Indigenous People | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Article

    Si’k-okskitsis

    Si'k-okskitsis (known by various other names including Black Wood Ashes, Charcoal, The Palate, Paka’panikapi, Lazy Young Man and Opee-o’wun), Kainai warrior, spiritual leader (born circa 1856 in present-day southern AB; died 16 Mar 1897 in Fort Macleod, AB). Si'k-okskitsis was involved in a domestic dispute that ended in murder. He fled but was eventually caught by police, tried and hanged. The story of Si’k-okskitsis’s life speaks to larger themes of relations between Indigenous peoples and settlers, the settlement of the West, and changes to traditional ways of life on the plains.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/original.11393-1.jpg Si’k-okskitsis
  • Article

    Charlie Watt

    Charlie Watt, Inuk leader (born 29 June 1944 in Fort Chimo [now Kuujjuaq], Québec). Watt founded the Northern Québec Inuit Association in 1972 and was a negotiator for the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA), signed in 1975. He served in the Canadian Senate from 1984 to 2018. Since January 2018, he has served as president of Makivic Corporation in Nunavik, the Inuit homeland in northern Quebec.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/48967edd-6784-4267-8f58-50ad85dc8206.jpg Charlie Watt
  • Article

    Citizens Plus (The Red Paper)

    Citizens Plus, also known as the Red Paper, was a report presented to the federal government on 4 June 1970. It was prepared under the leadership of Harold Cardinal and the Indian Association of Alberta. It was a response to the 1969 White Paper. The authors believed the White Paper offered a dire view of the future for Indigenous peoples.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/e9e4a925-a033-404d-9819-a3bb46fe9c8e.jpg Citizens Plus (The Red Paper)
  • Article

    Daniel Christmas

    Daniel Christmas, community leader, businessman, activist, adviser, senator (born 10 September 1956 in Sydney, NS). Daniel Christmas helped to transform his home community of Membertou First Nation into one of the most prosperous First Nations in Canada (see also First Nations in Nova Scotia). In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed him as the first Mi’kmaw senator. Christmas served until 2023, when he retired voluntarily.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/DanielChristmas/COM_PHO_SenChristmas-DSC8549-v1_2017-04-24_BIL_Final2_resized.jpg Daniel Christmas
  • Article

    Daniel Paul

    Daniel Nicholas Paul, CM, ONS, Mi’kmaq elder, author, social justice advocate (born 5 December 1938 on Indian Brook Reserve, NS; died 27 June 2023 in Halifax, NS). Paul is the author of We Were Not the Savages, one of Canada’s first history books from an Indigenous perspective. He had long campaigned for the removal of Halifax’s statue to its controversial founder, Edward Cornwallis, until its removal by Halifax's city council in January 2018.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bf0a6807-16e3-47de-973c-7e4d27b1da8a.jpg Daniel Paul
  • Article

    David Ahenakew

    David Ahenakew, politician, first elected chief of the Assembly of First Nations (born 29 July 1933 at the Sandy Lake Indian Reserve [now the Ahtahkakoop First Nation] in central Saskatchewan; died 12 March 2010 in Shellbrook, SK).

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 David Ahenakew
  • Article

    Dekanahwideh

    Dekanahwideh, "the Heavenly Messenger," reputed founder of the Five Nations Confederacy. He was said to have been born among the Huron of a virgin mother, and destined to bring peace and power to his people.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Dekanahwideh
  • Article

    Donald Marshall Jr

    Donald Marshall Jr., Mi'kmaq leader, Indigenous activist, wrongly convicted of murder (born 13 September 1953 in Sydney, NS; died 6 August 2009 in Sydney, NS). Donald Marshall’s imprisonment (1971–82) became one of the most controversial cases in the history of Canada's criminal justice system. He was the first high-profile victim of a wrongful murder conviction to have it overturned, paving the way for others such as David Milgaard and Guy Paul Morin. In the 1990s, Marshall was also the central figure in a significant Supreme Court of Canada case on First Nations hunting and fishing rights.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a5a37c90-f350-403f-b8fd-d2b40c0520a9.jpg Donald Marshall Jr
  • Article

    Elijah Harper

    Elijah Harper, Oji-Cree politician, consultant, policy analyst (born 3 March 1949 at Red Sucker Lake, MB; died 17 May 2013 in Ottawa, ON). Harper is best known for the role he played in scuttling the Meech Lake Accord, for which he was named the Canadian Press newsmaker of the year for 1990.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/73c1f655-bfcc-4aa6-9251-c0d5c550fde4.jpg Elijah Harper
  • Article

    Elsie Knott

    Elsie Marie Knott (née Taylor), Ojibwe chief, community leader, entrepreneur (born 20 September 1922 on Mud Lake Reserve [now Curve Lake First Nation], ON; died there on 3 December 1995). Knott was the first elected female First Nations chief in Canada, after a 1951 amendment to the Indian Act permitted Indigenous women to vote and participate in band governments. She was also chief of her First Nation for 14 years, from 1954 to 1962 and from 1970 to 1976. Knott was dedicated to preserving the Ojibwe language and was known for her community activism and support of education.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/curvelake/curve lake.JPG Elsie Knott
  • Article

    Enfranchisement (Plain-Language Summary)

    Throughout much of Canadian history, a First Nations person would lose their Indian status if they were enfranchised. An enfranchised person is someone who has the right to vote in elections. A First Nations person who is deemed a Status Indian has certain rights and benefits granted to them through the Indian Act. (This article is a plain-language summary of Enfranchisement. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry Enfranchisement).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/4d994481-dad0-4092-811e-1f0718cd1a1e.jpg Enfranchisement (Plain-Language Summary)
  • Article

    Ethel Blondin-Andrew

    Ethel Blondin-Andrew, OC, public servant, politician (born 25 March 1951 at Fort Norman [Tulita], NT). She was the first Indigenous woman elected to Parliament when she won the Western Arctic seat for the Liberals in the federal election of 1988. During her parliamentary career, from 1988 to 2006, Blondin-Andrew worked to protect Indigenous languages, cultures and peoples. She was appointed an Officer to the Order of Canada in 2022.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Ethel_Blondin_Andrew.jpg Ethel Blondin-Andrew
  • Article

    Eva Aariak

    Eva Aariak, politician, second premier of Nunavut (born 10 January 1955 in Arctic Bay, Northwest Territories [now Nunavut]). Eva Aariak has the distinction of being Nunavut’s first female premier, and she has been instrumental in the promotion of Inuit languages in the territory. (See also Inuktitut and Indigenous Languages in Canada.)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/ecf06d6d-b8db-448b-868f-c56b9f386f0b.jpg Eva Aariak
  • Article

    Floyd Roland

    Floyd Roland, mechanic, politician, premier of Northwest Territories 2007 to 2011, mayor of Inuvik 2012 to 2015 (born 23 November 1961 in Inuvik, NWT). Roland sat in the Northwest Territories legislature for 12 years before becoming premier on 18 October 2007. His premiership was marred by a scandal over an affair between Roland and a clerk of the legislature.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Floyd Roland
  • Macleans

    Fontaine Elected New Grand Chief

    Phil Fontaine had every reason to look haggard and humble as he donned his ornate feathered headdress last week to become the new national chief of the ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on August 11, 1997

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Fontaine Elected New Grand Chief