Indigenous People | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Article

    Frank Calder

    Frank Arthur Calder, OC, Nisga’a politician, chief, businessman (born 3 August 1915, Nass Harbour, BC; died 4 November 2006 in Victoria, BC). Frank Calder was the first Indigenous member of the BC legislature, elected in 1949. Calder is best known for his role in the Nisga’a Tribal Council’s Supreme Court case against the province of British Columbia (commonly known as the Calder case), which demonstrated that Aboriginal title (i.e., ownership) to traditional lands exists in modern Canadian law. 

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/9722efec-c466-4256-b057-4d35a1e00a00.jpg Frank Calder

  • Article

    Georges Erasmus

    Georges Henry Erasmus, OC, Indigenous leader, activist and spokesperson (born 8 August 1948 in Fort Rae, NT). Erasmus has been a leading advocate for the self-determination of Indigenous peoples in Canada. He has served as the head of several Indigenous public policy organizations, including the Dene Nation and the Assembly of First Nations. He also served as the co-chair for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/df5afa10-787f-47b4-b776-2bac0e1cf404.jpg Georges Erasmus

  • Article

    Gerald Stanley Case

    On 9 February 2018, Gerald Stanley, a white farmer in rural Saskatchewan, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter in the killing of Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man. The acquittal caused great controversy but was not appealed by prosecutors. However, it led the Justin Trudeau government to abolish peremptory challenges, which allowed Stanley’s legal team to keep five Indigenous people off the all-white jury that acquitted him. In 2021, an investigation conducted by a civilian watchdog concluded that that the RCMP was insensitive and racially discriminatory toward Boushie’s mother, and that the police mishandled witnesses and evidence. A Globe and Mail investigation also found that the RCMP “destroyed records of police communications from the night Colten Boushie died.”

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Gerald Stanley Case

  • Article

    Gertrude Guerin

    Gertrude Guerin (née Ettershank; traditional name Klaw-law-we-leth; also known as “Old War Horse”), chief, politician, community advocate, elder (born 26 March 1917 on the Mission Reserve in North Vancouver, BC; died 25 January 1998). Guerin, born into the Squamish First Nation (see Central Coast Salish), was a fierce protector of Indigenous people and culture. She represented the Musqueam nation locally as an elected chief, and on the national stage in challenges to Canadian jurisdiction over traditional Musqueam territory (see Coast Salish).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/53a5b672-5aba-4ad2-9cd4-8b42f5b43d62.jpg Gertrude Guerin

  • Article

    Gloria George

    Gloria Mary Maureen George, Indigenous politician, activist and public servant (born 24 July 1942 in Hubert, BC). A tireless advocate for non-status Indians, George was elected president of the Native Council of Canada in 1975, becoming the first and only woman to lead a major Indigenous political organization.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/d2ad31ae-15df-4691-a271-0fdc5da1e633.jpg Gloria George

  • Article

    Harold Cardinal

    Harold Cardinal, Cree chief, lawyer, author (born on 27 January 1945 in High Prairie, AB; died on 3 June 2005 in Edmonton, AB). An Indigenous rights activist, Cardinal was a leader in the movement against the 1969 White Paper, which sought to do away with Indian Status and treaty rights. Cardinal was actively involved in Indigenous politics for much of his life and is remembered as a strong and inspirational leader.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/e9e4a925-a033-404d-9819-a3bb46fe9c8e.jpg Harold Cardinal

  • Article

    Harry Daniels

    Harry Wilfred Daniels, politician, writer, actor (born 16 September 1940 in Regina Beach, SK; died 6 September 2004 in Regina Beach). Daniels was a celebrated Métis politician and activist who fought for the rights of Métis people. His greatest contribution to Indigenous rights in Canada was the Supreme Court case Daniels v. Canada, which guaranteed that Métis and Non-Status Indians are considered “Indian” under the Constitution Act, 1867. (See also Indian Status.)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/HarryDaniels/CanadaPostHarryDaniels.jpg Harry Daniels

  • Article

    Helen Mamayaok Maksagak

    Helen Mamayaok Maksagak, CM, politician, public servant, community leader (born 15 April 1931 in Bernard Harbour, NT [NU]; died 23 January 2009 in Cambridge Bay, NU). Maksagak was the first woman and Inuk to serve as the commissioner of the Northwest Territories. A vocal and engaged advocate for Inuit affairs, she contributed to efforts to establish Nunavut as Canada’s third territory in the 1990s. In March of 1999, she was chosen as the first commissioner of the newly created Nunavut territory; her term lasted until March 2000. Maksagak returned to a formal political role in November 2005, when she was appointed deputy commissioner of Nunavut. In addition to her political career, Maksagak performed advocacy work, focusing on Inuit and, more broadly, Indigenous initiatives, such as improving access to social services.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/4fc58d24-f4e6-464b-92bf-c9647246118f.jpg Helen Mamayaok Maksagak

