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Further information: Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982 The terms First Peoples and First Nations are both used to refer to indigenous peoples of Canada.[17] The terms First Peoples or Aboriginals in Canada 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 for the indigenous peoples of North America in Canada, and their descendants, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. On reserves, First Nations is being supplanted by members of various nations referring to themselves by their group or national identity. In conversation this would be "I am Haida", or "we are Kwantlens", in recognition of their First Nations ethnicities.[18] In this Act, "Aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.[19] Indian remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution; its usage outside such situations can be considered offensive.[6] Aboriginals is more commonly used to describe all indigenous peoples of Canada.[20] It also refers to self-identification of aboriginal people who live within Canada claiming rights of sovereignty or aboriginal title to lands. The term Eskimo has pejorative connotations in Canada and Greenland. Indigenous peoples in those areas have replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit.[21][22] The Yupik of Alaska and Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit, and ethnographers agree they are a distinct people.[7][22] They prefer the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or Eskimo. The Yupik languages are linguistically distinct from the Inuit languages.[7] 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.[7] 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 sole responsibility for "Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians". The government inherited treaty obligations from the British colonial authorities in Eastern Canada and signed treaties itself with First Nations in Western Canada (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. Canada in 2013 which applies to Métis and non-Status First Nations.[23] Notwithstanding Canada's location within the Americas, the term "Native American" is not used in Canada as it is typically used solely to describe the indigenous peoples within the boundaries of the present-day United States.[24] History Further information: History of Canada Paleo-Indians period See also: Settlement of the Americas and Paleo-Indians "Three maps of prehistoric America. (A) then gradual population expansion of the Amerind ancestors from their East Central Asian gene pool (blue arrow). (B) Proto-Amerind occupation of Beringia with little to no population growth for ≈20,000 years. (C) Rapid colonization of the New World by a founder group migrating southward through the ice free, inland corridor between the eastern Laurentide and western Cordilleran Ice Sheets (green arrow) and/or along the Pacific coast (red arrow). In (B), the exposed seafloor is shown at its greatest extent during the last glacial maximum at ≈20–18 kya [25]. In (A) and (C), the exposed seafloor is depicted at ≈40 kya and ≈16 kya, when prehistoric sea levels were comparable. A scaled-down version of Beringia today (60% reduction of A–C) is presented in the lower left corner. This smaller map highlights the Bering Strait that has geographically separated the New World from Asia since ≈11–10 kya." 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.[25] During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50,000—17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge that joined Siberia to north west North America (Alaska).[26][27] Alaska was ice-free because of low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist. The Laurentide ice sheet covered most of Canada, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska (East Beringia) for thousands of years.[28][29] 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.[30][31] The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10,000—20,000 years.[32][33][34] Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond.[35][36][37] The first inhabitants entered the Americas pursuing Pleistocene mammals such as the giant beaver, steppe wisent, musk ox, mastodons, woolly mammoths and ancient reindeer (early caribou).[38] 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.[39] 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.[40] Evidence of the latter has been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of metres following the last ice age.[41][42] The Old Crow Flats and basin was one of the areas in Canada untouched by glaciations during the Pleistocene Ice ages, thus it served as a pathway and refuge for ice age plants and animals.[43] The area holds evidence of early human habitation in Canada dating from about 20,000 years ago and ending about 11,000 years ago.[44][45][46] Fossils from the area include some never accounted for in North America, such as hyenas and large camels.[47] Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in Yukon, Canada from which a specimen of apparently human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon dated to 15,000 years ago.[48] During the 1950s, geologists first conjectured that an ice-free corridor ran north and south through Alberta during the Late Wisconsin period.[39][49] Lithic reduction stone scrapers and choppers were preserved from archaeological sites in Grimshaw, Bow River, and Lethbridge.[39] These Lithic flaked stone tools discovered under glacial sand and gravel are classified as pre-glacial and indicate nomadic humans occupied the area as early as 23,000 years ago.[39] Archaeologists are still finalizing the dates recorded for the Alberta and the Old Crow flats sites.[50][51] "A Clovis blade with medium to large lanceolate spear-knife points. Side is parallel to convex and exhibit careful pressure flaking along the blade edge. The broadest area is near the midsection or toward the base. The Base is distinctly concave with a characteristic flute or channel flake removed from one or, more commonly, both surfaces of the blade. The lower edges of the blade and base is ground to dull edges for hafting. Clovis points also tend to be thicker than the typically thin latter stage Folsom points. Length: 4–20 cm/1.5–8 in. Width: 2.5–5 cm/1–2 A Clovis point created using bi-facial percussion flaking. (that is, each face is flaked on both edges alternatively with a percussor) – Image courtesy of the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources. 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-Indian inhabitants of the New World and ancestors to all indigenous peoples in the Americas.[52] 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.[53] Localized regional cultures developed from the time of the Younger Dryas cold climate period from 12,900 to 11,500 years ago.[54] 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.[55] The land bridge existed until 13,000—11,000 years ago, long after the oldest proven human settlements in the New World began.