Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Encyclopedia
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations
, Inuit
and Métis
. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo
" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative.
Old Crow Flats
and Bluefish Caves
are some of the earliest sites of human habitation in Canada that archaeologists have found. The Paleo-Indian Clovis
, Plano
and Pre-Dorset
cultures pre-date current Indigenous peoples of the Americas
. Projectile point
tools, spear
s, pottery
, bangles, chisels and scrapers
mark archaeological sites, thus distinguishing cultural periods, traditions and lithic reduction
styles.
The characteristics of Canadian Aboriginal civilizations included permanent settlements, agriculture, civic and ceremonial architecture, complex societal hierarchies and trading networks. The Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and native Inuit married European settlers. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period. Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Aboriginal Right to Self-Government provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care
and economic control aspects within first people's communities.
As of the 2006 census
, Aboriginal peoples in Canada totaled 1,172,790 people, or 3.8% of the national population, spread over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music. National Aboriginal Day
recognises the cultures and contributions of Aboriginals to the history of Canada
. First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of all backgrounds have become prominent figures and have served as role models in the Aboriginal community and help to shape the Canadian cultural identity
.
, and their descendants, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. On reserves, First Nations is being supplanted by members of various nations referring to themselves by their group or national identity. In conversation this would be "I am Haida", or "we are Kwantlens", in recognition of their First Nations ethnicities. In this Act
, "Aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.
Indian remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution
; its usage outside such situations can be considered offensive. Aboriginals is more commonly used to describe all indigenous peoples of Canada. It also refers to self-identification of aboriginal people who live within Canada claiming rights of sovereignty or aboriginal title to lands.
The term Eskimo has pejorative
connotations in Canada and Greenland. Indigenous peoples have replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit. The Yupik of Alaska and Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit, and ethnographers agree they are a distinct people. They prefer the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or Eskimo. The Yupik languages are linguistically distinct from the Inuit languages. Linguistic groups of Arctic people have no universal replacement term for Eskimo, inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik people across the geographical area inhabited by the Inuit and Yupik peoples.
. During the Wisconsin glaciation
, 50,00017,000 years ago, falling sea level
s allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge
that joined Siberia
to north west North America (Alaska). Alaska was ice-free because of low snowfall, allowing a small population
to exist. The Laurentide ice sheet
covered most of Canada, blocking nomadic 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 10,00020,000 years. Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting
, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond.
The first inhabitants entered the Americas pursuing Pleistocene
mammals such as the giant beaver
, steppe wisent
, musk ox
, mastodons, woolly mammoth
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
, 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
. Evidence of the latter has been covered by a sea level rise 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 20,000 years ago and ending about 11,000 years ago
. Fossils from the area include some never accounted for in North America, such as hyena
s and large camel
s. Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in the Yukon Territory
of Canada from which a specimen of apparently human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon dated to 18,000 years ago.
During the 1950s, geologists first conjectured that an ice-free corridor ran north and south through Alberta during the Late Wisconsin period. Lithic reduction
stone scrapers and choppers were preserved from archaeological sites in Grimshaw, Bow River
, and Lethbridge
. These Lithic flake
d stone tools discovered under glacial sand and gravel are classified as pre-glacial and indicate nomadic humans occupied the area as early as 23,000 years ago. Archaeologists are still finalising the dates recorded for the Alberta and the Old Crow flats sites.
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
and ancestors to all indigenous peoples in the Americas. Archaeological discoveries in the past thirty years have brought forward other distinctive knapping cultures who occupied the Americas from the lower Great Plains
to the shores of Chile
.
Localised regional cultures developed from the time of the Younger Dryas
cold climate period from 12,900 to 11,500 years ago. The Folsom tradition
are characterised by their use of Folsom point
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 13,00011,000 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
produced great grass lands called archipelago of Haida Gwaii.
Hunter-gatherer
s of the area left distinctive lithic technology
tools and the remains of large butchered mammals, occupying the area from 13,0009,000 years ago
. In July 1992, the Federal Government officially designated X̲á:ytem as a National Historic Site, one of the first Indigenous spiritual sites in Canada to be formally recognised in this manner.
The Plano cultures
was a group of hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America between 12,00010,000 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 characterised by a range of projectile point tools collectively called Plano point
s, which were used to hunt bison
. Their diets also included pronghorn antelope, elk
, deer
, raccoon
and coyote
. At the beginning of the Archaic Era, they began to adopt a sedentary
approach to subsistence. Sites in and around Belmont, Nova Scotia
have evidence of Plano-Indians, indicating small seasonal hunting camps, perhaps re-visited over generations from around 11,00010,000 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.
(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, American indigenous peoples 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
, and landform separations have defined ancient peoples implicitly into cultural or linguistic
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
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
period, 10,0009,000 years ago. Archaeological sites at Stave Lake
, Coquitlam Lake
, Fort Langley
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
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
along the Eramosa River
around 8,0007,000 BCE (10,0009,000 years ago). They were concentrated between Lake Simcoe
and Georgian Bay
. Wendat hunted caribou to survive on the glacier-covered land. Many different First Nations cultures relied upon the buffalo starting by 6,0005,000 BCE (8,0007,000 years ago). They hunted buffalo by herding migrating buffalo off cliffs. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
, near Lethbridge, Alberta, is a hunting grounds that was in use for about 5,000 years.
The west coast of Canada by 7,0005000 BCE (9,0007,000 years ago) saw various cultures who organised themselves around salmon fishing. The Nuu-chah-nulth of Vancouver Island
began whaling with advanced long spears at about this time. The Maritime Archaic
is one group of North America's Archaic culture of sea-mammal hunters in the subarctic
. They prospered from approximately 7,000 BCE1,500 BCE (9,0003,500 years ago) along the Atlantic Coast
of North America. Their settlements included longhouses and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses. They engaged in long-distance trade, using as currency white chert
, a rock quarried from northern Labrador to Maine. The Pre-Columbian
culture, whose members were called Red Paint People
, is indigenous to the New England
and Atlantic Canada
regions of North America. The culture flourished between 3,000 BCE1,000 BCE (5,0003,000 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
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
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
, were displaced by the Inuit by 1000 Common Era
(CE).
societies dating from 3,000 BCE500 BCE (5,0002,500 years ago) are a manifestation of the Woodland Culture
, and are pre-pottery in nature. Evidence found in the northern Great Lakes
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 BCE1,000 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 practicing 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 BCE500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System networked culture
s and societies with the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario
. Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula
, Saugeen
, and Laurel complexes
.
;Haida; Salish; Kwakiutl
; Nootka; Nisga'a
; Senakw
and Gitxsan
. In the plains were the Blackfoot
; Káínawa
; Sarcee and Peigan
. In the northern woodlands were the Cree
and Chipewyan
. Around the Great Lakes were the Anishinaabe
; Algonquin; Míkmaq; Iroquois
and Huron. Along the Atlantic coast were the Beothuk
, Maliseet, Innu
, Abenaki and Mi'kmaq.
Many Canadian Aboriginal civilisations
established characteristics and hallmarks that included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture
, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies
. These civilisations 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 interacted with Europeans around 1000 CE, but prolonged contact came after Europeans established permanent settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries. In Columbus' time there was speculation that other Europeans had made the trip in ancient or contemporary times; Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés records in his General y natural historia de las Indias of 1526, which includes biographical information on Columbus. European written accounts generally recorded friendliness of the First Nations, who profited in trade with Europeans. Such trade generally strengthened the more organised 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-organised 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
.
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", or "dwarfs", 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.
War
fare 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, Ívar Bárðarson, speaks of "small people" with whom the Norsemen fought. 14th-century accounts 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
fishers were already working the Labrador coast and had established whaling stations on land, such as been excavated at 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 throat singer
. Abe Okpik
, CM
, was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames
rather than disc numbers and Kiviaq (David Ward) won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktituk name.
, Menominee
, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and other First Nations. Their history dates to the mid-17th century.
The Métis homeland consists of the Canadian provinces
of British Columbia
, Alberta
, Saskatchewan
, Manitoba
, Quebec
, New Brunswick
, Nova Scotia
, and Ontario
, as well as the Northwest Territories
(NWT).
Amongst notable Métis people are Tom Jackson
, television actor, Tony Whitford
, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, 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
.
The languages inherently Métis are either Métis French
or a mixed language called Michif
. Michif, Mechif or Métchif is a phonetic spelling
of Métif, a variant of Métis. The Métis today predominantly speak English
, with French
a strong second language, as well as numerous 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
, Saulteaux, Assiniboine
, etc.) and English. Their fathers spoke Gaelic, thus leading to the development of an English dialect referred to as "Bungee
".
