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Policy of Assimilation:

From the time the Dominion of Canada was federated in 1867 until the Constitution Act (1982) came into force, Indigenous rights were not considered and Treaty rights were disregarded. Canadian policy and its legislation were designed and enacted to,

This Canadian policy of Aboriginal assimilation was given to Canada by Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. It was put into action with legislation that designed and forced non-Indigenous educational systems, social policies and economic developments on Indigenous Peoples to extinguish Indigenous rights, culture, and infrastructure. The purpose of forced Aboriginal assimilation was the extensive annexation of Indigenous lands and resources - the colonization of Canada.

The nation of Canada's base was built in a way that did not recognize a place in Canada's future for Indigenous Peoples. In keeping with that vision, polices that forced Aboriginal assimilation to non-Indigenous societal constructs and displaced Indigenous Peoples were put into place. These policies and their enforcing legislation and services structures created two paths in Canada:

"... one for non-Aboriginal Canadians with full participation in the affairs of their communities, province and nation; and one for the people of the First Nations, separated from provincial and national life, and henceforth to exist in communities where their traditional governments were ignored, undermined and suppressed, and whose colonization was as profound as it would prove to be immutable over the ensuing decades."3

Historical Assimilation Tools:

The essence of the policy of Aboriginal assimilation is that Indigenous Peoples in Canada have no rights unless they assimilate and become Canadian (enfranchisement). Canada apologized for and renounced this policy of Aboriginal assimilation on June 11, 2008. However, nothing really changed. This is because the policy of assimilation is deeply embedded into the fabric of Canada.

In practical terms, the policy of assimilation gave rise to other policies. These secondary policies, whether individually conceived or functional derivatives, dictated legislation, regulations, and services from which programs, or a lack thereof, were created. These secondary policies are 'assimilate-by' policies or 'assimilation tools'

There were a large number of these assimilation tools. We will introduce a few. Indigenous people are assimilated by:

1. Breach of Promise: Unfulfilled treaties that deny Indigenous rights.

2. Exclusion: Creating legislation that excludes Indigenous rights.

3. Legislation: Creating legislation against Indigenous rights and culture, the Indian Act.

4. Cultural Destruction: Cultural genocide from residential schools and provincial child welfare agencies, the Indian Act, forced relocation and provincial education systems.

5. Attrition: Selective funding and infrastructure development to support non-Indigenous definitions of development and civilization.

6. Acquisition: Crown ownership versus inherent and international Indigenous rights to land and resource ownership.

7. Abuse of Power: The Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada's role in maintaining barriers, blocking Meaningful Consultation and preventing reconciliation.

Legislation, regulation, services, and programs, or a lack thereof, created from these secondary assimilate-by policies were Embedded Forced Assimilation Barriers (EFABs) that prevented the advancement of inherent, international and constitutionally guaranteed Indigenous rights in Canada. Many of these EFABs were found in INAC, but many others were dispersed throughout the legislative framework of Canada. Canada's policy of assimilation will remain active until all assimilate-by policies are identified and EFABs removed. Some of them have been removed.

1. Unfulfilled Treaties:

For almost all intents and purposes, these early treaties have been broken. 5 They, are however, still Memorandums of Understanding between two nations. 6 These treaties denote the intent of two sovereign nations to share the land and its resources in mutual respect. 7 It is the view of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples that:

"... the Crown is under a fiduciary obligation to implement such measures as are required to reverse this colonial imbalance and help restore its relationship with treaty nations to a true partnership. This will require the Crown to take positive steps toward this end as well as to refrain from taking actions that will frustrate it."8

In 1982, section 35 of the Constitution Act recognized and affirmed present and future Treaty rights in Canada. However, these rights are limited to the pencilled-in rights of the treaty. The larger issue of Indigenous sovereignty to land and resources not extinguished because early treaties were unfulfilled is still an unresolved issues.

2. Non-Recognition of Rights:

The current problem with the inclusion of Aboriginal rights into legislation is that Aboriginal rights are granted and defined by the Crown for Indigenous Peoples, not by Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous rights are actually something referred to as Immemorial rights. The recognition of Aboriginal rights in section 35 is actually part of a the modern assimilation tool chest that excludes sovereign Indigenous Immemorial rights. The Indigenous rights that should be included into legislation are Immemorial rights.

The Indian Act has remained essentially unchanged to the day of writing, 13 although communities can opt out of certain sections if they have other federal government-approved regulatory systems in place. In the words of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996),

"A royal commission cannot make laws. It can inform and recommend, however. In that role, we can call attention to the factors, attitudes and continuing assumptions that brought about the Indian Act and that continue to prevent progress in moving away from the restrictive Indian Act vision. Those factors are to be found in past assumptions and the shadows they have cast on present attitudes. They must be recognized for what they are and cast away as the useless legacy of destructive doctrines that are as inappropriate now as they were when first conceived.If this review of the foundations of the Indian Act has shown these assumptions for what they are, it will have succeeded as the first step in entering a new era of partnership between governments and Indians. Paradoxically, this new partnership is also a very old partnership, indeed, older than the Indian Act and what it represents ."14 [Emphasis Added]

4. Cultural Genocide:

a. Indian Act:

1. The abolition of Indigenous status as independent, self-governed peoples;

2. Legislated rules for band membership;

3. Abolition of traditional political systems;

4. Imposition of federally-controlled election systems;

5. Banning spiritual Indigenous activities;

6. Formal creation of residential and industrial schools administrated by religious clergy; and,

7. Mandatory school attendance for Indigenous children with the later imposition of fines and jail sentences for parents who failed to comply.

b. Residential Schools:

Article 2: "In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

a. Killing members of the group;

b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. "

Prior to 1948, the term genocide did not exist. The recognition of the crime of genocide and the development of international law against it was the direct result of world reaction to the Jewish holocaust and other Nazi extermination policies. Genocide may not have existed prior to 1948:

"... however, the actions of Britain and the settler governments in Australia and Canada clearly demonstrated that the practice of genocide did."20

c. Child Welfare Agencies:

"In many ways, the child welfare system put First Nations children under more pressure to assimilate than did the residential school system ... And, with all this pressure, assimilation may have succeeded had it not been for mainstream Canadians' racist attitude towards people who were visibly of First Nations descent. It was their visibility which prevented many First Nations peoples from being accepted in mainstream society and which, consequently, made it impossible for them to assimilate.."23

"For purposes of Canadian law, we believe that the definition of genocide should be drawn somewhat more narrowly than in the international Convention so as to include only killing and its substantial equivalents ... The other components of the international definition, viz, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group and forcibly transferring children of one group to another group with the intent to destroy the group we deem inadvisable for Canada- the former because it is considerably less than a substantial equivalent of killing in our existing legal framework, the latter because it seems to have been intended to cover certain historical incidents in Europe that have little essential relevance to Canada where mass transfers of children to another group are unknown."28

5. Selective Funding:

One perception of the policy of forced Aboriginal assimilation was as a duty to civilize Indigenous people. Federal legislation was created that purposely designed educational systems, social policies and economic developments to assimilate Indigenous Peoples into a better way of life. As a direct consequence of Canada's policy on forced Aboriginal assimilation, two paths were laid out at confederation:

"... one for non-Aboriginal Canadians with full participation in the affairs of their communities, province and nation; and one for the people of the First Nations, separated from provincial and national life, and henceforth to exist in communities where their traditional governments were ignored, undermined and suppressed, and whose colonization was as profound as it would prove to be immutable over the ensuing decades."31

Indigenous Peoples simply had to choose enfranchisement, becoming non-Indigenous, to enjoy full participation in the affairs of Canada.

