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141-475: (Redirected from Canadian Aboriginal ) Canadian aboriginal may refer to: Aboriginal peoples in Canada Canadian Aboriginal syllabics , a script See also [ edit ] Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics (Unicode block) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

282-515: A Canadian culture that has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic and economic neighbour, the United States . Since the conclusion of the Second World War , Canada's strong support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its peacekeeping efforts . Archeological and Indigenous genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were

423-517: A North American fur trade monopoly was granted to Pierre Du Gua, Sieur de Mons . The fur trade became one of the main economic ventures in North America. Du Gua led his first colonization expedition to an island located near the mouth of the St. Croix River . Among his lieutenants was a geographer named Samuel de Champlain , who promptly carried out a major exploration of the northeastern coastline of what

564-471: A collective noun is a specific term of art used as a legal term encompassing all Indigenous peoples living in Canada. Although "Indian" is a term still commonly used in legal documents for First Nations, the descriptors "Indian" and " Eskimo " have fallen into disuse in Canada, and most consider them to be pejorative . Aboriginal peoples has begun to be considered outdated and is slowly being replaced by

705-481: A national historic site , one of the first Indigenous spiritual sites in Canada to be formally recognized in this manner. The Plano cultures was a group of hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. The Paleo-Indians moved into new territory as it emerged from under the glaciers. Big game flourished in this new environment. The Plano culture

846-410: A band of Reformers under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie took up arms in a disorganized and ultimately unsuccessful series of small-scale skirmishes around Toronto, London , and Hamilton . In Lower Canada, a more substantial rebellion occurred against British rule. Both English- and French-Canadian rebels, sometimes using bases in the neutral United States, fought several skirmishes against

987-738: A diet of squash, corn, and bean crops. The Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE – 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System networked cultures and societies with the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario . Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula , Saugeen , and Laurel complexes . First Nations peoples had settled and established trade routes across what

1128-529: A distinct people. They prefer the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or Eskimo. The Yupik languages are linguistically distinct from the Inuit languages , but are related to each other. Linguistic groups of Arctic people have no universal replacement term for Eskimo , inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik across the geographical area inhabited by them. Besides these ethnic descriptors, Aboriginal peoples are often divided into legal categories based on their relationship with

1269-619: A federated country in its own right. (According to James Bowden, writing in The Dorchester Review , "Ottawa turned its back on 'Dominion' in the 1940s and 1950s," impelled by what historian C.P. Champion referred to as "neo-nationalism.") Federation emerged from multiple impulses: the British wanted Canada to defend itself; the Maritimes needed railroad connections, which were promised in 1867; English-Canadian nationalism sought to unite

1410-677: A federation. This was especially pushed by the liberal Reform movement of Upper Canada and the French-Canadian Parti rouge in Lower Canada who favoured a decentralized union in comparison to the Upper Canadian Conservative party and to some degree the French-Canadian Parti bleu , which favoured a centralized union. Using the lure of the Canadian Pacific Railway , a transcontinental line that would unite

1551-563: A great difference in the number of men at 2,034 versus 1,181 women. By the early 1700s the New France settlers were well established along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and parts of Nova Scotia, with a population of around 16,000. However, new arrivals stopped coming from France in the proceeding decades, meaning that the English and Scottish settlers in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and

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1692-753: A group of settlers led by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve , who founded Ville-Marie, the precursor to present-day Montreal . In 1663 the French crown took direct control of the colonies from the Company of New France . Although immigration rates to New France remained very low under direct French control, most of the new arrivals were farmers, and the rate of population growth among the settlers themselves had been very high. The women had about 30 per cent more children than comparable women who remained in France. Yves Landry says, "Canadians had an exceptional diet for their time." This

1833-451: A large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide. The vastness and variety of Canada's climates, ecology, vegetation, fauna , and landform separations have defined ancient peoples implicitly into cultural or linguistic divisions. Canada is surrounded north, east, and west with coastline and since the last ice age, Canada has consisted of distinct forest regions. Language contributes to

1974-739: A mixed language called Michif . Michif, Mechif or Métchif is a phonetic spelling of Métif, a variant of Métis. The Métis today predominantly speak English , with French a strong second language, as well as numerous Aboriginal tongues . A 19th-century community of the Métis people, the Anglo-Métis , were referred to as Countryborn. They were children of Rupert's Land fur trade typically of Orcadian , Scottish, or English paternal descent and Aboriginal maternal descent. Their first languages would have been Aboriginal ( Cree , Saulteaux , Assiniboine , etc.) and English. Their fathers spoke Gaelic , thus leading to

2115-557: A pathway and refuge for ice age plants and animals. The area holds evidence of early human habitation in Canada dating from about 12,000 years ago. Fossils from the area include some never accounted for in North America, such as hyenas and large camels . Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in Yukon from which a specimen of apparently human-worked mammoth bone was radiocarbon dated to 12,000 years ago. Clovis sites dated at 13,500 years ago were discovered in western North America during

2256-668: A separate colony— New Brunswick —was created in 1784; followed in 1791 by the division of Quebec into the largely French-speaking Lower Canada ( French Canada ) along the St. Lawrence River and the Gaspé Peninsula and an anglophone Loyalist Upper Canada , with its capital settled by 1796 in York (present-day Toronto ). After 1790 most of the new settlers were American farmers searching for new lands; although generally favourable to republicanism, they were relatively non-political and stayed neutral in

2397-687: A transcontinental railway—voted no in 1869, and did not join Canada until 1949. In 1873, John A. Macdonald ( First Prime Minister of Canada ) created the North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ) to help police the Northwest Territories . Specifically the Mounties were to assert Canadian sovereignty to prevent possible American encroachments into the area. The Mounties' first large-scale mission

2538-443: Is native to America rather than a person who is ethnically Indigenous to the boundaries of the present-day United States. In this sense, native may encompass a broad range of populations and is therefore not recommended, although it is not generally considered offensive. The Indian Act  ( Revised Statutes of Canada (R.S.C.) , 1985, c. I-5) sets the legal term Indian , designating that "a person who pursuant to this Act

