Amongst notable Métis people are televisión actor Tom

Jackson,[98] Commissioner of the Northwest Territories Tony

Whitford, and Louis Riel who led two resistance movements:
the Red River Rebellion of 1869-1870 and the Northwest
Rebellion of 1885, which ended in his trial. [99][100][101]

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.[102] 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.
[103] Theirfirst 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".[104]

S.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 mentions the Métis yet

there has long been debate over legally defining the term
Métis,[105] but on September 23, 2003, the Supreme Court of
Cañada ruled that Métis are a distinct people with significant
rights (Powley ruling).[106]
Métis

Mixed-blood furtrader, c. 1870

The Métis are people descended from marriages between

Europeans (mainly French) [95] and Cree, Ojibway,
Algonquin, Saulteaux, Menominee, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and
other First Nations.[14] Their history dates to the mid-17th
century.[3] When Europeans first arrived to Cañada they
relied on Aboriginal peoples for fur trading skills and
survival. To ensure alliances, relationships between
European furtraders and Aboriginal women were often
Consolidated through marriage.[96] 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).[97]
Warfare 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 Cañada. Norse accounts are scant.
Norse-made ítems from Inuit campsites in Greenland
were obtained by either trade or plunder.[87] One
account, ívar Báróarson, speaks of "small people"
with whom the Norsemen fought.[88] 14th-century
accounts that a western settlement, one of the two
Norse settlements, was taken over by the Skraeling.
[89]

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.[90] The Inuit
appear not to have interfered with their operations, but
they did raid the stations in winter for tools, and
particularly worked ¡ron, which they adapted to native
needs.[91]
Inuit

The Inuit are the descendants of what anthropologists

cali the Thule culture, which emerged from western
Alaska around 1,000 CE and spread eastward across
the Arctic, displaclng 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.[85] Researchers hypothesize that the
Dorset culture lacked dogs, larger weapons and other
technologies used by the expanding Inuit society.[86]
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

Inuk in a kayak, c. 1908-1914

 Many Aboriginal civilizations[76] established
characteristics and hallmarks that included
permanent urban settlements or cities,[77]
agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and
complex societal hierarchies.[78] These cultures
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.[79]

There are indications of contact made before

Christopher Columbus between the first peoples
and those from other continents. Aboriginal people
in Cañada interacted with Europeans around 1000
CE, but prolonged contact carne after Europeans
established permanent settlements in the 17th and
18th centuries.[80] European written accounts
generally recorded friendliness of the First Nations,
who profited in trade with Europeans.[80] Such
trade generally strengthened the more organized
political entities such as the Iroquois Confederaron.
[81] Throughout the 16th century, European fleets
made almost annual visits to the eastern shores of
Cañada to cultívate the fishing opportunities. A
sideline industry emerged in the un-organized traffic
of furs overseen by the Indian Department.[82]
The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2,000
BCE-1,000 CE, and has locales in Ontario, Quebec,
and Maritime regions.[71] 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 Cañada.[60] They created
pointed-bottom beakers decorated by a cord marking
technique that involved impressing tooth implements
into wet clay. Woodland technology included Ítems
such as beaver incisor knives, bangles, and chisels.
The population practising sedentary agricultural life
ways continued to increase on a diet of squash, corn,
and bean crops.[60]

The Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that

flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE-500
CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange
System networked cultures and societies with the
peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario.
Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples
encompasses the Point Península, Saugeen, and
Laurel complexes.[72][73][74]

First Nations
 Chief George from the village of Senakw with his
daughter in traditional regalía, c. 1906

First Nations peoples had settled and established trade

routes across what is now Cañada by 500 BCE-1,000
CE. Communities developed each with its own culture,
customs, and character.[75] In the northwest were the
Athapaskan, Slavey, Dogrib, Tutchone, and Tlingit.
Along the Pacific coast were the Tsimshian; Haida;
Salish; Kwakiutl; Heiltsuk; 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; Iroquois and Hurón. Along the
Atlantic coast were the Beothuk, Maliseet, Innu, Abenaki
and Mi'kmaq.
 Thule site (Copper Inuit) near the waters of
Cambridge Bay (Victoria Island)

The west coast of Cañada by 7,000-5000 BCE (9,000-

7,000 years ago) saw various cultures who organized
themselves around salmón fishing.[65] The Nuu-chah-
nulth of Vancouver Island began whaling with advanced
long spears at about this time.[65] 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 BCE-1,500 BCE (9,000-3,500
years ago) along the Atlantic Coast of North America.
[66] 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.[67] The
Pre-Columbian culture, whose members were called
Red Paint People, is indigenous to the New England
and Atlantic Cañada regions of North America. The
culture flourished between 3,000 BCE-1,000 BCE
(5,000-3,000 years ago) and was named after their
burial ceremonies, which used large quantities of red
ochre to cover bodies and
Post-Archaic periods

A northerly section focusing on the Saugeen, Laurel and

Point Península complexes of the map showing south
eastern United States and the Great Lakes area of
Cañada showing the Hopewell Interaction Sphere and in
different colours the various local expressions of the
Hopewell cultures, including the Laurel Complex,
Saugeen Complex, Point Península Complex,
Marksville culture, Copena culture, Kansas City
Hopewell, Swift Creek Culture, Goodall Focus, Crab
Orchard culture and Havana Hopewell culture.