While the Indian Act, and the administration it produced, had the objective of displacement and assimilation for enfranchising Indigenous Peoples, most policy makers and individuals working with Indigenous people knew nothing about that objective by the 1950's. Non-Indigenous Canadians simply believed that mainstream, non-Indigenous Canada was the only worthwhile way to live in Canada; they truly wanted the best for Indigenous individuals. 32 The Hawthorn Report (1966) 33 and its recommendations still guide much of the federal policy derived from this benevolence towards Indigenous Nations. In this policy, help is only available for Indigenous Peoples if the non-Indigenous path is chosen. Examples of this can be seen in the following recommendations from the Hawthorn Report:

The Hawthorn Report supported its policy recommendations for non-Indigenous education, economic development, government and social welfare with recommendations for 100's of millions of dollars in funding. Federal and provincial authorities applied many of the Hawthorn Report's recommendations and provided funding for education, economic development, government and social welfare systems. Unfortunately, all funding was for non-Indigenous-based streams of education, economic development, government and social welfare. No funding was provided for culture-based Indigenous education, economic development, government and social welfare.

The Hawthorn Report paved the way for a new era in forced Aboriginal assimilation in Canada. Provincial and federal governments provided funding to Indigenous Peoples only if their request fell within government funding models. Funding models invariably provided funds for non-Indigenous solutions to Indigenous problems; problems that arose from the policy of forced assimilation. All funding for culture-based Indigenous solutions to Indigenous problems was denied because these solutions fell outside government program funding models.

This policy is still active in Canada and forces the assimilation of Indigenous Peoples by selectively funding only non-Indigenous solutions for education, economic development, government, social welfare and more.

In September 2007, the United Nations passed resolution 61/295, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples(UNDRIP). 34 Canada is withholding inherent International rights to:

 Self-determination and self-government;

 Pursue economic, social, and cultural development;

 Own and manage lands and resources; and,

The withholding of these rights prevents Indigenous Nations from rebuilding traditional culture-based infrastructures needed to end the cycle of poverty and forced assimilation. Closed doors to sovereign Indigenous Immemorial rights coupled with open doors to non-Indigenous or Crown-granted Aboriginal rights are the hallmark of today's expression of the policy of forced Aboriginal assimilation in Canada.

Canada is in apparent violation of Articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39 and 40 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada continues to withhold these international Indigenous rights while Canada's land mass, rich in natural resources, is occupied by impoverished Indigenous Peoples. Canada presents Indigenous Nations with only two alternatives, assimilate or maintain the status quo of poverty.

1. Assimilate;

2. Maintain the status quo with Canada;

3. Choose an internal form of self-determination within Canada;

4. Choose another nation as a partner; or,

5. Choose to take their place as an independent nation directly under the protection of the United Nations.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples contains a process within Articles 19 and 27 for resolving and preventing conflict between Indigenous Peoples and colonizing nations. That process is consultation.

7. Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada:

3. Church Mission which focussed on teaching colonial morality so that adult Indigenous people would become Christian, civilized and educated; assimilated and ready for enfranchisement into Canada. The mission work was administered by INAC.

4. Residential schools used to force the assimilation of Indigenous children. They were administered for INAC by other, usually religious, organizations.

1. Indigenous people are inherently inferior and incapable of governing themselves;

2. Treaties and other agreements are not covenants of trust and obligation, and, are less expensive and more acceptable tools than armed conflict. They are bureaucratic Memorandums of Understanding to be formally acknowledged but ignored when convenient. Policy, legislation, regulations and programs can run roughshod over treaty obligations;

3. Wardship is appropriate for Indigenous peoples. Actions deemed to be of benefit for Indigenous people can be taken unilaterally without their consent or involvement in design or implementation; and,

4. Concepts of development are defined for Indigenous people by non-Indigenous values. This applies to the individual, community and nation. This concept of development is equally applied whether to civilization and assimilation, or, resource development and exploitation of the land.

These prejudiced assumptions are a reflection of the time in which they were formed, a time of ignorance, displacement and forced assimilation. Under these conditions, bigoted assumptions prospered and became incorporated into government policies. These policies were an abuse of Canada's fiduciary responsibility to Indigenous Peoples enabling INAC to abuse its power over Indigenous people and their land.

"We also draw attention to the abuse of power that took place - not just periodic unfairness, but excessive and systematic political dominance, reflected in both the processes and the outcomes of governance ... Once the cycle has begun, however, cause and effect can be, and often are, interactive; abuse of power produces new ideas that are false."39

INAC's abuse of power reveals itself by virtue of its actions. The power abuse has two telltale attributes: 40

1. The crude, unjust intrusiveness of the instruments used by INAC against Indigenous Peoples. These policy tools were not designed to guide and influence Indigenous people. They were tools meant to invade lands, lives, families, and homes. These tools included:

2. Forced Residential Schooling;

3. Forced Relocations; and,

4. Wardship.

2. The unimpeded exercise of INAC's authority and its accompanying bureaucratic refusal to change. INAC has often administered in a punitive fashion or with unconscionable use of bureaucratic power. The department should be guided by Ministerial authority but the institution that is INAC maintains its own status quo, refusing to change.

No amount of Ministerial or Prime Ministerial delegation changed INAC's policies or direction; including, the public apology given to Indigenous Peoples by Prime Minister Harper in 2008.

"... the more intrusive the agencies and instruments of policy were, the harder they were to unravel and change. The exercise of unbridled authority leads inevitably to resistance to change and to a perverse inertia ...41"

Current Assimilation Policies:

Indigenous People need to be given back tools taken from them through which solutions can be built; tools destroyed by the policy of forced assimilation. These tools are normally found within core societal infrastructure. Core Indigenous infrastructures that have been completely or partially destroyed include:

Indigenous Peoples need to rebuild their infrastructures based on their sovereignty and their Immemorial rights to realize self-determination. This can not happen if colonization and assimilation has ended in Canada. To do this, the Framework of Colonization must be dismantled.

Unfortunately, the Framework of Colonization remains intact in Canada. Most of the historic assimilation policies are still in place in one form or another. However, Indigenous assimilation did get a facelift with some new secondary, assimilate-by, policies. These include:

1. An alternate rights regime that replaces sovereign Indigenous Immemorial rights;

2. Crown-Delegated Jurisdictions that replace sovereign Indigenous societal institutions and government; and,

3. The denial of sovereign and international rights to self-determination.

The rest of this section of the website will address these four areas.

1. Oxoford on-line Dictionary. Accessed 2018-06-17 https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/colonization

2. (1965) Montgomery, Malcolm. The Six Nations Indians and the Macdonald Franchise. Ontario History 57: p. 13.

15. (1995) Armitage, A. Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia: p. 78.

16. (2002) Chrisjohn, R.D., Wasacase, W., Nussey, L., Smith, A., Legault, M., Loiselle, P. and Bourgeois, M. Genocide and Indian Residential Schooling: The Past is Present. In Wiggers, R.D. & Griffiths, A.L (eds), Canada and International Humanitarian Law: Peacekeeping and War Crimes in the Modern Era. Halifax: Dalhousie University Press: 2002.

17. (1922) Peter H. Bryce, The Story of a National Crime: Being and Appeal for Justice to the Indians of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario, James Hope & Sons, Ltd.

18. (1986) Barman, J. (Ed) Indian Education in Canada, Vol. 1, The Legacy. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia.: p. 8.

20. (1995) Armitage, A. Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia: p. 6.

21. (1995) Armitage, A. Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia.

23. (1995) Armitage, A. Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia: p. 120-121.

24. (2002) Wiggers, R.D. & Griffiths, A.L (eds), Canada and International Humanitarian Law: Peacekeeping and War Crimes in the Modern Era. Halifax: Dalhousie University Press.

25. (1973) Davis, R., and Zannis, M. The Genocide Machine in Canada: The Pacification of the North. Montréal, Québec. Black Rose Books.

26. (1986) Barman, J. (Ed) Indian Education in Canada, Vol. 1, The Legacy. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia.

28. (1973) A Quote from the Special Committee on Hate Propaganda in Canada. In Davis, R., and Zannis, M. The Genocide Machine in Canada: The Pacification of the North. Montréal, Québec. Black Rose Books: p. 23.

