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The Aboriginal People of Canada

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The Aboriginal People of Canada

Aboriginals People

An Aboriginal Person is a person who’s ancestors were the original inhabitants of Canada (the first people of Canada). Three types:

Types of Aboriginal People

First Nations (or Indians): this group lives south of the Arctic coast. There are Status Indians; Non-Status Indians, and Treaty Indians.

Inuit: this groups lives in the Arctic region of Canada.

Métis: this group formed after the Europeans arrived. They settled in the Prairie provinces in the 19th Century.

Where are they?

•The Territorial North is the largest homeland for Aboriginals in Canada. Here, Aboriginals make up the majority of the population.

*Territorial North refers to the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

There are just under 1 million Aboriginal People in Canada right now.

•This makes the Territorial North distinct

The Territorial North

Aboriginal Population

• Percentage of Aboriginals in the population, 2006

Different ways of living

• Aboriginal groups have different ways of living than us:

– Housing

– Food

– Values

– Culture

– Spirituality

• As the first people to live in Canada, Aboriginals hold rights to Canadian land.

But once the European settlers arrived in Canada, the Aboriginal People were “pushed to the side.” The Government needed land in Canada to give to the European settlers, so they asked the Aboriginal People to give it up and sign a TREATY. The Government promised the Aboriginals to get fair payment for the land.

Aboriginal Rights

Aboriginals vs. Europeans

Aboriginals

• Had the land and felt okay to share it• Wanted goods and money that the Europeans

could offer and government assistance or money

Europeans

• Really wanted to settle the land in Canada• Realized that the Aboriginals would always be a

threat without signing an official treaty

The Arrival of the Europeans

• In the 1700’s, many Europeans began arriving in Canada.

• The Government wanted large areas of land for the newcomers of Canada, so they had the Aboriginals sign treaties that offered them small areas of land known as reserves for the Aboriginals to live on. By signing these treaties, the Aboriginals gave up their land to the government. The Aboriginals thought it was a good idea because they could live undisturbed from the new European settlers.

What is a Reserve?

• Areas of land that the Government sets aside for the Aboriginal

People to live on.

• On reserves, the Aboriginal People can continue their traditional ways of life (hunting, fishing, trapping)

and not be disturbed from others.

What went wrong?

1. By signing the treaties, the Aboriginal People gave up almost all of their land in Canada (except for their reserves) that they once “owned”.

2. Now they live on reserves and many live in poverty and have bad living conditions.

3. The Aboriginal people say they never got the fair payment that the Government promised them and the treaties they signed were not worded “right.”

This has caused MANY problems in Canada between the Aboriginal People and the Government for over 500 years!

Today…

• Reserves were never large enough to allow Aboriginal people to continue their “way of life” and their culture. It became very hard for them to live on these reserves.

• Today, reserves make up less than 1% of Canada’s total land area!! Few of them have fertile land, minerals, forests, fish or animals. This causes many of them to live in poor conditions with little access to water and food. Many Aboriginals live in poverty.

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