2679-417: Is a hunting grounds that was in use for about 5,000 years. By 7,000–5000 BCE (9,000–7,000 years ago) the west coast of Canada saw various cultures who organized themselves around salmon fishing. The Nuu-chah-nulth of Vancouver Island began whaling with advanced long spears at about this time. The Maritime Archaic is one group of North America's Archaic culture of sea-mammal hunters in

2820-409: Is being supplanted by members of various nations referring to themselves by their group or ethnic identity. In conversation, this would be "I am Haida ", or "we are Kwantlens ", in recognition of their First Nations ethnicities. Also coming into general use since the 1970s, First Peoples refers to all Indigenous groups, i.e. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. Notwithstanding Canada's location within

2961-554: Is believed the inhabitants entered the Americas pursuing Pleistocene mammals such as the giant beaver , steppe wisent (bison), muskox , mastodons , woolly mammoths and ancient reindeer (early caribou). One route hypothesized is that people walked south by way of an ice-free corridor on the east side of the Rocky Mountains , and then fanned out across North America before continuing on to South America. The other conjectured route

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3102-639: Is characterized by a range of projectile point tools collectively called Plano points , which were used to hunt bison . Their diets also included pronghorn , elk , deer , raccoon and coyote . At the beginning of the Archaic period , they began to adopt a sedentary approach to subsistence. Sites in and around Belmont, Nova Scotia , have evidence of Plano-Indians, indicating small seasonal hunting camps, perhaps re-visited over generations from around 11,000–10,000 years ago. Seasonal large and smaller game fish and fowl were food and raw material sources. Adaptation to

3243-549: Is indigenous to the New England and Atlantic Canada regions of North America. The culture flourished between 3,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE (5,000–3,000 years ago) and was named after their burial ceremonies, which used large quantities of red ochre to cover bodies and grave goods. The Arctic small tool tradition is a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula , around Bristol Bay , and on

3384-463: Is now Quebec City , one of the earliest permanent settlements, which would become the capital of New France. He took personal administration over the city and its affairs and sent out expeditions to explore the interior. Champlain became the first known European to encounter Lake Champlain in 1609. By 1615, he had travelled by canoe up the Ottawa River through Lake Nipissing and Georgian Bay to

3525-641: Is now Canada by 500 BCE – 1,000 CE. Communities developed each with its own culture, customs, and character. In the northwest were the Athapaskan speaking , Slavey , Tłı̨chǫ , Tutchone , and Tlingit . Along the Pacific coast were the Tsimshian ; Haida; Salish ; Kwakwakaʼwakw ; Heiltsuk ; Nootka ; Nisga'a ; Senakw and Gitxsan . In the plains were the Niisitapi ; Káínawa ; Tsuutʼina ; and Piikáni . In

3666-579: Is now the United States. In the spring of 1605, under Samuel de Champlain, the new St. Croix settlement was moved to Port Royal (today's Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia ). Samuel de Champlain also landed at Saint John Harbour on June 24, 1604 (the feast of St. John the Baptist) and is where the city of Saint John, New Brunswick , and the Saint John River gets their name. In 1608 Champlain founded what

3807-406: Is registered as an Indian or is entitled to be registered as an Indian." Section 5 of the act states that a registry shall be maintained "in which shall be recorded the name of every person who is entitled to be registered as an Indian under this Act." No other term is legally recognized for the purpose of registration and the term Indian specifically excludes reference to Inuit as per section 4 of

3948-523: Is that they migrated, either on foot or using primitive boats , down the Pacific coast to the tip of South America, and then crossed the Rockies and Andes . Evidence of the latter has been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of metres following the last ice age. The Old Crow Flats and basin was one of the areas in Canada untouched by glaciations during the Pleistocene Ice ages , thus it served as

4089-675: The 1930 Imperial Conference and the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 recognized that Canada had become co-equal with the United Kingdom. The Patriation of the Constitution in 1982 marked the removal of legal dependence on the British parliament. Canada currently consists of ten provinces and three territories and is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy . Over centuries, elements of Indigenous, French, British and more recent immigrant customs have combined to form

4230-522: The Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples. The Algonquian language is believed to have originated in the western plateau of Idaho or the plains of Montana and moved with migrants eastward, eventually extending in various manifestations all the way from Hudson Bay to what is today Nova Scotia in the east and as far south as the Tidewater region of Virginia . Speakers of eastern Algonquian languages included

4371-787: The American Revolution , there was some sympathy for the American cause among the Acadians and the New Englanders in Nova Scotia. Neither party joined the rebels, although several hundred individuals joined the revolutionary cause. An invasion of Quebec by the Continental Army in 1775, with a goal to take Quebec from British control, was halted at the Battle of Quebec by Guy Carleton , with

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4512-516: The Americas , the term Native American is hardly ever used in Canada, in order to avoid any confusion due to the ambiguous meaning of the word "American". Therefore, the term is typically used only in reference to the Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of the present-day United States . Native Canadians was often used in Canada to differentiate this American term until the 1980s. In contrast to

4653-654: The Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains . France and Spain kept the Treaty of Fontainebleau secret from other countries until 1764. However under the Treaty of Paris, the eastern side of the Mississippi river basin became British territory. Great Britain returned to France its most important sugar-producing colony, Guadeloupe , which the French considered more valuable than Canada. (Guadeloupe produced more sugar than all

4794-536: The Arctic archipelago , the distinctive Paleo-Eskimos known as Dorset peoples , whose culture has been traced back to around 500 BCE, were replaced by the ancestors of today's Inuit by 1500 CE. This transition is supported by archeological records and Inuit mythology that tells of having driven off the Tuniit or 'first inhabitants'. Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from Western law . Customary law

