CANADA’S ABORIGINAL PEOPLES

Who are Aboriginal Peoples?  Aboriginal Peoples: descendants of Canada’s original inhabitants  Many Canadians have an Aboriginal heritage and some do not even know it  Just under 1 million Aboriginal people in Canada

Traditional view This is what many of us think of when we think of Aboriginal Peoples.

Reality... Just like all other Canadians, Aboriginal Peoples have a range of lifestyles. While some Aboriginal Peoples lead a very traditional lifestyle, many lead lives just like you and I.

Indians (First Nations) Describes all the Aboriginal Peoples in Canada who are not Inuit or Métis  Status vs. Non-Status  Can be grouped into larger groups based on language--Ojibwa, Cree, Mi’kmaq, etc

Groups of Aboriginal Peoples  The Canadian constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal Peoples:  Indians (First Nations)  Métis  Inuit

Inuit  Aboriginal Peoples who live in the Canadian North  Nunavut, NWT, Northern Quebec and Labrador  Different sub-groups within the Inuit group

Metis  Individuals who have both Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal ancestry  Reside in Ontario and provinces to the west  26% of the total First Nations population in Canada

Other groups…  Cree  Innu  Iroquois  Diné  Ojibwe  Wendat  Haida  Mi’kmaq  Dakota  Algonquin

Where do Aboriginal people live?  Everywhere!!!  In cities  In rural or remote areas  On reserves  What is a reserve?  Area of land set aside for the use of a group of Aboriginal peoples—often a First Nation

A Brief History...  When Europeans began to settle in Canada, Aboriginal peoples became a minority  Hoping to establish and guard their rights, Aboriginal Peoples signed treaties (agreements) with the Europeans  Right to maintain economic base  Right to self-governance  Receive fair payment for land that was taken  The majority of treaties failed miserably and were unfair

So what happened next?  Aboriginal people were forced to give up their land claims through the Indian Act, 1876  Forced to move to reserves—temporary at first, but became permanent

Residential Schools--Reality  Aboriginal children were removed from their homes and sent here to “take the Indian out of the child”  130 schools, students  Not allowed to practice native culture  Experienced abuse  When they returned home students often felt they did not belong  $1.9 billion in compensation now offered

Aboriginal Claims Today…  When Aboriginal Peoples feel as though their rights are not being addressed, they will file a CLAIM

Self-government: The right to give input on issues that are important to your people. To regulate your own laws.

Nunavut  The largest land claims settlement in Canadian history  On April 1, 1999, the map of Canada changed.  The former Northwest Territories (NWT) was divided in two, creating a new territory called Nunavut.  In the Inuit language, Inuktitut, the word "Nunavut" means "our land.”  The Nunavut population is 85% Inuit

 The settlement gives Inuit control of more than 350,000 square kilometres of land  It also gives Inuit more than $1 billion over 14 years  It also gives them guaranteed participation in making decisions for managing lands and resources.

 The Nunavut government faces many challenges, including creating job opportunities for a large workforce of young people  About 56% of Nunavut's population is under the age of 25.  Other challenges: how to increase residents' income and education levels, how to cope with a cost of living that is two to three times higher than the rest of Canadians

High living costs…