30. (1995) Armitage, A. Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia: p. 6.

32. (1995) Armitage, A. Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia: p. 121.

34. (2007) Resolution 61/295. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. http://caid.ca/UNIndDec010208.pdf

36. (1995) Armitage, A. Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. UBC Press, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia: p. 95-97.

42. (1996) Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Volume 2: Restructuring the Relationship. Part Two: Appendix A: Summary of Recommendations in Volume 2, Parts One and Two. Canada Communication Group - Publishing, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0S9. http://caid.ca/RRCAP2.APP.A.pdf

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Last Updated October 15, 2018

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canadian policy of forced aboriginal assimilation

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canada's policy of forced aboriginal assimilation

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Polices of Forced Aboriginal Assimilation in Canada

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The historic foundation of assimilation policies has not changed but the face of modern assimilation policy has. Assimlation has a foundation with the Doctrine of Discovery, assumed sovereignty, enfranchisement, and the four fundamental tools of Indian Residential Schools, wardship, forced community relocations and the Indian Act.

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Watch this video for an introduction to the term "Indigenous"

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The word Indigenous — explained l CBC Kids News

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Click the link for a detailed list of different terminology for Indigenous Peoples that have evolved over time.

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We've talked about the definition of Indigenous Peoples and the constitutional significance of Indigenous or Aboriginal. In this article we drill down on guidelines for usage. Terms for Indigenous Peoples have evolved over time and are continuing to evolve.

The First Peoples of this land now known as Canada formerly had unique communities with unique names - there wasn't a need for collective nouns or complicated terminology. With European contact and ensuing colonization, the government required people to be defined and labeled for ease of governing.

Aboriginal Peoples

The collective noun used in the Constitution Act 1982 and includes the Indian (or First Nations), Inuit and Metis Peoples so legally it will always have a place at the terminology table.

Can:

Use interchangeably with First Peoples

Use interchangeably with First Nations

Use interchangeably with Indigenous Peoples

Caution:

If using interchangeably with First Nations note that some First Nations prefer not to be called Aboriginal Peoples

If using this, it should always be Aboriginal Peoples together as opposed to Aboriginal or Aboriginals.

First Nation(s)

First Nation is a term used to identify Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Métis nor Inuit. This term came into common usage in the 1970s to replace the term "Indian" and "Indian band" which many find offensive. First Nations people includes both status and non-status Indians so there's a need to careful with its usage, especially if in reference to programs that are specifically for status-Indians.

There is no legal definition for First Nation and it is acceptable as both a noun and a modifier.

Can:

Use to refer to a single band or the plural First Nations for many bands

Use "First Nation community" is a respectful alternative phrase

Use instead of "Indian" when referring to an individual

Caution:

If using interchangeably with Aboriginal Peoples as some First Nations people don't like the term Aboriginal Peoples

If using interchangeably with First Nations as some may have more preference for Indigenous Peoples, for example First Nation communities in Ontario have expressed publicly and politically that they prefer Indigenous Peoples.

Indian

"Indian" is the legal identity of an Indigenous person who is registered under the Indian Act.

One story about the origin of the term "Indian" dates back to Christopher Columbus, who mistakenly thought he had reached the East Indies, so referred to the people in the lands he visited as "indios" which is Spanish for Indian.

Can:

Use in direct quotations

Use when citing titles of books, works of art, etc.

Use in discussions of history where necessary for clarity and accuracy

Use in discussions of some legal/constitutional matters requiring precision in terminology

Use in discussions of rights and benefits provided on the basis of "Indian" status

Use in statistical information collected using these categories (e.g., the Census)" [1]

Caution:

If using in front of individuals as some may deem it is derogatory and outdated and call you out on it.

There are categories of "Indian":

1. Status Indians - are those who are registered under the Indian Act

2. *Non-status Indians - are those who generally speaking have two distinct qualities: (1) they lack status under the Indian Act; and (2) they have Indian heritage; in other words, they have lost their status or whose ancestors were never registered or who lost their status under former or current provisions of the Indian Act

3. Treaty Indians - are those who are members of a community whose ancestors signed a treaty with the Crown and as a result are entitled to treaty benefits.

Indigenous Peoples

A collective noun for First Nations, Inuit Metis and growing in popularity in Canada. In " Indigenous or Aboriginal - Which is correct " we explore the difference.

Can:

Use interchangeably with First Peoples

Use interchangeably with First Nations

Use interchangeably with Aboriginal Peoples

Caution:

If using interchangeably with First Nations as some may have more preference for Indigenous Peoples, for example First Nation communities in Ontario have expressed publicly and politically that they prefer Indigenous Peoples

Inuit

Indigenous people in northern Canada, living mainly in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, northern Quebec and Labrador. Ontario has a very small Inuit population. Inuit are not covered by the Indian Act.

Can:

Use Inuk when referring to an individual Inuit person

Use Inuuk when referring to two people; for three or more people, it is Inuit

Inuit People - in the Inuktitut language the term Inuit translates to "the people".

Caution:

Eskimo as it is considered derogatory. Here's some more information on terminology related to Inuit Peoples of the World

Inuit are not the same as Innu as Innu are an Indigenous group that primarily live in northeastern Quebec and southern Labrador

Métis Peoples

Métis Peoples are people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry. The Métis National Council adopted the following definition of "Métis" in 2002: "Métis" means a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation." *Métis are now covered by the Indian Act.

Can:

Use in reference to 'persons whose ancestors inhabited Canada and received land grants and/or scrip" [2]

Use in reference to those who self-identify as Métis

Caution:

Some people may refer to themselves as Metis but upon further research they might fit more into non-status Indian than Metis; for example, "Barbara" self-identifies as a Métis person but with some exploratory questions you discover she lost her status in 1981 upon marriage to a non-status Indian; Barbara doesn't meet the criteria as Métis person based upon the definition above.

Native
An outdated collective term referring to Indians (Status, Non-status, Treaty), Métis, and Inuit but has largely been replaced by Indigenous. While some First Nations individuals refer to themselves as "Native" that doesn't give non-Indigenous people license to do so.

Can:

Use when working with organizations such as the Native Women's Association of Canada

Use when an individual self identifies using this term.

Caution:

Use it sparingly as some see it as derogatory and outdated. The term was popular in the colonial and settler era.

A couple of notes on punctuation:

Always capitalize Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Nation, Inuit, Métis as a sign of respect the same way that English, French and Spanish etc are capitalized.

Avoid using possessive phrases like "Canada's Indigenous Peoples" or "our Indigenous Peoples" as that has connotations of ownership. Perhaps go with "Indigenous Peoples of Canada"

We're not sure why, but the plural possessive for First Nations, Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples does not generally use the apostrophe so you won't see, for example, "First Nations' land"

We hearken back to our main terminology training tip here which is "always go with what people are calling themselves". It requires some research but it will be worth the effort. You can watch this Vancouver Board of Trade video here to get my pro tip for research on this topic. Hint: it's "call the community office after hours to listen to the recorded message."

* Non-status Indians and Métis historically were not covered by the Indian Act but as of the Supreme Court of Canada decision on April 14, 2016, they are now considered Indians; how this will affect their rights has not been determined at this time.

[1] Strategic Alliance for Broadcasters for Aboriginal Reflection

[2] Aboriginal Peoples: Terminology and Identity, Library of Parliament Research Publications

If you're looking for more information on terminology grab yourself a copy of this little ebook by simply clicking the book cover icon.

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Indigenous Peoples terminology guidelines for usage

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We've talked about the definition of Indigenous Peoples and the constitutional significance of Indigenous or Aboriginal. In this article we drill down on guidelines for usage. Terms for Indigenous Peoples have evolved over time and are continuing to evolve.

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Click the article below to learn about the Doctrine of Discovery, which established a spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians.