[56] Lower sea levels in the Queen Charlotte sound and Hecate Strait produced great grass lands called archipelago of Haida Gwaii.[57] 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.[57] In July 1992, the Federal Government officially designated X̲á:ytem as a National Historic Site, one of the first Indigenous spiritual sites in Canada to be formally recognized in this manner.[58] 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.[59] The Paleo-Indians moved into new territory as it emerged from under the glaciers. Big game flourished in this new environment.[60] 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.[59] At the beginning of the Archaic Era, they began to adopt a sedentary approach to subsistence.[59] Sites in and around Belmont, Nova Scotia have evidence of Plano-Indians, indicating small seasonal hunting camps, perhaps re-visited over generations from around 11,000—10,000 years ago.[59] 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 frames.[59] Archaic period See also: Pre-Columbian era The North American climate stabilized by 8000 BCE (10,000 years ago); climatic conditions were very similar to today's.[61] This led to widespread migration, cultivation and later a dramatic rise in population all over the Americas.[61] 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.[62] "Map of North America showing in red the pre-contact distribution of Na-Dene languages" Distribution of Na-Dene languages shown in red The vastness and variety of Canada's climates, ecology, vegetation, fauna, and landform separations have defined ancient peoples implicitly into cultural or linguistic divisions. Canada is surrounded north, east, and west with coastline and since the last ice age, Canada has consisted of distinct forest regions. Language contributes to the identity of a people by influencing social life ways and spiritual practices.[63] Aboriginal religions developed from anthropomorphism and animism philosophies.[64] The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status.[61] 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.[65] Archaeological sites at Stave Lake, Coquitlam Lake, Fort Langley and region uncovered early period artifacts. These early inhabitants were highly mobile hunter-gatherers, consisting of about 20 to 50 members of an extended family.[65][verification needed] The Na-Dene people occupied much of the land area of northwest and central North America starting around 8,000 BCE.[66] 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.[67] The Wendat peoples settled into Southern Ontario along the Eramosa River around 8,000—7,000 BCE (10,000—9,000 years ago).[68] They were concentrated between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay. Wendat hunted caribou to survive on the glacier-covered land.[68] Many different First Nations cultures relied upon the buffalo starting by 6,000—5,000 BCE (8,000—7,000 years ago).[68] They hunted buffalo by herding migrating buffalo off cliffs. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, near Lethbridge, Alberta, is a hunting grounds that was in use for about 5,000 years.[68] Photograph of a circular arrangement of rocks on open ground with a body of water in the background Thule site (Copper Inuit) near the waters of Cambridge Bay (Victoria Island) The west coast of Canada by 7,000—5000 BCE (9,000—7,000 years ago) saw various cultures who organized themselves around salmon fishing.[68] The Nuu-chah-nulth of Vancouver Island began whaling with advanced long spears at about this time.[68] 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.[69] 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.[70] The Pre-Columbian culture, whose members were called Red Paint People, is indigenous to the New England and Atlantic Canada 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 grave goods.[71] The Arctic small tool tradition is a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula, around Bristol Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2,500 BCE (4,500 years ago).[72] 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 antler. Scrapers, engraving tools and adze blades were also included in their toolkits.[72] 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).[72]:179–81 Post-Archaic periods See also: List of archaeological periods (North America) A northerly section focusing on the Saugeen, Laurel and Point Peninsula complexes of the map showing south eastern United States and the Great Lakes area of Canada showing the Hopewell Interaction Sphere and in different colours the various local expressions of the Hopewell cultures, including the Laurel Complex, Saugeen Complex, Point Peninsula Complex, Marksville culture, Copena culture, Kansas City Hopewell, Swift Creek Culture, Goodall Focus, Crab Orchard culture and Havana Hopewell culture. PPSL Great Lakes area of the Hopewell Interaction Area PP=Point Peninsula Complex S=Saugeen Complex L=Laurel Complex The Old Copper Complex societies dating from 3,000 BCE–500 BCE (5,000—2,500 years ago) are a manifestation of the Woodland Culture, and are pre-pottery in nature.[73] Evidence found in the northern Great Lakes regions indicates that they extracted copper from local glacial deposits and used it in its natural form to manufacture tools and implements.[73] The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2,000 BCE–1,000 CE, and has locales in Ontario, Quebec, and Maritime regions.[74] 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 Canada.[63] They created pointed-bottom beakers decorated by a cord marking technique that involved impressing tooth implements into wet clay. Woodland technology included items 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.[63] 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 Peninsula, Saugeen, and Laurel complexes.[75][76][77] Aboriginal people in Canada are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of present-day Canada. They comprise the First Nations,[2] Inuit[3] and Métis.[4] The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have largely fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative.[5][6][7] Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Canada. The Paleo-Indian 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. The characteristics of Canadian Aboriginal culture included permanent settlements,[8] agriculture,[9] civic and ceremonial architecture,[10] complex societal hierarchies and trading networks.[11] The Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and Inuit people married Europeans.[12] The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period.[13] Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. 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 Canada 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][14] National Aboriginal Day recognizes the cultures and contributions of Aboriginals to the history of Canada.[15] 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.[16] |
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