The Oíd Copper Complex societíes datíng from 3,000

BCE-500 BCE (5,000-2,500 years ago) are a
manifestatíon of the Woodland Culture, and are pre-
pottery in nature.[70] Evidence found in the northern
Great Lakes regions indicates that they extracted
copper from local glacial deposits and used it in its
natural for™ manufacture tools and implements.[70]
The Arctic small tool tradition is a broad cultural entity that
developed along the Alaska Península, around Bristol
Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around
2,500 BCE (4,500 years ago).[69] 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 antier. Scrapers, engraving
tools and adze blades were also included in their toolkits.
[69] 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).[69]:179-81
The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic
burial site indicated social differentiation based upon
status.[58] There is a continuous record of occupation of
S'ólh Téméxw by Aboriginal people dating from the early
Holocene period, 10,000-9,000 years ago. [62]
Archaeological sites at Stave Lake, Coquitlam Lake, Fort
Langley and región uncovered early period artifacts.
These early inhabitants were highly mobile hunter-
gatherers, consisting of about 20 to 50 members of an
extended family.[62][verification needed] The Na-Dene
people occupied much of the land area of northwest and
central North America starting around 8,000 BCE.[63]
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.[64] The
Wendat peoples settled into Southern Ontario along the
Eramosa River around 8,000-7,000 BCE (10,000-9,000
years ago).[65] They were concentrated between Lake
Simcoe and Georgian Bay. Wendat hunted caribou to
survive on the glacier-covered land. [65] Many different
First Nations cultures relied upon the buffalo starting by
6,000-5,000 BCE (8,000-7,000 years ago).[65] They
hunted buffalo by herding migrating buffalo off cliffs.
Head-Smashed-ln Buffalo Jump, near Lethbridge, Alberta,
is a hunting grounds that was in use for about 5,000
years.[65]
The Plano cultures was a group of hunter- gatherer
communities that occupied the Great Plains area of
North America between 12,000- 10,000 years ago.[56]
The Paleo-lndians moved into new territory as it
emerged from under the glaciers. Big game flourished in
this new environment.[57] The Plano culture are
characterized by a range of projectile point tools
collectively called Plano points, which were used to hunt
bison. Their diets also included pronghorn, elk, deer,
raccoon and coyote.[56] At the beginning of the Archaic
Era, they began to adopt a sedentary approach to
subsistence.[56] Sites in and around Belmont, Nova
Scotia have evidence of Plano-lndians, indicating small
seasonal hunting camps, perhaps re-visited over
generations from around 11,000-10,000 years ago.[56]
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 trames.[56]
Archaic period

The North American climate stabilized by 8000 BCE

(10,000 years ago); climatic conditions were very similar
to today's.[58] This led to widespread migratíon,
cultivation and later a dramatic rise in population all over
the Americas.[58] 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. [59]

Distribution of Na-Dene languages shown in red

 A Clovis point created using bi-facial percussion
flaking (that is, each face is flaked on both
edges alternatively with a percussor)

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-lndian inhabitants of the New World
and ancestors to all indigenous peoples in the
Americas.[49] 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.[50]
Localized regional cultures developed from the time of
the Younger Dryas coid climate period from 12,900 to
11,500 years ago.[51] The Folsom tradition are
characterized by their use of Folsom points as projectile
tips at archaeological sites. These tools assisted
activities at kill sites that marked the slaughter and
butchering of bison.[52]

The land bridge existed until 13,000-11,000 years ago,

long afterthe oldest proven human settlements in the
New World began.[53] Lower sea levels in the Queen
Charlotte sound and Hecate Strait produced great grass
lands called archipelago of Haida Gwaii.[54] Hunter-
gatherers of the area left distinctive lithic technology
tools and the remains of large butchered mammals,
occupying the area from 13,000-9,000 years ago.[54] In
July 1992, the Federal Government officially designated
Xá:ytem (near Mission, British Columbia) as a National
Historie Site, one of the first Indigenous spiritual sites in
Cañada to be formally recognized in this manner.[55]
The first ¡nhabitants of North America arrived in Cañada
at least 15,000 years ago, though increasing evidence
suggests an even earlier arrival.[40] It is believed the
¡nhabitants entered the Americas pursuing Pleistocene
mammals such as the giant beaver, steppe wisent, musk
ox, mastodons, woolly mammoths and ancient reindeer
(early caribou).[41] 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.[42]
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.[43] Evidence of the latter has been covered
by a sea level rise of hundreds of metres following the last
ice age.[44][45]

The Oíd Crow Fíats and basin was one of the areas in
Cañada untouched by glaciations during the Pleistocene
Ice ages, thus it served as a pathway and refuge for ice
age plants and animáis.[46] The area holds evidence of
early human habitation in Cañada dating from about
12,000.[47] Fossils from the area inelude some never
accounted for in North America, such as hyenas and large
camels.[48] Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in
Yukon, Cañada from which a specimen of apparently
human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon
dated to 12,000 years ago.[47]
 Maps depicting each phase of a three-step early
human migrations for the peopling of the
Americas