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Summary

The Doctrine of Discovery established a spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians. Foundational elements of the Doctrine of Discovery can be found in a series of papal bulls, or decrees, beginning in the 1100s, which included sanctions, enforcements, authorizations, explusions, admonishments, excommunications, denunciations, and expressions of territorial sovereignty for Christian monarchs supported by the Catholic Church. Two papal bulls, in particular, stand out: (1) Pope Nicholas V issued "Romanus Pontifex" in 1455, granting the Portuguese a monopoly of trade with Africa and authorizing the enslavement of local people; (2) Pope Alexander VI issued the Papal Bull " Inter Caetera " in 1493 to justify Christian European explorers' claims on land and waterways they allegedly discovered, and promote Christian domination and superiority, and has been applied in Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas.

The 1493 Papal decree aimed to justify Christian European explorers' claims on land and waterways they allegedly discovered, and promote Christian domination and superiority, and has been applied in Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas. If an explorer proclaims to have discovered the land in the name of a Christian European monarch, plants a flag in its soil, and reports his "discovery" to the European rulers and returns to occupy it, the land is now his, even if someone else was there first. Should the original occupants insist on claiming that the land is theirs, the "discoverer" can label the occupants' way of being on the land inadequate according to European standards. This ideology supported the dehumanization of those living on the land and their dispossession, murder, and forced assimilation. The Doctrine fueled white supremacy insofar as white European settlers claimed they were instruments of divine design and possessed cultural superiority.

The significance of the Doctrine continues to be debated. According to David Wilkins, "it is more complicated than just saying the Pope gave European Catholics the rights to colonize and convert. In reality, the absolute denial of Native land rights was replaced less than fifty years later when Charles V... sought the advice of Francisco de Vitoria ... as to what the Spanish could legally and morally claim in the New World. Vitoria, in a clear rebuttal to the Pope and the discovery notion, declared that Native peoples were the true owners of their lands."

The Doctrine of Discovery was the inspiration in the 1800s for the Monroe Doctrine, which declared U.S. hegemony over the Western Hemisphere, and Manifest Destiny, which justified American expansion westward by propagating the belief that the U.S. was destined to control all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific and beyond.

In an 1823 Supreme Court case, Johnson v. M'Intosh, the Doctrine of Discovery became part of U.S. federal law and was used to dispossess Native peoples of their land. In a unanimous decision, Chief Justice John Marshall writes, "that the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands"[1] and Native peoples certain rights of occupancy.

We study the Doctrine of Discovery to listen to voices that have been silenced and disregarded for centuries. These voices tell a frequently overlooked story about the origins of the United States.

COMPELLING QUESTION

How did European explorers and colonial settlers use the Doctrine of Discovery to justify the taking of Native peoples' land in what became the United States?

SourceS

David Wilkins, " Deconstructing the Doctrine of Discovery," Indian Country Today Media Network, October 24, 2014.

Pope Alexander VI, "Inter Caetera," May 4, 1493. Retrieved from http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Alex06/alex06inter.htm

Robert J. Miller, Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008).

United Nations General Assembly resolution 61/295. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (13 September 2007), available from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf( excerpt PDF)

EXCERPTS

"Inter Caetera"

"Deconstructing the Doctrine of Discovery"
Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
HANDOUT

Questions & Activities

1. Read this excerpt of the Bull Inter Caetera issued by Pope Alexander VI.

What is the significance of the fact that the Bull was written in 1493?

What did you learn about the relationship between the Church and the Monarchy?

How does Pope Alexander justify Spain's dominion over other peoples' land?

2. Examine this excerpt from Native America, Discovered and Conquered.

Define the purpose of the Doctrine of Discovery.

How did the Founding Fathers use the Doctrine of Discovery?

Choose one of the ten elements to Discovery and explain how you think it was applied to dispossess Native peoples of their land.

3. What is the main point David Wilkins makes about the Doctrine of Discovery in this excerpt from his article? How does his perspective compare to Robert J. Miller's ideas in Native America, Discovered and Conquered?

4. Read this excerpt from the Preambular to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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Doctrine of Discovery - Upstander Project

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The Doctrine of Discovery established a spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians. Foundational elements of the Doctrine of Discovery can be found in a series of papal bulls, or decrees, beginning in the 1100s, which included sanctions, enforcements, authorizations, explusions, admonishments, excommunications, denunciations, and expressions of territorial sovereignty for Christian monarchs supported by the Catholic Church.

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Read this article, published in the New York Times in 1975, about the Chippewa activist Adam Nordwall.

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The idea that the United States is destined, by God, to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.

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Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845, is the idea that the United States is destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread

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Check out this map of Canada to find the First Nations communities, reserves, and Tribal Councils that are in your area and in other provinces across the country.

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Web Experience Toolkit (WET) includes reusable components for building and maintaining innovative Web sites that are accessible, usable, and interoperable. These reusable components are open source software and free for use by departments and external Web communities

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Adventure Family Travel - Wandering Wagars

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Canada is rich in Indigenous history. Thousands of years before Europeans arrived, Indigenous people thrived across the land. Many Indigenous traditions still thrive among the Indigenous communities. My family and I have been lucky enough to have taken part in incredible celebrations and traditions during our Aboriginal road trip through Quebec as well as amazing Indigenous experiences right here in Ontario. To celebrate these experiences, I wanted to share some of my favorite Indigenous recipes and Indigenous-inspired recipes that you can make at home.

Indigenous experiences in Canada should be a part of everyone's travels in the country, whether they are local or from abroad. Whether you're experiencing a pow wow for the first time or taking part in an Indigenous storytelling experience, you'll gain a much richer sense of what it means to be Canadian.

Nowadays, Indigenous fusion restaurants have begun springing up across the country. Places like the Hotel Musee Premiere Nations in Wendake Quebec are examples of traditional Indigenous-inspired recipes being used in high-end restaurants. And from Vancouver to Toronto, more and more Indigenous restaurants have popped up as a greater audience recognizes the amazing flavors and health benefits of traditional Indigenous foods.

What Is Indigenous Food Like?

Indigenous recipes are often based on traditional ingredients. This often means combining the three sisters or the three staples that make up much of the traditional Indigenous diet in North America. The three sisters consist of corn, squash, and beans. The story behind the tradition of the three sisters is one worth knowing before you begin.

Many Indigenous meals begin with a base of plants and meat that can be harvested from the land and sea around us. Many traditional Indigenous recipes use moose, caribou, elk, seal, buffalo, rabbit, salmon, and more. Plants such as corn, squash, fiddleheads, wild rice, nuts, and berries were used as well

Food was, and still is a very important part of Indigenous life. And traditionally, every part of the animal was used for either food, clothing, tools, or shelter. Eating traditional isn't just delicious, there are loads of health benefits to eating fresh Indigenous cuisine as well. By sticking to food that isn't processed, you ensure that you know exactly what you're eating.

Here Are My Favorite Indigenous-Inspired Recipes To Make At Home

My family absolutely loves attending pow wows. The dancing and revelry is a big part of that. But another huge part of the fun of attending a pow wow is the mouthwatering food you find everywhere. Often when we come home from one of the local celebrations we'll whip up some of our favorite Indigenous-inspired meals so we can re-live the experience.

We're always looking for new Indigenous experiences in Canada, but while we spend our time exploring we'll continue to try new Indigenous foods at home and on our travels. And to help you enjoy them as well, I've created this list of my favorite Indigenous recipes that you can make at home.

Easy Bannock And Berries Recipe

There are few foods that I associate more with Indigenous recipes than bannock and berries. I grew up eating this tasty treat at childhood camps before learning of its aboriginal origins. Bannock and berries are as much a comfort food as they are a staple among the first people of Turtle Island.

My family has gone on to make this dish at the Great Spirit Circle Trail on Manitoulin Island in Ontario as well as on a Wendake storytelling experience in Montreal, Quebec. And I think we've got the recipe and the technique squared off!

Bannock is a super easy Indigenous recipe. But it can be varied in the way its served. Traditionally it's a simple combination of flour and water. It can be deep-fried, baked, or, as is traditional, cooked on a stick over an open flame. You can serve bannock with meat, with stew, or, my favorite, enjoy bannock with wild berries.

