Notable Aboriginal people of Canada
Encyclopedia
Over the course of centuries, many Aboriginal
Canadians have played a critical role in shaping the history of Canada
. From art and music, to law and government, to sports and war; Aboriginal customs and culture have had a strong influences on defining Canadian culture
. The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards
(NAAA) are the annual awards presented by the Canadian National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
. The awards were first established in 1993 in conjunction with the United Nations
declaring the 1990s "International Decade of the World's Indigenous peoples
". June 21 is Canada's National Aboriginal Day
, in recognition of the cultural contributions made by Canada's indigenous population. The day was first celebrated in 1996 following Governor General of Canada
Roméo LeBlanc
's proclamation.
1,172,790 million people reported having at least some Aboriginal ancestry in 2006, representing 3.8 % of the total Canadian population. From 1981 to 2001, the percentage of Aboriginal people who obtained college diploma
s increased from 15.0 per cent to 22.0 per cent, while the percentage that obtained university degrees increased from 4.0 per cent to 6.0 per cent. This compares with increases of 20.0 per cent to 25.0 per cent for non-Aboriginal people obtaining college diplomas that is a narrow gap between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population. This is partly due to organizations that focus attention on the achievements and welfare of Aboriginal Canadians like, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
, Native Women's Association of Canada
, Aboriginal Curatorial Collective
, National Aboriginal Health Organization
, Metis Child and Family Services Society
and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
.
First Nation people have come from a diverse background of history, economy, culture and government. First Nations become active politicians in the Canadian government holding a sense of pride and patriotism towards the nation of Canada. First Nations also become politicians within their own well-defined First Nation government known as the Assembly of First Nations
(AFN) which supported by its membership, land base and tribal councils
Aatsista-Mahkan
(Running Rabbit), became chief
of the Siksika
First Nation following the death of his father in 1871. Aatsista-Mahkan was a signatory to Treaty 7
, but he and his people continued living the plains Indian
lifestyle following the bison
until 1881. The Siksika Nation was then forced to settle on a reserve
60 miles (96.6 km) east of today's Calgary
, Alberta
. Big Bear
(mistahi-maskwa) was a Cree leader notable for his participation in the 1870 Battle of the Belly River
. Following this, in 1873, Big Bear clashed with the Métis. Francis Pegahmagabow
was the First Nation soldier most highly decorated for bravery in Canadian military history
and the most effective sniper
of World War I
. Mary John, Sr.
, CM
was a leader of the Dakelh
(Carrier) people and a social activist. A story of her life is told in the book titled Stoney Creek Woman. Ethel Blondin-Andrew
, was a Canadian politician
of Dene
descent in the Northwest Territories
and the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the Parliament of Canada
. Ovide Mercredi
is a politician of Cree descent and a former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations
. Harold Cardinal
was a Cree writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer who demanded, on behalf of all First Nation peoples, the right to be "the red tile in the Canadian mosaic
. Skowkale
lawyer and judge, Steven Point
, OBC
(Xwĕ lī qwĕl tĕl), is the Lieutenant Governor
of British Columbia
. Harriet Nahanee
was a civil rights activist, a Canadian residential school system survivor and environmentalist. Nahanee was arrested and imprisoned in 2007 at the age of 71 for trying to protect Squamish Nation territory. Shanawdithit
, born 1801, was the last recorded surviving member of the Beothuk
people. After Shanawdithit's death in 1829, the Beothuk people became officially extinct as a separate ethnic group
. Tommy Prince
was one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers, serving in World War II
and the Korean War
.
The arts and entertainment venue has seen aboriginal peoples stand at the Oscars, an internationally prominent award ceremony such as Chief Dan George
. Dan George OC, was chief of the Tsleil-Waututh
(Coast Salish
) Nation, Academy Award-nominated actor and an author. Adam Beach
is an actor
of Saulteaux
descent from Dog Creek First Nations Reserve
at Lake Manitoba
. Beach has acted in high profile roles such as, Marine Private First Class
Ira Hayes
in Flags of Our Fathers
, Private Ben Yazzie in Windtalkers
and Chester Lake in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
. Lorne Cardinal
of Cree descent, is noted for playing First Nations roles in many productions. Cardinal most recently role is portraying character Davis Quinton on the Canadian television series
Corner Gas
. Tantoo Cardinal
is a Canadian film and television actress of Métis and Cree descent.Graham Greene
is an Academy Award–nominated Canadian actor from the Oneida tribe
. He was born in Ohsweken
on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario
.
Among the Canadian First Nations are accomplished persons known for their singing, songwriting and live performances. Shania Twain
is a country pop
artist of Cree and Ojibwe ancestry. Shania Twain along with Alanis Morissette
are the only Canadian musicians male or female to have sold over 2 million units in Canada, receiving the double diamond award. Kashtin
was a Canadian folk rock
duo composed of Innu
Claude McKenzie
and Florent Vollant
. Robbie Robertson
, Mohawk
, musician, singer–songwriter
, and guitarist
is best known for his membership in The Band
. Norval Morrisseau
, CM, or Copper Thunderbird, was an Anishinaabe
artist
known as the "Picasso
of the North". Bill Reid
, OBC, was an artist who renewed interest in his heritage Haida art, with his sculpture and totem pole
s.
In sports there are number of accomplished First Nations peoples such as Tom Longboat
an Onondaga
distance runner
. Longboat was inducted into both Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
and the Indian Hall of Fame. George "Chief" Armstrong was noted as an Irish-Algonquin, professional hockey player. Ted Nolan
, Ojibwe, Jack Adams Award
winner, is a retired professional
hockey
left winger
of the National Hockey League
(NHL). Nolan was the former Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations for an American Hockey League
(AHL) team. Jonathan Cheechoo
was the first member of the Moose Factory
Cree Nation to play hockey for the Ottawa Senators
of the NHL. Of Cree heritage, Jon Mirasty
, "Nasty Mirasty", is a popular enforcer in the AHL.
