Nearly a million Canadians can claim at least partial aboriginal
ancestry. Aboriginal populations continue to increase, and interest
in their cultural heritage, by aborigines and nonaborigines alike,
continues to grow. However, the term "aborigine" does not indicate
a common or shared culture, only descent from groups of people who
arrived on the continent long before Europeans. Canada's
constitution specifies three categories of "aboriginal peoples":
Indian, Inuit and Métis.
The term "Indian" is now recognized as a misnomer, but other
attempts to be more specific, such as "Amerindians" or "Native
Canadians", have been no more successful and you're likely to hear
several different terms on your travels. The terms "First Nations"
and "aboriginals" are in vogue but again there is the possibility
of more change. Treated as wards of the federal government since
the birth of Canada, the Indians were put in a different legal
category from all other Canadians by the Indian Acts in the
nineteenth century. Modern legal distinctions divide this group
further into those who are recognized as "Indian" by the federal
government - a status bestowed on more than 800,000 Canadians - and
those who are denied this recognition, the so-called "non-status
Indians". Amongst status Indians there are 633 aboriginal bands
(the term "tribe" has also become outmoded) across Canada. Some
communities number fewer than 100 inhabitants and others more than
5000. Status enables rights to fishing, hunting and living on a
reservation, while nonstatus denies these rights but allows a
person to vote, buy property and alcohol. Status can be lost and
gained through marriage, an act of parliament or even a band taking
a vote on the matter.
Later, as Canada's attention turned to its vast nothern regions,
the Inuit were also recognized as falling under federal
jurisdiction. The Inuit have a separate origin, arriving much later
to North America and inhabiting the inhospitable lands of Arctic
Canada. The term Inuit totally replaced use of the derogatory term
"Eskimo" in the 1970s. Eskimo is an Algonkian word for "eaters of
raw meat". The Inuit share a common origin and a single language
and at present number around 27,000.
With a current population of 400,000, the Métis are the
product of the unions between male fur traders, usually
French-Canadians, and native women, particularly Cree. For
centuries they were not recognized as Canadians or aborigines, and
with no rights they wandered the country, unable to settle. After a
failed rebellion in 1885, they almost disappeared from social and
political life and became "the forgotten people", largely
poverty-stricken squatters on Crown land. Finally, in 1982, they
were recognized as a First Nation in the Constitution.
Because of the distances separating them, each nation and even
each community has its own characteristics. Their personality and
culture are fashioned by history, the environment and by their
surrounding neighbours. A large part of the aboriginal people live
in relatively close contact with nonaboriginal people and interact
on a daily basis with cultures that have a determining influence on
their way of life.
If there is any thread linking these groups, it is the cultural
revival experienced over the last forty years. Under the banner of
national political movements, all of these groups have renewed
their commitment to organizing their social world, to
re-establishing legal relationships to the land, and to maintaining
and revitalizing their cultures and languages