STANDtogether - Free The Children

First Nations
Overview
This overview is intended to briefly explain the diversity of
First Nations people in Canada. It is important to understand
regional cultural diversity from earliest times in order to
understand the present.
• First Nations People constitute the largest Indigenous
group in Canada, and are culturally, linguistically and
geographically diverse peoples, residing in both their
traditional territories and in rural and urban areas
throughout Canada.
• Although there is no single definition of “Indigenous
peoples” there is an international understanding of
the existence of Indigenous peoples who have human
rights within countries. They are generally considered
to be peoples who are part of societies that have lived
in an area since before colonists arrived. Indigenous
peoples work hard to stay connected to their lands
and their cultural identities.
• According to Statistics Canada (the 2006 census),
there are 700,000 First Nations People living in Canada.
In 1902, the total population of First Nations people
was a little over 100,000.
• At the root of First Nations culture is language.
There are twelve very distinct First Nations linguistic
families (Wakashan, Salishan, Tsimshian, Tlingit,
Haidian, Athapaskan, Kootenaian, Algonquin, Siouian,
Iroquoian, Eskaleut and Beothuk), which include over
50 languages.
• Each Nation is rich in distinct traditions, beliefs, social
structures and practices, and First Nations People
have always lived in harmony with Mother Earth.
• First Nations People believe in showing respect for all
living things and the importance of giving thanks for
Mother Earth.
• First Nations teachings are built around respect,
bravery, honesty, wisdom, love, humility and truth,
among other virtues, which are thought to enable a life
in harmony and balance with all of creation.
1
standtogether
• First Nations People have an abundance to share from
their culture, traditions and histories.
History: The Beginning
There are a number of factors that contribute to the
educational challenges and outcomes for Aboriginal young
people. Some of these factors are listed below:
• First Nations and Inuit Peoples were the land’s original
and only inhabitants before European settlers arrived
in what is now Canada.
• The archaeological historical record of First Nations
People in Canada goes back to at least 9000 BCE, and
First Nations oral histories reference being in North
America since time immemorial. By 500 BCE – 1000
AD, hundreds of tribes had flourished, each with its
own distinct culture, customs and oral traditions.
• North America is known as Turtle Island by many
First Nations People because of their creation stories
where North America was formed on a turtle’s back.
• Social customs, geography and language were the
ties that bound First Nations People together into tribal
groups—they each had many different traditions and
ways of life. While some tribes were nomadic, moving
from place to place while hunting and gathering
food, others were sedentary and agricultural, moving
around very little. Other major factors that helped their
traditions and culture shape were weather and type of
land where each tribe lived.
• Every tribe had their own unique stories. An oral tradition,
using stories and legends, ensured that culture, history,
law, values and knowledge were was passed down
through the generations. Technology today helps to
continue to share First Nations knowledge.
• First Nations People were independent and satisfied
their needs through a respectful relationship with the
natural world well before the arrival of Europeans.

• There are numerous First Nations contributions to
contemporary society that can be acknowledged,
such as canoes, the medicine in painkillers like
Aspirin, and foods such as corn, beans, squash
and potatoes.
• On first contact, many First Nations assisted
European colonists and settlers to survive in their new
surroundings. For example, in 1536 Jacques Cartier
and his crew relied on local First Nations knowledge
to cure scurvy.
• Historically, First Nations of Canada lived in six very
distinct geographic regions of the country as it exists
today. First Nations groups within each region had
comparable cultures, largely shaped by a common
environment. These six distinct regions are: Iroquoian
First Nations, Plains First Nations, Plateau First
Nations, Pacific Coast First Nations, Woodland First
Nations and First Nations of the Mackenzie and Yukon
River Basins.
Regional Areas
Many of the practices described below, including hunting,
fishing, gathering, farming and making traditional clothes
are still very important to First Nations peoples in each
region. To varying degrees, First Nations People rely
on traditional practices for sustenance and for social,
economic and spiritual purposes.