CM, was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames
rather than disc number
s. while Simonie Michael, the first Inuk to sit on what is now the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories was among the early Inuit leaders to call for and end to the disc numbers. Kiviaq
(David Ward) Inuit politician
was the first Inuk to become a lawyer
, and is responsible for several important advances in establishing the legal rights of the Inuit people. In 2001, Kiviaq won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktitut
name. Peter Irniq
a former Commissioner of Nunavut
set up the offices of "the Official Languages, Access to Information and Conflict of Interest Commissioners". Irniq also has encouraged the use of the Inuit language
and the Inuit culture, referred to as Qaujimajatuqangit
. Sheila Watt-Cloutier
, OC, is an Inuit political representative and activist
at the regional, national and international levels. Sheila has most recently working as International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference). Nellie Cournoyea
, OC, of Inupiat heritage served as the first female Premier of the Northwest Territories
and the second female leader of an elected legislature in Canada. Helen Maksagak
, CM, a Copper Inuit
, was the last Commissioner of the undivided NWT
and first Commissioner of Nunavut. Paul Okalik
was the first Premier of Nunavut
whose "dream was to help his people in their dealings with the Canadian justice system." Ann Meekitjuk Hanson
is the Commissioner of Nunavut as well as civil servant, broadcaster, journalist and author.
Historically among the Inuit, Stephen Angulalik
was an internationally known Ahiarmiut
Inuit from northern Canada
. Angulalik was recognized as a Kitikmeot
fur trade
r and trading post
operator at Kuugjuaq (Perry River
), NWT. According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Sergeant Henry Larsen by 1941, Angulalik and his third wife had raised 11 children. Ebierbing
, also known as "Eskimo Joe", was a guide and explorer
. Ebierbing was one of the most widely-travelled Inuit in the 1860s and 1870s, he assisted Arctic explorers. Peter Pitseolak
was an Inuit photographer, artist and historian. Pitseolak lived most of his life in traditional Inuit camps near Cape Dorset
, on the southwest coast of Baffin Island
, now in the Canadian territory of Nunavut
.
Kenojuak Ashevak
, CC, is a noteworthy pioneer of modern Inuit art
. Born in an igloo
in an Inuit camp in 1927, by the late 1950s Kenojuak became one of the first Inuit women in Cape Dorset to begin drawing. She has since created many carvings from soapstone and thousands of drawings, etchings, stone-cuts, and prints — all sought after by museums and collectors. Zacharias Kunuk
, is a producer
and director
distinguished for his film
Atanarjuat
. Atanarjuat was the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced completely in Inuktitut. Atanarjuat is co-founder and president of Igloolik Isuma Productions
, Canada's first independent Inuit production company
. Annabella Piugattuk
is a throat singer, and actress memorable for her role in The Snow Walker
. Susan Aglukark
is a three time Juno
winning musician, in 1995
for New Artist of the Year
and Best Music of Aboriginal Canada
. In 2004
Susan won for Aboriginal Recording of the Year, with a blend of folk
Inuit music
, traditions with country
and pop
sounds. Tanya Tagaq Gillis is an Inuit throat singer
, who performs as a solo artist rather than part of a traditional duo. Charlie Panigoniak
is a country singer-songwriter and guitarist whose albums reflect on northern life. Lucie Idlout
is a rock singer who writes songs that called attention to the issue of domestic violence
in Canada. Jessie Oonark
was an internationally renowned artist who was elected a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
and made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Alootook Ipellie
was an illustrator and writer who told the stories of the Inuit people in print. Natar Ungalaaq
is an actor, filmmaker, and sculptor
whose artwork is in many major Inuit art collections worldwide. In sports, Jordin Tootoo
is the first Inuk athlete to become a professional ice hockey player playing with the NHL.
The life and times of celebrated Métis people includes military figures, entrepreneurs and sports professionals. Historically, William Kennedy
was an Arctic
explorer and, in 1851, commander of the second of four expeditions sponsored by Lady Franklin to find her husband, Sir John Franklin
. Gabriel Dumont
brought Louis Riel
back to Canada, in order to pressure the Canadian authorities to pay attention to the troubles of the Métis people. Louis Riel was a founder of the province of Manitoba
, and leader of the Métis people of the Canadian Prairies
. He led two rebellions against the Canadian government
and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister
, Sir John A. Macdonald
; the Red River Rebellion
of 1869–1870 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885 which ended in his trial
. Dumont would serve under Riel as adjutant general in the provisional Métis government declared in Saskatchewan in 1885. Dumont then commanded the Métis forces in the North-West Rebellion
. Elzéar Goulet
was a Métis leader in the Red River Settlement
, supporter of Louis Riel's provisional government
and namesake of Winnipeg
's Elzéar Goulet Memorial Park. Charles Nolin
was a Métis farmer and active political organiser who equivocated between religion and political support of the North-West Rebellion and his first cousin Louis Riel. John Bruce
was the first president of the Métis provisional government
and fought at the Red River Settlement during the Red River Rebellion of 1869.
The Métis National Council
is a national political organisation supported with provincial associations and local communities. Activists for the Métis community include Pearl Calahasen
who was the first Métis woman elected to public office in Alberta and Associate Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. Senator Thelma Chalifoux
was the first female Métis to receive the National Aboriginal Achievement Award. Blanche Brillon Macdonald
was an entrepreneur and activist who developed the "Blanche Macdonald Centre". Suzanne Rochon-Burnett
, CM, O.Ont
was a businesswoman and a founder of the Métis Nation of Ontario
.
Métis traditional culture is portrayed in arts and entertainment by artists beginning with Christi Belcourt
. Christi a painter, craftsperson, and writer is preeminently known for her acrylic paintings that depict floral patterns. This patterns are inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art. Joseph Boyden
is a Scotiabank Giller Prize
winner as novel
ist and short story
writer. Laura de Jonge
is a family advocate, corporate social responsibility practitioner, filmmaker and magazine founder. George R. D. Goulet
is a best-selling author whose works include several titles about the Métis. Tom Jackson
has starred in TV
shows such as North of 60
and Shining Time Station
. Jackson has also released several albums of country and folk music. Douglas Cardinal
, OC, from Calgary is a renowned architect
. Born of Métis and Blackfoot
heritage, Cardinal is famous for flowing architecture marked with smooth lines, influenced by his Aboriginal heritage as well as European Expressionist architecture
.
Well known Métis sports figures include Bryan Trottier
. Trottier a retired Canadian American professional ice hockey centre
Hall of Fame
award recipient who played 18 seasons in the NHL. Wade Redden
is a professional ice hockey NHL defenceman and an alternate captain. Redden has won two Canadian gold medals in the World Junior Championships and once in the World Cup of Hockey
. René Bourque
is a professional ice hockey player in the NHL and first cousin of North American Native Boxing Champion Wayne Bourque
.
Wayne Bourque has been the North American Native boxing champion three times. Sharon Bruneau
is a professional female bodybuilder
and fitness competitor
.
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
Canadians have played a critical role in shaping the history of Canada
History of Canada
The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, among whom evolved trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social hierarchies...
