that decade. The Canadian Crown continues to sign new treaties with Indigenous peoples, notably though the British Columbia Treaty Process.
According to the ''First Nations–Federal Crown Political Accord'', "cooperation will be a cornerstone for partnership between Canada and First Nations, wherein ''Canada'' is the short-form reference to Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada argued that treaties "served to reconcile pre-existing Aboriginal sovereignty with assumed Crown sovereignty, and to define Aboriginal rights." First Nations interpreted agreements covered in treaty 8 to last "as long as the sun shines, grass grows and rivers flow." However, the Canadian government has frequently breached the Crown's treaty obligations over the years, and tries to address these issues by negotiating Indigenous specific land claims in Canada, specific land claim.
''Indian Act''
The ''Indian Act'' is federal legislation that dates from 1876. There have been over 20 major changes made to the act since then, the last time being in 1951; amended in 1985 with Bill C-31. The ''Indian Act'' indicates how reserves and bands can operate and defines who is recognized as an "Indian."
In 1985, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-31, ''An Act to Amend the Indian Act''. Because of a constitutional requirement, the bill took effect on 17 April 1985.
* It ends discriminatory provisions of the ''Indian Act'', especially those that discriminated against women.
* It changes the meaning of ''status'' and for the first time allows for limited reinstatement of Indians who were denied or lost status or band membership.
* It allows bands to define their own membership rules.
Those people accepted into band membership under band rules may not be status Indians. C-31 clarified that various sections of the ''Indian Act'' apply to band members. The sections under debate concern community life and land holdings. Sections pertaining to Indians (First Nations peoples) as individuals (in this case, wills and taxation of personal property) were not included.
Royal Commission
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was a Royal Commission undertaken by the Government of Canada in 1991 to address issues of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.[ It assessed past government policies toward Aboriginal people, such as residential schools, and provided policy recommendations to the government.] The Commission issued its final report in November 1996. The five-volume, 4,000-page report covered a vast range of issues; its 440 recommendations called for sweeping changes to the interaction between Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal people and the governments in Canada. The report "set out a 20-year agenda for change."
Health policy
In 1995, the Government of Canada announced the Aboriginal Right to Self-Government Policy. This policy recognizes that First Nations and Inuit have the constitutional right to shape their own forms of government to suit their particular historical, cultural, political and economic circumstances. The Indian Health Transfer Policy (Canada), Indian Health Transfer Policy provided a framework for the assumption of control of health services by Aboriginal peoples, and set forth a developmental approach to transfer centred on self-determination in health. Through this process, the decision to enter transfer discussions with Health Canada rests with each community. Once involved in transfer, communities can take control of health programme responsibilities at a pace determined by their individual circumstances and health management capabilities. The National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) incorporated in 2000, was an Aboriginal-designed and-controlled not-for-profit body in Canada that worked to influence and advance the health and well-being of Aboriginal Peoples. Its funding was discontinued in 2012.
Political organization
First Nations and Inuit organizations ranged in size from Band society, band societies of a few people to multi-nation confederacies like the Iroquois. First Nations leaders from across the country formed the Assembly of First Nations, which began as the National Indian Brotherhood in 1968. The Métis and the Inuit are represented nationally by the Métis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami respectively.
Today's political organizations have resulted from interaction with European-style methods of government through the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Indigenous political organizations throughout Canada vary in political standing, viewpoints, and reasons for forming. First Nations, Métis and Inuit negotiate with the Government of Canada through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in all affairs concerning land, entitlement, and rights. The First Nation groups that operate independently do not belong to these groups.
Culture
Countless Indigenous words, inventions and games have become an everyday part of Spoken languages of Canada, Canadian language and use. The canoe, snowshoes, the toboggan, lacrosse, tug of war, maple syrup and tobacco are just a few of the products, inventions and games. Some of the words include the barbecue, Reindeer, caribou, chipmunk, Groundhog, woodchuck, hammock, skunk, and moose.
List of place names in Canada of aboriginal origin, Many places in Canada, both natural features and human habitations, use Indigenous names. The word ''Canada'' itself derives from the Laurentian language, St. Lawrence Iroquoian word meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. The province of Saskatchewan derives its name from the Saskatchewan River, which in the Cree language is called ''Kisiskatchewani Sipi'', meaning 'swift-flowing river'. ''Ottawa'', the name of Canada's capital city, comes from the Algonquin language term ''adawe'', meaning 'to trade'.
