Chapter 1 Terminology Flashcards
Perspective
A particular way of seeing situations or topics, understanding relationships, and evaluating the significance of events; a point of view.
Cultural Group
A number of racially or historically related people with a distinctive common culture.
Aboriginal Peoples
The original inhabitants of a land and their descendants. In 1982, the Canadian consitution recognized three groups of Aboriginal peoples - First Nations, Metis, and Inuit - each with diverse sets of communities with their own histories, languages, cultural practices, and spiritual beliefs.
Indigenous Peoples
The original inhabitants of a land and their descendants.
First Nations
In Canada, the group of Aboriginal peoples formerly or alternately known as Indians. First Nations refers to individuals and to communities and their governments. The term, which arose in 1980s, is politically significant because it implies possesion of rights arising from historical occupation and use of territory. Though no Canadian legal definition of this term exists, the United Nations considers the term synonymous with indigenous peoples.
Nation
A community of people bound together by common traditions, culture, and usually language who have political independence and who occupy a distinct territory.
Indians
Groups of Aboriginal peoples who generally prefer to be called First Nations. The term Indian is still commonly used by Canadian governments, including in the constitution. First Nations people generally disfavour the term because it originated from early European explorers’ mistaken impression that they had landed in India. It also ignores the great diversity of history and cultures among various First Nations.
Inuit
The aboriginal people of northern Canada, who live primarily in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Labrador, and northern Quebec. Inuit peoples also live in Greenland, Russia, and the American state of Alaska.
Metis
A group of Aboriginal peoples with First Nations and European ancestry. Metis people identify with Metis history and culture, which women and European (mostly French or British) men married and had children. Metis people were for many years refused political recognition by the federal government, although they received recognition as Aboriginal people in the Constitution Act of 1982.
Metis Nation
Aboriginal people who identify themselves as Metis, who are distinct from First Nations and Inuit peoples, and who are descendants of Metis people living in the Red River area of Manitoba in the 1800s.
Self-Identity
To regard one’s self as belonging to a particular cultural group. For various economic, administrative, and political reasons, governments and Aboriginal political reasons, governments and Aboriginal political organizations create definitions for different groups of Aboriginal peoples, such as Status Indians, non-Status Indians, and Metis. These definitions include some people, but exclude others. How a person is identified by these governments and organizations can impact the rights and benefits a person has. The concept of self-identity acknowledges that an individual’s identity is personal and cannot always be defined with a rigid set of criteria.
Linguistic Group
A group of nations, racially or historically related, that have the same basic language. Ex. First Nations who speak Cree are a linguistic group
Traditional Territories
Regions historically inhabited and used by a group of Aboriginal peoples. Land claims are often centred on traditional territories.
Kinship
A tie between related individuals, usually through blood, but also through adoption.
Cultural Environment
A geographic region that is home to groups of people sharing similar cultural characteristics. Much diversity can exist, however, even within a single cultural environment.