There is debate over legally defining the term Métis. Unlike First Nations people and Inuit, there is no distinction between status
and non-status. S.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 mentions the Métis. Métis, their heritage and aboriginal ancestry have been absorbed and assimilated into their surrounding populations. On September 23, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada
ruled that Métis are a distinct people with significant rights (Powley ruling
).
". These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with forced integration. Because of laws and policies that encouraged or required Aboriginals to assimilate
into a Eurocentric
society, Canada may be violating the United Nations
Genocide Convention
that Canada signed in 1949 and passed through Parliament in 1952. The residential school system that removed Aboriginal children from their homes for placement in Christian-run schools has led scholars to believe that Canada can be tried in international court
for genocide
. In 2008 Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
issued an apology on behalf of the Canadian government and its citizens for the residential school system.
The Canadian Crown and Aboriginal peoples began interactions
during the European colonialisation period. Numbered treaties
, the Indian Act
, the Constitution Act of 1982
and case laws were established. Aboriginals construe these agreements as being between them and the Crown of Canada through the districts Indian Agent
, and not the Cabinet of Canada
.
The Māori interprets the Treaty of Waitangi
in New Zealand similarly. A series of eleven treaties
were signed between Aboriginals in Canada and the reigning Monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. The Government of Canada
created the policy, commissioned the Treaty Commissioners and ratified the agreements. These Treaties are agreements with the Government of Canada administered by Canadian Aboriginal law
and overseen by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
.
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
argued that treaties "served to reconcile pre-existing Aboriginal sovereignty with assumed Crown sovereignty, and to define Aboriginal rights". First Nations people interpreted agreements covered in treaty 8
to last "as long as the sun shines, grass grows and rivers flow."
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 as of April 17, 1985.
Those people accepted into band membership under band rules may not be status Indians. C-31 clarified that various sections of the Indian Act would apply to band members. The sections under debate concern community life and land holdings. Sections pertaining to Indians (Aboriginals) as individuals (in this case, wills and taxation of personal property) were not included.
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, 4,000page 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 20year agenda for change."
announced the Aboriginal Right to Self-Government Policy. This policy recognises 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
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, is an Aboriginal-designed and-controlled not-for-profit body in Canada that works to influence and advance the health and well-being of Aboriginal Peoples.
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.
Today's political organisations have resulted from interaction with European-style methods of government through the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
. Aboriginal political organisations throughout Canada vary in political standing, viewpoints, and reasons for forming. First Nations, Métis and Inuit negotiate with the Canadian Government
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.
Countless North American Indigenous words, inventions and games have become an everyday part of Canadian language and use. The canoe
, snowshoe
s, 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
, caribou
, chipmunk
, woodchuck
, hammock
, skunk
, and moose
. Many places in Canada, both natural features and human habitations, use indigenous names. The word "Canada" itself derives from the 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." Canada's capital city Ottawa
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 lifeway, or occupation, at the time of European contact. These culture areas correspond closely with physical and ecological
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 subarctic forest
, other species such as the moose
were more important. For peoples near the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River
, shifting agriculture
was practised, including the raising of maize
, bean
s, and squash. While for the Inuit, hunting was the primary source of food with seals
the primary component of their diet. The caribou
, fish, other marine mammal
s and to a lesser extent plants, berries and seaweed are part of the Inuit diet
. One of the most noticeable symbols of Inuit culture
, the inukshuk
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 reserve
s, established in Canadian law
by treaties such as Treaty 7
, are lands of First Nations recognised by non-indigenous governments. Some reserves are within cities, such as the Opawikoscikan Reserve in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
, Wendake
in Quebec City
or Stony Plain 135 in the Edmonton Capital 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 Aboriginal 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 recognise it as a statutory holiday
.
There are 11 Aboriginal language groups in Canada, made up of more than 65 distinct dialects. Of these, only Cree
, Inuktitut
and Ojibway
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 NWT, the Official Languages Act declares that there are eleven different languages: Chipewyan
, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in
, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut
, Inuvialuktun
, North Slavey
, South Slavey
and 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.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census Profile of Federal Electoral Districts (2003 Representation Order): Language, Mobility and Migration and Immigration and Citizenship Ottawa, 2007, pp. 2, 6, 10.
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 organised by art historians according to cultural, linguistic or regional groups: Northwest Coast, Plateau
, Plains
, 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 conjunction with other arts. Shaman
s' 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
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 practicing 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.
accompanied by rattles
and drum
s. Private, ceremonial music includes vocal songs with accompaniment on percussion
, used to mark occasions like Midewivin ceremonies and Sun Dances.
Traditionally, Aboriginal peoples used the materials at hand to make their instruments for centuries before Europeans immigrated to Canada. First Nations people made gourd
s and animal horns
into rattles, which were elaborately carved and brightly painted. In woodland areas, they made horns of birch bark
and drumsticks of carved antlers and wood. Traditional percussion instruments such as drums were generally made of carved wood and animal hides
. These musical instrument
s 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.
, sections 25
and 35. Under the Employment Equity Act
, Aboriginal people are a designated group along with women, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities. They are not a visible minority
under the Employment Equity Act and in the view of Statistics Canada
.
The 2006 Canadian Census
enumerated 1,172,790 Aboriginal people in Canada, 3.8% of the country's total population. This total comprises 698,025 people of First Nations descent, 389,785 Métis, and 50,485 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 Centre
s and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
.
Indigenous people assert that their 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 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
(to which Canada is a signatory) in support of this claim.
Ethnographers
commonly classify indigenous peoples of the Americas in the United States and Canada into ten geographical regions, cultural area
s, with shared cultural traits. The Canadian regions are:
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.
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
, Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
and Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative.
Old Crow Flats
Old Crow Flats
Old Crow Flats is a wetland complex in northern Yukon, Canada. It is north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Beaufort Sea, and is nearly surrounded by mountains. The site is protected by the Yukon Wildlife Ordinance and Migratory Birds Convention Act...
and Bluefish Caves
Bluefish Caves
Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in the Yukon Territory of Canada from which a specimen of allegedly human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon dated to 28,000 years before present ....
are some of the earliest sites of human habitation in Canada that archaeologists have found. The Paleo-Indian Clovis
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
, Plano
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 period in the United States and the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period in Canada....
and Pre-Dorset
Pre-Dorset
The "Pre-Dorset culture" was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that lived in the Eastern Arctic from 2500 to 500 BC....
cultures pre-date current Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
. Projectile point
Projectile point
In archaeological terms, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a projectile, such as a spear, dart, or arrow, or perhaps used as a knife....
tools, spear
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 bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
s, pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
, bangles, chisels and scrapers
Scraper (archaeology)
In archaeology, scrapers are unifacial tools that were used either for hideworking or woodworking purposes. Whereas this term is often used for any unifacially flaked stone tool that defies classification, most lithic analysts maintain that the only true scrapers are defined on the base of...
mark archaeological sites, thus distinguishing cultural periods, traditions and lithic reduction
Lithic reduction
Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer precursor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator , or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core . As flakes are detached in sequence, the original mass of stone is reduced; hence the...
styles.
The characteristics of Canadian Aboriginal civilizations included permanent settlements, agriculture, civic and ceremonial architecture, complex societal hierarchies and trading networks. The Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and native Inuit married European settlers. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period. Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Aboriginal Right to Self-Government provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
and economic control aspects within first people's communities.
As of the 2006 census
Canada 2006 Census
The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...
, Aboriginal peoples in Canada totaled 1,172,790 people, or 3.8% of the national population, spread over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music. National Aboriginal Day
National Aboriginal Day
National Aboriginal Day is a day recognizing and celebrating 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...
recognises the cultures and contributions of Aboriginals to the history of Canada
History of Canada
The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, among whom evolved trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social hierarchies...
. First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of all backgrounds have become prominent figures and have served as role models in the Aboriginal community and help to shape the Canadian cultural identity
Culture of Canada
Canadian culture is a term that explains the artistic, musical, literary, culinary, political and social elements that are representative of Canada and Canadians, not only to its own population, but people all over the world. Canada's culture has historically been influenced by European culture and...
.
Terminology
The terms First Peoples and First Nations are both used to refer to indigenous peoples of Canada. The terms First Peoples or Aboriginals in Canada are normally broader terms than First Nations, as they include Inuit, Métis and First Nations. First Nations (most often used in the plural) has come into general use for the indigenous peoples of North America in CanadaHistory of Canada
The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, among whom evolved trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social hierarchies...
