The Residential School System
…only reached grade five by the time they were 18. At this point, students were sent away. Many were discouraged from pursuing further education. Abuse at the schools was widespread:…
Aboriginal Identity & Terminology
…“Aboriginal” became the mutually accepted term. In the Constitution, “Aboriginal” is used to include three groups previously defined by earlier categories: “Indian,” “Inuit,” and “Métis.” Each of these three predecessor…
Indian Status
…in the government’s interest to reduce the numbers of eligible Indians and therefore ease the associated governmental responsibilities and expenditures. To “legislate out” Indian status would ultimately absolve themselves from…
Métis
…or unrecognized Métis peoples has been and will continue to be a major area of academic, legal, and political inquiry in Canada. And as scholars and other recognized experts revisit…
Global Actions
…with consultative status to the U.N. Social and Economic Council awarded in 1977. The IITC maintains a strong Canadian presence in the Treaty 6 area. George Manuel. Photo used with…
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
…62, no. 1 (2010): 96. 6 Sheryl Lightfoot, “A Sea Change on the U.N. Declaration—Or Is It?” Indian Country Today, May 3, 2010. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/92499529.html 7 Carwyn Jones, “New Zealand’s Support…
Constitution Act, 1982 Section 35
…plan to include Aboriginal rights so extensively within the constitution when the Act was being redrafted in the early 1980s. Early drafts and discussions during the patriation of the Canadian…
Bill C-31
…the Indian Act status provisions. Lovelace joined the political action in the early 1970s, and took her case to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1974. When the Supreme Court…
Oral Traditions
…often teach important lessons about a given society’s culture, the land, and the ways in which members are expected to interact with each other and their environment. The passing on…
Totem Poles
…Essays in Celebration of the Twenty-Fifth American Indian Workshop, eds. Barbara Saunders and Lea Zuyderhoudt (New York: Cornell University Press, 2004), 80. 10 Halpin, 35. 11 Vickers, 60. 12 Halpin,…
