Quick links
Indigenous
DCHP-2 (Jul 2016)
1a†adj. — Indigenous, predominantly Aboriginal
pertaining to the original inhabitants of what is now Canada.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — The term Indigenous has experienced considerable development over the years, which is reflected in the different quality of quotations between 1884 and 1951. In the Canadian context, Indigenous refers to the First Peoples of Canada. Whilst strictly speaking the term is not a Canadianism, it has acquired a popularity that is exclusive to Canada in this particular context. This shift is possibly a result of the term being used legally (see def. 1b), as it may be viewed as more appropriate. Furthermore, the term is also used in everyday contexts, making it today widely known across Canada. As the term is used both legally and casually, it is being classified as Type 4 - Culturally Significant.
In recent use (c. 2015), the term is more and more used as a proper noun and adjective (name), which is reflected by its increasing capitalization. We recommend the capitalized use of Indigenous, regardless of context (whether nominal or adjectival use).
Quotations
1884
[...] lakes and rivers of surpassing size and interest; cataracts of indescribable beauty and magnitude; and an indigenous people, coëval with the forests, and now rapidly disappearing with the trees that gave them shelter, and the wilde that gave them food.
1951
"I know very well that one can die of starvation if lost in the bush, or of cold if lost in the northern lands, but somehow I feel that if this happens it is our own fault and not intended by these enchanting lands. Perhaps the indigenous people of this North American continent, the Indians, feel like this, as I do, about it," he [Viscount Alexander] continued.
1964
The impasse to which we seem repeatedly to return was the definition of consultation with the Eskimo people. We have insisted that consultation be in fact consultation. Anything short of this would destroy their sense of personal dignity and human worth. One of the more sacred trusts of this nation is the development to full stature in the nation of its indigenous people.
1979
Schreyer said he planned to carry his message cross the country, concentrating on small rural centers and native communities. "I want to tell them they are very much a part of this country," he said. "Obviously, in many ways they are the indigenous people of Canada. But after one hundred years of transition in their lifestyle and after 30 years of sharp difficulties in adapting to dwindling resources, I want them to know if they wish to enter the mainstream economy, we stand ready to help."
1986
That is understandable, says Parizeau; Quebec has fewer American branch plants than Ontario and indigenous Quebec business sees more advantages in gaining guaranteed access to American markets than in the possibilities of, say, selling to Vancouver.
There is therefore no political capital to be gained in deliberately trying to sabotage Canada's negotiating position at the outset in order to score points off one's political opponents, as seems to be the case in Ottawa.
The prudence to which Warren referred "is directed not only to the safeguarding and advancement of Quebec's economic interests, but to the preservation of the province's social gains and its cultural security."
Quebec's social programs are not so different from those in other parts of the country as to need special treatment. On the cultural front, however, security flows from a different source.
1989
Women must have a say in any separate native justice system, Manitoba's native justice inquiry has been told.
"It is our fear, should . . . an aboriginal justice system be established, then indigenous women will be left out," said Joyce Courchene, president of the Indigenous Women's Collective of Manitoba.
A native-run justice system for Canada's reserves should "promote, protect and enhance the legal and political rights of indigenous women," Courchene told the inquiry yesterday as it heard from the last of hundreds of groups and individuals that have given presentations during the past 14 months.
2004
The Canadian government recognized the right to self-determination for the world's indigenous peoples during United Nations talks yesterday in Geneva. The move, made during a meeting to draft a final UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, was hailed a major breakthrough by native leaders in Canada. "By accepting the indigenous peoples' rights to self-determination without any qualification, I believe that Canada is taking a leading role in the process," said Armand McKenzie, a spokesman for the delegation of native organizations of Canada, who was at the meeting.
2013
First Nations, Ojibway, Blackfoot, Indian, Aboriginal, Treaty, Halfbreed, Cree and Status Indian are all fairly familiar English words but none of them are the names by which we, the various indigenous peoples, call ourselves in our own languages.
By contrast, how many Canadians have heard these names: Nehiyaw, Nehiyawak, Otipemisiwak and Apeetogosan? Yet, these are who I am because these are the names my grandparents used to describe and call ourselves.
2015
Perhaps the first act of colonialism was indeed a linguistic one: by calling the Indigenous Peoples in North America Indian, Westerners displaced them to another continent altogether, while at the same time denying them their identity as members of specific nations.
2018
In 2015 the RCMP commissioner conceded publicly that there is racism in his force, which was seen as a key step to addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
It is clear that the Thunder Bay Police Service has a problem with racism. The mayor and chief of police must acknowledge this. Immediately, and in public. This is the starting point if they are serious about creating change.
1bn. — predominantly Aboriginal, Politics
the original inhabitants of what is now Canada.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — The term Indigenous is today (as of c. 2015) to be preferred over previously favoured general terms for the First Peoples such as Native or Aboriginal, which are deemed to have colonial overtones. For example, Aboriginal came into Canadian usage only in 1982, in the Constitution Act. It was not previously a word employed by Indigenous people when referring to themselves. Although First Nations was adopted by status Indian political groups (as in the name change of the National Indian Brotherhood to the Assembly of First Nations in 1982), this term does not include Inuit or Métis people. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (2007) may have inspired this shift to Indigenous, as reflected in the renaming of the Ministry of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs (see the 2015 quotation).
Quotations
1996
The Golf Journal lists some of the sins of golf, according to GAG'M: Destruction of virgin land, poisoning of groundwater, financial ruin of the indigenous to enrich multinational corporations and corruption of local governments.
2015
Meanwhile, Carolyn Bennett was named minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, with the ministry's name changed from Aboriginal and Northern Affairs.
My initial reaction was that the name change is like putting lipstick on a pig. It was, and still is, the colonial office. However the name change sends a clear message that Canada will get in step with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
2022
Jean Teillet, a Métis lawyer, has given this matter considerable thought. Teillet was retained by the University of Saskatchewan to investigate Indigenous identity fraud after Carrie Bourassa’s claims were called into question. I reached out to Teillet to ask her about the role universities should play in investigating identity fraud allegations. “A university’s responsibility is different now than it was a couple years ago,” said Teillet. “The difference is that universities are well aware that they have Pretendians in their midst. A few years ago, universities could still claim ignorance and that they were acting in good faith. Now they can’t say that.”
Images