. From art and music, to law and government, to sports and war; Aboriginal customs and culture have had a strong influences on defining Canadian culture
Culture of Canada
Canadian culture is a term that explains the artistic, musical, literary, culinary, political and social elements that are representative of Canada and Canadians, not only to its own population, but people all over the world. Canada's culture has historically been influenced by European culture and...
. The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards
National Aboriginal Achievement Awards
The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards are annual awards presented by the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation in Canada. The awards are intended to celebrate and encourage excellence in the Aboriginal community.-About:...
(NAAA) are the annual awards presented by the Canadian National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation is a nationally registered non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds to deliver programs that provide the tools necessary for Aboriginal peoples in Canada, especially youth to achieve their potential.-About:To date the Foundation through its...
. The awards were first established in 1993 in conjunction with the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
declaring the 1990s "International Decade of the World's Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
". June 21 is Canada's National Aboriginal Day
National Aboriginal Day
National Aboriginal Day is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada. The day was first celebrated in 1996, after it was proclaimed that year by then Governor General of Canada Roméo LeBlanc, to be celebrated on June 21...
, in recognition of the cultural contributions made by Canada's indigenous population. The day was first celebrated in 1996 following Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Roméo LeBlanc
Roméo LeBlanc
Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc was a Canadian journalist, politician, and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 25th since Canadian Confederation....
's proclamation.
1,172,790 million people reported having at least some Aboriginal ancestry in 2006, representing 3.8 % of the total Canadian population. From 1981 to 2001, the percentage of Aboriginal people who obtained college diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
s increased from 15.0 per cent to 22.0 per cent, while the percentage that obtained university degrees increased from 4.0 per cent to 6.0 per cent. This compares with increases of 20.0 per cent to 25.0 per cent for non-Aboriginal people obtaining college diplomas that is a narrow gap between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population. This is partly due to organizations that focus attention on the achievements and welfare of Aboriginal Canadians like, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples founded in 1971 as the Native Council of Canada, is a Canadian aboriginal organization, that represents Aboriginal Peoples who live off Indian reserves, either in urban and rural areas across Canada.Each CAP affiliate has its own constitution and is separately...
, Native Women's Association of Canada
Native Women's Association of Canada
The Native Women's Association of Canada, or NWAC, is one of Canada's National Aboriginal Organizations, and represents Aboriginal women, particularly First Nations and Métis women. Inuit women are represented by the separate organization, Pauktuutit...
, Aboriginal Curatorial Collective
Aboriginal Curatorial Collective
The Aboriginal Curatorial Collective is a Canadian-based fine arts organization that provides professional development opportunities to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada which include, the First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists and curators.-History:...
, National Aboriginal Health Organization
National Aboriginal Health Organization
The National Aboriginal Health Organization is an Aboriginal-designed and -controlled not-for-profit body in Canada that works to influence and advance the health and well-being of Aboriginal Peoples....
, Metis Child and Family Services Society
Metis Child and Family Services Society
Métis Child and Family Services Societies are individual, independent, charitable non-profit organizations that exist in areas of high Métis populations.-Lac La Biche:...
and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is a Canadian broadcast and cable television network. APTN airs and produces programs made by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples...
.
Notable individuals
- For additional Aboriginal leaders: List of Canadian Aboriginal leaders
First Nations
Assembly of First Nations
The Assembly of First Nations , formerly known as the National Indian Brotherhood, is a body of First Nations leaders in Canada...
(AFN) which supported by its membership, land base and tribal councils
Aatsista-Mahkan
Aatsista-Mahkan
Aatsista-Mahkan or Running rabbit was a chief of the Siksika First Nation. He was the son of Akamukai , chief of the Biters band, and following the death of his father in 1871, Aatsista-Mahkan took control of the band...
(Running Rabbit), became chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
of the Siksika
Siksika Nation
The Siksika Nation is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name Siksiká comes from the Blackfoot words sik and iká , with a connector s between the two words. The plural form of Siksiká is Siksikáwa...
First Nation following the death of his father in 1871. Aatsista-Mahkan was a signatory to Treaty 7
Treaty 7
Treaty 7 was an agreement between Queen Victoria and several mainly Blackfoot First Nations tribes in what is today the southern portion of Alberta. It was concluded on September 22, 1877. The agreement was signed at the Blackfoot Crossing of the Bow River, at the present-day Siksika Nation...
, but he and his people continued living the plains Indian
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
lifestyle following the bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
until 1881. The Siksika Nation was then forced to settle on a reserve
Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...
60 miles (96.6 km) east of today's Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. Big Bear
Big Bear
Big Bear or Mistahi-maskwa was a Cree leader notable for his involvement in the North-West Rebellion and his subsequent imprisonment.-Early life and leadership:...
(mistahi-maskwa) was a Cree leader notable for his participation in the 1870 Battle of the Belly River
Battle of the Belly River
The Battle of the Belly River was the last major conflict between the Cree and the Blackfoot Confederacy, and the last major battle between First Nations on Canadian soil....
. Following this, in 1873, Big Bear clashed with the Métis. Francis Pegahmagabow
Francis Pegahmagabow
Francis Pegahmagabow MM & Two Bars, was the First Nations soldier most highly decorated for bravery in Canadian military history and the most effective sniper of World War I. Three times awarded the Military Medal and seriously wounded, he was an expert marksman and scout, credited with killing...
was the First Nation soldier most highly decorated for bravery in Canadian military history
Military history of Canada
The military history of Canada comprises hundreds of years of armed actions in the territory encompassing modern Canada, and the role of the Canadian military in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide. For thousands of years, the area that would become Canada was the site of sporadic intertribal wars...
and the most effective sniper
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Mary John, Sr.
Mary John, Sr.
Mary John, Sr., CM was a leader of the Carrier people of the central interior of British Columbia in Canada. She was known as "Mary John, Sr." to distinguish her from her daughter-in-law, also named Mary John...
, CM
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
was a leader of the Dakelh
Dakelh
The Dakelh or Carrier are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.Most Carrier call themselves Dakelh, meaning "people who go around by boat"...
(Carrier) people and a social activist. A story of her life is told in the book titled Stoney Creek Woman. Ethel Blondin-Andrew
Ethel Blondin-Andrew
Ethel Dorothy Blondin-Andrew, PC is a Canadian politician.Blondin-Andrew is a Dene who was the Member of Parliament for the district of Western Arctic in the Northwest Territories...