Modern youth groups, such as Scouts Canada and the Girl Guides of Canada, include programs based largely on Indigenous lore, arts and crafts, character building and outdoor camp craft and living.
Aboriginal cultural areas depend upon their ancestors' primary Types of societies, lifeway, or occupation, at the time of European contact. These culture areas correspond closely with geography of Canada, physical and ecological List of regions of Canada, regions of Canada. The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast were centred around ocean and river fishing; in the interior of British Columbia, hunter-gatherer and river fishing. In both of these areas, the salmon was of chief importance. For the people of the plains, bison hunting was the primary activity. In the taiga, subarctic forest, other species such as the moose were more important. For peoples near the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, Shifting cultivation, shifting agriculture was practised, including the raising of maize, beans, and Squash (plant), squash. While for the Inuit, hunting was the primary source of food with Pinniped, seals the primary component of their diet.[
] The caribou, fish, other marine mammals and to a lesser extent plants, berries and seaweed are part of the Inuit cuisine, Inuit diet. One of the most noticeable symbols of Inuit culture, the inuksuk is the emblem of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. ''Inuksuit'' are rock sculptures made by stacking stones; in the shape of a human figure, they are called ''inunnguaq''.
Indian reserves, established in Law of Canada, Canadian law by treaties such as Treaty 7, are lands of First Nations recognized by non-Indigenous governments. Some reserves are within cities, such as the Opawikoscikan Reserve in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Wendake, Quebec, Wendake in Quebec City or Enoch Cree Nation 135 in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. There are more reserves in Canada than there are First Nations, which were ceded multiple reserves by treaty. Aboriginal people currently work in a variety of occupations and may live outside their ancestral homes. The traditional cultures of their ancestors, shaped by nature, still exert a strong influence on them, from spirituality to political attitudes. National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day of recognition of the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada. The day was first celebrated in 1996, after it was proclaimed that year, by then Governor General of Canada Roméo LeBlanc, to be celebrated on June 21 annually. Most provincial jurisdictions do not recognize it as a Public holidays in Canada, statutory holiday.[
]
Languages
There are 13 Spoken languages of Canada#Indigenous languages, Aboriginal language groups, 11 oral and 2 sign language, sign, in Canada, made up of more than 65 distinct dialects. Of these, only Cree, Inuktitut, and Ojibwe language, Ojibwe have a large enough population of fluent speakers to be considered viable to survive in the long term.[
] Two of Canada's territories give official status to native languages. In Nunavut, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun are official languages alongside the national languages of English and French, and Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in territorial government.
In the Northwest Territories, the ''Official Languages Act (Northwest Territories), Official Languages Act'' declares that there are 11 different languages: Dene Suline language, Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwichʼin language, Gwichʼin, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey language, Slavey, South Slavey, and Dogrib language, Tłįchǫ. Besides English and French, these languages are not vehicular in government; official status entitles citizens to receive services in them on request and to deal with the government in them.
Visual art
Indigenous peoples were producing art for thousands of years before the arrival of European Settler colonialism, settler colonists and the eventual establishment of Canada as a nation state. Like the peoples who produced them, Indigenous art traditions spanned territories across North America. Indigenous art traditions are organized by art historians according to cultural, linguistic or regional groups: Northwest Coast, Plateau First Nations, Plateau, Plains Indians, Plains, Eastern Woodlands tribes, Eastern Woodlands, Subarctic, and Arctic.
Art traditions vary enormously amongst and within these diverse groups. Indigenous art with a focus on portability and the body is distinguished from European traditions and its focus on architecture. Indigenous visual art may be used in conjunction with other arts. Shamanism among Eskimo peoples, Shamans' Masks among Eskimo peoples, masks and rattles are used ceremoniously in dance, storytelling and music. Artworks preserved in museum collections date from the period after European contact and show evidence of the creative adoption and adaptation of European trade goods such as metal and glass beads. The distinct Métis cultures that have arisen from inter-cultural relationships with Europeans contribute culturally hybrid art forms. During the 19th and the first half of the 20th century the Canadian government pursued an active policy of Forced assimilation, forced and cultural assimilation toward Indigenous peoples. The ''Indian Act'' banned manifestations of the Sun Dance, the Potlatch, and works of art depicting them.
It was not until the 1950s and 1960s that Indigenous artists such as Mungo Martin, Bill Reid and Norval Morrisseau began to publicly renew and re-invent Indigenous art traditions. Currently, there are Indigenous artists practising in all media in Canada and two Indigenous artists, Edward Poitras and Rebecca Belmore, have represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and 2005 respectively.