4935-501: The Atlantic coast communities and sailed into the St. Lawrence River , trading and making alliances with First Nations , as well as establishing fishing settlements such as in Percé (1603). As a result of France's claim and activities in the colony of Canada, the name Canada was found on international maps showing the existence of this colony within the St. Lawrence river region. In 1604,

5076-523: The Atlantic provinces . Official tradition deemed the first landing site to be at Cape Bonavista , Newfoundland, although other locations are possible. After 1497 Cabot and his son Sebastian Cabot continued to make other voyages to find the Northwest Passage , and other explorers continued to sail out of England to the New World, although the details of these voyages are not well recorded. Based on

5217-560: The Canadian Martyrs ). Christianization as government policy became more systematic with the Indian Act in 1876, which would bring new sanctions for those who did not convert to Christianity . For example, the new laws would prevent non-Christian Aboriginal people from testifying or having their cases heard in court, and ban alcohol consumption. When the Indian Act was amended in 1884, traditional religious and social practices, such as

5358-675: The Dakelh (Carrier) and the Tsilhqot'in . The inlets and valleys of the British Columbia Coast sheltered large, distinctive populations, such as the Haida , Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth , sustained by the region's abundant salmon and shellfish. These peoples developed complex cultures dependent on the western red cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and war canoes and elaborately carved potlatch items and totem poles . In

5499-509: The Eramosa River around 8,000–7,000 BCE (10,000–9,000 years ago). They were concentrated between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay . Wendat hunted caribou to survive on the glacier-covered land. Many different First Nations cultures relied upon the buffalo starting by 6,000–5,000 BCE (8,000–7,000 years ago). They hunted buffalo by herding migrating buffalo off cliffs. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump , near Lethbridge, Alberta ,

5640-610: The French and Indian War , an event called the Expulsion of the Acadians or le Grand Dérangement . The "expulsion" resulted in approximately 12,000 Acadians being shipped to destinations throughout Britain's North America and to France, Quebec and the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue . The first wave of the expulsion of the Acadians began with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755) and

5781-623: The Indian Act was the Canadian residential school system : Of all the initiatives that were undertaken in the first century of Confederation, none was more ambitious or central to the civilizing strategy of the Department, to its goal of assimilation than the residential school system… it was the residential school experience that would lead children most effectively out of their "savage" communities into "higher civilization" and "full citizenship." History of Canada The history of Canada covers

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5922-737: The Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of Canada. They comprise the First Nations , Inuit , and Métis , representing roughly 5.0% of the total Canadian population . There are over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music. Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Canada. The characteristics of Indigenous cultures in Canada prior to European colonization included permanent settlements, agriculture, civic and ceremonial architecture, complex societal hierarchies , and trading networks . Métis nations of mixed ancestry originated in

6063-677: The Mi'kmaq and Abenaki of the Maritime region of Canada and likely the extinct Beothuk of Newfoundland . The Ojibwa and other Anishinaabe speakers of the central Algonquian languages retain an oral tradition of having moved to their lands around the western and central Great Lakes from the sea, likely the Atlantic coast. According to oral tradition, the Ojibwa formed the Council of Three Fires in 796 CE with

6204-613: The Northwest Territories (NWT). Amongst notable Métis people are singer and actor Tom Jackson , Commissioner of the Northwest Territories Tony Whitford , and Louis Riel who led two resistance movements: the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885, which ended in his trial and subsequent execution. The languages inherently Métis are either Métis French or

6345-635: The Odawa and the Potawatomi . The Five Nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) were centred from at least 1000 CE in northern New York, but their influence extended into what is now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec. They spoke varieties of Iroquoian languages. The Iroquois Confederacy , according to oral tradition, was formed in 1142 CE. In addition, there were other Iroquoian-speaking peoples in

6486-408: The Portuguese Empire . In 1506, King Manuel I of Portugal created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters. João Álvares Fagundes and Pero de Barcelos established fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521 CE; however, these were later abandoned, with the Portuguese colonizers focusing their efforts on South America. The extent and nature of Portuguese activity on

6627-403: The Potlatch , would be banned, and further amendments in 1920 would prevent " status Indians " (as defined in the Act ) from wearing traditional dress or performing traditional dances in an attempt to stop all non-Christian practices. Another focus of the Canadian government was to make the Aboriginal groups of Canada sedentary, as they thought that this would make them easier to assimilate. In

6768-427: The Thule culture , which emerged from western Alaska around 1,000 CE and spread eastward across the Arctic , displacing the Dorset culture (in Inuktitut , the Tuniit ). Inuit historically referred to the Tuniit as "giants", who were taller and stronger than the Inuit. Researchers hypothesize that the Dorset culture lacked dogs, larger weapons and other technologies used by the expanding Inuit society. By 1300,

6909-467: The Tlingit , who lived on the islands of southern Alaska and northern British Columbia . The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia. The Dene of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration from Asia to North America. The Interior of British Columbia was home to the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap (Secwepemc) , Okanagan and southern Athabaskan language groups, primarily

7050-444: The Treaty of Tordesillas , the Spanish Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited by John Cabot in 1497 and 1498 CE. However, Portuguese explorers like João Fernandes Lavrador would continue to visit the north Atlantic coast, which accounts for the appearance of " Labrador " on maps of the period. In 1501 and 1502 the Corte-Real brothers explored Newfoundland (Terra Nova) and Labrador claiming these lands as part of

7191-411: The War of 1812 . In 1785, Saint John, New Brunswick became the first incorporated city in what would later become Canada. The signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the war. Great Britain made several concessions to the US at the expense of the North American colonies. Notably, the borders between Canada and the United States were officially demarcated; all land south and west of

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7332-470: The Wisconsin glaciation , 50,000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge that joined Siberia to northwest North America (Alaska). Alaska was ice-free because of low snowfall , allowing a small population to exist. The Laurentide ice sheet covered most of Canada, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska (East Beringia) for thousands of years. Aboriginal genetic studies suggest that

7473-425: The peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing debate. By 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia, and into Canada. The Haida Gwaii islands, Old Crow Flats , and the Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-Indian archeological sites in Canada. Ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone tools and