Woodland First Nations
• Geography: Located in the eastern parts of Canada,
characterized by dense boreal forest.
• Food: First Nations in this region respectfully
harvested the plentiful game animals in the area
using weaponry that typically included bows and
arrows, spears, traps and snares. They also often
dried, stored and saved meat, fish and berries for later
consumption.
• Shelter: Groups in this region led a nomadic lifestyle
and therefore made their homes portable by using
natural materials. The wigwam was the typical
Woodland First Nations home. A domed, round
structure formed with a frame of wooden poles
covered with roof of grass, reeds, hides, brush, bark,
cloth and sheets of birch bark.
2
standtogether
• Transportation: Birch bark canoes were the preferred
mode of water travel; constructed of bark sheets
stitched together and fastened to a wooden frame
with white spruce root, the canoes were waterproofed
with spruce gum and grease.
• As for land transport, snowshoes were employed in
the winter for travel through deep snow.
• Clothing: Tunics, leggings and moccasins were made
by using the skin of moose, deer or caribou. Porcupine
quills and other natural elements were used as
decorative touches and embroidered designs.
• Language(s): Groups in this region spoke dialects from
the Algonquin language family.
• Groups: Gwich’in, Odawa, Cree, Beothuk, Mi’kmaq,
Malecite, Montagnais, Naskapi, Ojibway and
Algonquin.
Iroquoian First Nations
• Geography: Located in the south eastern part of
Canada (today’s Ontario and Quebec), characterized
by densely forested areas, rolling hills and the
Great Lakes.
• Food: First Nations People in this region often farmed
and lived a somewhat nomadic lifestyle based on
the availability of resources. Iroquoian First Nations
preferred to plant corn, squash, maize and beans and
to hunt and fish.
• Shelter: Groups in this area lived in semi-permanent
villages, living in longhouses that were roughly 100
metres in length and six metres wide and could
accommodate 20 or more family members. Walls were
made of fire-hardened poles driven into the ground
with bark woven through the poles, while the roofs
were made of leaves and grass.
• Transportation: Although travel by land was
preferred—they were known to be outstanding
runners—groups in this area constructed and used
bark-covered canoes. In the winter they used snow
shoes to traverse through deep snow.
• Clothing: Tunics, leggings and moccasins were made
by using the skin of moose, deer or caribou. Porcupine
quills and other natural elements were used as

decorative touches and embroidered designs.
• Language(s): Groups in this region spoke dialects from
the Iroquoian language family.
• Groups: Neutral, Petun, Huron, Erie Tribe and the
Iroquois, a confederacy of six tribes: Mohawk, Oneida,
Onondaga, Cayuga, Tuscarora and Seneca.
Plains First Nations
• Geography: Located in the central part of Canada on
the prairie grasslands, the area is characterized by
rolling hills, plains and lowlands.
• Food: Groups in this region were primarily hunters who
tracked the seasonal buffalo migrations. Buffalo were
either eaten fresh, or their meat was roasted on a spit,
dried or boiled in a skin bag.
• Shelter: These groups tended to live a nomadic way
of life, following the buffalo migrations. The typical
home was the tipi, comprised of animal skins and
wooden poles—structures that were strong yet easily
disassembled. Bands in this area often consisted
groups up to100 individuals who occupied five to eight
tipis.
• Transportation: The main source of transportation was
the dog and travois until the 1700s. A travois consisted
of a webbed frame between two long poles hitched
to a dog’s sides. Horses were introduced to the area
in the 1700s and became an essential source of
transportation. In the winter they used snow shoes to
traverse through deep snow.
• Clothing: Using the skin of buffalo, antelope, elk and
deer, First Nations groups in this region were able to
make tunics, leggings and moccasins.
• Language(s): Groups in this region spoke dialects
from the Siouan, Algonquin and Athapaskan language
families.
• Groups: Blackfoot, Sioux, Peigan, Gros Ventre, Blood,
Plains Cree, Assiniboine and Sacree.