Three Sisters Soup

There are few foods that are more steeped in lore among the Indigenous people in Canada than the three sisters. Corn, squash, and beans can be found at the center of many traditional Indigenous recipes. These were three vegetables that were in abundance and the various nations would build their agriculture systems with them at the core.

Three Sisters soup was a dish that my family first tasted on our Amishk Adventures glamping experience in Quebec. The soup was hearty and tasty, and we were all asking for seconds before our bowls were nearly empty. It may have been from a hunger built from hiking and canoeing in search of massive beaver dams. But even now we can't seem to make enough of this Three Sisters soup.

Barbecue Chicken FryBread Tacos (Indian Tacos or Navajo Tacos)

Frybread tacos are one of the classic pow wow fares. This delicious dish caused me a lot of concern when I went to my first pow wow. That's because, at most Indigenous events, it's listed as an "Indian Taco," in the north, and "Navajo Taco" further south. And I'll be honest, I just wasn't comfortable saying it. I fumbled over the right words to use and finally muttered "uhh, I'll have an, um, number 6 please." The lady behind me in line laughed heartily and clapped me on the back in pity.

These tacos are crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. They're normally topped with ground beef or chicken. These Indigenous tacos are then layered with shredded lettuce, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, and corn. Although you can top them to your taste really.

Frybread tacos are by no means one of the traditional Indigenous recipes. They take various elements of cultures throughout the Americas, both ancient and modern. But the result is one of my family's all-time favorite Indigenous dishes.

Moose Stew (Can Be Substituted With Beef)

Nothing is better on a cold day than a rich and hearty bowl of stew. For those who enjoy the fall hunt and bring back fresh game meat to share with friends and family, this moose stew recipe is a perfect way to prepare and celebrate the animal that will nourish you through the winter months.

This is based on Indigenous recipes for moose. However, those who don't hunt or cook with game meat can easily substitute the moose meat with beef, bison, or any high-quality red meat. Personally, I love combining this Indigenous-inspired recipe with bannock or frybread for dipping into the hearty gravy.

Indigenous-Style Blueberry Pie

Wild berries have always been a major part of the harvest. Berry picking is one of my family's all-time best summer activities. This blueberry pie recipe is based on an Indigenous recipe that I learned while my son and I were traveling in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They were serving it at a local festival we went to which featured loads of great storytelling and dancing. It was so delicious that I cornered the woman who made it and wouldn't stop complimenting her until she finally relented and gave me the recipe.

What do you think of these easy Indigenous recipes? Do they make for a simple First Nations meal, or would you substitute for something else? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Or swing over to our Facebook page and say hello!
Wandering Wagars is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
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5 Indigenous-Inspired Recipes To Make At Home

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Canada is rich in Indigenous history. Thousands of years before Europeans arrived, Indigenous people thrived across the land. Many Indigenous traditions still thrive among the Indigenous communities. My family and I have been lucky enough to have taken part in incredible celebrations and traditions during our Aboriginal road trip through Quebec as well as amazing Indigenous experiences right here in Ontario.

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The chef preserving Canada's Indigenous identity

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The chef preserving Canada's Indigenous identity

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In recent years, First Nation chefs like Marie-Cecile Nottaway have been reclaiming their families' generations-old recipes to feed new audiences. Learn about her holistic relationship with food, cooking, and the environment.

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50 Reasons to Love the World - 2021

Why do you love the world?

"Because when we had to stay home during Covid-19 and there was neither work nor school, I was finally able to go sugar-bushing [in rural Quebec] with my daughter for the entire season - making pikoodinigan for four or five weeks." - Marie-Cecile Nottaway, chef
More Reasons to Love the World

Growing up alongside moose, bear and the more than 4,000 lakes dotting Canada's Parc de la Vérendrye wildlife reserve in Quebec, Marie-Cecile Nottaway knew that, like other members of the Algonquin First Nation, she had to catch her food before she could cook it.

At eight years old, she was already a proficient hunter who could set rabbit snares by herself. "I'd put my snowshoes on in the morning and do my 2 or 3km trek to set them up," she said. "Then the next day, I'd go over my tracks again and bring back a couple of rabbits!"

She knew how to clean her catch, too. And as she carved into the animal, she chose to whom in her family she would bequeath the rabbit head, which was considered a delicacy. "I would give it to a relative who was nice to me," Nottaway said. After she cut up the meat, she would watch her Kokom (grandmother) cook it into a rabbit stew on the open fire behind her shack. "Once it was tender, we'd add potatoes and then mix some batter to make dumplings," she recalled. The meal had to be big enough to feed her entire family - more than a dozen people.

Her Kokom cooked other game that Nottaway's family hunted - moose, deer or beaver, which Nottaway said tasted of water and earth. She made treats, too, like a maple-sap toffee called pikoodinigan in Algonquin. You could only make pikoodinigan in early spring, when trees swelled with sap. Her Kokom would pack some cast-iron pots and aluminium sheet pans, trek a few kilometres to a swath of maple trees, pitch a tent or build a small shack, and settle there for a month to do "sugar-bushing". She would draw the maple sap, cook it into a thick, sweet goo over an open fire, stirring vigorously, and then pour it onto the pans to congeal into crunchy, mahogany-coloured toffee.

" Ashee k é ygat," she would yell at the kids running around, salivating at the sweet-smelling treats. "That meant 'it's almost ready', so we knew to get out of the way because the pot was hot," Nottaway explained.

The sugar-bushing season is one of Nottaway's favourite memories. After her Kokom had made enough toffee for a year, she'd thank the trees for nourishing her family, tell the kids to do the same and head back to her shack.

Shadowing her Kokom, Nottaway started cooking early, but she never thought she would be an award-winning chef. Now, she holds five prizes - including the Ottawa Rising Stars Award and the Young Entrepreneurs Award of Quebec - while staying true to her roots. For her, eating and cooking in a traditional Algonquin way is a way of remembering and preserving her history and culture.

"I continue to eat the traditional foods because this is who I am," she said.

Today, Nottaway represents a growing number of Canadian Indigenous chefs diligently preserving and restoring their familial recipes and food traditions - a movement that's part of a broader cultural reconciliation between Canadians of European descent and First Nations peoples whose ancestors were displaced centuries ago.

"The rise of Indigenous chefs and cuisine is a critical sign and part of reconciliation," said geographer Lenore Newman at the University of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. "It is part of the Indigenous people claiming back their cultural sovereignty."

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"I learned to cook in the bush," Nottaway said, but she also realised education was important and went to culinary school. She graduated from Algonquin College in 2005, and then settled in Kitigan Zibi, a First Nations' reserve located 130km north of Ottawa. In 2009, she opened her own company, Wawatay Catering, out of her home, which prepares dishes like braised deer with tea, game stews and wild rice sushi, inspired by her Kokom's simple recipes. The name means "Northern Lights" in Algonquin and holds a special meaning.

"We believe that the Northern Lights are the colours of the spirits of our ancestors," Nottaway said. "They guide us from the spirit world."

Nottaway's ancestors guided her well. Over the years, the Indigenous cooking she prepares in her log-house kitchen has not only reached new audiences throughout Quebec, but she's also become something of a cultural ambassador for Algonquin cuisine. Five years ago, Nottaway fed former Canadian prime minister Joe Clark, who attended a lecture and dinner for truth and reconciliation in Ottawa. Another event included former Canadian governor general Michaëlle Jean. Earlier this year, she demonstrated her techniques at Restaurants Canada, the country's top food conference. Cooking with two other rising Indigenous chefs, Joseph Shawana from Toronto's Ku-Kum Kitchen and Christa Bruneau-Guenther from Winnipeg's Feast Cafe Bistro, Nottaway shared some of her Kokom's "bush-cooking" recipes.