7614-415: The republicanism that was common among American immigrants to Canada . The troubling memory of the war and the American invasions etched itself into the consciousness of Canadians as a distrust of the intentions of the United States towards the British presence in North America. The rebellions of 1837 against the British colonial government took place in both Upper and Lower Canada. In Upper Canada,

7755-435: The subarctic . They prospered from approximately 7,000 BCE–1,500 BCE (9,000–3,500 years ago) along the Atlantic Coast of North America. Their settlements included longhouses and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses. They engaged in long-distance trade, using as currency white chert , a rock quarried from northern Labrador to Maine . The Pre-Columbian culture, whose members were called Red Paint People ,

7896-418: The western frontier . In the former French territory, the new British rulers of Canada first abolished and then later reinstated most of the property, religious, political, and social culture of the French-speaking habitants , guaranteeing the right of the Canadiens to practice the Catholic faith and to the use of French civil law (now Quebec Civil Code ) in the UK's Quebec Act of 1774. During

8037-433: The 17th and 18th centuries. European written accounts generally recorded friendliness of the First Nations, who profited in trade with Europeans. Such trade generally strengthened the more organized political entities such as the Iroquois Confederation . Throughout the 16th century, European fleets made almost annual visits to the eastern shores of Canada to cultivate the fishing opportunities. A sideline industry emerged in

8178-407: The 1840 Act of Union , and responsible government was achieved in 1848, a few months after it was accomplished in Nova Scotia. The parliament of United Canada in Montreal was set on fire by a mob of Tories in 1849 after the passing of an indemnity bill for the people who suffered losses during the rebellion in Lower Canada. Between the Napoleonic Wars and 1850, some 800,000 immigrants came to

8319-401: The 1930s. Clovis peoples were regarded as the first widespread Paleo-Indian inhabitants of the New World and ancestors to all Indigenous peoples in the Americas . Archaeological discoveries in the years 1979–2009 brought forward other distinctive knapping cultures who occupied the Americas from the lower Great Plains to the shores of Chile. Localized regional cultures developed from

8460-641: The 19th century, the government began to support the creation of model farming villages, which were meant to encourage non-sedentary Aboriginal groups to settle in an area and begin to cultivate agriculture. When most of these model farming villages failed, the government turned instead to the creation of Indian reserves with the Indian Act of 1876. With the creation of these reserves came many restricting laws, such as further bans on all intoxicants, restrictions on eligibility to vote in band elections, decreased hunting and fishing areas, and inability for status Indians to visit other groups on their reserves. Farming

8601-441: The Aboriginal peoples. These policies, which were made possible by legislation such as the Gradual Civilization Act and the Indian Act , focused on European ideals of Christianity, sedentary living, agriculture, and education. Missionary work directed at the Aboriginal people of Canada had been ongoing since the first missionaries arrived in the 1600s, generally from France, some of whom were martyred ( Jesuit saints called

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8742-494: The Arctic Ocean on the north and the Pacific Ocean on the west. The Colony of Vancouver Island was chartered in 1849, with the trading post at Fort Victoria as the capital. This was followed by the Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1853, and by the creation of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the Stikine Territory in 1861, with the latter three being founded expressly to keep those regions from being overrun and annexed by American gold miners. The Colony of

8883-405: The British Conquest of Acadia occurred in 1710, resulting in Nova Scotia (other than Cape Breton) being officially ceded to the British by the Treaty of Utrecht , including Rupert's Land, which France had conquered in the late 17th century ( Battle of Hudson's Bay ). As an immediate result of this setback, France founded the powerful Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island . Louisbourg

9024-472: The British islands combined, and Voltaire had notoriously dismissed Canada as " Quelques arpents de neige ", " A few acres of snow "). Following the Treaty of Paris, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 . The proclamation organized Great Britain's new North American empire and stabilized relations between the British Crown and Aboriginal peoples , formally recognizing aboriginal title, regulated trade, settlement, and land purchases on

9165-482: The British to a settled colony with stronger ties to New England. Britain eventually gained control of Quebec City after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Fort Niagara in 1759, and finally captured Montreal in 1760. As part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763) , signed after the defeat of New France in the Seven Years' War , France renounced its claims to territory in mainland North America , except for fishing rights off Newfoundland and

9306-411: The Canadian mainland during the 16th century remains unclear and controversial. French interest in the New World began with Francis I of France , who in 1524 sponsored Giovanni da Verrazzano 's navigation of the region between Florida and Newfoundland in hopes of finding a route to the Pacific Ocean . Although the English had laid claims to it in 1497 when John Cabot made landfall somewhere on

9447-436: The Crown (i.e. the state). Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 gives the federal government (as opposed to the provinces) the sole responsibility for "Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians." The government inherited treaty obligations from the British colonial authorities in Eastern Canada and signed treaties itself with First Nations in Western Canada (the Numbered Treaties ). The Indian Act , passed by

9588-431: The Great Lakes, which was formerly a part of the Province of Quebec and included modern-day Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, was ceded to the Americans. Fishing rights were also granted to the United States in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the coast of Newfoundland and the Grand Banks . The British ignored part of the treaty and maintained their military outposts in the Great Lakes areas it had ceded to

9729-446: The Hudson's Bay Company claims, and in 1686, Pierre Troyes led an overland expedition from Montreal to the shore of the bay , where they managed to capture a handful of outposts. La Salle 's explorations gave France a claim to the Mississippi River Valley , where fur trappers and a few settlers set up scattered forts and settlements . There were four French and Indian Wars and two additional wars in Acadia and Nova Scotia between

9870-458: The Inuit had settled in west Greenland, and finally moved into east Greenland over the following century. The Inuit had trade routes with more southern cultures. Boundary disputes were common and led to aggressive actions. Warfare was common among Inuit groups with sufficient population density. Inuit, such as the Nunamiut ( Uummarmiut ) who inhabited the Mackenzie River delta area, often engaged in common warfare. The Central Arctic Inuit lacked

