Indigenous History in Canada Handout

Handout: Indigenous History in Canada

Answer the following questions:

1. Who are the Indigenous Peoples of Canada? How are they recognized or “defined” in the Canadian Constitution?
2. What is the Royal Proclamation and why is it significant today?
3. Has it ever been illegal for Indigneous people to practice their traditional ceremonies?
4. When and where was Treaty 7 signed and what territory does the treaty include?
5. Who are the signatories to Treaty 7?
6. What are the historical First Nations that make up what is commonly referred to as the Blackfoot Confederacy?
7. What piece of federal legislation gives Indian Affairs, First Nations Chiefs, and band councils control over First Nations peoples in Canada? In what year was this legislation passed?
8. Was it ever illegal for an Indigenous person to enter a pool hall?
9. What is an Indigenous person on reserve required to do in order to start a business on the reserve?
10. Are there any Indigenous women’s names on any of the treaties between First Nations and the Crown/England?
11. Indigenous people in Canada make up what percentage of the total population?
12. To whom does the term “Métis” refer?
13. What is a treaty right?
14. What is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission?
15. Was it ever illegal for an Indigenous person to possess alcohol?
16. Is it true that Indigenous people in Canada never pay any taxes?
17. What are the distinctions between Status, non-Status Indians, and Treaty Indians?
18. What are the differences, if any, among the terms Aboriginal, Native, and Indigenous?
19. Do Indigenous women on reserve have the same matrimonial property rights as non-Indigenous women, particularly after the end of marriage/common-law relationship? Why is this the case?
20. What compensation was provided for survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential School System?
21. How many reserves are there in Canada?
22. How did the Indian Act affect the traditional role of Indigenous women?
23. When were Indigenous people granted the vote? In Eastern Canada? Across Canada? What conditions, if any, applied?
24. How many Indigenous people were sent to Canada’s Indian Residential Schools?
25. How many “true historical First Nations” were there in Canada prior to European colonization?
26. What was the “pass” system?
27. How many Indigneous soldiers served in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War? (3500)
28. What benefits did Indigenous veterans receive after WWII?
29. To what does “Intergenerational Effects of Indian Residential Schools” refer?
30. Has it ever been illegal in Canada for Status Indians to operate mechanized farming equipment?
31. Did Canada endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, declared in 2007? Has there been a change in Canada’s position since this time?