Music
The Aboriginal peoples of Canada encompass diverse ethnic groups with their individual musical traditions. Music is usually social (public) or ceremonial (private). Public, social music may be dance music accompanied by rattle (percussion instrument), rattles and drums. Private, ceremonial music includes vocal songs with accompaniment on percussion, used to mark occasions like Midewivin ceremonies and Sun Dances.
Traditionally, Indigenous peoples used the materials at hand to make their instruments for centuries before Europeans immigrated to Canada. First Nations people made gourds and animal Horn (anatomy), horns into rattles, which were elaborately carved and brightly painted. In woodland areas, they made horns of birch bark and Percussion mallet, drumsticks of carved antlers and wood. Traditional percussion instruments such as drums were generally made of carved wood and animal Hide (skin), hides. These musical instruments provide the background for songs, and songs the background for dances. Traditional First Nations people consider song and dance to be sacred. For years after Europeans came to Canada, First Nations people were forbidden to practice their ceremonies.
Demography
There are three (First Nations, Inuit and Métis people (Canada), Métis) distinctive groups of Indigenous peoples that are recognized in the Canadian ''Constitution Act, 1982'', Section Twenty-five of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, sections 25 and 35. Under the ''Employment equity (Canada), Employment Equity Act'', Aboriginal people are a designated group along with women, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities; as such, they are neither a visible minority under the ''Act'' or in the view of Statistics Canada.
The Canada 2016 Census, 2016 Canadian Census enumerated 1,673,780 Aboriginal people in Canada, 4.9% of the country's total population.[[Aboriginal peoples in Canada: Key results from the 2016 Census]] This total includes 977,230 First Nations people, 587,545 Métis, and 65,025 Inuit. National representative bodies of Aboriginal people in Canada include the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council, the Native Women's Association of Canada, the National Association of Native Friendship Centres, and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
In 2016, Indigenous children ages zero to four accounted for 7.7% of those aged zero to four in Canada, and made up 51.2% of children in this age group living in foster care.
In the 20th century the Aboriginal population of Canada increased tenfold. Between 1900 and 1950 the population grew by 29%. After the 1960s the infant mortality level on reserves dropped dramatically and the population grew by 161%.[ Since the 1980s the number of First Nations babies more than doubled and currently almost half of the First Nations population is under the age of 25.]
Indigenous people assert that their Sovereignty, sovereign rights are valid, and point to the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which is mentioned in the Canadian ''Constitution Act, 1982'', Section 25, the ''British North America Acts'' and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (to which Canada is a signatory) in support of this claim.
Geographical distribution
Provinces & territories
Ethnography, Ethnographers commonly classify Indigenous peoples of the Americas in the United States and Canada into ten geographical regions, Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas, cultural areas, with shared cultural traits. The Canadian regions are:
*Inuit, Arctic cultural area (Eskimo–Aleut languages)
* Subarctic peoples, Subarctic culture area (Na-Dene languages and Algic languages)
*Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, Eastern Woodlands (Northeast) cultural area (Algic languages and Iroquoian languages)
*Plains Indians, Plains cultural area (Siouan–Catawban languages)
*Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, Northwest Plateau cultural area (Salishan languages)
*Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Northwest Coast cultural area (Penutian languages, Tsimshianic languages and Wakashan languages)
Urban population
Across Canada, 56% of Indigenous peoples live in urban areas. The urban Indigenous population is the fastest-growing population segment in Canada.
See also
* Index of articles related to Indigenous Canadians, Index of articles related to Indigenous peoples living in Canada
*Native Americans in the United States
* Aboriginal land title in Canada
* Settler Colonialism in Canada
*Indigenous education in Canada
References
Sources
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Further reading
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* Leacock, Stephen (2009),
The Dawn of Canadian History: A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada
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Notes on terminology
External links
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Portal
– Government of Canada
Aboriginal Peoples and Communities
– Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
Aboriginal Heritage Resources and Services
– Library and Archives Canada
Aboriginal Virtual Exhibits
– Virtual Museum of Canada
Battle for Aboriginal Treaty Rights
– Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Digital Archives)
First Peoples of Canada
– The Canadian Museum of Civilization
– Department of Canadian Heritage
Map of historical territory treaties
– Natural Resources Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indigenous Peoples In Canada
Indigenous peoples in Canada,
Social history of Canada
History of indigenous peoples of North America, Canada
Hunter-gatherers of Canada