10011-466: The Métis, their heritage and Aboriginal ancestry have often been absorbed and assimilated into their surrounding populations. From the late 18th century, European Canadians (and the Canadian government) encouraged assimilation of Aboriginal culture into what was referred to as " Canadian culture ." These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with a series of initiatives that aimed at complete assimilation and subjugation of

10152-545: The New World began. Lower sea levels in the Queen Charlotte sound and Hecate Strait produced great grass lands called archipelago of Haida Gwaii . Hunter-gatherers of the area left distinctive lithic technology tools and the remains of large butchered mammals, occupying the area from 13,000– 9,000 years ago . In July 1992, the Government of Canada officially designated X̱á:ytem (near Mission, British Columbia ) as

10293-527: The North American coast (likely either modern-day Newfoundland or Nova Scotia ) and had claimed the land for England on behalf of Henry VII , these claims were not exercised and England did not attempt to create a permanent colony. As for the French, however, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1534 and claimed the land in the name of Francis I, creating a region called " Canada "

10434-972: The Pre-Dorset, and the Independence traditions . These two groups, ancestors of Thule people , were displaced by the Inuit by 1000 CE. The Old Copper complex societies dating from 3,000 BCE – 500 BCE (5,000–2,500 years ago) are a manifestation of the Woodland culture , and are pre-pottery in nature. Evidence found in the northern Great Lakes regions indicates that they extracted copper from local glacial deposits and used it in its natural form to manufacture tools and implements. The Woodland cultural period dates from about 1,000 BCE – 1,000 CE, and has locales in Ontario , Quebec , and Maritime regions. The introduction of pottery distinguishes

10575-658: The Queen Charlotte Islands and most of the Stikine Territory were merged into the Colony of British Columbia in 1863 (the remainder, north of the 60th Parallel, became part of the North-Western Territory ). The Seventy-Two Resolutions from the 1864 Quebec Conference and Charlottetown Conference laid out the framework for uniting British colonies in North America into a federation. The Resolutions became

10716-653: The Thirteen American Colonies and New France from 1688 to 1763. During King William's War (1688 to 1697), military conflicts in Acadia included the Battle of Port Royal (1690) ; a naval battle in the Bay of Fundy ( Action of July 14, 1696 ); and the Raid on Chignecto (1696) . The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 ended the war between the two colonial powers of England and France for a brief time. During Queen Anne's War (1702 to 1713),

10857-649: The U.S., and they continued to supply their native allies with munitions. The British evacuated the outposts with the Jay Treaty of 1795, but the continued supply of munitions irritated the Americans in the run-up to the War of 1812. Canadian historians have had mixed views on the long-term impact of the American Revolution. Arthur Lower in the 1950s provided the long-standard historical interpretation that for English Canada

10998-520: The Woodland culture from the earlier Archaic stage inhabitants. Laurentian people of southern Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada. They created pointed-bottom beakers decorated by a cord marking technique that involved impressing tooth implements into wet clay. Woodland technology included items such as beaver incisor knives, bangles, and chisels. The population practising sedentary agricultural life ways continued to increase on

11139-551: The act. Indian remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution ; however, its usage outside such situations can be considered offensive. The term Eskimo has pejorative connotations in Canada and Greenland . Indigenous peoples in those areas have replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit , though the Yupik of Alaska and Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit, and ethnographers agree they are

11280-664: The area, including the St. Lawrence Iroquoians , the Erie, and others. On the Great Plains , the Cree or Nēhilawē (who spoke a closely related Central Algonquian language , the plains Cree language ) depended on the vast herds of bison to supply food and many of their other needs. To the northwest were the peoples of the Na-Dene languages , which include the Athapaskan-speaking peoples and

11421-538: The assistance of First Nations and loyalist informants, most notably Laura Secord . The War ended with no boundary changes thanks to the Treaty of Ghent of 1814, and the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1817. A demographic result was the shifting of the destination of American migration from Upper Canada to Ohio , Indiana and Michigan , without fear of Indigenous attacks. After the war, supporters of Britain tried to repress

11562-515: The assistance of local militias. The defeat of the British army during the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 signalled the end of Great Britain's struggle to suppress the American Revolution. When the British evacuated New York City in 1783, they took many Loyalist refugees to Nova Scotia, while other Loyalists went to southwestern Quebec. So many Loyalists arrived on the shores of the St. John River that

11703-525: The attempted settlement of Vinland by Leif Erikson around the same period or, more broadly, with Norse exploration of the Americas . Under letters patent from King Henry VII of England , the Italian John Cabot became the first European known to have landed in Canada after the Viking Age . Records indicate that on June 24, 1497, he sighted land at a northern location believed to be somewhere in

11844-554: The authorities. The towns of Chambly and Sorel were taken by the rebels, and Quebec City was isolated from the rest of the colony. Montreal rebel leader Robert Nelson read the " Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada " to a crowd assembled at the town of Napierville in 1838. The rebellion of the Patriote movement was defeated after battles across Quebec. Hundreds were arrested, and several villages were burnt in reprisal. The British government then sent Lord Durham to examine

11985-673: The basis for the London Conference of 1866 , which led to the formation of the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867. The term dominion was chosen to indicate Canada's status as a self-governing polity of the British Empire, the first time it was used about a country. With the coming into force of the UK's British North America Act, 1867 (enacted by the British Parliament ), Canada became

12126-682: The brisk market for sea otter pelts in China, thereby launching what became known as the China Trade . In 1789 war threatened between Britain and Spain on their respective rights; the Nootka Crisis was resolved peacefully largely in favour of Britain, the much stronger naval power at the time. In 1793 Alexander MacKenzie , a Scotsman working for the North West Company , crossed the continent and with his Aboriginal guides and French-Canadian crew, reached