According to archaeological and genetic evidence,

North and South America were the last continents in
the world with human habitation.[27] During the
Wisconsin glaciation, 50,000-17,000 years ago, falling
sea levels allowed people to move across the Bering
land bridgethat joined Siberia to north west North
America (Alaska).[28] Alaska was ice-free because of
low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist. The
Laurentide ice sheet covered most of Cañada,
blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to
Alaska (East Beringia) forthousands of years.[29][30]

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.[31 ][32][33] The isolation of
these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10,000-
20,000 years.[34][35][36] Around 16,500 years ago,
the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move
south and east into Cañada and beyond.[37][38][39]
 An Aboriginal community in Northern Ontario

The term Eskimo has pejorative connotations in Cañada

and Greenland. Indigenous peoples in those areas have
replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit.[23][24] The Yupik
of Alaska and Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit,
and ethnographers agree they are a distinct people. [8]
[24] They prefer the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or
Eskimo. The Yupik languages are linguistically distinct
from the Inuit languages.[8] 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.[8]
Besides these ethnic descriptors, Aboriginal peoples are
often divided into legal categories based on their
relationship with the Crown (i.e. the State). Section 91
(clause 24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 gives the federal
government (as opposed to the provinces) the solé
responsibility for "Indians, and Lands reserved for the
Indians". The government inherited treaty obligations from
the British colonial authorities in Eastern Cañada and
signed treaties itself with First Nations in Western Cañada
(the Numbered Treaties). It also passed the Indian Act in
1876 which governed its interactions with all treaty and
non- treaty peoples. Members of First Nations bands that
are subject to the Indian Act with the Crown are compiled
on a list called the Indian Register, and such people are
called Status Indians. Many non-treaty First Nations and
all Inuit and Métis peoples are not subject to the Indian
Act. However, two court cases have clarified that Inuit,
Métis, and non-status First Nations people, all are
covered by the term "Indians" in the Constitution Act,
1867. The first was Re Eskimos in 1939 covering the
Inuit, the second being Daniels v. Cañada in 2013 which
applies to Métis and non-Status First Nations.[25]

Notwithstanding Canada's location within the Americas,

the term "Native American" is not used in Cañada as it is
typically used solely to describe the indigenous peoples
within the boundaries of the present-day United States.
[26]
 The characteristics of Canadian Aboriginal culture
included permanent settlements,[10] agricultura,[11] civic
and ceremonial architecture,[12] complex societal
hierarchies and trading networks.[13] The Métis culture of
mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First
Nation and Inuit people married Europeans.[14] The Inuit
had more limited interaction with European settlers during
that early period.[15] Various laws, treaties, and
legislation have been enacted between European
immigrants and First Nations across Cañada. 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 2011 census, Aboriginal peoples in Cañada

totaled 1,400,685 people, or 4.3% of the national
population, spread over 600 recognized First Nations
governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages,
art, and music. [1][16] National Aboriginal Day recognizes
the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples to the
history of Cañada.[17] 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.[18]

The terms First Peoples and First Nations are both

 used to refer to indigenous peoples of Cañada.[19] The
terms First Peoples or Aboriginal peoples in Cañada
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 forthe indigenous peoples of North America in
Cañada, and their descendants, who are neither Inuit
ñor Métis. On reserves, First Nations is being
supplanted by members of various nations referring to
themselves by their group or ethnical identity. In
conversation this would be "I am Haida", or "we are
Kwantlens", in recognition of their First Nations
ethnicities.[20] In this Act, 'Aboriginal peoples of
Cañada" ineludes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples
of Cañada.[21]

Indian remains in place as the legal term used in the

Canadian Constitution. Its usage outside such
situations can be considered offensive.[7] Aboriginal
peoples is more commonly used to describe all
indigenous peoples of Cañada.[22] The term Aboriginal
people is beginning to be considered outdated and
slowly being replaced by the term Indigenous people.
[2]

Indigenous peoples in Cañada

Indigenous peoples in Canada,[2] also known as

Indigenous Canadians or Aboriginal Canadians, are the
indigenous peoples within the boundaries of present-
day Cañada. They comprisethe First Nations,[3] lnuit[4]
and Métis. [5] Although "Indian" is a term still commonly
used in legal documents, the descriptors "Indian" and
"Eskimo" have somewhat fallen into disuse in Cañada
and some consider them to be pejorative.[6][7][8]
Similarly, "Aboriginal" as a collective noun is a specific
term of art used in some legal documents, including the
Constitution Act 1982, though in some circles that word
is also falling into disfavour.[9]

Oíd Crow Fíats and Bluefish Caves are some of the

earliest known sites of human habitation in Cañada. The
Paleo-lndian Clovis, Plano and Pre- Dorset cultures pre-
date current indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Projectile point tools, spears, pottery, bangles, chisels
and scrapers mark archaeological sites, thus
distinguishing cultural periods, traditions and lithic
reduction styles.

