1. First Nations of Canada: Pre & Post European Contact

2. First Nations of Canada
What does ‘First Nations’ mean to you?

3. First Nations of Canada
First Nations are the various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis.
630 recognized First Nations governments or bands across Canada (mostly in Ontario & BC)
Population is nearly 700,000 people

4. Bering Strait Land Bridge

5. Bering Land Bridge Connected E.Asia to N.America
Existed 35,000-15,000 years ago(Pleistocene Age)
Allowed animals to migrate
Humans followed animals (food)

6. Bering Strait Land Bridge: First Nations
These first peoples dispersed through-out N. & S. America
Some even
migrated back
to Asia

7. First Peoples from Asia
As the Asian DNA migrates across to North America, it produces a series of changes that gave us the Inuit, the many tribes of native Americans like the Apache and Central Americans like the Maya. Notice how the phenotype changes slightly as the Asian DNA is carried south through America.

8. First Peoples in Canada
First Nations lived sustainably in what is now Canada
Low densities
Relied on natural world around them for material & spiritual needs.

9. First Peoples in Canada
First Nations grouped in 7 geographic areas of the country:
1-Woodland First Nations -eastern part of the country
2-Iroquoian First Nations- southernmost area 3-Plains First Nations - grasslands of the Prairies
4-Plateau First Nations – South to high mtn. & N. forests
5-Pacific Coast First Nations – Coastal environments 6-Mackenzie and Yukon River Basins - Subarctic North 7-Inuit (not technically 1st Nations) – Arctic region
In theses 7 areas, First Nations had very similar cultures, largely shaped by a common environment.