12267-678: The centre of Huron country near Lake Simcoe . During these voyages, Champlain aided the Wendat (aka "Hurons") in their battles against the Iroquois Confederacy. As a result, the Iroquois would become enemies of the French and be involved in multiple conflicts (known as the French and Iroquois Wars ) until the signing of the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701. The English, led by Humphrey Gilbert , had claimed St. John's, Newfoundland , in 1583 as

12408-742: The colonies of British North America, mainly from the British Isles , as part of the great migration of Canada . These included Gaelic -speaking Highland Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances to Nova Scotia and Scottish and English settlers to the Canadas, particularly Upper Canada. The Irish Famine of the 1840s significantly increased the pace of Irish Catholic immigration to British North America, with over 35,000 distressed Irish landing in Toronto alone in 1847 and 1848. Spanish explorers had taken

12549-545: The development of an English dialect referred to as " Bungee ". S.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 mentions the Métis yet there has long been debate over legally defining the term Métis, but on September 23, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Métis are a distinct people with significant rights ( Powley ruling ). Unlike First Nations people, there has been no distinction between status and non-status Métis;

12690-539: The eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2,500 BCE (4,500 years ago). These Paleo-Arctic peoples had a highly distinctive toolkit of small blades ( microblades ) that were pointed at both ends and used as side- or end-barbs on arrows or spears made of other materials, such as bone or antler . Scrapers , engraving tools and adze blades were also included in their toolkits. The Arctic small tool tradition branches off into two cultural variants, including

12831-551: The federal Parliament in 1876, has long governed its interactions with all treaty and non-treaty peoples. Members of First Nations bands who are subject to the Indian Act are compiled on a list called the Indian Register , and such people are designated as status Indians. Many non-treaty First Nations and all Inuit and Métis peoples are not subject to the Indian Act . However, two court cases have clarified that Inuit, Métis, and non-status First Nations people are all covered by

12972-500: The first North American English colony by royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I . In the reign of King James I , the English established additional colonies in Cupids and Ferryland , Newfoundland , and soon after established the first successful permanent settlements of Virginia to the south. On September 29, 1621, a charter for the foundation of a New World Scottish colony was granted by King James to William Alexander . In 1622,

13113-484: The first inhabitants of the Americas share a single ancestral population, one that developed in isolation, conjectured to be Beringia. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10,000–20,000 years. Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting , allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. The first inhabitants of North America arrived in Canada at least 14,000 years ago. It

13254-515: The first settlers left Scotland. They initially failed and permanent Nova Scotian settlements were not firmly established until 1629 during the end of the Anglo-French War . These colonies did not last long except the fisheries in Ferryland under David Kirke . In 1631, under Charles I of England , the Treaty of Suza was signed, ending the war and returning Nova Scotia to the French. New France

13395-477: The following summer. Cartier had sailed up the St. Lawrence river as far as the Lachine Rapids , to the spot where Montreal now stands. Permanent settlement attempts by Cartier at Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541, at Sable Island in 1598 by Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez, and at Tadoussac, Quebec in 1600 by François Gravé Du Pont all eventually failed. Despite these initial failures, French fishing fleets visited

13536-434: The fortress surrendered. The return of Louisbourg to French control by the peace treaty prompted the British to found Halifax in 1749 under Edward Cornwallis . Despite the official cessation of war between the British and French empires with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle , the conflict in Acadia and Nova Scotia continued as Father Le Loutre's War . The British ordered the Acadians expelled from their lands in 1755 during

13677-606: The government would encourage Indians (i.e., First Nations) to enfranchise – to remove all legal distinctions between [Indians] and Her Majesty's other Canadian Subjects . If an Aboriginal chose to enfranchise, it would strip them and their family of Aboriginal title , with the idea that they would become "less savage" and "more civilized," thus become assimilated into Canadian society. However, they were often still defined as non-citizens by Europeans, and those few who did enfranchise were often met with disappointment. The final government strategy of assimilation, made possible by

13818-440: The harsh environment included tailored clothing and skin-covered tents on wooden frames. The North American climate stabilized by 8000  BCE (10,000 years ago); climatic conditions were very similar to today's. This led to widespread migration, cultivation and later a dramatic rise in population all over the Americas. Over the course of thousands of years, Indigenous peoples of the Americas domesticated, bred and cultivated

13959-717: The identity of a people by influencing social life ways and spiritual practices. Aboriginal religions developed from anthropomorphism and animism philosophies. The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status. There is a continuous record of occupation of S'ólh Téméxw by Aboriginal people dating from the early Holocene period, 10,000–9,000 years ago. Archaeological sites at Stave Lake , Coquitlam Lake , Fort Langley and region uncovered early period artifacts. These early inhabitants were highly mobile hunter-gatherers, consisting of about 20 to 50 members of an extended family. The Na-Dene people occupied much of

14100-515: The land area of northwest and central North America starting around 8,000 BCE. They were the earliest ancestors of the Athabaskan -speaking peoples, including the Navajo and Apache . They had villages with large multi-family dwellings, used seasonally during the summer, from which they hunted, fished and gathered food supplies for the winter. The Wendat peoples settled into Southern Ontario along

14241-476: The lands into one country, dominated by the English language and loyalist culture; many French-Canadians saw an opportunity to exert political control within a new largely French-speaking Quebec and exaggerated fears of possible U.S. expansion northward. On a political level, there was a desire for the expansion of responsible government and elimination of the legislative deadlock between Upper and Lower Canada, and their replacement with provincial legislatures in

14382-648: The last continents into which humans migrated . During the Wisconsin glaciation , 50,000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move gradually across the Bering land bridge ( Beringia ), from Siberia into northwest North America. At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide Ice Sheet that covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska and the Yukon for thousands of years. The exact dates and routes of

14523-550: The late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, and fought over various places within North America in what constitutes present-day Canada. The colony of New France was claimed in 1534 with permanent settlements beginning in 1608. France ceded nearly all its North American possessions to the Great Britain in 1763 at the Treaty of Paris after the Seven Years' War . The now British Province of Quebec