Under letters patent from King Henry Vil of England, the

Italian John Cabot became the first European known to
have landed in Cañada after the time of the Vikings.[33]
Records indícate that on 24 June 1497 he sighted land at
a northern location believed to be somewhere in the
Atlantic provinces.[34] Official tradition deemed the first
landing site to be at Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland,
although other locations are possible.[35] After 1497
Cabot and his son Sebastian Cabot continued to make
other voyages to find the Northwest Passage, and other
explorers continued to sail out of England to the New
World, although the details of these voyages are not well
recorded.[36]

Based on the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Spanish Crown

claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited by John
Cabot in 1497 and 1498 CE.[37] However, Portuguese
explorers like Joáo Femandes Lavrador would continué to
visited the north Atlantic coast, which accounts for the
appearance of "Labrador" on topographical maps of the
period.[38] In 1501 and 1502 the Corte-Real brothers
explored Newfoundland (Terra Nova) and Labrador
claiming these lands as part of the Portuguese Empire.
[38][39] In 1506, King Manuel I of Portugal created taxes
for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters. [40] Joáo
Alvares Fagundes and Pero de Barcelos established
fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around
1521 CE; however, these were later abandoned, with the
Portuguese colonizers focusing their efforts
 LAnse aux Meadows on the ¡sland of
Newfoundland, site of a Norsemen colony about
year 1000.

There are reports of contact made before the 1492

voyages of Christopher Columbus and the age of
discovery between First Nations, Inuit and those from
other continents. The Norse, who had settled Greenland
and Iceland, arrived around the year 1000 and built a
small settlement at LAnse aux Meadows at the
northernmost tip of Newfoundland (carbón dating
estímate 990 - 1050 CE)[31 ] LAnse aux Meadows is
also notable for its connection with the attempted colony
of Vinland established by Leif Erikson around the same
period or, more broadly, with Norse exploration of the
Americas. [31][32]

Pre-Columbian distribution of Na-Dene

languages ¡n North America

The Interior of British Columbia was home to the Salishan

language groups such as the Shuswap (Secwepemc),
Okanagan and Southern Athabaskan language groups,
primarily the Dakelh (Carrier) and the Tsilhqot'in.[27] The
inlets and valleys of the British Columbia Coast sheltered
large, distinctive populations, such as the Halda,
Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth, sustained by the
region's abundant salmón and shellfish.[27] These peoples
developed complex cultures dependent on the western red
cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and
war canoes and elaborately carved potlatch Ítems and tótem
poles.[27]

In the Arctic archipelago, the distinctive Paleo- Eskimos

known as Dorset peoples, whose culture has been traced
back to around 500 BCE, were replaced by the ancestors of
today's Inuit by 1500 CE.[28] This transition is supported by
archaeological records and Inuit mythology that tells of
having driven off the Tuniit or 'first ¡nhabitants'.[29] Inuit
traditional laws are anthropologically different from Western
law. Customary law was non-existent in Inuit society before
the introduction of the Canadian legal system.[30]

rre-uoiumDian aisiriDuuon OT Algonquian

languages in North America.

Speakers of eastem Algonquian languages included the

Mi'kmaq and Abenaki of the Maritime región of Cañada
and likely the extinct Beothuk of Newfoundland.[18][19]
The Ojibwa and other Anishinaabe speakers of the
central Algonquian languages retain an oral tradition of
having moved to their lands around the western and
 central Great Lakes from the sea, likely the east coast.
[20] According to oral tradition, the Ojibwa formed the
Council of Three Fires in 796 CE with the Odawa and the
Potawatom¡.[21]

The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) were centred from at

least 1000 CE in northern New York, but their influence
extended into what is now Southern Ontario and the
Montreal area of modern Quebec.[22] The Iroquois
Confederacy, according to oral tradition, was formed in
1142 CE.[23][24] On the Great Plains the Cree or
Néhilawé (who spoke a closely related Central
Algonquian language, the plains Cree language)
depended on the vast herds of bison to supply food and
many of their other needs.[25] To the northwest were the
peoples of the Na-Dene languages, which include the
Athapaskan- speaking peoples and the Tlingit, who lived
on the islands of Southern Alaska and northern British
Columbia. The Na-Dene language group is believed to be
linked to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia.[26]

The Dene of the western Arctic may represent a distinct

wave of minratinn frnm Acia tn Mnrth Amarina

Great Lakes area of the Hopewell Interaction Area

The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE

to 1000 CE and ineludes the Ontario, Quebec, and
Maritime regions.[12] The introduction of pottery
distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous
Archaic- stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people
of Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery excavated to
date in Cañada.[13]

The Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that

flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 CE.
At Its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System
connected cultures and societies to the peoples on the
Canadian shores of Lake Ontario.[14] Canadian expression
of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point
Península, Saugeen, and Laurel complexes.[15]

The eastern woodland areas of what became Cañada were

home to the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples. The
Algonquian language is believed to have originated in the
western plateau of Idaho or the plains of Montana and
moved eastward,[16] eventually extending all the way from
Hudson Bay to what is today Nova Scotia in the east and as
far south as the Tidewater región of Virginia.[17]