, and their descendants, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. On reserves, First Nations is being supplanted by members of various nations referring to themselves by their group or national identity. In conversation this would be "I am Haida", or "we are Kwantlens", in recognition of their First Nations ethnicities. In this Act
Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982
Section thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides constitutional protection to the aboriginal and treaty rights of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The section, while within the Constitution Act, 1982 and thus the Constitution of Canada, falls outside the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms...
, "Aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.
Indian remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada...
; its usage outside such situations can be considered offensive. Aboriginals is more commonly used to describe all indigenous peoples of Canada. It also refers to self-identification of aboriginal people who live within Canada claiming rights of sovereignty or aboriginal title to lands.
The term Eskimo has pejorative
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
connotations in Canada and Greenland. Indigenous peoples have replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit. The Yupik of Alaska and Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit, and ethnographers agree they are a distinct people. They prefer the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or Eskimo. The Yupik languages are linguistically distinct from the Inuit languages. Linguistic groups of Arctic people have no universal replacement term for Eskimo, inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik people across the geographical area inhabited by the Inuit and Yupik peoples.
Paleo-Indians period
According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitationEarly human migrations
Early human migrations began when Homo erectus first migrated out of Africa over the Levantine corridor and Horn of Africa to Eurasia about 1.8 million years ago, a migration probably sparked by the development of language Early human migrations began when Homo erectus first migrated out of Africa...
. During the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
, 50,00017,000 years ago, falling sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
s allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge
Bering land bridge
The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages. Like most of Siberia and all of Manchuria, Beringia was not glaciated because snowfall was extremely light...
that joined Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
to north west North America (Alaska). Alaska was ice-free because of low snowfall, allowing a small population
Small population size
Small populations behave differently from larger populations. They often result in population bottlenecks, which have harmful consequences for the survival of that population.-Demographic effects:...
to exist. The Laurentide ice sheet
Laurentide ice sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern United States, multiple times during Quaternary glacial epochs. It last covered most of northern North America between c. 95,000 and...
covered most of Canada, blocking nomadic 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 10,00020,000 years. Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond.
The first inhabitants entered the Americas pursuing Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
mammals such as the giant beaver
Giant Beaver
Castoroides ohioensis was a species of giant beaver, huge members of the family Castoridae , endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch .-Morphology:...
, steppe wisent
Steppe Wisent
The Steppe Bison or steppe wisent was a bison found on steppes throughout Europe, Central Asia, Beringia, and North America during the Quaternary...
, musk ox
Musk Ox
The muskox is an Arctic mammal of the family Bovidae, noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males, from which its name derives. This musky odor is used to attract females during mating season...
, mastodons, woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
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
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, 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
Pacific Coast
A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...
to the tip of South America, and then crossed the Rockies and Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
. Evidence of the latter has been covered by a sea level rise 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
Quaternary glaciation
Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, the current ice age or simply the ice age, refers to the period of the last few million years in which permanent ice sheets were established in Antarctica and perhaps Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets have occurred elsewhere...
, 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 20,000 years ago and ending about 11,000 years ago
9th millennium BC
The 9th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Neolithic period.Agriculture spread throughout the Fertile Crescent and use of pottery became more widespread. Larger settlements like Jericho arose along salt and flint trade routes. Northern Eurasia was resettled as the glaciers of the last glacial...
. Fossils from the area include some never accounted for in North America, such as hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
s and large camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s. Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in the Yukon Territory
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
of Canada from which a specimen of apparently human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon dated to 18,000 years ago.
During the 1950s, geologists first conjectured that an ice-free corridor ran north and south through Alberta during the Late Wisconsin period. Lithic reduction
Lithic reduction
Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer precursor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator , or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core . As flakes are detached in sequence, the original mass of stone is reduced; hence the...
stone scrapers and choppers were preserved from archaeological sites in Grimshaw, Bow River
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, and is considered the headwater of the Nelson River....
, and Lethbridge
Lethbridge
Lethbridge is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada, and the largest city in southern Alberta. It is Alberta's fourth-largest city by population after Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, and the third-largest by area after Calgary and Edmonton. The nearby Canadian Rockies contribute to the city's...
. These Lithic flake
Lithic flake
In archaeology, a lithic flake is a "portion of rock removed from an objective piece by percussion or pressure," and may also be referred to as a chip or spall, or collectively as debitage. The objective piece, or the rock being reduced by the removal of flakes, is known as a core. Once the proper...
d stone tools discovered under glacial sand and gravel are classified as pre-glacial and indicate nomadic humans occupied the area as early as 23,000 years ago. Archaeologists are still finalising the dates recorded for the Alberta and the Old Crow flats sites.
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
were regarded as the first widespread Paleo-Indian inhabitants of the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
and ancestors to all indigenous peoples in the Americas. Archaeological discoveries in the past thirty years have brought forward other distinctive knapping cultures who occupied the Americas from the lower Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
to the shores of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
Localised regional cultures developed from the time of the Younger Dryas
Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief period of cold climatic conditions and drought between approximately 12.8 and 11.5 ka BP, or 12,800 and 11,500 years before present...
cold climate period from 12,900 to 11,500 years ago. The Folsom tradition
Folsom tradition
The Folsom Complex is a name given by archaeologists to a specific Paleo-Indian archaeological culture that occupied much of central North America...
are characterised by their use of Folsom point
Folsom point
Folsom points are a distinct form of chipped stone projectile points associated with the Folsom Tradition of North America. The style of toolmaking was named after Folsom, New Mexico where the first sample was found within the bone structure of a bison in 1927....
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 13,00011,000 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
Hecate Strait
Hecate Strait is a wide but shallow strait between the Haida Gwaii and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It merges with Queen Charlotte Sound to the south and Dixon Entrance to the north...
produced great grass lands called archipelago of Haida Gwaii.
Hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s of the area left distinctive lithic technology
Lithic Technology
In archeology, lithic technology refers to a broad array of techniques and styles 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 years old...
tools and the remains of large butchered mammals, occupying the area from 13,0009,000 years ago
7th millennium BC
During the 7th millennium BC, agriculture spreads from Anatolia to the Balkans.World population was essentially stable at around 5 million people, living mostly scattered across the globe in small hunting-gathering tribes...
. In July 1992, the Federal Government officially designated X̲á:ytem as a National Historic Site, one of the first Indigenous spiritual sites in Canada to be formally recognised in this manner.
The Plano cultures
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 period in the United States and the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period in Canada....
was a group of hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America between 12,00010,000 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 characterised by a range of projectile point tools collectively called Plano point
Plano point
Plano point is a general term used by archaeologists to describe a variety of different chipped stone projectile points used by the various Plano cultures of the North American Great Plains between 9000 BC and 6000 BC....
s, which were used to hunt bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
. Their diets also included pronghorn antelope, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
and coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
. At the beginning of the Archaic Era, they began to adopt a sedentary
Sedentary lifestyle
Sedentary lifestyle is a medical term used to denote a type of lifestyle with no or irregular physical activity. A person who lives a sedentary lifestyle may colloquially be known as a couch potato. It is commonly found in both the developed and developing world...
approach to subsistence. Sites in and around Belmont, Nova Scotia
Belmont, Nova Scotia
Belmont is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Colchester County.-References:*...
have evidence of Plano-Indians, indicating small seasonal hunting camps, perhaps re-visited over generations from around 11,00010,000 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 BCECommon Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
(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, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50 – 60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide.
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
, fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
, and landform separations have defined ancient peoples implicitly into cultural or linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
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
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
and animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
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
Stó:lo
The Sto:lo , alternately written as Stó:lō, Stó:lô or Stó:lõ and historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of...
by Aboriginal people dating from the early Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
period, 10,0009,000 years ago. Archaeological sites at Stave Lake
Stave Lake
Stave Lake is a hydroelectric reservoir in the Stave River system, located on the northern edge of the District of Mission, about 65 km east of Vancouver, British Columbia. The main arm of the lake is just over 20 km long, and there is a southwest arm ending at Stave Falls Dam about...
, Coquitlam Lake
Coquitlam Lake
Coquitlam Lake is a reservoir located just north of Coquitlam, British Columbia. It is one of the three main water sources for Metro Vancouver, and also a part of BC Hydro's power generation system...
, Fort Langley
Fort Langley, British Columbia
Fort Langley is a village with a population of 2,700 and forms part of the Township of Langley. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company.-History:...
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-Dené languages
Na-Dene is a Native American language family which includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. An inclusion of Haida is controversial....
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
Athabaskan languages
Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...