14664-515: The lead in the Pacific Northwest coast , with the voyages of Juan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 and 1775. By the time the Spanish determined to build a fort on Vancouver Island , the British navigator James Cook had visited Nootka Sound and charted the coast as far as Alaska, while British and American maritime fur traders had begun a busy era of commerce with the coastal peoples to satisfy

14805-633: The mid-17th century when First Nations and Inuit people married Europeans, primarily the French colonizers . First Nations and Métis peoples played a critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada, particularly for their role in assisting Europeans during the North American fur trade . Various Aboriginal laws , treaties , and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and Indigenous groups across Canada. The impact of settler colonialism in Canada can be seen in its culture, history, politics, laws, and legislatures. This led to

14946-406: The mid-17th century. When Europeans first arrived to Canada they relied on Aboriginal peoples for fur trading skills and survival. To ensure alliances, relationships between European fur traders and Aboriginal women were often consolidated through marriage. The Métis homeland consists of the Canadian provinces of British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba , and Ontario , as well as

15087-527: The more-specific Aboriginal , one of the issues with the term native is its general applicability: in certain contexts, it could be used in reference to non-Indigenous peoples in regards to an individual place of origin / birth. For instance, people who were born or grew up in Calgary may call themselves "Calgary natives", as in they are native to that city. With this in mind, even the term native American , as another example, may very well indicate someone who

15228-582: The mouth of the Bella Coola River , completing the first continental crossing north of Mexico, missing George Vancouver 's charting expedition to the region by only a few weeks. In 1821, the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company merged, with a combined trading territory that was extended by a licence to the North-Western Territory and the Columbia and New Caledonia fur districts, which reached

15369-481: The nation, Ottawa attracted support in the Maritimes and in British Columbia. In 1866, the Colony of British Columbia and the Colony of Vancouver Island merged into a single Colony of British Columbia . After Rupert's Land was transferred to Canada by Britain in 1870, connecting to the eastern provinces, British Columbia joined Canada in 1871. In 1873, Prince Edward Island joined. Newfoundland—which had no use for

15510-655: The northern woodlands were the Cree and Chipewyan . Around the Great Lakes were the Anishinaabe ; Algonquin ; Haudenosaunee and Wendat. Along the Atlantic coast were the Beothuk , Wolastoqiyik , Innu , Abenaki and Mi'kmaq . Many First Nations civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks that included permanent urban settlements or cities, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture , and complex societal hierarchies . These cultures had evolved and changed by

15651-492: The oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada. The Hopewell tradition is an Indigenous culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario . Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula , Saugeen , and Laurel complexes . The eastern woodland areas of what became Canada were home to

15792-493: The passage of time, there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization (i.e.: Paleo-Arctic , Plano and Maritime Archaic traditions). The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and is applied to the Ontario, Quebec, and Maritime regions . The introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous Archaic-stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured

15933-520: The period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands encompassing present-day Canada have been inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples , with distinct trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization. Some of these older civilizations had long faded by the time of the first European arrivals and have been discovered through archeological investigations. From

16074-558: The population density to engage in warfare. In the 13th century, the Thule culture began arriving in Greenland from what is now Canada. Norse accounts are scant. Norse-made items from Inuit campsites in Greenland were obtained by either trade or plunder. One account, Ívar Bárðarson , speaks of "small people" with whom the Norsemen fought. 14th-century accounts relate that a western settlement, one of

16215-473: The remains of large butchered mammals. The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE (10,000 years ago). Climatic conditions were similar to modern patterns; however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of meltwater. Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers. However, individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally; thus with

16356-506: The results were counter-revolutionary: [English Canada] inherited, not the benefits, but the bitterness of the Revolution…. English Canada started its life with as powerful a nostalgic shove backward into the past as the Conquest had given to French Canada: two little peoples officially devoted to counter-revolution, to lost causes, to the tawdry ideals of a society of men and masters, and not to

16497-465: The second wave began after the final Siege of Louisbourg (1758) . Many of the Acadians settled in southern Louisiana , creating the Cajun culture there. Some Acadians managed to hide and others eventually returned to Nova Scotia, but they were far outnumbered by a new migration of New England Planters who settled on the former lands of the Acadians and transformed Nova Scotia from a colony of occupation for

16638-424: The self-reliant freedom alongside of them. Recently Michel Ducharme has agreed that Canada did indeed oppose "republican liberty", as exemplified by the United States and France. However, he says it did find a different path forward when it fought against British rulers after 1837 to secure "modern liberty". That form of liberty focused not on the virtues of citizens but on protecting their rights from infringement by

16779-501: The settlement of the frontier. The war on the border with the United States was characterized by a series of multiple failed invasions and fiascos on both sides. American forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, driving the British out of western Ontario, killing the Shawnee leader Tecumseh , and breaking the military power of his confederacy . The war was overseen by British army officers like Isaac Brock and Charles de Salaberry with

16920-521: The situation; he stayed in Canada for five months before returning to Britain, bringing with him his Durham Report , which strongly recommended responsible government . A less well-received recommendation was the amalgamation of Upper and Lower Canada for the deliberate assimilation of the French-speaking population. The Canadas were merged into a single colony, the United Province of Canada , by

17061-466: The southern Thirteen Colonies outnumbered the French population approximately ten to one by the 1750s. From 1670, through the Hudson's Bay Company , the English also laid claim to Hudson Bay and its drainage basin, known as Rupert's Land , establishing new trading posts and forts , while continuing to operate fishing settlements in Newfoundland. French expansion along the Canadian canoe routes challenged

17202-642: The state. The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and the British, with the British North American colonies being heavily involved. Greatly outgunned by the British Royal Navy , the American war plans focused on an invasion of Canada (especially what is today eastern and western Ontario ). The American frontier states voted for war to suppress the First Nations raids that frustrated