The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE

(10,000 years ago). Climatic conditions were similar to
modern patterns; however, the receding glacial ice sheets still
covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of
meltwater.fl 0] Most population groups during the Archaic
periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers.[11]
However, individual groups started to focus on resources
available to them locaIly; thus with the passage of time, there
is a pattern of increasing regional generalizaron (i.e.: Paleo-
 Arctic, Plano and Maritime Archaic traditions).[11 ]

A northerly section focusing on the Saugeen, Laurel and Point

Península complexes of the map showing south eastern
United States and the Great Lakes area of Cariada showing
the Hopewell Interaction Sphere and in different colours the
various local expressions of the Hopewell cultures, including
the Laurel Complex, Saugeen Complex, Point Península
Complex, Marksville culture, Copena culture, Kansas City
Hopewell, Swift Creek Culture, Goodall Focus, Crab Orchard
culture and Havana Hopewell culture.

The Great Lakes are estimated to have been

formed at the end of the last glacial period
(about 10,000 years ago), when the Laurentide
¡ce sheet receded.

Archeological and Aboriginal genetic evidence indícate

that North and South America were the last continents
 into which humans migrated.[1] During the Wisconsin
glaciation, 50,000 - 17,000 years ago, falling sea levels
allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge
(Beringia), from Siberia into northwest North America.[2]
At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide ice
sheet that covered most of Cañada, confining them to
Alaska and the Yukon for thousands of years.[3] The
exact dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas
are the subject of an ongoing debate.[4][5] By 16,000
years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by
land south and east out of Beringia, and into Cañada.[6]
The Queen Charlotte Islands, Oíd Crow Fíats, and
Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-lndian
archaeological sites in Cañada.[7][8][9] Ice Age hunter-
gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone tools
and the remains of large butchered mammals.

History of Cañada

The history of Cañada covers the period from the arrival of

Paleo-lndians thousands of years ago to the present day.
Cañada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive
groups of Aboriginal peoples, with distinct trade networks,
spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization. Some of
these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first
European arrivals and have been discovered through
archaeological investigations. Various treaties and laws
have been enacted between European settlers and the
Aboriginal populations.
Beginning in the late 15th century, French and British
expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic
Coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North
America to Britain in 1763 after the Seven Years’ War. In
1867, with the unión of three British North American
colonies through Confederation, Cañada was formed as a
federal dominión of four provinces. This began an accretion
of provinces and territories and a process of increasing
autonomy from the British Empire, which became official
with the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and completed in
the Cañada Act of 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal
dependence on the British parliament.

Great Depression

Cañada was hard hit by the worldwide Great Depression

that began in 1929. Between 1929 and 1933, the gross
national product dropped 40% (compared to 37% in the
US). Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the
Depression in 1933.[169] Many businesses closed, as
corporate profits of $396 million in 1929 turned into losses
of $98 million in 1933. Canadian exports shrank by 50%
from 1929 to 1933. Construction all but stopped (down
82%, 1929-33), and Wholesale prices dropped 30%.
Wheat prices plunged from 78c per bushel (1928 crop) to
29c in 1932.[169]
 Urban unemployment nationwide was 19%; Toronto's rate
was 17%, according to the census of 1931. Farmers who
stayed on their farms were not considered unemployed.
[170] By 1933, 30% of the labour forcé was out of work,
and one fifth of the population became dependent on
government assistance. Wages fell as did prices. Worst hit
were areas dependent on primary industries such as
farming, mining and logging, as prices fell and there were
few alternative jobs. Most families had modérate losses
and little hardship, though they too became pessimistic
and their debts become heavier as prices fell. Some
families saw most or all of their assets disappear, and
suffered severely.[171][172]

In 1930, in the first stage of the long depression, Prime

Minister Mackenzie King believed that the crisis was a
temporary swing of the business cycle and that the
economy would soon recover without government
intervention. He refused to provide unemployment relief or
federal aid to the provinces, saying that if Conservative
provincial governments demanded federal dollars, he would
not give them "a five cent piece."[173] His blunt wisecrack
was used to defeat the Liberáis in the 1930 election. The
main issue was the rapid deterioration in the economy and
whether the prime minister was out of touch with the
hardships of ordinary people.[174][175] The winner of the
1930 election was Richard Bedford Bennett and the
Conservatives. Bennett had promised high tariffs and large-
scale spending, but as déficits increased, he became wary
and cut back severely on Federal spending. With falling
support and the depression getting only worse, Bennett
attempted to introduce policies based on the New Deal of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in the United States,
but he got little passed. Bennett's government became a
focus of popular discontent. For example, auto owners
saved on gasoline by using horses to pulí their cars,
dubbing them Bennett Buggies. The Conservative failure to
restore prosperity led to the retum of Mackenzie King's
Liberáis in the 1935 election.[176]

In 1935, the Liberáis used the slogan "King or Chaos" to

win a landslide in the 1935 election. [177] Promising a
much-desired tradetreaty with the U.S., the Mackenzie
King government passed the 1935 Reciprocal Trade
Agreement. It marked the turning point in Canadian-
American economic relations, reversing the disastrous
trade war of 1930-31, lowering tariffs, and yielding a
dramatic increase in trade.[178]

