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The Original Peoples of Canada

The Original Peoples of CanadaThe Original Peoples of Canada

Indigenous Population: descendants of the people who first moved into a territory or were discovered there

Canada’s earliest known inhabitants are known as Aboriginals: Native peoples or First peoples (Indians).

First Nations is the preferred term to describe the group as a whole.

How did they get the name How did they get the name “Indians”?“Indians”?

In 1542, Christopher Columbus sales the ocean blue

Columbus didn’t know North American People exist

When he reaches Canada, saw dark people, and therefore thought he was in India

= Indians

Métis: people of mixed racial origin

Result of marriages between First Nations women and white men

Not the other way aroundPopulation of white women was

low, white women couldn’t marry native men

How Did the Natives Get Here:How Did the Natives Get Here: Land Bridge Land Bridge

TheoryTheoryThe aboriginal people of North America are believed to have arrived on this continent some 30 000 years ago after crossing the Bering Straight. They did so because they were hunters following their food source (mammoths, mastodons, elk and camel). At the time there was an ice age and sea levels dropped, creating a land bridge between Asia and North America.

As the ice caps began to melt, a land corridor opened up and the hunters moved down the corridor to reach the south.

AsiaAsia

Pacific OceanPacific Ocean

North North AmericaAmerica

Bering StraitBering Strait

EuropeEurope

Crossing the Bering Strait

Watercraft HypothesisWatercraft HypothesisSome Aboriginals moved across

Pacific coast from Eastern Asia through Alaska to the west coast of North America.

Sea provided food, warmer than the corridor

Conceptions of the WorldConceptions of the World•Mother Earth is very important. Had to be respected. Used everything in nature for all their needs: land, water, trees, plants, animals, and fish•Collective Ownership: individual members had no individual ownership. Belonged to everybody, anyone could use it.•Spirituality: Supernatural Spirits (Manitous) controlled the world around them, were part of everything in the natural world.•Elders: older men or women, passed on traditions orally, advised the young•Shaman: medicine man, interprets dreams and visions•Oral Tradition: No system of writing, all knowledge and wisdom passed down orally

The First Arrivals in North The First Arrivals in North AmericaAmerica Iroquoian: Natives of the St-Lawrence

Lowlands-Great Lakes (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga

Algonkian: Natives of the Canadian Shield (Cree, Ojibwa)

Inuit: Northern people (Innu)

Where did they settle???Where did they settle???Inuit –settled in the northern part

of QuebecAlgonquians –settled in the

Canadian ShieldIroquoians –settled in the St.

Lawrence Lowlands

IroquoiansIroquoiansFarmers: Grew crops during long summersPlenty of food, berries, nuts and rice were

gatheredFishing: spring and fallHunting: fall and winter, deer and bear,

traps for smaller animalsSedentary: remained in one place for a long

timeVillages: 30-50 longhouses, 40-50 people in

each, palisade or wooden stockade surrounding the village of longhouses

Matriarchy: women were the head of families

Oral traditions

Where they settledWhere they settled

Inuit

Algonkians

Iroquoians

AlgonkiansAlgonkiansHunters and gatherersShort growing seasons, long cold

winters, short summersNomadic: moved around often in search

of foodMen hunted moose and caribou. Fishing

was importantFew possessionsShelter had to be easy to transport:

Wigwams and teepees/ tentsPatriarchy: men were the leadersBelieved in spiritsOral traditions

InnuitsInnuits Last aboriginal group to arrive Fishers and hunters Vegetation was not good, weather was very harsh, land

could not be cultivated Lived close to water In winter, caught fish and seals (provided food, oil, fur

and bones) In summer, collected and stored as much as possible.

Caught salmon and char, walrus and seals, caribou. Collected berries.

Shelter included tents in summer and snow houses or igloos in winter. Warm clothing was essential

Nomadic: moved onto ice in winter, and closer to coast in summer followed migration of animals

Patriarchy: small groups led by older male Oral traditions and spirits

Algonkians vs. IroquoiansAlgonkians vs. Iroquoians

Help Remember the difference between Help Remember the difference between Iroquoian and AlgonkianIroquoian and Algonkian

MISSMISS◦Matriarchyatriarchy◦ Iroquoisroquois◦Sedentaryedentary◦St.t. Laurence Laurence

LowlandsLowlands

LonghousesLonghousesAgricultureAgriculture

PANN• Patriarchyatriarchy

• Algonquian

• Nomadic

• Northern Quebec /Canadian Shield

• Teepee (Wigwams)

• Hunting and Fishing

Inuit'sInuit'sPINNPatriarchyInuit'sNomadicNear Water: Northern Quebec

Tents, snow houses and igloosFishers and hunters

Trade and AlliancesTrade and AlliancesSubsistence Economy: self-sufficient,

grew and hunted everything on their own, shared between their members. Worked together. Each group provides for their own needs: food, shelter, clothing

Trade between Algonkians and Iroquoians

Barter: exchange goods with no moneyWar over land and hunting, had

boundaries

Canada’s Aboriginal Canada’s Aboriginal People todayPeople todayHave maintained their cultural identityMoved to areas reserved for their use onlyReserve: land set aside for the exclusive

use of Status IndiansBand: community of Indians living on a

reserve65 languages spoken: 53 in danger of

extinction, starting to lose cultureSocial Problems include transportation:

expensive, infrastructure: inadequate water filtration, unemployment: job are scarce, youth suicides, crime: drunkenness, fighting, drugs, rape, conjugal violence, and theft.