She simmered smoked moose meat and onions in tea, served fish balls made from hand-caught carp, and made pikoodinigan. Nottaway tossed the toffee bits onto shredded, dried mushrooms while the other two chefs sprinkled blueberries and cream onto the cracked mahogany-coloured toffee dish. As the trio served the crowds forming around the tasting table, Nottaway explained that these dishes are typically eaten at Indigenous cookouts.

Bush cooking wasn't always hip. The British and French first established Canadian settlements in the 17th Century. By the 19th Century, cooking traditional Indigenous dishes in Canada carried a stigma of being poor, and of uneducated people charring bush meat on an open fire. According to Newman, from the nation's founding in 1867 through to the late 1800s, Canada's first prime minister John Alexander Macdonald tried to eradicate the nation's Indigenous residents by wiping out the very food they ate. "He killed the bison, essentially starving them," she said.

Starting in 1884, the country also ran government-sponsored assimilation programmes in which children were taken from their families and sent to "residential schools" to learn the European way of living and eating - and to forget their own culture and food. "Food is critical to a culture because cuisine is essentially a language," Newman said. Just as language, hunting, fishing and knowing how to survive in the wild are all passed down from one generation to the next in Algonquin culture, so are family recipes, which Nottaway learned by watching her Kokom cook.

Navigating the snowy forest landscape was one of the first things she learned from her mother and Kokom. "Don't go out today, the snow's falling hard, it will cover your tracks and you won't find your way home," she remembers them saying. Sometimes they suggested taking a dog to guard against the wolves, but Nottaway didn't like that advice. The dog could scare the rabbits, and she was more concerned about her prey than the predators. After all, she came from a long line of strong and resilient people who weren't scared easily.

That resilience carried Canada's First Nations through the more-than-100-year assimilation programme, which only ended in 1996. In 2008, Stephen Harper, Canada's then-prime minister formally apologised to the nation's Indigenous residents for Canada's history of forced assimilation. Then in 2017, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau again apologised for the "deep harm" inflicted on some 150,000 First Nation children through the programme.

According to Nottaway, these apologies caused Canadians who had never cared about Indigenous cuisine to suddenly become "super interested" in it. They also set the tone for a new era that allowed Canada's Indigenous populations to reclaim their identity through age-old recipes and culinary traditions, including living off the land and in harmony with that land.

Nottaway's Anishinabek family - a term encompassing several Indigenous groups and meaning "People of the Land" - has done that for generations. They know how to forage, hunt and fish with the seasons, following the food wherever it might be - rabbits in winter, blueberries in summer and maple syrup in spring. They believe that every plant and animal has a spirit.

"Before I make pikoodinigan, I always talk to my maple trees," Nottaway said. "I ask them, 'How are you guys? I hope you weren't too cold this winter. Are you ready to work?' And at the end, I say, 'Thank you for all your maple.'"

Every spring, her family also thanks the carp, which come from the bottom of Lake Rapid to spawn, so that the Anishinabek people can stock up on fish for the year. Catching carp by hand was another knack Nottaway learned early. She would wade into the creeks, stand thigh-deep in the freezing water and catch the carp in her open palms.

"You have to put your hands around them very gently, so they'd think you were just another fish. And then you'd go snap, and hold them by the heads, so they can't wiggle out!" she said. "I've taught my kids to catch carp by hand too, and we still do it every spring."

But this spring she couldn't go carp fishing because of Covid-19. She was worried that if she carried the virus, she could bring it to people who live near where the fish spawn. "That's the community where I was born, and it's so remote that they don't even have a hospital, only a little clinic," she said. "But I did speak with my fish spirit, and I said, 'I'm sorry I couldn't visit you this year because of what's going on'."

However, this spring, Nottaway was able to do something she'd never been able to do before. For years, she'd wanted to take her teenage daughter sugar-bushing, but she was always busy catering and her daughter always had school. But this year, with neither work nor school to stop them, Nottaway and her daughter packed some pots, chopped some wood and set up shop among the maple trees by their house, making pikoodinigan just like she did alongside her Kokom as a young girl.

"I didn't think it was possible for me to fall in love with sugar-bushing more than I already did," she said. "But this year I loved it even more because I could experience all of it with my daughter."

And that means the tradition lives on.

BBC Travel celebrates 50 Reasons to Love the World in 2021, through the inspiration of well-known voices as well as unsung heroes in local communities around the globe.
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The chef preserving Canada's Indigenous identity

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Why do you love the world? "Because when we had to stay home during Covid-19 and there was neither work nor school, I was finally able to go sugar-bushing [in rural Quebec] with my daughter for the entire season - making pikoodinigan for four or five weeks."

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A look at Indigenous People's and European colonizing settler's history.

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Dr. Susan Dion - The Historical Timeline as Lesson

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This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast is an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny. In the scene, an angelic woman (sometimes identified as Columbia, a nineteenth-century personification of the United States) carries the light of "civilization" westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she travels. Indigenous Peoples, buffalos and wild animals are driven into the darkness before them.

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A fight for safe water in Lytton First Nation! First hand accounts and videos from the Lytton community, just one among hundreds of First Nations that have suffered from a water crisis in Canada.

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Karen Dunstan lifts a large metal pot up to the sink and turns on the tap. The water is crisp, cold and clear, but it isn't clean. When the pot is nearly full, she puts it on the stove to boil. Only then can she and her children have a drink. For more than twenty years, this was part of her morning routine.

"You would have flu-like symptoms and have diarrhea and vomiting from drinking the water [without boiling]," says Dunstan, 53. Like many in her community, she lived under a boil water advisory for decades.

Dunstan lives in Lytton First Nation, a rural on-reserve Indigenous community of 945 people in British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province. Lytton is just one among hundreds of First Nations that have suffered from a water crisis in Canada.

Despite the fact that Canada has the world's third largest per-capita freshwater reserve, the water many Indigenous communities depend on is contaminated, difficult to access, or at risk due to faulty treatment systems.

Nestled deep in the Fraser Canyon, Lytton is centred around the confluence of two mighty waterways. It's here the dark blue-green waters of the Thompson River mix and quickly disappear into the muddy-brown water of the Fraser, British Columbia's longest river.

A patchwork of 56 reserves spread over 14,161 acres, Lytton draws its water from these rivers and the creeks feeding into them. But animal feces and agricultural activity upstream release coliforms such as E. Coli into the water, making it potentially unsafe to drink. For years, residents resorted to buying bottled water or simply drank it untreated, which elders in the community link to a number of children's deaths.

"If you go to some of our reserves you almost wonder like, wow, isn't this the 21st century? Why are they still living like that?" says Warren Brown, 45, the water operator at Lytton First Nation.

"It's like a third-world country sometimes."

A paramedic-turned-water operator, Brown is at the centre of Lytton's struggle for clean water. He spends his days travelling across the reserve lands, inspecting and maintaining water treatment facilities. If an advisory needs to be issued, Brown is the one who makes the call.

There are currently 75 long-term drinking water advisories affecting more than 50 Indigenous communities across the country, according to Indigenous Services Canada. A 2014 UN report described the water situation in First Nations reserves as "troubling," with more than half of the water systems posing medium or high health risk. Non-Indigenous communities in Canada have nowhere near this level of risk. Safe water supply off-reserves is the responsibility of the provincial governments.

But, First Nations and the reserves they live on fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. This two-tiered governance structure means that, while most communities benefit from binding provincial water quality regulations, there are no such enforceable regulations on reserves.

In March 2016, the Trudeau government announced new commitments and funds to end all long-term water advisories by 2021. It's not the first time the government has pledged money to address these issues.Past investments involving billions of dollars failed to produce lasting results. The lack of binding water quality regulations coupled with erratic funding, insufficient infrastructure and degraded water sources have led to systemic problems with drinking water on reserves.

Source: Indigenous Services Canada; First Nations Health Authority; Health Canada

The federal government holds the purse strings for water systems on reserves. When Lytton's aging Nickeyeah Creek water facility could no longer provide safe drinking water, they submitted an upgrade proposal, as required, to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (now Indigenous Services Canada, or ISC), the federal department responsible for services in Indigenous communities.

