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10 Things to Know about Indigenous Peoples of Canada
Teaching Canada Workshop – November 30, 2016Betsy Arntzen, Canadian-American Center, University of Maine & Amy Sotherden, Center for the Study of Canada, SUNY Plattsburgh
1. Canada’s Three Indigenous Groups
Métis - descendants of
First Nations and Europeans (452,000)
32% of Indigenous population
First Nations – 600 recognized nations/bands(851,500)60% of Indigenous population
Inuit – people who live in Arctic regions (59,500)4% of Indigenous population
Provinces and territories Aboriginal identity population Percent distributionAboriginal identity population as a percentage of the total population
Canada 1,400,685 100.0 4.3
Newfoundland and Labrador
35,800 2.6 7.1
Prince Edward Island 2,230 0.2 1.6
Nova Scotia 33,845 2.4 3.7
New Brunswick 22,615 1.6 3.1
Quebec 141,915 10.1 1.8
Ontario 301,425 21.5 2.4
Manitoba 195,900 14.0 16.7
Saskatchewan 157,740 11.3 15.6
Alberta 220,695 15.8 6.2
British Columbia 232,290 16.6 5.4
Yukon 7,705 0.6 23.1
Northwest Territories 21,160 1.5 51.9
Nunavut 27,360 2.0 86.3Source: Statistics Canada, National Household Survey, 2011.
Number and distribution of the population reporting an Aboriginal identity and percentage of Aboriginal people in the population, Canada, provinces and territories, 2011
Table 1 Proportion of Aboriginal identity population, First Nations people, Métis and Inuit for selected Aboriginal language indicators, Canada, 2011Table summaryThis table displays the results of table 1 proportion of aboriginal identity population. The information is grouped by selected aboriginal language indicators (appearing as row headers), proportion (%) of population, calculated using total aboriginal identity population, first nations single identity, métis single identity and inuit single identity units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Selected Aboriginal language indicators
Total Aboriginal identity population
First Nations single identity Métis single identity Inuit single identity
Proportion (%) of populationAbility to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language
17.2 22.4 2.5 63.7
Aboriginal language as mother tongue
14.5 18.7 1.8 58.7
Aboriginal language spoken at least regularly at home
14.0 18.0 1.6 59.5
Aboriginal language spoken most often at home
8.5 10.3 0.7 45.9
Aboriginal language spoken regularly at home
5.5 7.7 0.9 13.6
Source: Statistics Canada, National Household Survey, 2011.
Proportion of Aboriginal identity population, First Nations people, Métis and Inuit for selected Aboriginal language indicators, Canada, 2011
2. Old World met Old World
First Nations people know they have lived in North America since before the beginning.
Archaeologic records indicate 40,000 years ago
Inuit know they have been in North America for about 5,000 years
1960s carving by Ennutsiak, showing an Inuit migration scene.
Métis - “mixed”
Routes of Europeans who traversed the interior
2. Old World met Old World
1000 Vikings1492 Columbus1534 Jacques Cartier1530s Basque whalers1603 French
North American Languages, pre-contact
European countries, circa 1000AD
Conditions at the time of contact:
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Charles C. Mann, 2006)
• From beginning to 1491: population 100 million in healthy, flourishing advanced societies in North, Central and South America
• 1492 for 200+ years: 90%+ decimation of population from diseases, slavery, wars
Diagram of a trade network
Our name means “us, the people”
"Naming is an exercise in power. Whether you're naming places or naming peoples, you are therefore
asserting a power of sort of establishing what is reality and what is not.“
Doug Herman, senior geographer at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Apache - Enemy (Zuni Word)Delaware - From Lord De La Warr Erie - Log Tail Or Cat People (Iroquois Word)Huron - Head Of A Boar (French Word describing their hair cut)Mohawk - Possessors Of The Flint, Flesh, Man Eater (Abenaki Words)Sioux - French for "Cut-Throats“Navajo - Cultivated Field In An Arroyo (Tewa Word)
3. Cultures and Ecosystems
Native Peoples at European Contact
3. Cultures and Ecosystems
Ecological Regions: Northern Forests, the Taiga and the Tundra
Taiga (royal blue)Tundra (purple)
Northern Boreal Forest (light blue)
First Nations of the Northern Forests, the Hudson Plains, and the Taiga
TaigaHudson Plains
Northern Boreal Forest
Inuit of Canada’s Arctic:NWT, Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut
InuktitukCree
4. Nations and Colonization
4. Nations and Colonization
“It’s like we woke up one day, and there was a new sheriff in town” - Inuit elder, in Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny
Peace, Order and Good GovernmentConstitution Act, 1867 aka British North America Act
EnfranchisementIndian Act, 1867 Gradual Civilization Act plusGradual Enfranchisement Act
Charter of Rights and FreedomsConstitution Act, 1982 aka Bill of Rights
Treaties areNation to Nation agreements
Agreements covering Indigenous people’s rights to Canadian land
or Agreements covering Canada’s rights to
Indigenous people’s land
Differences in treatment of Indigenous peoples:• Canada
– Canada’s indigenous populations still a majority, higher rates of heritage language fluency
– Ongoing efforts to affirm sovereignty within political process and constitutional reform.