Plateau First Nations
• Geography: Located in the mid-Western area of
Canada where the topography ranged from high
3
standtogether
mountains and dense forest in the north to semi-desert
conditions in the south.
• Food: The Plateau region offered abundant and varied
food sources: seasonal hunts for deer and large game,
and annual fish harvests provided sustained nutrition
and sustenance.
• Shelter: Most of the groups in the region, with the
exception of the Interior Salish, made their homes
from cedar and spruce bark. The cedar structures
had slanted roofs that extended down to the ground
while the spruce houses resembled two tents facing
one another. The Interior Salish had a tendency to dig
holes close to the river, erecting a structure over the
top.
• Transportation: Groups in this region travelled by
red cedar, cottonwood, white pine or birch canoes.
Snowshoes were common in winter. Dogs were often
used to hunt deer as well as pack animals. The horse
was introduced in the 1700s.
• Clothing: Groups in this region typically sewed clothes
from animal hides, or wove them with grasses or
the pounded bush bark. Moccasins were common
footwear and the thick skins of fur-bearing animals
were worn for winter clothing.
• Language(s): Groups in this region spoke dialects from
the Athapaskan, Salishan, Kootenayan and Tlingit
language families.
• Groups: Kootenay, Chilcotin, Carrier, Thompson,
Shuswap, Tahltan, Interior Salish, Lillooet, Okanagan
and the Lake.
Pacific Coast First Nations
• Geography: Located along the western coast of
Canada. West of the Rocky mountains to the Pacific
Ocean and extending south of the sub-Arctic tundra.
This area features rainforest conditions and quite a
varied terrain, including alpine tundra, mountains,
highlands, salt marshes, coastline and rocky inlets.
• Food: First Nations groups in the region had access
to an abundance of food: from deer and bear to duck,
seal and fish, as well as plentiful fruits and edible
plants. Pacific salmon was a main source of food for
those living on the coast.

• Shelter: Groups in this region often lived a settled life;
with the seemingly endless supply of red cedar in the
area enabled the construction of large homes.
• Transportation: Groups in this region travelled almost
exclusively by water, using canoes made of red cedar.
The size of these canoes varied according to their
function. In the winter they used snow shoes to travel
through the deep snow.
• Clothing: The men in this area often went unclothed,
weather permitting, while women tended to wear
skirts woven of buck skin or cedar bark. They often
wore woven bark capes and brimmed hats made of
spruce roots in the rain. Footwear was seldom worn.
• Language(s): Groups in this region spoke dialects
from the Tsmishian, Wakashan, Haida and Salishan
language families.
• Groups: Squamish, Tsimshian, Gitksan, Nisga’s, Haida,
Nootka, the Coast Salish, Kwakiutl and Bella Coola.
First Nations of the Mackenzie and Yukon River Basins
• Geography: Located in the Mackenzie and Yukon River
basins, characterized by a rather harsh environment:
barren lands dark forests and swampy terrain known
as muskeg.
• Food: Groups in this region typically hunted game
such as moose, bear, buffalo, caribou and mountain
sheep. Fishing was a year-round enterprise. They dried
and stored large quantities of meat, fish and berries
in anticipation of the colder winter months Storage of
food in bark-peeled tree trunks, high up to keep it from
animals.
• Shelter: Groups in this region lived a migratory way of
life so their homes were often portable or easily built
from materials in the immediate vicinity.
• Transportation: Long canoes were constructed out
of trees and bark, and spruce gum was used to seal
the seams. In the winter, snow shoes were used to
traverse through the deep snow.
• Clothing: Tunics, leggings and moccasins were made
from the skin of moose, deer or caribou. Caribou
was particularly valued because its hair offered
excellent insulation. Porcupine quills and other
4
standtogether
natural elements were used as decorative touches
and embroidered designs.
• Language(s): Groups in this region spoke dialects
belonging to the Athapaskan language family.