  • Article

    Henry Arthur Smitheram

    Henry Arthur Smitheram, "Butch," politician, public servant (b at Penticton, BC 8 Jan 1918; d at Keremeos, BC 14 Mar 1982). Smitheram was a nonstatus Indian, his Okanagan mother having lost her status upon marrying his English father.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Henry Arthur Smitheram

  • Article

    Indian Act (Plain-Language Summary)

    The Indian Act was first created in 1876. A new version was created in 1951. Since then, the Act has been revised several times. The main goal of the Act was to force First Nations peoples to lose their culture and become like Euro-Canadians. The Indian Act does not affect either the Métis or Inuit. (This article is a plain-language summary of the Indian Act. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry, Indian Act.)

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  • Article

    Inuit Disc Numbers

    From 1941 to 1978, the Government of Canada issued personal identifying numbers to all Inuit, then referred to as Eskimos, in Canada’s Arctic. The Eskimo Identification system was implemented to identify and register individuals for administrative purposes, such as taking censuses. Each Inuk was given a small leather or pressed fibre disc with a number on it, referred to as their disc number. Ultimately, disc numbers were required for any government interaction, such as keeping track of hunting, trapping, medical services, education, housing, family allowance and getting food and supplies. The system was unique to the Inuit. No other Canadian was required to have a number to access basic services or monitor their actions.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/InuitDiscNumbersSINGLEUSE/Awareness_1upload.jpg Inuit Disc Numbers

  • Article

    James Gladstone

    James Basil Gladstone, Kainai (Blood) interpreter, farmer, rancher, Indigenous rights advocate, senator (born 21 May 1887 at Mountain Hill, North-West Territories; died 4 September 1971 at Fernie, BC) was of mixed Scottish-Cree-French Canadian ancestry. Gladstone devoted most of his life to the betterment of Indigenous peoples in Canada and was appointed the country’s first senator with Indian Status. 

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/ff5475f9-9028-4e87-bb86-02d933836fd4.jpg James Gladstone

  • Article

    James McKay

    James McKay, Manitoba Métis politician, interpreter, guide, fur trader, Hudson’s Bay Company clerk and postmaster (born 5 February 1828 in Edmonton House, Alberta; died 2 December 1879 at St. James, Manitoba). A member of the Council of Assiniboia (1868–69), James McKay played a moderating role during the Red River Rebellion. He also served Manitoba as president of the Executive Council, Speaker of the Legislative Council and Minister of Agriculture, and was on the Council of the North-West Territories from 1873–75. Fluent in various Indigenous languages, McKay helped negotiate Treaties 1, 2 and 3 in the early 1870s. As a treaty commissioner for Treaties 5 and 6, he added provisions to help Indigenous peoples with medical supplies in the event of an epidemic, with famine relief and with their new life on reserves. McKay’s life and career exemplified attempts by Métis leaders, both in commerce and politics, to adapt to rapid changes after Confederation.  

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/4faeec48-9d29-469f-9f7d-5459415b67b6.jpg James McKay

  • Article

    Jody Wilson-Raybould

    Jody Wilson-Raybould (“Puglaas” or “woman born of noble people” or “woman with integrity” in Kwak’wala), politician, lawyer (born 23 March 1971 in Vancouver, BC). Jody Wilson-Raybould is the independent MP for Vancouver Granville. She was federal minister of justice, attorney general and minister of veterans affairs in the government of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Prior to her career in federal politics, she was a BC crown prosecutor, regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and member of the BC Treaty Commission. As Canada’s first Indigenous justice minister, Wilson-Raybould introduced groundbreaking legislation, including Bill C-14 on medically assisted dying, C-16 on gender identity and human rights, and C-45, The Cannabis Act. She has helped to build bridges between First Nations communities and the Canadian government and is committed to helping Indigenous peoples seek self-government and gain equality in education, health care and legal rights.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Jody_Wilson-Raybould-1.jpg Jody Wilson-Raybould

  • Article

    John Amagoalik

    John Amagoalik, OC, ONu, leader, activist, politician, writer (born 26 November 1947 in Tasialuk, QC). John Amagoalik is an Inuit leader sometimes known as John A., the Father of Nunavut (see also Fathers of Confederation; Nunavut and Confederation). His leadership and involvement helped in the creation of the territory of Nunavut on 1 April 1999. He was instrumental in the signing of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement in 1993 and helped plan Nunavut’s government structure. Also, he lobbied the federal government to apologize and compensate Inuit for damages caused by the forced relocation of families to the High Arctic and the killing of sled dogs (see Inuit High Arctic Relocations in Canada).

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    https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 John Amagoalik