, was a Canadian politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
of Dene
Dene
The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...
descent in the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
and the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the Parliament of Canada
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
. Ovide Mercredi
Ovide Mercredi
Ovide William Mercredi, OM is an Aboriginal Canadian politician. He is Cree and a former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations....
is a politician of Cree descent and a former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations
Assembly of First Nations
The Assembly of First Nations , formerly known as the National Indian Brotherhood, is a body of First Nations leaders in Canada...
. Harold Cardinal
Harold Cardinal
Dr. Harold Cardinal was a Cree writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer.Dr. Harold Cardinal was a Cree writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer.Dr...
was a Cree writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer who demanded, on behalf of all First Nation peoples, the right to be "the red tile in the Canadian mosaic
Cultural mosaic
"Cultural mosaic" is a term used to describe the mix of ethnic groups, languages and cultures that co-exist within Canadian society. The idea of a cultural mosaic is intended to champion an ideal of multiculturalism, differently from other systems like the melting pot, which is often used to...
. Skowkale
Skowkale First Nation
The Skowkale First Nation or Skowkale Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region, near Sardis, part of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council.-References:...
lawyer and judge, Steven Point
Steven Point
Steven Lewis Point, is the 28th and current Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.From 1975 to 1999, Steven Point served as Chief of the Skowkale First Nation...
, OBC
Order of British Columbia
The Order of British Columbia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Bill Vander Zalm, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
(Xwĕ lī qwĕl tĕl), is the Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia is the viceregal representative in British Columbia of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared with equally the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest...
of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. Harriet Nahanee
Harriet Nahanee
Harriet Nahanee also known as Tseybayotl was an Indigenous rights activist, residential school alumnus, and environmental activist. She was born in British Columbia, Canada. She comes from the Pacheedaht who are part of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Indigenous peoples from the Vancouver Island...
was a civil rights activist, a Canadian residential school system survivor and environmentalist. Nahanee was arrested and imprisoned in 2007 at the age of 71 for trying to protect Squamish Nation territory. Shanawdithit
Shanawdithit
Shanawdithit , also noted as Shawnadithititis, Shawnawdithit, Nancy April and Nancy Shanawdithit, was the last known living member of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland, Canada. Also remembered for drawings she made towards the end of her life, Shawnawdithit was in her late twenties when she died...
, born 1801, was the last recorded surviving member of the Beothuk
Beothuk
The Beothuk were one of the aboriginal peoples in Canada. They lived on the island of Newfoundland at the time of European contact in the 15th and 16th centuries...
people. After Shanawdithit's death in 1829, the Beothuk people became officially extinct as a separate ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
. Tommy Prince
Tommy Prince
Thomas George "Tommy" Prince, MM was one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers, serving in World War II and the Korean War.-Early life:...
was one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers, serving in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
.
The arts and entertainment venue has seen aboriginal peoples stand at the Oscars, an internationally prominent award ceremony such as Chief Dan George
Dan George
Chief Dan George, OC was a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a Coast Salish band located on Burrard Inlet in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was also an author, poet, and an Academy Award-nominated actor....
. Dan George OC, was chief of the Tsleil-Waututh
Tsleil-Waututh First Nation
The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, also known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Band, is a First Nations government in the Canadian Province of British Columbia...
(Coast Salish
Coast Salish
Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...
) Nation, Academy Award-nominated actor and an author. Adam Beach
Adam Beach
Adam Ruebin Beach is a Canadian Saulteaux actor.He is best known for his roles as Tommy on Walker, Texas Ranger, Kickin' Wing in Joe Dirt, Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes in Flags of Our Fathers, Private Ben Yazzie in Windtalkers, Dr...
is an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
of Saulteaux
Saulteaux
The Saulteaux are a First Nation in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.-Ethnic classification:The Saulteaux are a branch of the Ojibwe nations. They are sometimes also called Anihšināpē . Saulteaux is a French term meaning "people of the rapids," referring to...
descent from Dog Creek First Nations Reserve
Canoe Creek Band/Dog Creek Indian Band
The Canoe Creek Band/Dog Creek Indian Band, also known as the Canoe Creek First Nation and/or Dog Creek First Nation is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc Nation, located in the Fraser Canyon-Cariboo region of the Central Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia...
at Lake Manitoba
Lake Manitoba
Lake Manitoba is Canada's thirteenth largest lake and the world's 33rd largest freshwater lake. It is in central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, which is named after the lake...
. Beach has acted in high profile roles such as, Marine Private First Class
Private First Class
Private First Class is a military rank held by junior enlisted persons.- Singapore :The rank of Private First Class in the Singapore Armed Forces lies between the ranks of Private and Lance-Corporal . It is usually held by conscript soldiers midway through their national service term...
Ira Hayes
Ira Hayes
Ira Hamilton Hayes was a Pima Native American and an American Marine who was one of the six men immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II. Hayes was an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton, Arizona, and enlisted in the Marine...
in Flags of Our Fathers
Flags of Our Fathers (film)
is a 2006 American war film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis. It is based on the book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who were involved...
, Private Ben Yazzie in Windtalkers
Windtalkers
Windtalkers is a 2002 action war film directed by John Woo. Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater star as two US Marine sergeants assigned to protect Navajo code talkers in Saipan during World War II.-Plot:World War II Sgt...
and Chester Lake in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
. Lorne Cardinal
Lorne Cardinal
Lorne Cardinal is a stage, television and film actor, best known for portraying character Davis Quinton on the Canadian television series Corner Gas.-Personal life:...
of Cree descent, is noted for playing First Nations roles in many productions. Cardinal most recently role is portraying character Davis Quinton on the Canadian television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Corner Gas
Corner Gas
Corner Gas is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV and The Comedy Network in Canada; it formerly aired on WGN America in the United States....
. Tantoo Cardinal
Tantoo Cardinal
Rose Marie "Tantoo" Cardinal, CM is a Canadian film and television actress.-Career:Cardinal was born in Anzac, Fort McMurray, Alberta. Her mother, Julia Cardinal, was a Métis of Cree descent...
is a Canadian film and television actress of Métis and Cree descent.Graham Greene
Graham Greene (actor)
Graham Greene is a Canadian actor who has worked on stage, and in film and TV productions in Canada, England and the United States.-Early life:...
is an Academy Award–nominated Canadian actor from the Oneida tribe
Oneida tribe
The Oneida are a Native American/First Nations people and are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York...