-speaking peoples, including the Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
and Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
. 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
Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...
along the Eramosa River
Eramosa River
The Eramosa River is a river in Wellington County in western Ontario which rises near Erin, Ontario and flows southwest through the city of Guelph, where it joins the Speed River, which then enters the Grand River in Cambridge....
around 8,0007,000 BCE (10,0009,000 years ago). They were concentrated between Lake Simcoe
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 by the Huron natives...
and Georgian Bay
Georgian Bay
Georgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, located entirely within Ontario, Canada...
. Wendat hunted caribou to survive on the glacier-covered land. Many different First Nations cultures relied upon the buffalo starting by 6,0005,000 BCE (8,0007,000 years ago). They hunted buffalo by herding migrating buffalo off cliffs. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
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 northwest of Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada on highway 785...
, near Lethbridge, Alberta, is a hunting grounds that was in use for about 5,000 years.
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
began whaling with advanced long spears at about this time. The Maritime Archaic
Maritime Archaic
The Maritime Archaic is a North American cultural complex of the Late Archaic along the coast of Newfoundland, the Canadian Martimes and northern New England. The Maritime Archaic began in approximately 7000 BC and lasted into the 18th century. The culture consisted of sea-mammal hunters in the...
is one group of North America's Archaic culture of sea-mammal hunters in the subarctic
Subarctic
The Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and northern Mongolia...
. They prospered from approximately 7,000 BCE1,500 BCE (9,0003,500 years ago) along the Atlantic Coast
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
of North America. Their settlements included longhouses and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses. They engaged in long-distance trade, using as currency white chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
, a rock quarried from northern Labrador to Maine. The Pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
culture, whose members were called Red Paint People
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 bodies and grave goods...
, is indigenous to the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
regions of North America. The culture flourished between 3,000 BCE1,000 BCE (5,0003,000 years ago) and was named after their burial ceremonies, which used large quantities of red ochre
Ochre
Ochre is the term for both a golden-yellow or light yellow brown color and for a form of earth pigment which produces the color. The pigment can also be used to create a reddish tint known as "red ochre". The more rarely used terms "purple ochre" and "brown ochre" also exist for variant hues...
to cover bodies and grave goods.
The Arctic small tool tradition
Arctic small tool tradition
The Arctic Small Tool tradition is a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula, round Bristol Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2500 BC...
is a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....
, around Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay is the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km long and 290 km, wide at its mouth...
, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2,500 BCE
25th century BC
The 25th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 2500 BCE to 2401 BCE.-Events:*c. 2900 BCE – 2334 BCE: Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period.*c. 2500 BCE: Rice was first introduced to Malaysia...
(4,500 years ago). These Paleo-Arctic
Paleo-Arctic Tradition
The Paleo-Arctic Tradition is the name given by archaeologists to the cultural tradition of the earliest well-documented human occupants of the North American Arctic, which date from the period 8000–5000 BC...
peoples had a highly distinctive toolkit of small blades (microblades
Microblade technology
Microblade technology is a period of technological development marked by the creation and use of small stone blades, which are produced by chipping silica-rich stones like chert, quartz, or obsidian. Blades are a specialized type of lithic flake that are at least twice as long as they are wide...
) that were pointed at both ends and used as side- or end-barbs on arrows
Arrows
Arrows Grand Prix International was a British Formula One team active from to . For a period of time, it was also known as Footwork.-Origins :...
or spears made of other materials, such as bone or antler
Antler
Antlers are the usually large, branching bony appendages on the heads of most deer species.-Etymology:Antler originally meant the lowest tine, the "brow tine"...
. Scrapers
Scraper (archaeology)
In archaeology, scrapers are unifacial tools that were used either for hideworking or woodworking purposes. Whereas this term is often used for any unifacially flaked stone tool that defies classification, most lithic analysts maintain that the only true scrapers are defined on the base of...
, engraving tools and adze
Adze
An adze is a tool used for smoothing or carving rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards towards his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind...
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
Independence II culture
The Independence II culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that flourished in northern and northeastern Greenland , north and south of the Independence Fjord. The Independence II culture arose in the same region as the Independence I culture, which became extinct six centuries earlier...
. These two groups, ancestors of Thule people
Thule people
The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by AD 1000 and expanded eastwards across Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region...
, were displaced by the Inuit by 1000 Common Era
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
(CE).
Post-Archaic periods
The Old Copper ComplexOld Copper Complex
Old Copper Complex is a term used for ancient Native North American societies known to have been heavily involved in the utilization of copper for weaponry and tools. It is to be distinguished from the Copper Age , when copper use becomes systematic.The Old Copper Complex of the Western Great Lakes...
societies dating from 3,000 BCE500 BCE (5,0002,500 years ago) are a manifestation of the Woodland Culture
Woodland period
The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...
, and are pre-pottery in nature. Evidence found in the northern Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
regions indicates that they extracted copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
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 BCE1,000 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 practicing 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 BCE500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System networked culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s and societies with the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
. Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula
Point Peninsula Complex
The Point Peninsula Complex was an indigenous culture located in Ontario and New York from 300 BCE to 700 CE . The people are thought to have been influenced by the Hopewell traditions of the Ohio River valley...
, Saugeen
Saugeen Complex
The Saugeen Complex was a Native American culture located around the southeast shores of Lake Huron and the Bruce Peninsula, around the London area, and possibly as far east as the Grand River...
, and Laurel complexes
Laurel Complex
The Laurel Complex was a Native American culture in southern Quebec, southern and northwestern Ontario and east-central Manitoba in Canada and northern Michigan, northwestern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota in the United States. They were the first pottery using people of Ontario north of the...
.
First Nations
First Nations peoples had settled and established trade routes across what is now Canada by 500 BCE1,000 CE. Communities developed each with its own culture, customs, and character. In the northwest were the Athapaskan, Slavey, Dogrib, Tutchone, and Tlingit. Along the Pacific coast were the TsimshianTsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
;Haida; Salish; Kwakiutl
Kwakiutl
The term Kwakiutl, historically applied to the entire Kwakwaka'wakw ethno-linguistic group of originally 28 tribes, comes from one of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribes, the Kwagu'ł or Kwagyeulth, at Fort Rupert, with whom Franz Boas did most of his anthropological work and whose Indian Act Band government...
; Nootka; Nisga'a
Nisga'a
The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga’a language as Nisga’a, are an Indigenous nation or First Nation in Canada. They live in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. Their name comes from a combination of two Nisga’a words: Nisk’-"top lip" and...
; Senakw
Senakw
Snauq is a village site of the Indigenous Squamish peoples, located near what is now known as the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
and Gitxsan
Gitxsan
Gitxsan are an indigenous people whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English...
. In the plains were the Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
; Káínawa
Kainai Nation
The Kainai Nation is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada with a population of 7,437 members in 2005, and had a population of 9,035 members as of 9 February 2008...
; Sarcee and Peigan
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
. In the northern woodlands were the Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
and Chipewyan
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan are a Dene Aboriginal people in Canada, whose ancestors were the Taltheilei...
. Around the Great Lakes were the Anishinaabe
Anishinaabe
Anishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...
; Algonquin; Míkmaq; Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
and Huron. Along the Atlantic coast were the Beothuk
Beothuk
The Beothuk were one of the aboriginal peoples in Canada. They lived on the island of Newfoundland at the time of European contact in the 15th and 16th centuries...
, Maliseet, Innu
Innu
The Innu are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan , which comprises most of the northeastern portions of the provinces of Quebec and some western portions of Labrador...
, Abenaki and Mi'kmaq.
Many Canadian Aboriginal civilisations
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
established characteristics and hallmarks that included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies
Complex society
In anthropology and archaeology, a complex society is a social formation that is otherwise described as a formative or developed state. The main criteria of complexity are:...
. These civilisations 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
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
between the first peoples and those from other continents. Aboriginal people in Canada interacted with Europeans around 1000 CE, but prolonged contact came after Europeans established permanent settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries. In Columbus' time there was speculation that other Europeans had made the trip in ancient or contemporary times; Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés records in his General y natural historia de las Indias of 1526, which includes biographical information on Columbus. European written accounts generally recorded friendliness of the First Nations, who profited in trade with Europeans. Such trade generally strengthened the more organised 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-organised traffic of furs
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
overseen by the Indian Department
Indian Department
The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and those First Nations in British North America. At that time of its establishment it was a wing of the British Military.The department was initially led by...
.
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
Land claims
Land claims are a legal declaration of desired control over areas of property including bodies of water. The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims...
and Ovide Mercredi
Ovide Mercredi
Ovide William Mercredi, OM is an Aboriginal Canadian politician. He is Cree and a former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations....
