Ask a room of people to picture an 'Indigenous person' and many will picture one image, usually borrowed from a movie. That single image is the first thing this course takes apart. Canada's Constitution recognizes three distinct Indigenous peoples — First Nations, Métis and Inuit — and each of those is itself made up of many nations, communities, languages and forms of government. A Mohawk writer from Kahnawà:ke, a Métis writer from a Prairie community and an Inuk writer from Iqaluit do not share one culture, one history or one language. Reading their work well starts with knowing that, and with using words that are accurate rather than vague.
First Nations
- First Nations is the term now generally used in place of the older legal word 'Indian'. It does not include Métis or Inuit people.
- There are more than 600 First Nations in Canada. A single First Nation can also be one community, which is why place names like Curve Lake First Nation or Six Nations of the Grand River appear in author biographies.
- Nations in Ontario alone are very different from one another. They include Anishinaabe nations such as the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi; the Haudenosaunee nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora; the Cree; the Oji-Cree; and the Lenape.
- Their languages come from separate language families. Anishinaabemowin and Cree belong to the Algonquian family, while Kanien'kéha (Mohawk) belongs to the Iroquoian family. Languages from different families are not dialects of one another — they are as unrelated in structure as English is to Finnish.
- Governance varies. Many communities have a band council elected under the Indian Act, many also keep traditional or hereditary forms of government, and some have negotiated self-government agreements. At Six Nations of the Grand River, for example, an elected council and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy council both exist.
- Treaty relationships vary too. Many First Nations signed treaties with the Crown; others, including much of what is now British Columbia, never did.
The Métis Nation
- The Métis are a distinct people, not a label for anyone with mixed ancestry. The Métis Nation emerged as its own people in the historic Northwest during the fur trade era, with the Red River settlement — around present-day Winnipeg — at its centre.
- Its homeland is centred on the Prairies and extends into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northern United States.
- A distinct culture and language. Michif, the language that developed in Métis communities, combines Cree and French in a way neither parent language does. Fiddle music, jigging and the woven sash are widely recognized parts of Métis culture.
- A political history of its own. Louis Riel led the Red River Resistance of 1869–70 and was executed after the North-West Resistance of 1885.
- Legal recognition. Métis people are named in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. In R. v. Powley (2003), a case about a Métis family near Sault Ste. Marie, the Supreme Court of Canada set out how Métis rights are established, including three criteria for identifying who can exercise them: self-identification, an ancestral connection to a historic Métis community, and acceptance by the present-day community.
- Métis governments such as the Métis Nation of Ontario and the Manitoba Métis Federation keep their own citizenship registries.
Inuit
- Inuit means 'the people' and is already plural. One person is an Inuk, and two people are Inuuk. 'Inuits' is always wrong, and so is 'an Inuit'.
- Inuit are not First Nations. They have a separate history, are not covered by the Indian Act, and have their own national organization, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
- Inuit Nunangat is the Inuit homeland in Canada. It has four regions, each with a land claim agreement: the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the western Arctic, Nunavut, Nunavik in northern Quebec, and Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador.
- Inuktut is the umbrella term for Inuit languages, including Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun. Much of Nunavut and Nunavik write Inuktitut in syllabics; other regions use the Roman alphabet.
- Governance. Nunavut became a territory in 1999 with an Inuit majority. Its territorial government is a public government that serves all residents, while Nunatsiavut has an Inuit regional self-government.
- Not every Inuk lives in the Arctic. Southern cities, Ottawa among them, have well-established Inuit communities with their own organizations.
Terminology: choosing the accurate word
| Term | Use it for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indigenous | First Nations, Métis and Inuit together; also the international category | Always capitalized. Accurate as an umbrella, but switch to a more specific name as soon as you can. |
| First Nations | The many nations once called 'Indian' in law | Does not include Métis or Inuit. 'First Nation' can also name one community. |
| Métis | The Métis Nation, a distinct people | Not a word for mixed ancestry. Keep the accent. |
| Inuit / Inuk | The people / one person | Never 'Inuits'. Inuit are not a First Nation. |
| Aboriginal | The three peoples together, as in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 | Still used in law and in older institutional names, such as the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. General writing now usually prefers Indigenous. |
| Indian | Legal and historical contexts only — the Indian Act, 'status Indian' | Outdated and often offensive in your own voice. Quote it only when a law or document uses it. |
| Eskimo | Do not use | An outsider's name. Inuit in Canada have made clear that Inuit is the name to use. |
| Native | An informal, older umbrella word | Some people use it about themselves; in formal writing prefer Indigenous or a specific name. |
| Status / non-status | Whether a First Nations person is registered under the Indian Act | A federal legal category, not a measure of who is First Nations. |
The most specific name wins
'An Anishinaabe writer from Curve Lake First Nation' tells a reader far more than 'an Indigenous writer', and it is the way many writers describe themselves. Use the name a person or nation uses for itself. Several older names were given by outsiders and have been replaced in many contexts: Haudenosaunee rather than Iroquois, Wendat rather than Huron, Mi'kmaq rather than Micmac. Write 'Indigenous peoples in Canada' rather than 'Canada's Indigenous peoples', because the possessive suggests the peoples belong to the country.
Why Eskimo is not used
The word was applied to Inuit by outsiders, its origin is debated, and Inuit in Canada reject it as a name for themselves. It survives in old documents, older scholarship and some older brand names. In 2020, Edmonton's CFL team dropped a name that used the word, and it became the Elks in 2021. If a historical source uses it, quote it as the source's word and use Inuit in your own sentences.
Status, citizenship and the law
- Status means being registered under the Indian Act, a federal law passed in 1876 and still in force, much amended. The federal government, not the nation, historically decided who was registered.
- Non-status First Nations people are no less First Nations. Many lost status through the Act's rules. Until Bill C-31 in 1985, for example, First Nations women who married men without status lost their own status, and so did their children.
- Since 1985, First Nations have been able to set their own membership rules, so being a band member and being registered are not always the same thing.
- Métis and Inuit are not registered under the Indian Act. Métis governments keep citizenship registries, and Inuit land claim organizations keep lists of beneficiaries.
- Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes and affirms the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the 'Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada'. It is why the three-peoples structure appears in law, policy and the course itself.
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