. He was born in Ohsweken
Ohsweken, Ontario
Ohsweken, , is a village on the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Indian reserve near Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Approximately 300 of the 2,700 homes on the reserve are in Ohsweken, and it is the site of the reserve governmental and administrative offices...
on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
Among the Canadian First Nations are accomplished persons known for their singing, songwriting and live performances. Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
is a country pop
Country pop
Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to...
artist of Cree and Ojibwe ancestry. Shania Twain along with Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
are the only Canadian musicians male or female to have sold over 2 million units in Canada, receiving the double diamond award. Kashtin
Kashtin
Kashtin were a Canadian folk rock duo in the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most commercially successful and famous musical groups in First Nations history....
was a Canadian folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
duo composed of Innu
Innu
The Innu are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan , which comprises most of the northeastern portions of the provinces of Quebec and some western portions of Labrador...
Claude McKenzie
Claude McKenzie
Claude McKenzie is a Canadian singer-songwriter. An Innu from Maliotenam, he was half of the popular folk music duo Kashtin, the most commercially successful musical group in First Nations history....
and Florent Vollant
Florent Vollant
Florent Vollant is a Canadian singer-songwriter. An Innu from Maliotenam, Quebec, he was half of the popular folk music duo Kashtin, one of the most important musical groups in First Nations history....
. Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
, musician, singer–songwriter
Singer–songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
is best known for his membership in The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
. Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau, CM , also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Aboriginal Canadian artist. Known as the "Picasso of the North", Morrisseau created works depicting the legends of his people, the cultural and political tensions between native Canadian and European traditions, his existential...
, CM, or Copper Thunderbird, was an Anishinaabe
Anishinaabe
Anishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
known as the "Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
of the North". Bill Reid
Bill Reid
William Ronald Reid, OBC was a Canadian artist whose works included jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and painting. His work is featured on the Canadian $20 banknote.-Biography:...
, OBC, was an artist who renewed interest in his heritage Haida art, with his sculpture and totem pole
Totem pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...
s.
In sports there are number of accomplished First Nations peoples such as Tom Longboat
Tom Longboat
Cogwagee was an Onondaga distance runner from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Indian reserve near Brantford, Ontario, and for much of his career the dominant long distance runner of the time...
an Onondaga
Onondaga (tribe)
The Onondaga are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Their traditional homeland is in and around Onondaga County, New York...
distance runner
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
. Longboat was inducted into both Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established in 1955 to "preserve the record of Canadian sports achievements and to promote a greater awareness of Canada's heritage of sport." It is located at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta...
and the Indian Hall of Fame. George "Chief" Armstrong was noted as an Irish-Algonquin, professional hockey player. Ted Nolan
Ted Nolan
Theodore John Nolan is currently the Head Coach of Latvia men's national ice hockey team...
, Ojibwe, Jack Adams Award
Jack Adams Award
The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." It has been awarded 37 times to 32 different coaches. The winner is selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association at the end of the...
winner, is a retired professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
left winger
Winger (ice hockey)
Winger, in the game of hockey, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play on the ice is along the outer playing area. They typically work by flanking the centre forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink...
of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL). Nolan was the former Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations for an American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
(AHL) team. Jonathan Cheechoo
Jonathan Cheechoo
Jonathan Earl Cheechoo is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League. During the 2005–06 National Hockey League season, he led the NHL with 56 goals and won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy...
was the first member of the Moose Factory
Moose Factory, Ontario
Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in Ontario and the second Hudson's Bay Company post to be set up in North...
Cree Nation to play hockey for the Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
of the NHL. Of Cree heritage, Jon Mirasty
Jon Mirasty
Jonathon Gary Frank Mirasty is an ice hockey left winger who plays for the Chekhov Vityaz of the KHL. Nicknamed "Nasty" by both teammates and fans, Mirasty has developed a cult following throughout his career due to his Mohawk hairstyle and his laughing during his fights..Mirasty finished the...
, "Nasty Mirasty", is a popular enforcer in the AHL.
Inuit
Inuit serving in political roles have actively advocated in support of the Inuit community. The Inuit serve within a national political organisation known as the Inuit Tapirisat. Abe OkpikAbe Okpik
Abe "Abraham" Okpik, CM was an Inuit community leader in Canada. He instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames rather than disc numbers...
CM, was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
rather than disc number
Disc number
Disc numbers or ujamiit in the Inuit language were used by the Government of Canada in lieu of surnames for the Inuit and were similar to dog-tags. The discs were small, made of leather, had a string attached and were supposed to be worn around the neck....
s. while Simonie Michael, the first Inuk to sit on what is now the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories was among the early Inuit leaders to call for and end to the disc numbers. Kiviaq
Kiviaq
Kiviaq is a Canadian Inuit lawyer, politician, and former sportsman. He was the first Inuk to become a lawyer, and is responsible for several important advances in establishing the legal rights of the Inuit people; in 2001, he won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktituk name.Born outside...
(David Ward) Inuit politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
was the first Inuk to become a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, and is responsible for several important advances in establishing the legal rights of the Inuit people. In 2001, Kiviaq won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
name. Peter Irniq
Peter Irniq
Peter Taqtu Irniq is an Inuk politician in Canada, who served as the second Commissioner of Nunavut from April 2000 to April 2005.-Biography:...
a former Commissioner of Nunavut
Commissioners of Nunavut
This is a list of the Commissioners of Nunavut, Canada, since its creation in 1999. As of 12 May 2010, the commissioner is Edna Elias.-History:The position of Commissioner was created in 1999 with the creation of the new territory...
set up the offices of "the Official Languages, Access to Information and Conflict of Interest Commissioners". Irniq also has encouraged the use of the Inuit language
Inuit language
The Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik languages are spoken in western and southern Alaska and Russian Far East, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and...
and the Inuit culture, referred to as Qaujimajatuqangit
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is an Inuktitut phrase that is often translated as Inuit traditional knowledge, Inuit traditional institutions or even Inuit traditional technology...
. Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, OC is a Canadian Inuit activist. She has been a political representative for Inuit at the regional, national and international levels, most recently as International Chair for Inuit Circumpolar Council...
, OC, is an Inuit political representative and activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
at the regional, national and international levels. Sheila has most recently working as International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference). Nellie Cournoyea
Nellie Cournoyea
Nellie Cournoyea, OC is a former Canadian politician, who served as the sixth Premier of the Northwest Territories from 1991 to 1995...