, a leader at both the Meech Lake Accord
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...
constitutional reform discussions and Oka Crisis
Oka Crisis
The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, Canada which began on July 11, 1990 and lasted until September 26, 1990. At least one person died as a result...
.
Inuit
The Inuit are the descendants of what anthropologistsAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
call the Thule culture, which emerged from western Alaska around 1,000 CE and spread eastward across the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
, displacing the Dorset culture
Dorset culture
The Dorset culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. It has been defined as having four phases, with distinct technology related to the people's hunting and tool making...
(in Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
, the Tuniit). Inuit historically referred to the Tuniit as "giants", or "dwarfs", 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
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, 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.
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
fare was common among Inuit groups with sufficient population density. Inuit, such as the Nunatamiut
Nunatamiut
The Nunatamiut are an Alaskan Inuit nomadic group who lived in the Alaskan interior and were known as great caribou hunters. When caribou numbers dwindled in the 19th century, some Nunatamiut migrated towards the Mackenzie River delta...
(Uummarmiut
Uummarmiut
The Uummarmiut is the name given to the Inuvialuit who live predominantly in the Mackenzie Delta communities of Aklavik and Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada...
) who inhabited the Mackenzie River
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...
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, Ívar Bárðarson, speaks of "small people" with whom the Norsemen fought. 14th-century accounts that a western settlement, one of the two Norse settlements, was taken over by the Skræling
Skræling
Skræling is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the indigenous peoples they encountered in North America and Greenland. In surviving sources it is first applied to the Thule people, the Eskimo group with whom the Norse coexisted in Greenland after about the 13th century...
.
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
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
fishers were already working the Labrador coast and had established whaling stations on land, such as been excavated at Red Bay
Red Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Red Bay is a fishing village and former site of several Basque whaling stations on the southern coast of Labrador in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Between 1550 and the early 17th century, Red Bay was a major Basque whaling area. The site is home to three Basque whaling galleons...
. 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
Abraham Ulrikab
Abraham Ulrikab was an Inuk from Hebron, Labrador, in the present day province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, who — along with his family — was to become a zoo exhibit in Europe in 1880 as an attraction at the Hamburg, Germany public zoo.Ulrikab, along with his wife and two...
and family who became a zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
exhibit in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany, and Tanya Tagaq, a traditional throat singer
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
. Abe Okpik
Abe Okpik
Abe "Abraham" Okpik, CM was an Inuit community leader in Canada. He instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames rather than disc numbers...
, CM
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
rather than disc numbers and Kiviaq (David Ward) won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktituk name.
Métis
The Métis are a people descended from marriages between Europeans (mainly French) and Cree, Ojibway, Algonquin, SaulteauxSaulteaux
The Saulteaux are a First Nation in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.-Ethnic classification:The Saulteaux are a branch of the Ojibwe nations. They are sometimes also called Anihšināpē . Saulteaux is a French term meaning "people of the rapids," referring to...
, Menominee
Menominee
Some placenames use other spellings, see also Menomonee and Menomonie.The Menominee are a nation of Native Americans living in Wisconsin. The Menominee, along with the Ho-Chunk, are the only tribes that are indigenous to what is now Wisconsin...
, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and other First Nations. Their history dates to the mid-17th century.
The Métis homeland consists of the Canadian provinces
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, as well as the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
(NWT).
Amongst notable Métis people are Tom Jackson
Tom Jackson (actor)
Thomas Dale Jackson, OC , is a Canadian born Métis actor and singer perhaps best known for the annual series of Christmas concerts, called the Huron Carole, which he created and starred in for 17 years...
, television actor, Tony Whitford
Tony Whitford
Anthony Wilfred James "Tony" Whitford is a retired politician and former Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.Whitford was born and raised in the Northwest Territories, in the small town of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, at the time the capital of the NWT...
, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, and Louis Riel who led two resistance movements: the Red River Rebellion
Red River Rebellion
The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...
of 1869–1870 and the North-West Rebellion
North-West Rebellion
The North-West Rebellion of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful uprising by the Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel against the Dominion of Canada...
of 1885, which ended in his trial
Trial of Louis Riel
The Trial of Louis Riel is arguably the most famous trial in the history of Canada. In 1885, Louis Riel had been a leader of a resistance movement by the Métis and First Nations people of western Canada against the Canadian government in what is now the modern province of Saskatchewan...
.
The languages inherently Métis are either Métis French
Métis French
Métis French, along with Michif and Bungi, is one of the traditional languages of the Métis people, and the French-dialect source of Michif.-Michif:...
or a mixed language called Michif
Michif language
Michif is the language of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations women and fur trade workers of European ancestry...
. Michif, Mechif or Métchif is a phonetic spelling
Pronunciation spelling
A pronunciation spelling of a word is a spelling different from the standard spelling, used to emphasize a particular pronunciation of the word. The spelling uses the regular spelling rules of the language. Most are nonce coinages, but some have become standardised, e.g...
of Métif, a variant of Métis. The Métis today predominantly speak English
Canadian English
Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...
, with French
Canadian French
Canadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...
a strong second language, as well as numerous Aboriginal tongues
Indigenous languages of the Americas
Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...
. A 19th-century community of the Métis people, the Anglo-Métis
Anglo-Métis
A 19th-century community of the Métis people of Canada, the Anglo-Métis, more commonly known as Countryborn, were children of fur traders; they typically had Orcadian, Scottish, or English fathers and Aboriginal mothers. Their first languages were generally those of their mothers: Cree, Saulteaux,...
, were referred to as Countryborn. They were children of Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...
fur trade typically of Orcadian, Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
, or English paternal descent and Aboriginal maternal descent. Their first languages would have been Aboriginal (Cree
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
, Saulteaux, Assiniboine
Assiniboine language
The Assiniboine language is a Nakotan Siouan language of the Northern Plains, spoken by around 200 Assiniboine people, most of them elderly. The name Asiniibwaan is an Ojibwe term meaning "Stone Siouans"...
, etc.) and English. Their fathers spoke Gaelic, thus leading to the development of an English dialect referred to as "Bungee
Bungee language
Bungi is a creole of Scottish English strongly influenced by Orcadian, Gaelic, Cree and Ojibwe, and spoken by the Red River Métis in present-day Manitoba, Canada...
".
There is debate over legally defining the term Métis. Unlike First Nations people and Inuit, there is no distinction between status
Indian Register
The Indian Register is the official record of Status Indians or Registered Indians in Canada. Status Indians have rights and benefits that are not granted to unregistered Indians, Inuit, or Métis, the chief benefits of which include the granting of reserves and of rights associated with them, an...
and non-status. S.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 mentions the Métis. Métis, their heritage and aboriginal ancestry have been absorbed and assimilated into their surrounding populations. On September 23, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
ruled that Métis are a distinct people with significant rights (Powley ruling
Powley ruling
R v. Powley is a Supreme Court of Canada case defining Métis Aboriginal rights under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.-Facts and Procedural History:...
).
Integration
From the late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged Aboriginals to assimilate into their own culture, referred to as "Canadian cultureCulture of Canada
Canadian culture is a term that explains the artistic, musical, literary, culinary, political and social elements that are representative of Canada and Canadians, not only to its own population, but people all over the world. Canada's culture has historically been influenced by European culture and...
". These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with forced integration. Because of laws and policies that encouraged or required Aboriginals to assimilate
Cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism is the domination of one culture over another. Cultural imperialism can take the form of a general attitude or an active, formal and deliberate policy, including military action. Economic or technological factors may also play a role...
into a Eurocentric
Eurocentrism
Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture...
society, Canada may be violating the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Genocide Convention
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951. It defines genocide in legal terms, and is the culmination of...
that Canada signed in 1949 and passed through Parliament in 1952. The residential school system that removed Aboriginal children from their homes for placement in Christian-run schools has led scholars to believe that Canada can be tried in international court
International court
International courts are formed by treaties between nations, or under the authority of an international organization such as the United Nations — this includes ad hoc tribunals and permanent institutions, but excludes any courts arising purely under national authority.Early examples of...
for genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
. In 2008 Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
issued an apology on behalf of the Canadian government and its citizens for the residential school system.
Treaties
Timeline of colonization of North America
This is a chronology of the colonization of North America, with founding dates of European settlements. See also European colonization of the Americas.-Before Columbus:* 6th Century: Brendan The Navigator possibly reaches North America.* 874: Norse reach Iceland...
during the European colonialisation period. Numbered treaties
Numbered Treaties
The numbered treaties are a series of eleven treaties signed between the aboriginal peoples in Canada and the reigning Monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. It was the Government of Canada who created the policy, commissioned the Treaty Commissioners and ratified the agreements...
