Report: Broken Promises; Canada and its Aboriginal Peoples
| Author | Gijs M. de Vries |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419201000205 |
| Date | 01 June 1992 |
| Published date | 01 June 1992 |
| Subject Matter | Part A: Article |
NQHR2
/1992
REPORT:
BROKEN PROMISES; CANADA AND ITS ABORIGINAL PEOPLES
Gijs M. de Vries'
Introduction
This report
has
been written for the benefit of my colleagues in the European
Parliament, in particular those who serve with me on the Delegation for
Relations with Canada, and those who are Members
of
the Subcommittee on
Human Rights.
In drafting this document - in December 1991 - I have benefited from the
extensive library on Canadian native questions available at the Parliament's
offices in Luxembourg. A list of the relevant material has been annexed to the
Report on a fact-finding mission concerning the situation of the indigenous
people of Canada which was published on October 21, 1991 (Delegation for
Relations with Canada, Doc PE 154.078).
The somewhat cursory treatment developments in Canada tend to receive
in the European media does not always facilitate an indepth understanding of
the issues. I hope this report, which contains my personal views, will be of use
to colleagues in appreciating the complexity of relations between Canada and
its aboriginal peoples.
Canada's Aboriginal Population
The Canadian Constitution defines aboriginal people as including three distinct
groups: Indians, Inuit and Metis.
Most anthropologists agree that the first arrivals in North America were
nomadic tribes from Asia who migrated over the Bering Sea from Siberia as
long as 40,000 years ago. Some
of
these tribes wandered eastward across the
Arctic highlands. These were the ancestors of today's Inuit, who live in the
Yukon and Northwest Territories, northern Quebec and Labrador (current
population approximately 30,000).
*Member of the European Parliament. This report was drafted in December 1991.
166
De Vries I Broken Promises; Canada and its Aboriginal Peoples
Other tribes settled along the coasts of present-day Canada and the United
States and in the valleys of the coastal mountain ranges. Still others moved into
the prairies and inland forest regions. They were the ancestors of today's North
American Indians. In keeping with their heritage as descendants of the
aboriginal inhabitants
of
Canada, Indians today refer to themselves as "First
Nations".
The third aboriginal group - the Metis - are generally defined as people of
mixed aboriginal and non-aboriginal ancestry who identify themselves as being
Metis (current population approximately 157,000).
Within the Indian population, there are both status and non-status Indians.
Status Indians are those individuals who are registered as Indians under the
Indian Act (current population around 500,000). Status is important for two
reasons: it formally recognizes Indian ethnicity, and it entitles Indians to
benefits which may not be available to non-status Indians and non-Indians.
Approximately 60 per cent of status Indians live on reserves. There are
more than 2,300 reserves across Canada.
Non-status Indians are often the descendants of Indians who lost their status
under previous provisions of the Indian Act (e.g., at one time Indians lost their
status if they acquired a university degree). Non-status Indians may also be
descendants of Indians who were never registered under theAct. Finally, some
non-status Indians are not registered under the Act
as
a matter of personal
choice.
History
From the time of first contact with Europeans, aboriginal peoples played an
important part in the economic and political development of the territory that
is now Canada. Various Indian tribes played a key role in the fur trade,
forming alliances with French colonizers who provided them with European
manufactured goods in return for beaver pelts. As England and France
struggled for control of Canada through much of the 17th and 18th Centuries,
the alliances took on a military form.
Britain gained control of much of North America in 1760. Three years later
it issued a Royal Proclamation, which reserved land for Indians and prescribed
that only governments could deal with Indians on land matters. The Crown then
began a treaty-making process with various Indian groups. Treaties were used
by the Crown to clear lands of aboriginal title so that settlement or resource
development could proceed. Under land-cession treaties, in the interpretation
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