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Canada is known around the world as a strong and free country. Canadians are proud of their unique
identity. We have inherited the oldest continuous constitutional tradition in the world. We are the only
constitutional monarchy in North America. Our institutions uphold a commitment to
Peace, Order and
Good Government
, a key phrase in Canada’s original constitutional document in 1867, the
British North
America Act
. A belief in ordered liberty, enterprise, hard work and fair play has enabled Canadians to
build a prosperous society in a rugged environment from our Atlantic shores to the Pacific Ocean and to
the Arctic Circle—so much so that poets and songwriters have hailed Canada as the “
Great Dominion
.”
To understand what it means to be Canadian, it is important to know about our three founding peoples—
Aboriginal, French
and
British.
Your Canadian Citizenship
Study Guide
Who We Are
10
(From Top to Bottom)
Métis from Alberta
Cree dancer
(From Left to Right)
Inuit children in Iqaluit,
Nunavut
Haida artist Bill Reid
carves a totem pole
Aboriginal peoples
The ancestors of Aboriginal peoples are believed
to have migrated from Asia many thousands
of years ago. They were well established here
long before explorers from Europe first came
to North America. Diverse, vibrant First Nations
cultures were rooted in religious beliefs about
their relationship to the Creator, the natural
environment and each other.
Aboriginal and treaty rights are in the Canadian
Constitution. Territorial rights were first
guaranteed through the Royal Proclamation of
1763 by King George III, and established the basis
for negotiating treaties with the newcomers—
treaties that were not always fully respected.
From the 1800s until the 1980s, the federal
government placed many Aboriginal children in
residential schools to educate and assimilate
them into mainstream Canadian culture. The
schools were poorly funded and inflicted hardship
on the students; some were physically abused.
Aboriginal languages and cultural practices were
mostly prohibited. In 2008, Ottawa formally
apologized to the former students.
In today’s Canada, Aboriginal peoples enjoy
renewed pride and confidence, and have made
significant achievements in agriculture, the
environment, business and the arts.
Today, the term
Aboriginal peoples
refers to three
distinct groups:
Indian
refers to all Aboriginal people who are not
Inuit or Métis. In the 1970s, the term First Nations
began to be used. Today, about half of First
Nations people live on reserve land in about 600
communities while the other half live off-reserve,
mainly in urban centres.