, the Indian Act
Indian Act
The Indian Act , R.S., 1951, c. I-5, is a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves...
, the Constitution Act of 1982
Constitution Act, 1982
The Constitution Act, 1982 is a part of the Constitution of Canada. The Act was introduced as part of Canada's process of "patriating" the constitution, introducing several amendments to the British North America Act, 1867, and changing the latter's name in Canada to the Constitution Act, 1867...
and case laws were established. Aboriginals construe these agreements as being between them and the Crown of Canada through the districts Indian Agent
Indian Agent (Canada)
Indian Agent is the title of a position in Canada mandated by the Indian Act of that country. An Indian Agent was the chief administrator for Indian affairs in their respective districts, although the title now is largely in disuse in preference to Government Agent. The powers of the Indian...
, and not the Cabinet of Canada
Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada...
.
The Māori interprets the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
in New Zealand similarly. A series of eleven treaties
Treaty
A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
were signed between Aboriginals in Canada and the reigning Monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. The Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
created the policy, commissioned the Treaty Commissioners and ratified the agreements. These Treaties are agreements with the Government of Canada administered by Canadian Aboriginal law
Canadian Aboriginal law
Canadian Aboriginal law is the body of Canadian law that concerns a variety of issues related to aboriginal peoples in Canada. Aboriginal law provides certain rights to land and traditional practices...
and overseen by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (Canada)
The Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who heads two different departments...
.
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
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
argued that treaties "served to reconcile pre-existing Aboriginal sovereignty with assumed Crown sovereignty, and to define Aboriginal rights". First Nations people interpreted agreements covered in treaty 8
Treaty 8
Treaty 8 was an agreement signed on June 21, 1899, between Queen Victoria and various First Nations of the Lesser Slave Lake area. The Treaty was signed just south of present-day Grouard, Alberta.-Treaty:...
to last "as long as the sun shines, grass grows and rivers flow."
Indian Act and Bill C-31
The Indian Act is federal legislation that dates from 1876. There have been over twenty major changes made to the original 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 recognised 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 as of April 17, 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 and/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 would apply to band members. The sections under debate concern community life and land holdings. Sections pertaining to Indians (Aboriginals) as individuals (in this case, wills and taxation of personal property) were not included.
Royal Commission
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal PeoplesRoyal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was a Canadian Royal Commission established in 1991 to address many issues of aboriginal status that had come to light with recent events such as the Oka Crisis and the Meech Lake Accord. The commission culminated in a final report of 4000 pages,...
was a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
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, 4,000page 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 20year agenda for change."
Health policy
In 1995, the federal governmentGovernment of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
announced the Aboriginal Right to Self-Government Policy. This policy recognises 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
Indian Health Transfer Policy (Canada)
The Indian Health Transfer Policy of Canada, provided a framework for the assumption of control of health services by Aboriginal Canadians and set forth a developmental approach to transfer centred on the concept of self-determination in health. Through this process, the decision to enter into...
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
Health Canada
Health Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for national public health.The current Minister of Health is Leona Aglukkaq, a Conservative Member of Parliament appointed to the position by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.-Branches, regions and agencies: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
National Aboriginal Health Organization
The National Aboriginal Health Organization is an Aboriginal-designed and -controlled not-for-profit body in Canada that works to influence and advance the health and well-being of Aboriginal Peoples....
(NAHO) incorporated in 2000, is an Aboriginal-designed and-controlled not-for-profit body in Canada that works to influence and advance the health and well-being of Aboriginal Peoples.
Political organization
First Nations and Inuit organisations ranged in size from band societiesBand society
A band society is the simplest form of human society. A band generally consists of a small kin group, no larger than an extended family or clan; it has been defined as consisting of no more than 30 to 50 individuals.Bands have a loose organization...
of a few people to multi-nation confederacies like the Iroquois. First Nations leaders from across the country formed the Assembly of First Nations
Assembly of First Nations
The Assembly of First Nations , formerly known as the National Indian Brotherhood, is a body of First Nations leaders in Canada...
, which began as the National Indian Brotherhood in 1968.
Today's political organisations have resulted from interaction with European-style methods of government through the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
The position of Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians was created in 1985 as a portfolio in the Canadian Cabinet. As the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is officially responsible only for Status Indians and largely with those living on Indian reserves, the new...
. Aboriginal political organisations throughout Canada vary in political standing, viewpoints, and reasons for forming. First Nations, Métis and Inuit negotiate with the Canadian Government
Politics of Canada
The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state...
through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for policies relating to Aboriginal peoples...
in all affairs concerning land, entitlement, and rights. The First Nation groups that operate independently do not belong to these groups.
Culture
- Further information: Aboriginal culture in Canada and Aboriginal Canadian personalities
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
, snowshoe
Snowshoe
A snowshoe is footwear for walking over the snow. Snowshoes work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot does not sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation"....
s, the toboggan
Toboggan
A toboggan is a simple sled which is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, tug of war
Tug of war
Tug of war, also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war or rope pulling, is a sport that directly pits two teams against each other in a test of strength. The term may also be used as a metaphor to describe a demonstration of brute strength by two opposing groups, such as a rivalry between two...
, maple syrup
Maple syrup
Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species such as the bigleaf maple. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then...
and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
are just a few of the products, inventions and games. Some of the words include the barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
, caribou
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
, chipmunk
Chipmunk
Chipmunks are small striped squirrels native to North America and Asia. They are usually classed either as a single genus with three subgenera, or as three genera.-Etymology and taxonomy:...
, woodchuck
Groundhog
The groundhog , also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, or in some areas as a land-beaver, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas, but...
, hammock
Hammock
A hammock is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two points, used for swinging, sleeping, or resting. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a woven network of twine or thin rope stretched with ropes between two firm anchor points such as trees or posts....
, skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
, and moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
. Many places in Canada, both natural features and human habitations, use indigenous names. The word "Canada" itself derives from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian
Laurentian language
Laurentian, or St. Lawrence Iroquoian, was an Iroquoian language spoken until the late 16th century along the shores of the Saint Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada. It is believed to have disappeared with the extinction of the St...
word meaning "village" or "settlement". The province of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
derives its name from the Saskatchewan River
Saskatchewan River
The Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada, approximately long, flowing roughly eastward across Saskatchewan and Manitoba to empty into Lake Winnipeg...
; which in the Cree language
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
is called "Kisiskatchewani Sipi", meaning "swift-flowing river." Canada's capital city Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
comes from the Algonquin language
Algonquin language
Algonquin is either a distinct Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe dialect. It is spoken, alongside French and to some extent English, by the Algonquin First Nations of Quebec and Ontario...
term "adawe" meaning "to trade." Modern youth groups such as Scouts Canada
Scouts Canada
Scouts Canada is a Canadian Scouting association that, in affiliation with the French-language Association des Scouts du Canada, is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement...
and the Girl Guides of Canada
Girl Guides of Canada
Girl Guides of Canada - Guides du Canada is the national Guiding association of Canada. Guiding in Canada started in 1910 and was among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1928. As of 2006, the association had 116,206 members.-History:Mary Malcolmson...
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 lifeway, or occupation, at the time of European contact. These culture areas correspond closely with physical and ecological
Geography of Canada
The geography of Canada is vast and diverse. Occupying most of the northern portion of North America , Canada is the world's second largest country in total area....
regions of Canada. The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
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 subarctic forest
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
, other species such as the moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
were more important. For peoples near the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
, shifting agriculture
Shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned. This system often involves clearing of a piece of land followed by several years of wood harvesting or farming, until the soil loses fertility...
was practised, including the raising of maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, bean
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s, and squash. While for the Inuit, hunting was the primary source of food with seals
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
the primary component of their diet. The caribou
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
, fish, other marine mammal
Marine mammal
Marine mammals, which include seals, whales, dolphins, and walruses, form a diverse group of 128 species that rely on the ocean for their existence. They do not represent a distinct biological grouping, but rather are unified by their reliance on the marine environment for feeding. The level of...
s and to a lesser extent plants, berries and seaweed are part of the Inuit diet
Inuit diet
Inuit consume a diet of foods that are fished, hunted, and gathered locally. This may include walrus, Ringed Seal, Bearded Seal, beluga whale, caribou, polar bear, muskoxen, birds and fish. While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic the Inuit have traditionally gathered...
. One of the most noticeable symbols of Inuit culture
Inuit culture
Inuit describes the various groups of indigenous peoples who live in the central and northeastern Canadian Arctic, as well as in Greenland. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn.The traditional...
