Canada’s Aboriginal Population in the 21 st Century

When the first Europeans arrived in Canada in the 1500's they found the land populated by about 400,000 to 500,000 Aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal myths suggest the first nations originated here, with the help of a spirit. Anthropologists believe that the first nations ordinate in Africa and Asia, and migrated here using the glacier covered Bering land Bridge Background of the First Nations and the Europeans

North American Inuit share a common language base with their Siberian Counterparts. Scientists believed the Native migration took place around 25, 000 years ago. Because Glaciers covered most of Canada, initial settlements were largely confined to Alaska and the Arctic. As the ice receded Aboriginal people were free to move around the Continent

The environment shaped Aboriginal cultures. Groups living close to other groups tended to develop similar cultures. Each Aboriginal group developed special ways of using their environment for food, shelter, clothing, transportation,and spiritual cultural and religious needs. Although these groups had distinctive languages, their housing designs were often similar because they shared a similar environment.

European arrival had a great impact on the Native people. Europeans wouldn’t have survived initially without the help of the natives. They showed them how to make medicine and introduced vegetables, such as corn, which prevented scurvy.

Europeans brought guns to Canada, alcohol, and technology - and diseases such as smallpox, influenza, scarlet fever, measles, typhoid, tuberculosis, chicken pox, cholera, and diphtheria. These diseases had an enormous impact on the native population, since this was the first time they were exposed to these diseases, so they hadn’t built up any immunities to fight these diseases. Some nations lost percent of their entire population.

As more and more Europeans came to Canada, competition for the land caused tension between the Natives and the Europeans. The natives did not exhibit a possessiveness towards the land. They believed that the land, its creatures and their people were one. The British crown tried several things to remove the Natives from their land. Some first nations people received cash for their land, others received other benefits and where forced to live on a reserve. Some of these reserves didn’t have any hunting or fishing available and the natives were no longer able to maintain their way of life.

One of the goals of this newly formed Canadian government was to assimilate the Natives, that is to make them “European” with the same customs as themselves. Young aboriginal were forced to live with non-aboriginal families or go to residential schools. Their native culture was replace by European ideas. This government policy has caused many damages to the Native customs and traditions and way of life

Soon the aboriginal people were becoming a minority in their own land. They were forced to sign agreements or treaties with the European to accomplish two goals. Goal 1 – they wanted to maintain an economic base. They wanted to retain access to enough land to support themselves by fishing, hunting, and farming. Goal 2 – They wanted the right to control their own affairs. Most treaties have failed since neither goal has been achieved.

A first Nation is an aboriginal group whose members wish to be treated as a distinct group on the basis of a shared common culture or history. For legal purposes the Canadian Govt. divides aboriginal peoples into three groups: Indian, Métis, Inuit. In turn The Indian group is divided into two groups: Status and non status. Status refers to those first nations people who are registered as Indians under the Indian Act, and are eligible for government benefits and annuities. Non-Status Indians are not registered under the Indian Act, and therefore not eligible for benefits.