The worst of the Depression had passed by 1935, as

Ottawa launched relief programs such as the National
Housing Act and National Employment Commission. The
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation became a crown
Corporation in 1936. Trans-Canada Airlines (the precursor
to Air Cañada) was formed in 1937, as was the National
Film Board of Cañada in 1939. In 1938, Parliament
transformed the Bank of Cañada from a prívate entity to a
crown Corporation.[179]

One political response was a highly restrictive immigration

policy and a rise in nativism.[180]

Times were especially hard in western Cañada, where a

full recovery did not occur until the Second World War
began in 1939. One response was the creation of new
political parties such as the Social Credit movement and
the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, as well as
popular protest in the form of the On-to-Ottawa Trek. [181]
Second World War

Canada's involvement in the Second World War

began when Cañada declared war on Nazi
Germany on September 10,1939, delaying it one
week after Britain acted to symbolically
demónstrate independence. The war restored
Canada's economic health and its self- confidence,
as it played a major role in the Atlantic and in
Europe. During the war, Cañada became more
closely linked to the U.S. The Americans took
virtual control of Yukon in order to build the Alaska
Highway, and were a major presence in the British
colony of Newfoundland with major airbases.[182]
Mackenzie King — and Cañada - were largely ignored
by Winston Churchill and the British government despite
Canada's major role in supplying food, raw materials,
munitions and money to the hard-pressed British
economy, training airmen for the Commonwealth,
guarding the western half of the North Atlantic Ocean
against Germán U-boats, and providing combat troops
for the invasions of Italy, France and Germany in 1943-
45. The government successfully mobilized the
economy for war, with impressive results in industrial
and agricultural output. The depression ended,
prosperity returned, and Canada's economy expanded
significantly. On the political side, Mackenzie King
rejected any notion of a government of national unity.
[183] The Canadian federal election, 1940 was held as
normally scheduled, producing another majority for the
Liberáis.
Building up the Royal Canadian Air Forcé was a high
priority; it was kept sepárate from Britain's Royal Air
Forcé. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
Agreement, signed in December 1939, bound Cañada,
Britain, New Zealand, and Australia to a program that
eventually trained half the airmen from those four
nations in the Second World War.fi 84]

After the start of war with Japan in December 1941, the

government, in cooperation with the U.S., began the
Japanese-Canadian internment, which sent 22,000
British Columbia residents of Japanese descent to
relocation camps far from the coast. The reason was
intense public demand for removal and fears of
espionage or sabotage.[185] The government ignored
reports from the RCMP and Canadian military that most
of the Japanese were law-abiding and not a threat.[186]
The Battle of the Atlantic began immediately, and from
1943 to 1945 was led by Leonard W. Murray, from Nova
Scotia. Germán U-boats operated in Canadian and
Newfoundland waters throughout the war, sinking many
naval and merchant vessels, as Cañada took charge of
the defenses of the western Atlantic.[187] The Canadian
army was involved in the failed defence of Hong Kong,
the unsuccessful Dieppe Raid in August 1942, the Allied
invasión of Italy, and the highly successful invasión of
France and the Netherlands in 1944-45.[188]

The Conscription Crisis of 1944 greatly affected unity

between French and English-speaking Canadians,
though was not as politically intrusive as that of the First
World War.[189] Of a population of approximately 11.5
million, 1.1 million Canadians served in the armed forces
in the Second World War. Many thousands more served
with the Canadian Merchant Navy.[190] In all, more than
45,000 died, and another 55,000 were wounded.

Post-war Era 1945-1960

Prosperity returned to Cañada during the Second

World War and continued in the proceeding years,
with the development of universal health care, old-
age pensions, and veterans' pensions.[193][194] The
financial crisis of the Great Depression had led the
Dominion of Newfoundland to relinquish responsible
government in 1934 and become a crown colony
ruled by a British governor.[195] In 1948, the British
government gave voters three Newfoundland
Referendum choices: remaining a crown colony,
returning to Dominion status (that is, independence),
or joining Cañada. Joining the United States was not
made an option. After bitter debate Newfoundlanders
voted to join Cañada in 1949 as a province.[196]

The Avro Cañada CF-105 Arrow (Recreation).