, the inukshuk
Inukshuk
An inuksuk is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska to Greenland...
is the emblem of the Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
. Inuksuit are rock sculptures made by stacking stones; in the shape of a human figure, they are called inunnguaq.
Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...
s, established in Canadian law
Law of Canada
The Canadian legal system has its foundation in the British common law system, inherited from being a former colony of the United Kingdom and later a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Quebec, however, still retains a civil system for issues of private law...
by treaties such as Treaty 7
Treaty 7
Treaty 7 was an agreement between Queen Victoria and several mainly Blackfoot First Nations tribes in what is today the southern portion of Alberta. It was concluded on September 22, 1877. The agreement was signed at the Blackfoot Crossing of the Bow River, at the present-day Siksika Nation...
, are lands of First Nations recognised by non-indigenous governments. Some reserves are within cities, such as the Opawikoscikan Reserve in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated in the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan...
, Wendake
Wendake, Quebec
Wendake is the current name for the Huron-Wendat reserve, an enclave within Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. One of the Seven Nations of Canada, this was formerly known as Village-des-Hurons , and also as -Lorette....
in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
or Stony Plain 135 in the Edmonton Capital Region
Edmonton Capital Region
The Edmonton Capital Region , also commonly referred to as the Alberta Capital Region, Greater Edmonton or Metro Edmonton, is a conglomeration of municipalities centred around Edmonton – Alberta's provincial capital....
. 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 Aboriginal 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
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Roméo LeBlanc
Roméo LeBlanc
Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc was a Canadian journalist, politician, and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 25th since Canadian Confederation....
, to be celebrated on June 21 annually. Most provincial jurisdictions do not recognise it as a statutory holiday
Public holidays in Canada
Public holidays in Canada known as "statutory holidays," "stats" or "stat holidays" are legislated at the national, provincial and territorial levels...
.
Languages
- Main articles: Aboriginal languages, Inuit languageInuit languageThe Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik languages are spoken in western and southern Alaska and Russian Far East, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and...
and Canadian Aboriginal syllabicsCanadian Aboriginal SyllabicsCanadian Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families....
There are 11 Aboriginal language groups in Canada, made up of more than 65 distinct dialects. Of these, only Cree
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
, Inuktitut
Inuit language
The Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik languages are spoken in western and southern Alaska and Russian Far East, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and...
and Ojibway
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...
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
Inuinnaqtun
Inuinnaqtun , is an indigenous Inuit language of Canada and a dialect of Inuvialuktun. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe that Inuinnaqtun is more appropriately classified as a dialect of Inuktitut...
are official languages alongside the national languages of English and French, and Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in territorial government. In the NWT, the Official Languages Act declares that there are eleven different languages: Chipewyan
Dene Suline language
Dene Suline or Chipewyan is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada. It is a part of the Athabaskan family...
, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in
Gwich’in language
The Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. In the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort...
, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
, Inuvialuktun
Inuvialuktun
Inuvialuktun, or Western Canadian Inuit language, Western Canadian Inuktitut, Western Canadian Inuktun comprises three Inuit dialects spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by those Canadian Inuit who call themselves Inuvialuk .Inuvialuktun is spoken by the Inuit of the Mackenzie River delta...
, North Slavey
Slavey language
Slavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status....
, South Slavey
Slavey language
Slavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status....
and Tłįchǫ
Dogrib language
Dogrib, the English translation of the indigenous name ' , is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the First Nations Tłı̨chǫ people of the Canadian territory Northwest Territories...
. 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.
| Aboriginal language | No. of speakers | Mother tongue First language A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity... |
Home language Home language Following a widely accepted definition by Valdes , a heritage language is a language that is acquired by individuals raised in homes where the dominant language of the region, such as English in the United States, is not spoken or not exclusively spoken... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cree Cree language Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana... |
99,950 | 78,855 | 47,190 |
| Inuktitut | 35,690 | 32,010 | 25,290 |
| Ojibway | 32,460 | 11,115 | 11,115 |
| Montagnais-Naskapi (Innu) Innu-aimun Innu-aimun or Montagnais is an Algonquian language spoken by over 11,000 people, called the Innu, in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada... |
11,815 | 10,970 | 9,720 |
| Dene | 11,130 | 9,750 | 7,490 |
| Oji-Cree (Anishinini) Oji-Cree language The Severn Ojibwa or the Oji-Cree language is the indigenous name for a dialect of the Ojibwe language spoken in a series of Oji-Cree communities in northern Ontario and at Island Lake, Manitoba, Canada... |
12,605 | 8,480 | 8,480 |
| Mi’kmaq Mi'kmaq language The Mi'kmaq language is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 9,100 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States out of a total ethnic Mi'kmaq population of roughly 20,000. The word Mi'kmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' ; the adjectival form is Míkmaw... |
8,750 | 7,365 | 3,985 |
| Siouan languages (Dakota/Sioux) Sioux language Sioux is a Siouan language spoken by over 33,000 Sioux in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth most spoken indigenous language in the United States or Canada, behind Navajo, Cree, Inuit and Ojibwe.-Regional variation:... |
6,495 | 5,585 | 3,780 |
| Atikamekw Atikamekw language The Atikamekw language , a dialect of Cree, is the language of the Atikamekw people of southwestern Quebec. It is spoken by nearly all the Atikamekw, and therefore it is among the indigenous languages least threatened with extinction according to some studies... |
5,645 | 5,245 | 4,745 |
| Blackfoot Blackfoot language Blackfoot, also known as Siksika , Pikanii, and Blackfeet, is the Algonquian language spoken by the Blackfoot tribes of Native Americans, who currently live in the northwestern plains of North America... |
4,915 | 3,085 | 3,085 |
| For a complete list see : Spoken languages of Canada |
Art
Aboriginals were producing art for thousands of years before the arrival of European settler colonistsSettler colonialism
Settler colonialism is a specific colonial formation whereby foreign family units move into a region and reproduce. Land is thus the key resource in settler colonies, whereas natural and human resources are the main motivation behind other forms of colonialism...
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 organised by art historians according to cultural, linguistic or regional groups: Northwest Coast, Plateau
Plateau First Nations
There were six main tribes occupying the Interior Plateau. There was the Interior Salish which was the largest tribe, the Lillooet tribe which lived in the Lillooet River Valley, the Thompson First Nations which lived at the Fraser River Valley from Yale to Lillooet, The Shuswap which was the...
, Plains
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
, Eastern Woodlands
Eastern Woodlands tribes
The Eastern Woodlands was a cultural area of the indigenous people of North America. The Eastern Woodlands extended roughly from the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern Great Plains, and from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf of Mexico, which is now the eastern United States and Canada...
, 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 conjunction with other arts. Shaman
Shamanism among Eskimo peoples
Shamanism among Eskimo peoples refers to those aspects of the various Eskimo cultures that are related to the shamans’ role as a mediator between people and spirits, souls, and mythological beings...
s' masks
Masks among Eskimo peoples
Masks among Eskimo peoples served a variety of functions. Masks were made out of driftwood, animal skins, bones and feathers. They were often painted using bright colors...
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
Forced assimilation
Forced assimilation is a process of forced cultural assimilation of religious or ethnic minority groups, into an established and generally larger community...
and cultural
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
assimilation toward indigenous peoples. The Indian Act banned manifestations of the Sun Dance
Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is a religious ceremony practiced by a number of Native American and First Nations peoples, primarily those of the Plains Nations. Each tribe has its own distinct practices and ceremonial protocols...
, the Potlatch
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
, and works of art depicting them.
It was not until the 1950s and 1960s that indigenous artists such as Mungo Martin
Mungo Martin
Chief Mungo Martin or Nakapenkem , Datsa , was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. He was a major contributor to Kwakwaka'wakw art, especially in the realm of wood sculpture and painting...
, Bill Reid
Bill Reid
William Ronald Reid, OBC was a Canadian artist whose works included jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and painting. His work is featured on the Canadian $20 banknote.-Biography:...
and Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau, CM , also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Aboriginal Canadian artist. Known as the "Picasso of the North", Morrisseau created works depicting the legends of his people, the cultural and political tensions between native Canadian and European traditions, his existential...
began to publicly renew and re-invent indigenous art traditions. Currently there are indigenous artists practicing in all media in Canada and two indigenous artists, Edward Poitras and Rebecca Belmore
Rebecca Belmore
Rebecca Belmore is a Anishinaabe-Canadian artist based in Vancouver. Her work addresses history, voice and voicelessness, place, and identity through the media of sculpture, installation, video and performance.-Life:...
have represented Canada at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
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 musicDance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
accompanied by rattles
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...
and drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s. Private, ceremonial music includes vocal songs with accompaniment on percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, used to mark occasions like Midewivin ceremonies and Sun Dances.