, OC, of Inupiat heritage served as the first female Premier of the Northwest Territories
Premier of the Northwest Territories
The Premier of the Northwest Territories is the first minister for the Northwest Territories,Canada. He or she is the territory's head of government and de facto chief executive, although the powers of the office are considerably less than those of a provincial premier.Unlike provincial premiers,...
and the second female leader of an elected legislature in Canada. Helen Maksagak
Helen Maksagak
Helen Mamayaok Maksagak, CM was a Canadian politician. She served as the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from January 16, 1995 until March 26, 1999 and as the Commissioner of Nunavut from April 1, 1999 until April 1, 2000...
, CM, a Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region and the Northwest Territories's Inuvik Region. Most historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island.Their western boundary was Wise Point,...
, was the last Commissioner of the undivided NWT
Commissioners of Northwest Territories
The Commissioner of the Northwest Territories is the Canadian federal government’s representative in Northwest Territories and the territory's Chief Executive Officer...
and first Commissioner of Nunavut. Paul Okalik
Paul Okalik
Paul Okalik MLA is a Canadian politician. He is the first Inuk member called to the Nunavut Bar, the first Premier of Nunavut and the only multi-term premier of a Canadian territory....
was the first Premier of Nunavut
Premier of Nunavut
The Premier of Nunavut is the first minister for the Canadian territory of Nunavut. They are the territory's head of government and de facto chief executive, although their powers are considerably smaller than that of a provincial premier....
whose "dream was to help his people in their dealings with the Canadian justice system." Ann Meekitjuk Hanson
Ann Meekitjuk Hanson
Ann Meekitjuk Hanson was the Commissioner of Nunavut. She served from April 21, 2005 until April 10, 2010...
is the Commissioner of Nunavut as well as civil servant, broadcaster, journalist and author.
Historically among the Inuit, Stephen Angulalik
Stephen Angulalik
Stephen Angulalik was an internationally known Ahiarmiut Inuit from northern Canada notable as a Kitikmeot fur trader and trading post operator at Kuugjuaq , Northwest Territories...
was an internationally known Ahiarmiut
Ihalmiut
The Ihalmiut or Ahiarmiut are a group of inland Inuit who lived along the banks of the Kazan River, Ennadai Lake Little Dubawnt Lake , and north of Thlewiaza in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut...
Inuit from northern Canada
Northern Canada
Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...
. Angulalik was recognized as a Kitikmeot
Kitikmeot Region, Northwest Territories
The Kitikmeot Region was part of the Northwest Territories until division in April 1999 when most of the region became part of Nunavut. It consisted of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion...
fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
r and trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
operator at Kuugjuaq (Perry River
Perry River
Perry River is a waterway in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It empties into Chester Bay on the southern Queen Maud Gulf.At one time, Stephen Angulalik, and later Red Pedersen, ran a Hudson's Bay Company outpost at Perry River....
), NWT. According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
Sergeant Henry Larsen by 1941, Angulalik and his third wife had raised 11 children. Ebierbing
Ebierbing
Ebierbing , also known as "Joe," "Eskimo Joe," and "Joseph Ebierbing", c. 1837 - c. 1881, was a remarkable Inuit guide and explorer, who assisted several American Arctic explorers, among them Charles Francis Hall and Frederick Schwatka...
, also known as "Eskimo Joe", was a guide and explorer
Arctic exploration
Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. The region that surrounds the North Pole. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle...
. Ebierbing was one of the most widely-travelled Inuit in the 1860s and 1870s, he assisted Arctic explorers. Peter Pitseolak
Peter Pitseolak
Peter Pitseolak was an Inuit photographer, artist and historian.-Life:]...
was an Inuit photographer, artist and historian. Pitseolak lived most of his life in traditional Inuit camps near Cape Dorset
Cape Dorset, Nunavut
Cape Dorset is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada...
, on the southwest coast of Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
, now in the Canadian territory of Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
.
Kenojuak Ashevak
Kenojuak Ashevak
Kenojuak Ashevak, is regarded as one of the most notable Canadian pioneers of modern Inuit art.-Life:Kenojuak Ashevak was born in an igloo in an Inuit camp, Ikirasaq, at the southern coast of Baffin Island. At three years old, she lost her father. In 1952, she had to be treated for three years...
, CC, is a noteworthy pioneer of modern Inuit art
Inuit art
Inuit art refers to artwork produced by Inuit people, that is, the people of the Arctic previously known as Eskimos, a term that is now often considered offensive outside Alaska...
. Born in an igloo
Igloo
An igloo or snowhouse is a type of shelter built of snow, originally built by the Inuit....
in an Inuit camp in 1927, by the late 1950s Kenojuak became one of the first Inuit women in Cape Dorset to begin drawing. She has since created many carvings from soapstone and thousands of drawings, etchings, stone-cuts, and prints — all sought after by museums and collectors. Zacharias Kunuk
Zacharias Kunuk
Zacharias Kunuk, is a Canadian Inuk producer and director most notable for his film Atanarjuat, the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced completely in Inuktitut...
, is a producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
distinguished for his film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Atanarjuat
Atanarjuat
Atanarjuat is a 2001 Canadian film directed by Zacharias Kunuk. It was the first feature film ever to be written, directed and acted entirely in Inuktitut...
. Atanarjuat was the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced completely in Inuktitut. Atanarjuat is co-founder and president of Igloolik Isuma Productions
Isuma
Isuma is Canada's first Inuit production company co-founded by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn in Igloolik, Nunavut in 1990...
, Canada's first independent Inuit production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
. Annabella Piugattuk
Annabella Piugattuk
Annabella Piugattuk is a Canadian Inuit actress, notable for her role in The Snow Walker. Piugattuk was raised in Igloolik, a village with a population of 1,286 in the Nunavut territory of Canada...
is a throat singer, and actress memorable for her role in The Snow Walker
The Snow Walker
The Snow Walker is a 2003 Canadian film based on the short story "Walk Well, My Brother" by Farley Mowat. It was written and directed by Charles Martin Smith and starred Barry Pepper, James Cromwell, and Annabella Piugattuk....
. Susan Aglukark
Susan Aglukark
Susan Aglukark, OC , is an Inuk musician whose blend of Inuit folk music traditions with country and pop songwriting has made her a major recording star in Canada. Her most successful single is "O Siem", which reached #1 on the Canadian country and adult contemporary charts in 1995...
is a three time Juno
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
winning musician, in 1995
Juno Awards of 1995
The Juno Awards of 1995, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 26 March 1995 in Hamilton, Ontario at a ceremony in the Copps Coliseum...
for New Artist of the Year
Juno Award for New Artist of the Year
The Juno Award for New Artist of the Year has been awarded since 1974 as recognition each year for the best new artist/musician in Canada. The category was originally divided by separate awards for men and women...
and Best Music of Aboriginal Canada
Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year
The Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year, formerly known as Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording, is an annual award presented by Canada's Juno Awards for the best album by a Aboriginal peoples in Canada....