But their proposal was rejected for not being "cost effective." An engineering firm had quoted Lytton $1.3 million (£750,000) for the work - too much, the department decided, for a facility that only serviced six houses.

Warren Brown and his uncle Jim Brown, Lytton's previous water operator for 35 years, were determined to get safe drinking water for their community. A tall man with a wry smile, Jim connected with RES'EAU-WaterNet, a research network at the University of British Columbia which specialises in small, affordable water systems. RES'EAU conducted a year-long study on the facility, consulting with water operators and community members.

Because of the large distances between facilities and a small number of staff, communities like Lytton require a creative approach explains Dr. Majid Mohseni, scientific director at RES'EAU.

RES'EAU decided to build a new facility altogether. It was designed to be smaller, low on maintenance and to fit inside a shipping container - all for the price of CND $500,000 (£290,000).

When the water system was completed in 2015, the community had a celebration.

"I told the guys nobody can bring bottled water, we're drinking water right out of this [facility]. And we did," says Jim Brown.

Living with Clean Water

Karen Dunstan's house is one of the six serviced by the new facility. For the first time in her life, she no longer has to boil her water.

"Having clean drinking water from the tap is a blessing," says Dunstan.

Photo by Joanne Pearce

Even with the new treatment plant, Lytton's water problems were far from solved. While ISC is responsible for providing clean drinking water in Indigenous communities, there's a catch. It only considers groupings of five households or more as eligible for funding.

When Lytton's reserves were created, the government assigned them a patchwork of 56 parcels of land, some more than 100 kilometres apart. Many of these reserves have fewer than five houses.

"I think water should be the right of all our people, regardless of how many people are living on a certain reserve," says Warren Brown. "If there is an accessible water source then they should be doing what they can to provide potable drinking water for that community."

Ted Philips, 48, lives on a reserve with only three houses. He's been drinking untreated water his whole life.

"We were told it wasn't good but we drank it regardless... Like, we were just never told or we never knew any better," says Philips.

Warren and RES'EAU had to come up with a new solution to bring clean water to Lytton's more isolated houses, such as Philips's. They developed a Point-of-Entry (PoE) system that treats water as it enters each home and costs $10,000 per unit. So far, five homes have been fitted with one.

Lytton was fortunate to have strong local leadership and the help of RESEAU's technology and expertise. Between the Nickeyeah facility and the PoEs, 11 houses now have clean water. But thirteen houses across several reserves are required to boil or haul water, their water sources too unreliable to support a PoE. Across Canada, the situation remains worse for many other Indigenous communities.

The success found in Lytton is something Dr. Mohseni believes is scalable to a national level. "I think there is great potential," he says.

"I think it's a sustainable way of ensuring that these boil water advisories are lifted and, more importantly, remain lifted."

National Water Concerns

Grassy Narrows, an Ontario First Nation, has lived under 'do not consume' advisories since 2013, a result of industrial pollution that contaminated their water with mercury throughout the 1960s and 70s. One research report suggested 90% of residents experience the debilitating effects of mercury poisoning.

In neighbouring Manitoba, Shoal Lake 40 First Nation was cut off from its traditional source of clean drinking water in the early 1900s, with waterways diverted to provide water to the province's capital city. Since their advisory was put in place more than 20 years ago, the First Nation of 71 residents has been forced to import bottled water at an annual cost of $100,000.

While the number of boil water advisories has decreased since the government's promise, dozens of new advisories have been called. A recent report from the David Suzuki Foundation, an environmental advocacy organization, highlighted many of the challenges in achieving the` target. Many are centred around one issue: Indigenous communities do not receive enough education, training and support when it comes to water management.

The government insists it is "firmly on track" to meet the 2021 target.

"We are following this very closely with meticulous detail to have exact timelines and targets for every one of the long-term drinking water advisories that are still in place," she says.

Source: Indigenous Services Canada

Warren says if Lytton is going to continue its success, it needs to work hard to maintain its water systems. He is looking for long-term solutions within his community. He spends time training young water operators, and even conducts water facility tours for school groups, in the hope of enticing kids into the profession from an early age.

He knows it's not an easy job, and one that requires dedication. The job bears the intimate responsibility of shaping a community's relationship to their water. It means protecting and providing a kind of normal that is often taken for granted: the taste, smell, and clarity of safe drinking water.

"When I first started this job, I always just turned the tap on and the water was there. I never bothered to understand where it came from," says Warren Brown to a tour group from a local school.

He conducts these tours regularly, encouraging youth to think about where their water comes from - but, more importantly, to find the next generation of water operators.

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Karen Dunstan lifts a large metal pot up to the sink and turns on the tap. The water is crisp, cold and clear, but it isn't clean. When the pot is nearly full, she puts it on the stove to boil. Only then can she and her children have a drink.

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Find out the key principals that govern Indigenous farming practices, as well as how one community fought against a factory farm that threatened their water supply.

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First Nations and Factory Farming

Because First Nations reserves are considered federal lands they are subject to federal environmental regulations. Intensive livestock operations are regulated by provincial law so the implications of factory farm proposals bound for First Nations territory can be difficult to weigh. In 2003, Poundmaker First Nation Saskatchewan was presented with a 10,000-hog finishing barn proposal in west-central. When the band membership became aware of it, open informational meetings were organized by concerned members. The strong opposition to the hog barn forced the Chief and Council to terminate the contract with the hog company and abandon the project.

First Nations have also been affected by neighbouring factory farms. Many reserves endure poor water treatment and distribution infrastructure, and few have the resources to upgrade their facilities. This makes the impact of contaminated source water from intensive hog and cattle operations a serious concern. In 2006, the Swan Lake First Nation called for a halt to construction of a 4,400-head hog barn proposed a mile from their reserve.

First Nations and Socially Responsible Agriculture

The B.C. Food Systems Network Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty held a series of workshops in 2008. Their final report notes that the food sovereignty approach provides a framework for protecting, conserving, and restoring indigenous food systems as they relate to culture and circumstance.

Key principles of indigenous food sovereignty

Sacredness - Food is a gift from the Creator; we have a sacred responsibility to nurture healthy, interdependent relationships with the land, plants, and animals that provide us with our food.

Self-determination -The ability to respond to our own needs for safe, healthy, culturally-adapted Indigenous foods - the ability to make decisions over the amount and quality of food we hunt, fish, gather, grow and eat. Freedom from dependence on grocery stores or corporately controlled food production and distribution in market economies.

Participatory - An action that is ultimately based on the day to day practice of maintaining our traditional food harvesting strategies and practices for the benefit of present and future generations. A cultural strategy that must be practiced at all of the individual, family and community levels.

Policy - A strategy for influencing provincial, national, and international policies that are negatively impacting traditional land and food systems.

First Nations Organizations in Canada working on agriculture

Manitoba's Southern Chiefs Organization includes an Agriculture Committee.

The First Nation Agriculture Association of British Columbia supports BC's aboriginal farmers through financing and educational programs.

The Indian Agricultural Program of Ontario provides financing and educational support to Ontario First Nations farmers.

The Indigenous Environmental Network is a network of indigenous peoples empowering indigenous nations and communities towards sustainable livelihoods, demanding environmental justice and maintaining traditions.

Muskoday Organic Workers Co-op is creating community organic gardens in the hopes of making the reserve near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan more ecologically and economically sustainable

Civil Society Organizations supporting First Nation sustainable agriculture

Heifer Canada works with indigenous people in rural and urban communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth.

Other First Nation Organizations in Canada

The Assembly of First Nations is the national representative organization of First Nations in Canada. There are over 630 First Nations communities in Canada.

The Centre for Indigenous and Environmental Resources is a national, First Nation-directed environmental non-profit organisation with charitable status established in 1994 by a group of First Nation Chiefs from across Canada. CIER takes action on climate change, builds sustainable communities, protects lands and waters, and conserves biodiversity.