• United States– directed more intense violence
towards Natives
– treaties verify tribes’ status as independent nations
Treatment of Indigenous peoples – both Canada and U.S.:• Undermine and diminish tribal communities as sovereign
nations• Seek to assimilate the indigenous populations; reservations,
residential schools
5. Self-Determination: Comprehensive Land Claims and
Self-Government Agreements
5. Self-Determination: Comprehensive Land Claims and Self-Government Agreements
6. Canada & U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
6. Canada & U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
7. Truth and Reconciliation
7.
8. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
and Girls
8.
9. Indigenous people’s gifts
9. Indigenous people’s gifts
• WORDS Over 2000 originally aboriginal words now in English vocabulary
• MEDICINE North American indigenous people have medicinal uses for 2,564 plant species; uses include contraceptives, and anesthesia for surgeries.
• DEMOCRACY The Iroquois Six Nations Confederacy developed federated representative democracy. The U.S. government is based on their system of power distributed between a central authority (the federal government) and smaller political units (the states).
Obsidian knives – currently used in surgery as they stay sharper than steel or aluminum
Lacrosse players
10. Education
10. Education
• Indians were written out of history
• We are all treaty people
• Reconciliation is for all North Americans
http://kairosblanketexercise.org/
Trick or Treaty?National Film Board, www.nfb.cafilmmaker Alanis Obomsawin (Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance)
This feature documentary by acclaimed profiles Indigenous leaders in their quest for justice as they seek to establish dialogue with the Canadian government.
Picture book about missing and murdered Indigenous women from the point of view of a Cree girl
First Nations girl’s (author’s grandmother) experience in 1928 residential school
First Nations boy’s toy canoe connects him with home during time in residential schoolRead aloud by author: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b4XkO3xTisCurriculum: www.adl.org/assets/pdf/education-outreach/book-of-the-month-shin-chi-s-canoe.pdf
Kookum woman tells about her childhood experiences at residential school
A reconciliation reading list for young readers
www.cbc.ca
Cree girl’s experience in residential school
Two Métis girls are placed in different foster homes, then seek to reunite.
Nipishish boy, kicked out of residential school, goes home to rez, then lives with a white family while reconciling his roots and heritage
Graphic novel of Cross Lake Cree girl’s experience in residential school
Tsartlip children’s experience in residential school; fictional based on author’s life
Arctic girl’s experience in residential school
Nlakapamux girl’s experience in 1958residential school
Khaii Luk Tshik girl’s experience growing up on the Mackenzie river, NWT
http://godslake.nfb.ca/
Winnipeg artist Kevin Lee Burton is repositioning the reserve narrative. He invites us to see “reserve reality” as he knows it, by showing us his friends and family. His images compels us to question our own assumptions about reserve life.
National Film Board short film God’s Lake
Read
www.idlenomore.ca
"Idle No More calls on all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water"
“I am no longer accepting the things I can not change. I am changing the things I can not accept.”
Thank youNovember 30, 2016
Betsy Arntzen, Education Outreach CoordinatorCanadian-American Center, University of Maine
Amy Sotherden, Assistant DirectorCenter for the Study of Canada/Institute on Québec Studies
State University of New York College at [email protected]