. In 2004
Juno Awards of 2004
The Juno Awards of 2004 were presented on April 4, 2004 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and were hosted by Alanis Morissette.Singer-songwriters Nelly Furtado, Sarah McLachlan, and Nickelback led the nominations with five nominations each...
Susan won for Aboriginal Recording of the Year, with a blend of folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
Inuit music
Inuit music
Traditional Inuit music, the music of the Inuit, has been based around drums used in dance music as far back as can be known, and a vocal style called katajjaq has become of interest in Canada and abroad....
, traditions with country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
sounds. Tanya Tagaq Gillis is an Inuit throat singer
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
, who performs as a solo artist rather than part of a traditional duo. Charlie Panigoniak
Charlie Panigoniak
Charlie Panigoniak is an Inuit singer-songwriter and guitarist whose albums reflect on northern life....
is a country singer-songwriter and guitarist whose albums reflect on northern life. Lucie Idlout
Lucie Idlout
Lucie Idlout is a Canadian rock singer.An Inuk from Iqaluit, Nunavut, she is the daughter of Leah Idlout d'Argencourt and granddaughter of Joseph Idlout, an Inuk hunter who was the subject of a National Film Board documentary, Between Two Worlds, in 1990 and was one of the Inuit hunters depicted...
is a rock singer who writes songs that called attention to the issue of domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
in Canada. Jessie Oonark
Jessie Oonark
Jessie Oonark, OC was a Canadian Inuit artist who is best known for her wall hangings and her prints.-Biography :...
was an internationally renowned artist who was elected a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts is a Canadian arts-related institution founded in 1880, under the patronage of the Governor General of Canada, Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, the Marquess of Lorne. Canadian landscape painter Homer Watson was a member and president of the Academy...
and made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Alootook Ipellie
Alootook Ipellie
Alootook Ipellie was an Inuit illustrator and writer. He specialized in black and white line drawings and illustrations. He is survived by his daughter, Taina Ipellie.-Publications:-External links:***...
was an illustrator and writer who told the stories of the Inuit people in print. Natar Ungalaaq
Natar Ungalaaq
Natar Ungalaaq is a Canadian Inuit actor, filmmaker, and sculptor whose artwork is in many major collections of Inuit art worldwide...
is an actor, filmmaker, and sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
whose artwork is in many major Inuit art collections worldwide. In sports, Jordin Tootoo
Jordin Tootoo
Jordin John Kudluk Tootoo is a Canadian professional ice hockey player with the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League . He is both the first Inuk player and the first player who grew up in Nunavut to participate in an NHL game....
is the first Inuk athlete to become a professional ice hockey player playing with the NHL.
Métis
William Kennedy (explorer)
William Kennedy was born at Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, a son of the Hudson's Bay Company Chief Factor there, Alexander Kennedy and his Cree wife, Aggathas. At thirteen, he was sent to his father’s birthplace in the Orkney Islands for his education...
was an Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
explorer and, in 1851, commander of the second of four expeditions sponsored by Lady Franklin to find her husband, Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
. Gabriel Dumont
Gabriel Dumont
Gabriel Dumont was a leader of the Métis people of what is now western Canada. In 1873 Dumont was elected to the presidency of the short-lived republic of St. Laurent; afterward he continued to play a leading role among the Métis of the South Saskatchewan River...
brought Louis Riel
Louis Riel
Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....
back to Canada, in order to pressure the Canadian authorities to pay attention to the troubles of the Métis people. Louis Riel was a founder of the province of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, and leader of the Métis people of the Canadian Prairies
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...
. He led two rebellions against the Canadian government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
, Sir John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
; the Red River Rebellion
Red River Rebellion
The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...
of 1869–1870 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885 which ended in his trial
Trial of Louis Riel
The Trial of Louis Riel is arguably the most famous trial in the history of Canada. In 1885, Louis Riel had been a leader of a resistance movement by the Métis and First Nations people of western Canada against the Canadian government in what is now the modern province of Saskatchewan...
. Dumont would serve under Riel as adjutant general in the provisional Métis government declared in Saskatchewan in 1885. Dumont then commanded the Métis forces in the North-West Rebellion
North-West Rebellion
The North-West Rebellion of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful uprising by the Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel against the Dominion of Canada...
. Elzéar Goulet
Elzéar Goulet
Elzéar Goulet was a Métis leader in the Red River Settlement, which later became the province of Manitoba, Canada...
was a Métis leader in the Red River Settlement
Red River Colony
The Red River Colony was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company under what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession. The colony along the Red River of the North was never very successful...
, supporter of Louis Riel's provisional government
History of Manitoba
Manitoba is one of Canada's 10 provinces, and the easternmost of the Prairie Provinces. Fur traders first arrived in what is now Manitoba during the late 17th century. It was officially recognized by the Federal Government in 1870 as separate from the Northwest Territories, and became the first...
and namesake of Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
's Elzéar Goulet Memorial Park. Charles Nolin
Charles Nolin
Charles Nolin was a Métis farmer and political organiser noted for his role in the opposition of the North-West Rebellion of 1885...
was a Métis farmer and active political organiser who equivocated between religion and political support of the North-West Rebellion and his first cousin Louis Riel. John Bruce
John Bruce (Canada)
John Bruce was the first president of the Métis provisional government at the Red River Settlement during the Red River Rebellion of 1869.- External links :*...
was the first president of the Métis provisional government
Provisional Government of Saskatchewan
The Provisional Government of Saskatchewan was the name given by Louis Riel to the independent state he declared during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 in what is today the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Although Riel initially hoped to rally the Countryborn, Cree and European settlers of the...
and fought at the Red River Settlement during the Red River Rebellion of 1869.