Traditionally, Aboriginal peoples used the materials at hand to make their instruments for centuries before Europeans immigrated to Canada. First Nations people made gourd
Gourd
A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...
s and animal horns
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
into rattles, which were elaborately carved and brightly painted. In woodland areas, they made horns of birch bark
Birch bark
Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus Betula.The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which made it a valuable building, crafting, and writing material, since pre-historic times...
and drumsticks of carved antlers and wood. Traditional percussion instruments such as drums were generally made of carved wood and animal hides
Hides
A hide is an animal skin treated for human use. Hides include leather from cattle and other livestock animals, alligator skins, snake skins for shoes and fashion accessories and furs from wild cats, mink and bears. In some areas, leather is produced on a domestic or small industrial scale, but most...
. These musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s 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.
Demographics
There are three distinctive groups of North America indigenous peoples recognized in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982Constitution Act, 1982
The Constitution Act, 1982 is a part of the Constitution of Canada. The Act was introduced as part of Canada's process of "patriating" the constitution, introducing several amendments to the British North America Act, 1867, and changing the latter's name in Canada to the Constitution Act, 1867...
, sections 25
Section Twenty-five of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Section Twenty-five of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the first section under the heading "General" in the Charter, and like other sections within the "General" sphere, it aids in the interpretation of rights elsewhere in the Charter...
and 35. Under the Employment Equity Act
Employment equity (Canada)
Employment equity, as defined in Canadian law by the Employment Equity Act, requires employers to engage in proactive employment practices to increase the representation of four designated groups: women, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, and visible minorities...
, Aboriginal people are a designated group along with women, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities. They are not a visible minority
Visible minority
A visible minority is a person who is visibly not one of the majority race in a given population.The term is used as a demographic category by Statistics Canada in connection with that country's Employment Equity policies. The qualifier "visible" is important in the Canadian context where...
under the Employment Equity Act and in the view of Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
.
The 2006 Canadian Census
Canada 2006 Census
The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...
enumerated 1,172,790 Aboriginal people in Canada, 3.8% of the country's total population. This total comprises 698,025 people of First Nations descent, 389,785 Métis, and 50,485 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
Native Women's Association of Canada
The Native Women's Association of Canada, or NWAC, is one of Canada's National Aboriginal Organizations, and represents Aboriginal women, particularly First Nations and Métis women. Inuit women are represented by the separate organization, Pauktuutit...
, the National Association of Native Friendship Centre
Native Friendship Centre
A Friendship Centre is a non-profit community centre and Aboriginal program/service delivery organization located in many towns and cities in Canada to provide services to urban Aboriginals: Inuit, Métis, First Nations Non-Status and Non-Aboriginal people who live in urban areas...
s and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples founded in 1971 as the Native Council of Canada, is a Canadian aboriginal organization, that represents Aboriginal Peoples who live off Indian reserves, either in urban and rural areas across Canada.Each CAP affiliate has its own constitution and is separately...
.
Indigenous people assert that their sovereign rights
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
are valid, and point to the Royal Proclamation of 1763
Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
, which is mentioned in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, Section 25, the British North America Acts
British North America Acts
The British North America Acts 1867–1975 are the original names of a series of Acts at the core of the constitution of Canada. They were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Parliament of Canada. In Canada, some of the Acts were amended or repealed by the Constitution Act, 1982....
and the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties is a treaty concerning the international law on treaties between states. It was adopted on 22 May 1969 and opened for signature on 23 May 1969. The Convention entered into force on 27 January 1980. The VCLT has been ratified by 111 states as of November...
(to which Canada is a signatory) in support of this claim.
| Province/Territory | Number | % provincial |
% national |
Indian (First Nations) |
Métis | Inuit | Multiple | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858... |
196,075 | 4.8% | 16.7% | 129,575 | 59,445 | 795 | 1,655 | 4,605 |
| Alberta Alberta Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces... |
188,365 | 5.8% | 16.1% | 97,280 | 85,495 | 1,605 | 1,220 | 2,760 |
| Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota.... |
141,890 | 14.9% | 12.1% | 91,400 | 48,115 | 220 | 625 | 1,530 |
| Manitoba Manitoba Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other... |
175,395 | 15.5% | 15.0% | 100,645 | 71,805 | 565 | 680 | 1,695 |
| Ontario Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.... |
242,495 | 2.0% | 20.7% | 158,400 | 73,610 | 2,040 | 1,910 | 6,540 |
| Quebec Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.... |
108,430 | 1.5% | 9.2% | 65,085 | 27,980 | 10,950 | 955 | 3,450 |
| New Brunswick New Brunswick New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area... |
17,655 | 2.5% | 1.5% | 12,385 | 4,270 | 185 | 100 | 710 |
| Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the... |
24,175 | 2.7% | 2.1% | 15,240 | 7,680 | 320 | 100 | 830 |
| Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population... |
1,730 | 1.3% | 0.1% | 1,230 | 385 | 30 | 10 | 75 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400... |
23,450 | 4.7% | 2.0% | 7,765 | 6,470 | 4,715 | 290 | 4,205 |
| Yukon Yukon Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in.... |
7,580 | 25.1% | 0.6% | 6,275 | 800 | 255 | 50 | 190 |
| Northwest Territories Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south... |
20,635 | 50.3% | 1.8% | 12,640 | 3,580 | 4,160 | 105 | 145 |
| Nunavut Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993... |
24,915 | 85.0% | 2.1% | 100 | 125 | 24,640 | 30 | 20 |
| Canada | 1,172,790 | 3.8% | 100.0% | 698,025 | 389,785 | 50,480 | 7,740 | 26,760 |
| Sources: 2006 Census | ||||||||
- A.% of the provincial or territorial population that is Aboriginal
- B.total of the provincial or territorial population that is Aboriginal, as a % of the total of Canada's population that is Aboriginal
- C.According to Statistics Canada this figure "Includes those who identified themselves as Registered Indians and/or band members without identifying themselves as North American Indian, Métis or Inuit in the Aboriginal identity question."
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
commonly classify indigenous peoples of the Americas in the United States and Canada into ten geographical regions, cultural area
Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas is based upon cultural regions, geography, and linguistics. Anthropologists have named various cultural regions, with fluid boundaries, that are generally agreed upon with some variation...
s, with shared cultural traits. The Canadian regions are:
- Arctic cultural areaInuitThe Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
– (Eskimo–Aleut languages) - Subarctic culture area – (Na-Dene languagesNa-Dené languagesNa-Dene is a Native American language family which includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. An inclusion of Haida is controversial....
– Algic languagesAlgic languagesThe Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada...
) - Eastern Woodlands (Northeast) cultural area – (Algic languagesAlgic languagesThe Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada...
and Iroquoian languagesIroquoian languagesThe Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native American language family.-Family division:*Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press....
) - Plains cultural areaPlains IndiansThe Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
– (Siouan–Catawban languages) - Northwest Plateau cultural area – (Salishan languagesSalishan languagesThe Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
) - Northwest Coast cultural areaIndigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest CoastThe Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
– (Penutian languagesPenutian languagesPenutian is a proposed grouping of language families that includes many Native American languages of western North America, predominantly spoken at one time in Washington, Oregon, and California. The existence of a Penutian stock or phylum has been the subject of debate among specialists. Even the...
, Tsimshianic languagesTsimshianic languagesThe Tsimshianic languages are a family of languages spoken in northwestern British Columbia and in southern Alaska on Annette Island and Ketchikan. About 2,170 people of the ethnic Tsimshian population in Canada still speak the Tsimshian languages; about 50 of the 1,300 Tsimshian people living in...
and Wakashan languagesWakashan languagesWakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca....
)
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
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
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.
See also
- Index of Aboriginal Canadian-related articlesIndex of Aboriginal Canadian-related articlesThe following is an alphabetical list of topics related to Canadian Aboriginals, comprising the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. -A:*Aatsista-Mahkan *Abenaki mythology*Aboriginal Christian Television System...
-
- Native Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
- Native Americans in the United States
Further reading
}} }} }}- Leacock, Stephen (2009), The Dawn of Canadian History: A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada, Dodo Press ISBN 1409949303
External links
- Aboriginal Canada Portal – Government of Canada
- Aboriginal Peoples and Communities – Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
- Aboriginal 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
- History of Aboriginal Treaties and Relations in Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage
- Map of historical territory treaties – Natural Resources Canada