17343-707: The stations in winter for tools, and particularly worked iron, which they adapted to native needs. Notable among the Inuit are Abraham Ulrikab and family who became a zoo exhibit in Hamburg , Germany, and Tanya Tagaq , a traditional throat singer . Abe Okpik was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames rather than disc numbers and Kiviaq (David Ward) won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktitut name. The Métis are people descended from marriages between Europeans (mainly French) and Cree , Ojibwe , Algonquin , Saulteaux , Menominee , Mi'kmaq , Maliseet , and other First Nations. Their history dates to

17484-518: The systematic abolishment of Indigenous languages, traditions, religion and the degradation of Indigenous communities that has been described as a genocide of Indigenous peoples . The modern Indigenous right to self government provides for Indigenous self-government in Canada and the management of their historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within Indigenous communities. National Indigenous Peoples Day recognizes

17625-399: The term Indians in the Constitution Act, 1867 . The first was Reference Re Eskimos (1939), covering the Inuit; the second was Daniels v. Canada (2013), which concerns Métis and non-status First Nations. According to North American archaeological and genetic evidence, migration to North and South America made them the last continents in the world with human habitation . During

17766-409: The term Indigenous peoples . There is also an effort to recognize each Indigenous group as a distinct nation, much as there are distinct European, African, and Asian cultures in their respective places. First Nations (most often used in the plural) has come into general use since the 1970s replacing Indians and Indian bands in everyday vocabulary. However, on Indian reserves , First Nations

17907-459: The time of the Younger Dryas cold climate period from 12,900 to 11,500 years ago. The Folsom tradition is characterized by the use of Folsom points as projectile tips at archaeological sites. These tools assisted activities at kill sites that marked the slaughter and butchering of bison. The land bridge existed until 13,000–11,000 years ago, long after the oldest proven human settlements in

18048-453: The time of the first permanent European arrivals ( c.  late 15th –early 16th centuries), and have been brought forward through archaeological investigations. There are indications of contact made before Christopher Columbus between the first peoples and those from other continents. Aboriginal people in Canada first interacted with Europeans around 1000 CE, but prolonged contact came after Europeans established permanent settlements in

18189-550: The title Canadian aboriginal . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Canadian_aboriginal&oldid=932745388 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Aboriginal peoples in Canada Indigenous peoples in Canada (also known as Aboriginals ) are

18330-435: The two Norse settlements, was taken over by the Skræling . After the disappearance of the Norse colonies in Greenland, the Inuit had no contact with Europeans for at least a century. By the mid-16th century, Basque fishers were already working the Labrador coast and had established whaling stations on land, such as those excavated at Red Bay . The Inuit appear not to have interfered with their operations, but they did raid

18471-424: The two small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon where its fishermen could dry their fish. France had already secretly transferred its vast Louisiana territory to Spain under the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) in which King Louis XV of France had given his cousin King Charles III of Spain the entire area of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from

18612-413: The un-organized traffic of furs overseen by the British Indian Department . Prominent First Nations people include Joe Capilano, who met with King of the United Kingdom, Edward VII , to speak of the need to settle land claims and Ovide Mercredi , a leader at both the Meech Lake Accord constitutional reform discussions and Oka Crisis . Inuit are the descendants of what anthropologists call

18753-441: The vast cultures and contributions of Indigenous peoples to the history of Canada . First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of all backgrounds have become prominent figures and have served as role models in the Indigenous community and help to shape the Canadian cultural identity . In Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 , "Aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes Indian , Inuit , and Métis peoples. "Aboriginal" as

18894-428: The word " Dominion " was conferred as the country's title. Over the next eighty-two years, Canada expanded by incorporating other parts of British North America , finishing with Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949. Although responsible government had existed in British North America since 1848, Britain continued to set its foreign and defence policies until the end of World War I . The Balfour Declaration of 1926 ,

19035-399: Was divided into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791. The two provinces were united as the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840 , which came into force in 1841. In 1867, the Province of Canada was joined with two other British colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia through Confederation , forming a self-governing entity. "Canada" was adopted as the legal name of the new country and

19176-463: Was due to the natural abundance of meat, fish, and pure water; the good food conservation conditions during the winter; and an adequate wheat supply in most years. The 1666 census of New France was conducted by France's intendant , Jean Talon , in the winter of 1665–1666. The census showed a population count of 3,215 Acadians and habitants (French-Canadian farmers) in the administrative districts of Acadia and Canada. The census also revealed

19317-545: Was intended to serve as a year-round military and naval base for France's remaining North American empire and to protect the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. Father Rale's War resulted in both the fall of New France's influence in present-day Maine and the British recognition that it would have to negotiate with the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. During King George's War (1744 to 1748), an army of New Englanders led by William Pepperrell mounted an expedition of 90 vessels and 4,000 men against Louisbourg in 1745. Within three months

19458-436: Was non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of the Canadian legal system . The Norse , who had settled Greenland and Iceland , arrived around 1000 CE and built a small settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland (carbon dating estimate 990 – 1050 CE). L'Anse aux Meadows, the only confirmed Norse site in North America outside of Greenland, is also notable for its connection with

19599-425: Was not fully restored to French rule until the 1632 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . This led to new French immigrants and the founding of Trois-Rivières in 1634. After Champlain's death in 1635, the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit establishment became the most dominant force in New France and hoped to establish a utopian European and Aboriginal Christian community. In 1642, the Sulpicians sponsored

19740-404: Was still seen as an important practice for assimilation on reserves; however, by the late 19th century the government had instituted restrictive policies here too, such as the Peasant Farm Policy , which restricted reserve farmers largely to the use of hand tools. This was implemented largely to limit the competitiveness of First Nations farming. Through the Gradual Civilization Act in 1857,

19881-413: Was to suppress the second independence movement by Manitoba 's Métis , a mixed-blood people of joint First Nations and European descent, who originated in the mid-17th century. The desire for independence erupted in the Red River Rebellion in 1869 and the later North-West Rebellion in 1885 led by Louis Riel . Suppressing the Rebellion was Canada's first independent military action and demonstrated

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