The Métis National Council
Métis National Council
The Métis National Council is the representative of the Northwest Métis people within Canada.-History:The National Council was formed in 1983, following the recognition of the Métis as an aboriginal people in Canada, in Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982...
is a national political organisation supported with provincial associations and local communities. Activists for the Métis community include Pearl Calahasen
Pearl Calahasen
Pearl Calahasen is a Canadian politician, who currently represents the electoral district of Lesser Slave Lake in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta...
who was the first Métis woman elected to public office in Alberta and Associate Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. Senator Thelma Chalifoux
Thelma Chalifoux
Thelma J. Chalifoux is a former Canadian politician and teacher. Chalifoux was the first female Métis to receive the National Aboriginal Achievement Award....
was the first female Métis to receive the National Aboriginal Achievement Award. Blanche Brillon Macdonald
Blanche Brillon Macdonald
Blanche Brillon Macdonald was a Canadian Métis born in Faust, Alberta of French and First Nations heritage. She launched her career as the winner of Miss English Bay in 1949 before becoming involved in the support of the rights and culture of Aboriginal peoples as well as numerous women's...
was an entrepreneur and activist who developed the "Blanche Macdonald Centre". Suzanne Rochon-Burnett
Suzanne Rochon-Burnett
Suzanne Rochon-Burnett, CM, O.Ont was a Canadian Métis business woman.-Biography:Born in Sainte-Adèle, Quebec, she was the first aboriginal person in Canada to own and operate a private commercial radio station, Welland, Ontario's SPIRIT 91.7 .In 1965, she married Gordon W. Burnett...
, CM, O.Ont
Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to...
was a businesswoman and a founder of the Métis Nation of Ontario
Métis Nation of Ontario
Métis Nation of Ontario is an aboriginal organization for the Métis population in Ontario.It is affiliated with the Métis National Council.-External links:*...
.
Christi Belcourt
Christi Marlene Belcourt is a Métis visual artist and author living and working in Canada. She is best known for her acrylic paintings which depict floral patterns inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art...
. Christi a painter, craftsperson, and writer is preeminently known for her acrylic paintings that depict floral patterns. This patterns are inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art. Joseph Boyden
Joseph Boyden
Joseph Boyden is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His first novel, Three Day Road won the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize...
is a Scotiabank Giller Prize
Scotiabank Giller Prize
The Scotiabank Giller Prize, or Giller Prize, is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English the previous year, after an annual juried competition between publishers who submit entries...
winner as novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist and short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer. Laura de Jonge
Laura de Jonge
Laura Anne "Lolly" de Jonge, née Goulet is a family advocate, corporate social responsibility practitioner, filmmaker and magazine founder. She is the daughter of best-selling authors George R. D...
is a family advocate, corporate social responsibility practitioner, filmmaker and magazine founder. George R. D. Goulet
George R. D. Goulet
George Richard Donald Goulet is a Canadian Métis best-selling author, historian, public speaker, retired lawyer and prostate cancer survivor.-Life:...
is a best-selling author whose works include several titles about the Métis. Tom Jackson
Tom Jackson (actor)
Thomas Dale Jackson, OC , is a Canadian born Métis actor and singer perhaps best known for the annual series of Christmas concerts, called the Huron Carole, which he created and starred in for 17 years...
has starred in TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
shows such as North of 60
North of 60
North of 60 is a mid-1990s Canadian television series depicting life in the sub-Arctic northern boreal forest . It first aired on CBC Television in 1992 and was syndicated around the world. It is set in the fictional community of Lynx River, a primarily Native-run town depicted as being in the...
and Shining Time Station
Shining Time Station
Shining Time Station is an American children's television series co-created by Britt Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by The Britt Allcroft Company and Quality Family Entertainment in New York for New York City PBS Station WNET, and was filmed first in New York and then in Toronto...
. Jackson has also released several albums of country and folk music. Douglas Cardinal
Douglas Cardinal
Douglas Joseph Cardinal, OC is a Canadian architect.Born of Métis and Blackfoot heritage, Cardinal is famous for flowing architecture marked with smooth lines, influenced by his Aboriginal heritage as well as European Expressionist architectureIn 1953, he attended the University of British...
, OC, from Calgary is a renowned architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. Born of Métis and Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
heritage, Cardinal is famous for flowing architecture marked with smooth lines, influenced by his Aboriginal heritage as well as European Expressionist architecture
Expressionist architecture
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts....
.
Well known Métis sports figures include Bryan Trottier
Bryan Trottier
Bryan John Trottier is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the...
. Trottier a retired Canadian American professional ice hockey centre
Centre (ice hockey)
The centre in ice hockey is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play is the middle of the ice, away from the side boards. Centres have more flexibility in their positioning and are expected to cover more ice surface than any other player...
Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
award recipient who played 18 seasons in the NHL. Wade Redden
Wade Redden
Wade Redden is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing in the New York Rangers organization for its American Hockey League affiliate, the Connecticut Whale. He joined the New York Rangers in 2008 after 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators...
is a professional ice hockey NHL defenceman and an alternate captain. Redden has won two Canadian gold medals in the World Junior Championships and once in the World Cup of Hockey
World Cup of Hockey
The World Cup of Hockey is an international ice hockey tournament. Inaugurated in 1996, it is the successor to the previous Canada Cup, which ran from 1976 to 1991...
. René Bourque
Rene Bourque
René Gary Wayne Bourque is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who currently plays for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League . An undrafted player, Bourque was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent in 2004 and made his NHL debut in 2005–06...
is a professional ice hockey player in the NHL and first cousin of North American Native Boxing Champion Wayne Bourque
Wayne Bourque
Wayne Bourque has been the North American Native boxing champ three times in the welterweight and middleweight classes. He was born in 1959 to Métis parents in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. He is the cousin of Calgary Flames ice hockey forward René Bourque, and he has trained several NHL hockey...
.
Wayne Bourque has been the North American Native boxing champion three times. Sharon Bruneau
Sharon Bruneau
Sharon Leigh Bruneau is a professional Canadian female bodybuilder and fitness competitor.-Biography:Sharon, a French-Canadian Métis, was born in the mining city of Timmins, Ontario...
is a professional female bodybuilder
Female bodybuilding
Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.-Beginnings:...
and fitness competitor
Fitness and figure competition
Fitness and Figure competition is a class of physique-exhibition events for women. While bearing a close resemblance to female bodybuilding, they emphasizes muscle tone over muscle size.-Overview:...
.
See also
- Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the YearJuno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the YearThe Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year, formerly known as Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording, is an annual award presented by Canada's Juno Awards for the best album by a Aboriginal peoples in Canada....
- List of indigenous artists of the Americas
- List of place names in Canada of Aboriginal origin
- List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
- Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)Persons of National Historic Significance, , are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the recommendation of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada....
External links
- Aboriginal Art, Culture and Other Traditions. - Virtual Museum of Canada
- Aboriginal Canada Portal - Government of Canada
- (pdf) First Nations Music in Canada - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada -
- First Peoples - Canadian Museum of Civilization
- National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation - National Aboriginal Achievement Awards
- Native Dance - Department of Canadian Heritage