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Because First Nations reserves are considered federal lands they are subject to federal environmental regulations. Intensive livestock operations are regulated by provincial law so the implications of factory farm proposals bound for First Nations territory can be difficult to weigh. In 2003, Poundmaker First Nation Saskatchewan was presented with a 10,000-hog finishing barn proposal in west-central.

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A Brief History of Indigenous Agriculture

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A Brief History of Indigenous Agriculture

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What are some ways in which Indigenous values regarding living in harmony with the land inform Indigenous land use?

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One of the most significant contributions that America's Indigenous peoples have made is with respect to agriculture. Many of our most beloved foods (e.g. chocolate, potatoes, corn) are native to the Americas, being initially cultivated or domesticated by Indigenous farmers.

Ancient Agriculture
Indigenous agriculture has a long history with the most recent archaeological evidence suggesting it has been practiced in the Americas for at least 10,000 years, almost the same time length of time as in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. There were five agricultural centers of origin (i.e. places where multiple species were cultivated or domesticated) in the Americas: three in South America and one each in Central and North America (Table 1).

Table 1. Crop plants cultivated or domesticated in the Americas by Indigenous peoples.

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Cereals & pseudo-cereals: Amaranth, chia, goosefoot, knotweed, little barley, maize (corn), maygrass, quinoa, sunflower and wild rice.

Legumes & nuts: American chestnut, black walnut, Brazil nut, cashew, common beans (green, black, pinto, navy, etc.), hickory, lima beans, peanut, pecan, scarlet runner beans and tepary bean

Roots & tubers: Arrachacha, arrowroot, camas root, cassava, hopniss, jicama, leren, mashua, oca, potatoes, sunroot, sweet potato and yacón

Fruits: Acai, avocado, blueberry, chayote, cherimoya, cranberry, feijoa, guava, huckleberry, papaya, passionfruit, peppers, persimmon, pineapple, prickly pear, raspberry, squash, strawberry, tomato and tomatillo

Spices, beverages & flavours: Achiote, chicle, chocolate, coca, maple, tobacco, vanilla and yerba mate

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The Andes was where the earliest crops (e.g. potatoes ( Solanum spp.) were domesticated about 10,000 years ago. Corn ( Zea mays) and squash ( Cucurbita spp.) domestication began in Central America 8,700 years ago and beans ( Phaseolus spp.) shortly after. In the eastern U.S., agriculture was being practiced 3,800 years ago.

Spread of Indigenous Crops
Crops that were part of the "Eastern Agricultural Complex" in the southeastern U.S. included a variety of nutritious seed plants such as sunflower ( Helianthus annuus), goosefoot ( Chenopodium berlandieri), bottle gourd ( Lagenaria siceraria), marshelder ( Iva annua), little barley ( Hordeum pusillum) and squash ( Cucurbita pepo). Other domesticates that followed include ragweed ( Ambrosia trifida), pigweed ( Amaranthus spp.), and knotweed ( Polygonum spp.). After ~200 BCE (before common era) corn, beans and squash from Mexico were brought to this region and cold-tolerant varieties (e.g. Northern Flint) bred. The productivity of corn was so high that the traditional seed crops fell out of favour and were gradually abandoned. Sunflowers are the only crop plant left from the original Eastern Agricultural Complex that is still grown today. The other species have largely reverted to their wild state. Some of these species are considered "weeds" in croplands today even though they are still edible.

Agriculture Spreads to the Northern Plains
Most people are surprised to find out that Indigenous people were practicing agriculture in the Dakotas and Manitoba in the early 1400's. In 1986, Manitoba Museum Curator Dr. Leigh Syms unearthed evidence that corn, beans, squash and sunflowers were being grown as far north as Lockport during that time ( http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/31/firstfarmers.shtml). These three plants were traditionally planted close together with the beans climbing up the corn stalks and the squash helping suppress weeds. Raising plants in this manner improved the fertility of the soil as beans harbour special bacteria that turn gaseous nitrogen into a form available to all plants (ammonium or nitrate). Together these three plants were the foundation of a healthy, vegetarian Indigenous diet. Sunflowers, often called the fourth sister, were typically grown along the edges of Indigenous fields, and provided an additional source of fat and protein. Climatic changes which resulted in a shorter growing season and population losses due to diseases introduced after European contact in 1492, may have resulted in the abandonment of the cropland in Manitoba.

Columbian Exchange
After Europeans arrived in the Americas, crops from the "Old World" (e.g. wheat, barley, oats) were brought here while American crop plants were transported to Africa, Asia and Europe; this process was known as the Columbian Exchange. Sometimes the new American foods were embraced readily (e.g. beans) but others were not, particularly those in the nightshade family (e.g. tomatoes, potatoes and peppers). In Europe, nightshade plants are mainly poisonous rather than edible so people were suspicious of them. In France, people initially rejected the potato (they thought it caused leprosy) but King Louis the 16th was convinced by the agronomist Antoine Parmentier that it was a good food plant to grow. Apparently, Parmentier had potatoes planted in the Kings' gardens and then set guards around them to prevent thefts (although the guards were told to accept bribes). This reverse psychology apparently worked and after some people got their hands on the potato, its cultivation spread. Many American crops are now an integral part of European, African and Asian food culture. However, introduction of these new foods did cause some problems.

The Importance of Indigenous Food Culture
The knowledge of how to prepare American foods did not always accompany the food, possibly because Europeans of that time period were generally disdainful of Indigenous knowledge, customs and food culture. Unfortunately, this attitude ended up causing a lot of unnecessary deaths.

People in warmer parts of Europe and Africa readily adopted corn because it was so much more productive than other crops. But after doing so a strange new disease began affecting poor people who were relying mainly on corn for food. This disease is pellagra, a condition that causes dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia and eventually, after four or five years, death. Physicians were confused about this new diet-related disease because they noticed that even though Mexicans ate a lot of corn, they rarely got pellagra. The answer to this puzzle was in Indigenous food culture. Corn was often softened by soaking it in an alkaline solution. This softened corn, known as hominy, is then eaten as is, or dried and ground to make masa, the flour used to make tortillas and tamales among other things. This process, known as nixtimilization, increases the bioavailability of niacin (vitamin B3) and tryptophan in corn. Pellagra is caused by a deficiency in niacin and tryptophan in the diet. In Europe, Asia, Africa and even among poor non-Indigenous people in the southern U.S. , people were just drying the corn, grinding it up and cooking it into dishes like cornbread or polenta. Eaten in this manner, with no other foods containing niacin in the diet, pellagra is the result. Another aspect of Indigenous food culture that was not taken to heart was the custom of eating corn with niacin-containing beans, resulting in a balanced diet.

Food Culture and Reconciliation
Racism and the intellectual and cultural arrogance that accompanies it, has caused tremendous human suffering. Colonization and the discouragement of traditional Indigenous agricultural practices and cooking, resulted in the near loss of ancient varieties of crop plants such as quinoa, as well as the memory of how these foods should be grown and prepared. It is heartening to see Indigenous peoples embracing their gastronomic legacy by planting three sisters gardens, writing cookbooks featuring pre-colonial foods (e.g. The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, Cooking with the Wolfman, and tawâw) and opening innovative restaurants (e.g. Ishkode Indigenous Pop-up https://aptnnews.ca/2019/10/25/indigenous-pop-up-showcases-traditional-eats-in-a-modern-world/). Part of reconciliation is simply accepting that Indigenous culture is valuable. Another part is supporting the efforts of Indigenous peoples in keeping their culture alive. Food has a way of bringing people together so maybe the path forward is to sit down and share a meal together.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS AGRICULTURE

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One of the most significant contributions that America's Indigenous peoples have made is with respect to agriculture. Many of our most beloved foods (e.g. chocolate, potatoes, corn) are native to the Americas, being initially cultivated or domesticated by Indigenous farmers.