English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

emaining within Canada. All 10 premiers signed the Accord, which then had to be
ratified by individual provincial legislatures. In Manitoba, one lone dissenter, Elijah
Harper, raised an eagle feather during the provincial vote to mark his dissention.
Harper said that his dissent was to voice the concern that Aboriginal Canadians
were left out of the Accord’s consultation and negotiations process. Harper’s vote of
dissent prompted then-Premier of Newfoundland to cancel that province’s proposed
vote, causing the Accord to fail and the abandonment of the proposed Constitutional
amendments.
Métis: Peoples of mixed First Nations and European ancestry. The Métis history and
culture draws on diverse ancestral origins, such as Scottish, Irish, French, Ojibway,
and Cree.
The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the
town of Oka, Quebec, which began on July 11, 1990 and lasted until September 26,
1990. The town of Oka was developing plans to expand a golf course and residential
development onto land which had traditionally been used by the Mohawk. It included
pineland and a burial ground, marked by standing tombstones of their ancestors. The
crisis escalated to a point where the Mohawk people were joined in their protest by
Native peoples from across Canada and the United States, and the Canadian infantry
and reservists were called in by the Province of Quebec to police the situation. The
situation was resolved, after the Mohawks dismantled their weapons and threw them
in a fire, and then held a tobacco burning ceremony. Many Native individuals were
arrested and detained during the crisis.
Partner: The term “partner” is used throughout the Practice Guide except when
alternate terms are used in quotes, when referring to an individual of a specific gender,
or when using statistics that are gender specific.
Reserves: Lands set aside by the federal government for the use and benefit of a
specific band or First Nations. The Indian Act provides that this land cannot be owned
by individual bands or First Nation members.
Taku case: In 1998, Redfern Resources Ltd., a construction company, was given
permission from the province of BC to begin the process of building the Tulsequah
Chief mine and a 160 km road from Atlin, BC, to the mine. Although the proposed
mine and road were located on the traditional territory of the Taku River Tlingit, the
First Nations was not consulted throughout the province’s environmental assessment
process. The Tlingit Nation case against the province eventually went all the way to
the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004. The Tlingit nation alleged that the province
had reneged on its “duty to consult and accommodate” with Aboriginal groups, which
is entrenched in the Constitution Act, 1982. The Supreme Court found in the Tlingit’s
favour and the “duty to consult and accommodate” has been reaffirmed as a critical
process in provincial land use and development negotiations.
Treaty: A formal agreement between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples.
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Treaty rights: Rights specified in a treaty. Treaty rights might include the rights to
hunt and fish in traditional territory and to use and occupy reserves. Treaty rights can
have different meanings depending on the context and perspective of the user.