The foreign policy of Cañada during the Coid
War was closely tied to that of the United States.
Cañada was a founding member of NATO (which
Cañada wanted to be a transatlantic economic
and political unión as well[197]). In 1950,
Cañada sent combat troops to Korea during the
Korean War as part of the United Nations forces.
The federal government's desire to assert its
territorial claims in the Arctic during the Coid War
manifested with the High Arctic relocation, in
which Inuit were moved from Nunavik (the
northern third of Quebec) to barren Cornwallis
Island;[198] this project was later the subject of a
long investigation by the Royal Commission on
Aboriginal Peoples.[199]
In 1956, the United Nations responded to the Suez
Crisis by convening a United Nations Emergency Forcé
to supervise the withdrawal of invading torces. The
peacekeeping forcé was initiaIly conceptualized by
Secretary of Externa! Affairs and future Prime Minister
Lester B. Pearson.[200] Pearson was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his work in establishing
the peacekeeping operation.[200] Throughout the mid-
1950s, Louis St. Laurent (12th Prime Minister of
Cañada) and his successor John Diefenbaker
attempted to create a new, highly advanced jet fighter,
the Avro Arrow.[201] The controversia! aircraft was
cancelled by Diefenbaker in 1959. Diefenbaker instead
purchased the BOMARC missile defense system and
American aircraft. In 1958 Cañada established (with the
United States) the North American Aerospace Defense
Command (NORAD).[202]
In 1604, a North American fur trade monopoly was granted
to Pierre Du Gua, Sieur de Mons. [49] The fur trade
became one of the main economic ventures in North
America.[50] Du Gua led his first colonization expedition to
an island located nearthe mouth of the St. Croíx River.
Among his lieutenants was a geographer named Samuel de
Champlain, who promptly carried out a major exploration of
the northeastern coastline of what is now the United States.
[49] In the spring of 1605, under Samuel de Champlain, the
new St. Croix settlement was moved to Port Royal (today's
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia).[51]

The Quebec Settlement: A.—The Warehouse. B. —Pigeon-

loft. C.—Detached Buildings where we keep our arms and
for Lodging our Workmen. D. —Another Detached Building
for the Workmen. E.—Sun-dial. F.—Another Detached
Building where is the Smithy and where the Workmen are
Lodged. G.-Galleries all around the Lodgings. H.—The
Sieur de Champlain's Lodgings. I.—The door of the
Settlement with a Draw-bridge. L Promenade around the
Settlement ten feet in width to the edge of the Moat. M.—
Moat the whole way around the Settlement. O.—The Sieur
de Champlain's Garden. P—The Kitchen. Q - Space in front
of the Settlement on the Shore of the River. R.—The great
River St. Lawrence.
Music

The Aboriginal peoples of Cañada encompass diverse ethnic groups

with their individual musical traditions. Music is usually social (public) or
ceremonial (prívate). Public, social music may be dance music
accompanied by rattles and drums. Prívate, ceremonial music includes
vocal songs with accompaniment on percussion, used to mark
occasions like Midewívin ceremonies and Sun Dances.

Traditionally. Aboriginal peoples used the materials at hand to make

their instruments for centuries before Europeans immigrated to Cañada.
[156] First Nations people made gourds and animal horns into rattles,
which were elaborately carved and brightly painted.[l 57] 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
instruments 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 carne to Cañada,
First Nations people were forbidden to practice their ceremonies.[155]
[156]
Demographics and classification of Indigenous peoples

Cultural areas of North American Indigenous

peoples at the time of European contact

There are three (First Nations,[3] lnuit[4] and Métis[5]) distinctive groups of North
America indigenous peoples recognized in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982,
sections 25 and 35.[21] Under the Employment Equity Act, Aboriginal people are
a designated group along with women, visible minorities, and persons with
disabilities.[158] They are not a visible minority under the Employment Equity
Act and in the view of Statistics Cañada.[159]

The 2011 Canadian Census enumerated 1,400,685 Aboriginal people in

Cañada, 4.3% of the country's total population.[1] This total comprises 851,560
people of First Nations descent, 451,795 Métis, and 59,445 Inuit. National
representativo bodies of Aboriginal people in Cañada include the Assembly of
First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council, the Native
Women's Association of Cañada, the National Association of Native Friendship
Centres and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.[160]

Indigenous peoples were producing art for thousands of years before the arrival of
European settler colonists and the eventual establishment of Cañada as a nation
State. Like the peoples who produced them, indigenous art traditions spanned
territories across North America. Indigenous art traditions are organized by art
historians according to cultural, Iinguistic or regional groups: Northwest Coast,
Plateau, Plains, Eastern Woodlands, Subarctic, and Arctic.[152]

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. Shamans' masks and rattles are used
ceremoniously in dance, storytelling and music.[152] 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.[153] The distinct Métis cultures that have arisen from inter-
cultural relationships with Europeans contribute culturaIly hybrid art forms.[154]
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.[155]

It was not until the 1950s and 1960s that indigenous artists such as Mungo Martin,
Bill Reíd and Norval Morrisseau began to publicly renew and re-invent indigenous
art traditions. Currently there are indigenous artists practising in all media in
Cañada and two indigenous artists, Edward Poitras and Rebecca Belmore, have
represented Cañada at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and 2005 respectively.[152]
Approximately 40,115 individuáis of AboriginaI heritage could not be counted during the 2006
census.[161 ][162] This is due to the fact that certain Aboriginal reserves and communities in
Cañada did not particípate in the 2006 census, since enumeration of those communities were
not permitted.[161 ][163] In 2006, 22 Native commjnities were not completely enumerated
unlike in the year 2001, when 30 First Nation commjnities were not enumerated and during
1996 v/hen 77 Native communities could not be completely enumerated.[161 ][163] Henee,
there were probably 1,212,905 individuáis of Aboriginal ancestry (North American Indian,
Metis, and Inuit) residíng in Cenada during the time when the 2006 census was conducted in
Cañada.

