In Canada, Indigenous peoples comprise the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. Although Indian is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors Indian and Eskimo have fallen into disuse in Canada, and many consider them to be pejorative. Aboriginal peoples as a collective noun is a specific term of art used in some legal documents, including the Constitution Act, 1982, though in most Indigenous circles Aboriginal has also fallen into disfavour.
National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada.
The minister of Crown–Indigenous relations is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet, one of two ministers who administer Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), the department of the Government of Canada which is responsible for administering the Indian Act and other legislation dealing with "Indians and lands reserved for the Indians" under subsection 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867. The minister is also more broadly responsible for overall relations between the federal government and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.
The Assembly of First Nations is an assembly of Canadian First Nations represented by their chiefs. Established in 1982 and modelled on the United Nations General Assembly, it emerged from the National Indian Brotherhood, which dissolved in the late 1970s.
The Métis are an Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Northwest Ontario and the northern United States. They have a shared history and culture, deriving from specific mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, which became distinct through ethnogenesis by the mid-18th century, during the early years of the North American fur trade.
Edward John is a prominent First Nations political leader in Canada.
In Canada, an Indian band, First Nation band or simply band, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act. Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 people. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013, there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013, there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all status Indians are members of a band.
The First Peoples' Cultural Council (FPCC) is a First Nations governed Crown Corporation of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is based in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia on Tsartlip First Nation. The organization was formerly known as the First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Culture Council, but shortened its name in 2012.
Higher education in British Columbia is delivered by 25 publicly funded institutions that are composed of eleven universities, eleven colleges, and three institutes. This is in addition to three private universities, five private colleges, and six theological colleges. There are also an extensive number of private career institutes and colleges. Over 297,000 students were enrolled in post-secondary institutions in British Columbia in the 2019-2020 academic year.
Beverley K. Jacobs CM is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) community representative from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Bear Clan. An attorney, she became president of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), serving 2004-2009, and is best known for her work in advocating for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and seeking changes to policing and the justice system to better serve Indigenous peoples. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor.
Perry Bellegarde is a Canadian First Nations advocate and politician who served as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations from December 10, 2014, to July 8, 2021. He had previously served as chief of the Little Black Bear First Nation, chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and as the Saskatchewan regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to Indigenous peoples in Canada, comprising the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
Idle No More is an ongoing protest movement, founded in December 2012 by four women: three First Nations women and one non-Native ally. It is a grassroots movement among the Indigenous peoples in Canada comprising the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and their non-Indigenous supporters in Canada, and to a lesser extent, internationally. It has consisted of a number of political actions worldwide, inspired in part by the liquid diet hunger strike of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and further coordinated via social media. A reaction to alleged legislative abuses of Indigenous treaty rights by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative federal government, the movement takes particular issue with the omnibus bill Bill C-45. The popular movement has included round dances in public places and blockades of rail lines.
Marion R. Buller, is a First Nations jurist in British Columbia and current chancellor of the University of Victoria. Buller served as the Chief Commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls from 2016 to 2019.
Richard "Bear" Peter is a Canadian First Nations wheelchair basketball and para-badminton player. Peter was born in Duncan, British Columbia, and currently resides in Vancouver. When Richard was four years old, he was injured in a bus accident, leaving him in a wheelchair ever since. He began playing wheelchair basketball at the age of 15 when he was inspired by a team that came to his school and introduced him to wheelchair sports. Since then, Peter has competed in the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games, winning the gold metal for wheelchair basketball for three of those years.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day, is a Canadian holiday to recognize the legacy of the Canadian Indian residential school system.
Youth Indigenize the Senate is an initiative of the Senate of Canada wherein Canadians nominate Indigenous youth leaders from across Canada to share their ideas and experiences with the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples during an official public hearing, taking place annually in June.
Indigenous Disability Canada / British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (IDC/BCANDS) is a national Indigenous charitable organization with its head office based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. IDC/BCANDS provides cross disability-related support and services to Indigenous peoples in Canada with disabilities, and advocates for the full inclusion of all Indigenous peoples with disabilities, both socially and economically.
The self-formation of political organizations of Indigenous peoples in Canada has been a constant process over many centuries.
Tʼuyʼtʼtanat-Cease Wyss is a Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó꞉lō, Kānaka Maoli (Hawaiian), Irish-Métis, and Swiss multi-media artist, ethnobotanist, independent curator, educator, activist, and small business owner based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Tʼuyʼtʼtanat is Wyss's ancestral name, which means “woman who travels by canoe to gather medicines for all people.” Wyss's interdisciplinary practice encompasses aspects of visual art, fiber arts, ethnobotany, storytelling, and community education, among other interdisciplinary approaches, and she has been working with new media, performance, and interdisciplinary arts for more than 30 years. As a Coast Salish weaver, Wyss works with wool and cedar and uses indigenous plants in the dyeing process. Wyss also engages with beekeeping and gardening practices as part of community-led initiatives and as a way to explore aspects of land remediation - the ability of plants to remediate soil that has been contaminated with colonial toxins.
