Indigenous Land, Culture, and History in Canada: Key Concepts and Perspectives

Land as a 'history book'

The land preserves collective memory and spirituality through myths, place names, and traditions.

Migration of first peoples to Canada

Migrated from Eurasia across the Bering Land Bridge (40,000-12,000 years ago) during the Ice Age.

First peoples' hunting

Known for hunting large game such as mammoth, mastodon, bison, and caribou.

Technological and cultural innovations around 1000 B.C.

Pottery, bow and arrow, and horticulture (especially corn cultivation in Iroquoian societies).

First settlers of the Arctic region

Paleo-Eskimos (c. 2000 B.C.) followed by Thule people, ancestors of the Inuit.

Indigenous language families at contact

Eleven major language families, with widespread bilingualism due to trade and diplomacy.

Crops grown by Iroquoian farmers

Corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco; women led agriculture, providing 50-75% of diet.

Adaptation of Subarctic peoples

Algonquian and Athapaskan groups hunted moose, caribou, beaver; used snares, traps, and fish weirs.

Survival of Atlantic Maritime peoples

Beothuk, Mi'kmaq, and Maliseet hunted inland in winter and relied on seafood and marine mammals in other seasons.

Central animals and technologies in Inuit life

Seals, walrus, whales, caribou; used kayaks, umiaks, dog sleds, and toggling harpoons.

Importance of buffalo to Plains peoples

Provided food, clothing, tools, housing; hunting methods included buffalo pounds, cliff drives, surrounds.

Foundation of Pacific Slope economies

Fishing, especially salmon; also hunted sea mammals, collected berries, built cedar canoes and houses.

Indigenous population in Canada before European contact

Possibly over 500,000, with densest populations on the Pacific Coast, Great Lakes-St. Lawrence, and Plains.

Types of Indigenous storytelling

1. Personal stories (observations, experiences, places). 2. Creation/teaching stories (spiritual, often unchanged).

Haudenosaunee creation story

Sky Woman fell from the Sky World; animals helped her land on Turtle's back, forming Turtle Island.

Lesson from Nehiyawak (Cree) creation story of Wisacejak

Teaches perseverance (Muskrat's courage) and consequences of irresponsibility (Wisacejak's laziness).

Key aspects of Indigenous storytelling

1. Connects generations. 2. Adapts to change. 3. Transmits behavior, history, and culture. 4. Links land and identity.

Commonalities in Indigenous worldviews

Interconnectedness ('all my relations'), collaboration, accountability, and stewardship of the land.

Meaning of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ)

Inuit worldview: 'that which Inuit have always known to be true.' Includes values of survival, cooperation, and respect.

Inuit Maligait principles

1. Work for the common good. 2. Respect all living things. 3. Preserve harmony and balance. 4. Plan and prepare for the future.

Inuit practice of ancestral naming

Children receive names of deceased relatives, inheriting their characteristics and strengthening kinship ties.

tânte ohci kiya?

'Where are you from?' but culturally means 'Who are you from?'—highlighting kinship and ancestral ties.

Seventh Generation principle

Decisions today must consider the impact on seven future generations.

Kanyen'kehà:ka clan mothers

Elders who guided land use, family responsibilities, and selected chiefs, ensuring balance and matrilineal power.

potlatches in Tlingit society

Ceremonial feasts for redistribution of wealth, governance, and reinforcing kinship and community responsibility.

Tlingit moieties

Raven and Eagle/Wolf, each tied to land and identity, with designs reflecting their landscapes.

understanding history (RCAP)

Because past institutions, attitudes, and laws (e.g., the Indian Act) still shape today's debates on self-government, treaties, identity, and land/resource sharing.

two broad approaches to history

Non-Aboriginal (western scientific, written, seeks objectivity) vs. Aboriginal (oral, situated, relational, often spiritual, emphasizes lessons and identity).

Aboriginal oral histories

They transmit law, culture, identity, and claims; are context-dependent; embed 'facts in life stories'; and invite listeners to draw lessons.

concepts of time in history

Western histories are commonly linear (past→future), while many Aboriginal perspectives are cyclical (rise, decline, renewal in recurring patterns).

ethnohistory and 'upstreaming'

A method combining oral, linguistic, archaeological, and documentary sources; upstreaming applies living accounts to interpret historical records.

conflicts between oral and written sources

Not by defaulting to written records—both should be respected; aim for coexistence of divergent histories and resolve differences via negotiation.

four stages of Aboriginal-non-Aboriginal relationship

1) Separate Worlds (pre-1500). 2) Contact & Cooperation. 3) Displacement & Assimilation. 4) Negotiation & Renewal.

Stage 2: Contact & Cooperation

Mutual aid, trade, alliances, intermarriage; relative respect and autonomy, despite disease impacts and some conflicts.

Stage 3: Displacement & Assimilation

Relocations, residential schools, cultural bans, Indian Act controls; attempts to recast Indigenous societies into mainstream norms.

Stage 4: Negotiation & Renewal

Recognition of failed assimilation; growth of rights jurisprudence, UN Indigenous mobilization, and movements toward self-government.

stages of relationship occurrence

No—there's regional variation and overlap (e.g., early sustained contact in the Atlantic vs. more recent in parts of the North).

time markers separating stages

Stage 1 ends ~1500; Contact/Cooperation ends by ~1780s (Maritimes), ~1830 (Ontario), ~1870 (BC); Stage 3 concludes around the 1969 White Paper.

problem identified among Canadians today

Widespread lack of historical awareness and understanding of cultural differences, producing fissures that impede respectful relations.

purpose of revisiting the past

To honor both traditions, lay groundwork for renewal, and inform practical solutions—history has immediate contemporary implications.