Aboriginal peoples in Canada

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An Aboriginal leader at the 13th Annual Canadian Aboriginal Festival.
An Aboriginal leader at the 13th Annual Canadian Aboriginal Festival.

Aboriginal people in Canada are Indigenous Peoples recognized in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, sections 25 and 35, respectively as Indians, Métis, and Inuit. They are often incorrectly referred to by the title of Indians. It is also not uncommon for these indigenous peoples, and those of Indian extraction, to take mild offence at the usage. The confusion can likely trace its lineage to the European explorer Christopher Columbus who was thoroughly convinced that he had discovered a new route to India - a country roughly on the other side of the planet to where he was in actuality. It also refers to self-identification of Aboriginal Peoples who live within Canada, but who have not chosen to accept the extinction of their rights of Sovereignty or Aboriginal Title of their lands. These Indigenous Peoples who assert that their Sovereign rights have not been extinguished point to the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which is mentioned in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, Section 25, as well as to the British North America Act and the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to which Canada and Great Britain are signatories, in support of this claim.

The term "First Peoples" has also been used synonymously, and is occasionally used as a descriptive term by U.S. Native Americans in solidarity with their Canadian relatives. As of the 2001 Canadian Census there are over 900,000 Aboriginal people in Canada, 3.3% of the country's total population.<ref name = "pop">Aboriginal peoples of Canada - 2001 Census, Statistics Canada</ref> This includes approximately 600,000 people of First Nations descent, 290,000 Métis, and 45,000 Inuit. National representative bodies of Aboriginal peoples in Canada include the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council, the Native Women's Association of Canada and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. These bodies however are not recognized by some Indigenous Peoples in Canada as representing their interests. Some such Indigenous Peoples prefer to rely upon their traditional laws and governance and pick their representation accordingly.

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was an important commission undertaken by the Government of Canada in the 1990s. It assessed past government policies towards Aboriginal peoples, such as residential schools, and provided many policy recommendations to the government. Of the many recommendations made by RCAP, not one has been implemented by the Federal Government of Canada to date.

Under the Employment Equity Act, and in the view of Statistics Canada, Aboriginal peoples are not considered as members of a visible minority.<ref>Definition of "visible minority" at Statistics Canada</ref>

Native languages

Today, there are more than fifty different languages spoken by Indian peoples, most of which are spoken only in Canada and are in decline. Among those with the most speakers include Ojibwe and Cree, together totalling up to 150,000 speakers; Inuktitut, with about 29,000 speakers in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik (Northern Quebec), and Nunatsiavut (Northern Labrador); and Mi'kmaq, with around 8,500 speakers, mostly in Eastern Canada.

Two of Canada's territories give official status to Indian languages. In Nunavut, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun are official languages alongside English and French, and Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in government. In the Northwest Territories, the Official Languages Act specifies no fewer than eleven official languages: Dene Suline, Cree, English, French, Gwichʼin, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tåîchô. However besides English and French, these languages are not vehicular in government; official status entitles citizens to receive services in them on request and to deal with the government in them.

Capitalization

Policies regarding the capitalization of "Aboriginal" differ from organization to organization. The Government of Canada's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs advises that the term should always be capitalized [1]. However, the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Official Dictionary of the Canadian Press (ISBN 0-19-541816-6), instructs that the term should not be capitalized when used as an adjective. Some proponents of capitalization argue that "Aboriginal" should always be capitalized just as other ethnic terms are, such as "Japanese", "Irish", or "German".

Indeed, even the term "Aboriginal" stirs some controversy, as some argue that no people are actually indigenous to North or South American - having immigrated from the old world (as every one else has).


External links

Retrieved from "http://nativewiki.org/Aboriginal_peoples_in_Canada"
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