• Groups: Tlingit, Chipewyan, Hare, Kutchin, Han,
Tutchone, Kaska, Mountain, Sekani, Beaver, Salve (or
Slaveys) and Dogrib.
Contact with Europeans
• First Nations people in Canada encountered
Europeans as far back as 1000 AD but extended
contact didn’t come until the 17th and 18th centuries
when the Europeans established permanent
settlements.
• Europeans brought infectious diseases like influenza,
measles and smallpox with them. First Nations
Peoples had no immunity to these diseases, and their
population fell by 40 to 80 percent following European
contact.
• The first European settlers often relied on First Nations
people for resources and trade to help them sustain
a living. This encouraged trade between the First
Nations and the Europeans, and early British policy
towards First Nations People focused on maintaining
good relations and military alliances
• Beginning in the 1600’s, and continuing for many
centuries, treaties (or formal agreements between
two groups) were created and signed to ensure peace
between First Nations and the European settlers.
• Later treaties, called the “numbered treaties,” were
also signed to define the rights of First Nations
people to live on and use the land that First Nations
traditionally occupied.
• For thousands of years, First Nations people had
their own way of making treaties. Although different
treaty ceremonies and objects were used by different
cultures, most treaty creations included gift-giving,
negotiations and a ceremony with the smoking of a
pipe. All treaties were seen as an agreement between
three sides: the two groups and, always, the Creator.
• The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was created to ensure
that First Nations’ lands and territories would not be
taken over by European settlers. The Proclamation
stated that only the government could purchase lands

from the First Nations, if they agreed. This agreement
would take the form of a treaty. Most importantly,
the Proclamation ordered that the only way non-First
Nations people could occupy First Nations lands was
if a treaty with the government was signed allowing it.
• After the War of 1812, however, Britain began placing
more emphasis on establishing permanent colonies.
This required more land and more resources for
the colonists, and the modern reserve system was
born. First Nations Peoples were moved off their
resource-rich lands and onto isolated reserves where
missionaries and government officials could teach
them the European way of life. This was in spite of
the fact that First Nations People already had a wellestablished
civilization of their own, with much to
share in terms of history, culture, tradition, value
and ceremony.
• Following this, the Canadian government created what
we now call residential schools. These were boarding
schools believed to be the best way to prepare First
Nations youth for life in mainstream European society.
• Residential schools were managed by religious
organizations. Students were forced to live away
from their families in substandard conditions, many
suffering physical and mental abuse. Students were
not permitted to speak their languages, nor were many
allowed to visit their homes until leaving the schools
as teenagers. The last residential school, located in
Saskatchewan, was closed in 1996.
• This legacy continues to have continuing and
devastating effects on First Nations culture and
identity today.
First Nations Today
• In the Canadian Constitution, sections 25 and 35
recognize the rights and existing treaties of Aboriginal
Peoples in Canada in order to protect their culture,
customs, traditions and languages.
• There are currently over 630 First Nations
governments or bands in Canada, some of which
have traditional leadership roles in addition to the
leadership roles created to work with the government.
• About half of First Nations People live on reserves,
while the other half live off-reserve in cities and towns
throughout Canada.
5
standtogether
• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada,
a federal agency, administers government programs
and support for First Nations, including funding for
education. This funding is given to each band for
their on-reserve students. For students who attend a
provincial school, the federal government gives the
money to the provincial government.
• Funding per student can be 20 percent to 40 percent
higher in provincial schools than for schools on reserves,
and First Nations students in on-reserve schools have
lower graduation, literacy and employment rates than
those who attend provincial schools.
• First Nations people in Canada have a national
representative organization known as the Assembly
of First Nations. It acts as an advocate of First Nations
issues and presents the needs and wants of First
Nations people to the Canadian government.
• Most recently, the Canadian government was one of
four countries to officially endorse the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a
document that recognizes indigenous people’s basic
human rights, including the right to land, language
and equality.