DCHP-3

First Nation

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
First Nations, first nations, FN

n. — usually plural, Ethnicities, Politics

an Aboriginal people of Canada that are neither Inuit nor Métis.

Type: 1. Origin — According to the AANDC, "the Canadian constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal people: Indians (commonly referred to as First Nations), Métis and Inuit" (see AANDC reference). The collective term First Nation was coined in the late 1970s to replace the term Indian, which in Canada is now viewed by some as derogatory, though it remains an official designation that is quite widely used. First Nations describes those Aboriginal communities engaged in government-to-government relations with the Canadian government through and beyond the terms of the Indian Act and is thus indicative of political status. This term First Nations is overwhelmingly used in Canada, though no longer exclusively so (see Chart 1).
See also Gage-5, s.v. "First Nation", which is marked "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "First Nation", which is described as used in Canada, COD-2 marks it "Cdn", and OED-3, s.v. "First Nation", which is marked as "Canad.", AHD-5, s.v. "First Nation", which is marked as "Canadian".
The term exists in the singular, but is overwhelmingly used in the plural.

Quotations

1971
First Nation. It's a little shop on an island at Ontario Place that sells Ontario Indian handicrafts and is staffed by 11 young university students who represent many of the tribes that made up the province's first nation.
1980
Text of the declaration of nationhood approved by Indian chiefs yesterday: A Declaration of the First Nations. We the original peoples of this land know the Creator put us here. The Creator gave us laws that govern all our relationships to live in harmony with nature and mankind. The laws of the Creator defined our rights and responsibilities.
1981
More than 1,200 Indians are meeting here this week to decide whether to establish a First Nations government of Indians in Canada.
1982
Sam Bull, vice-president of the Indian association, said 20 to 30 Indians will walk into the meeting as ''representatives of the first nations'' whether or not they're welcome.
1996
GE Canada Chairman Robert Gillespie looks on as Caroline Dudoward Garay, a second-year student in the Native Indian Teacher Education Program, uses one of nine computers donated to establish a computer lab in the First Nations Longhouse.
2000
The girls are spending this week in the Qu'Appelle Valley at Girl Guides of Canada's Tapestry 2000 learning about First Nations and metis culture as part of their Guiding experience.
2005
Fellow graduand Vanessa North Peigan, 34, hopes she will be a role model for First Nations youths.
2007
"It has taken the programme several years to get to this stage... as we are well aware, dealing with tobacco usage and access in FN [First Nation] communities is sensitive and must be handled accordingly."
2012
In 2006, the B.C. government, federal government, First Nations, environmentalists and industry recognized the area's pristine beauty and ecological values, and worked together to form a series of conservancies (more than two million hectares protected), ecosystem-based logging and conservation financing.

References

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 8 Aug. 2012

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 8 Aug. 2012