Indigenous people assert that their sovereign rights are valid, and point to the Royal
Proclamation of 1763, which is mentioned in the Canadlan Constltutlon Act, 1982, Sectlon
25, the British North America Acts and the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
(to which Cañada is a signatory) in support of this claim. [164][165]

Indian
ProvinceíTerritory o Numter • %A © • Métis o Inuit c Múltiple c OtherE e
(First Nations)
Dritish Columbia 232290 5.4% 155.015 69,475 1.570 2,480 3,745

Al berta 220.695 6.2% 116.670 96.865 1.985 1.875 3295

Saskatchewan 157.740 15.6% 103.205 52.450 290 670 1.120

Manitoba 199.940 17.0% 130.075 78.835 580 1,205 1.055

Ontario 301.430 2.4% 201.100 86.015 3.360 2,910 8.045

Quebec 141.915 1.8% 82425 40.960 12.570 1,550 4.410

New Brunswick 22620 3.1% 16.120 4,850 485 145 1.020

Nova Scotia 33.845 3.7% 21.895 10,050 695 225 980

Prince Edward Island 2.230 1.6% 1.520 410 55 0 235

Newfoundland and Labrador 35.800 7.1% 19.315 7.665 6.260 260 2.300
Yukon 7.71023.1% 6.585 845 175 30 70

Northwest Territories 21.160 51.9% 13.345 3.245 4.335 45 185

Nunavut 27.36086 3% 130 135 27.070 15 15

Cañada 1.400.685 4.3% 851.560 451.795 59.445 11.415 26.470

Source 2011 Census1653

Languages

There are 13 Aboriginal language groups, 11 oral and 2 sign, in Cañada, made up of more than
65 distinct dialects.[148] 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.[149] Two of
Canada's territories give officiaI status to native languages. In Nunavut, Inuktitut and
Inuinnaqtun are officiaI languages alongside the national languages of English and French, and
Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in territorial government.[150] In the NWT, the OfficiaI
Languages Act declares that there are eleven different languages: Chipewyan, Cree, English,
French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tljchg.
[151] Besides English and French, these languages are not vehicular in government; officiaI
status entitles citizens to receive Services in them on request and to deal with the government
in them.[149]

Aboriginal language • No. of speakers • Mothertongue • Home language •

Cree 99.950 78.855 47.190
Inuktitut 35.690 32,010 25.290
Ojibway 32.460 11.115 11,115

Montagnais-Naskapi (Innu) 11.815 10.970 9.720

Dene 11.130 9,750 7,490

Oji-Cree (Anishinini) 12.605 8.480 8.480

MTkmaq 8.750 7.365 3.985

Siouan languages (Dakota/Sioux) 6.495 5.585 3,780

Atikamekw 5.645 5.245 4,745

Blackfoot 4.915 3,085 3.085
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 Cañada.[143] 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 salmón 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,
beans, and squash.[16][143] While for the Inuit, hunting
was the primary source of food with seáis the primary
component of their diet.[144] The caribou, fish, other
marine mammals 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.
[145]
Culture of Indigenous peoples

Through storytelling and other interactive learning styles,

countless North American Indigenous words, inventions and
games have become an everyday part of Canadian
language and use. Thanks to groups such as the Aboriginal
Language and Culture (ALC) teachers of British Columbia,
these practices continué to be passed down to each
generation. The canoe, snowshoes, the toboggan, lacrosse,
tug of war, maple syrup and tobáceo are just a few of the
producís, inventions and games.[138] Some of the words
inelude the barbecue, caribou, chipmunk, woodchuck,
hammock, skunk, and moose.[139] Many places in Cañada,
both natural features and human habitations, use indigenous
ñames. The word "Cañada" itself derives from the St.
Lawrence Iroquoian word meaning "village" or "settlement".
[140] The province of Saskatchewan derives its ñame from
the Saskatchewan River, which in the Cree language is
called "Kisiskatchewani Sipi", meaning "swift-flowing
river."[141] Canada's capital city Ottawa comes from the
Algonquin language term "adawe" meaning "to trade."[141]
Modern youth groups such as Scouts Cañada and the Girl
Guides of Cañada inelude programs based largely on
Indigenous lore, arts and crafts, character building and
outdoor camp craft and living.fi 42]
Indian reserves, established in Canadian law by treaties
such as Treaty 7, are lands of First Nations recognized by
non-indigenous governments.[146] 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 Región. There
are more reserves in Cañada than there are First Nations,
which were ceded múltiple reserves by treaty.[147]
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.[16][143] National
Aboriginal Day is a day of recognition of the cultures and
contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples
of Cañada. The day was first celebrated in 1996, after it
was proclaimed that year, by then Governor General of
Cañada Roméo LeBlanc, to be celebrated on June 21
annually.[17] Most provincial jurisdictions do not
recognize it as a statutory holiday.[17]
Royal Commission

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was a

Royal Commission undertaken by the Government of
Cañada in 1991 to address issues of the Aboriginal
peoples of Cañada. [128] It assessed past government
policies toward Aboriginal people, such as residential
schools, and provided policy recommendations to the
government.[129] The Commission issued its final
report in November 1996. The five-volume, 4,000-page
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 Cañada.[128] The report "set
out a 20-year agenda for change."[130]