Lesson 2 · Discover Canada p.16–22
Founding peoples, the three Aboriginal groups, and the numbers. This chapter is mostly percentages and definitions — pure recall.
Aboriginal, French and British. Memorise that triplet; it is a stock question. p.16
Canada has the oldest continuous constitutional tradition in the world and is the only constitutional monarchy in North America. Its founding phrase, from the British North America Act of 1867, is Peace, Order, and Good Government.
| Group | Know this | Share |
|---|---|---|
| First Nations | "Indian" means all Aboriginal people who are not Inuit or Métis. "First Nations" came into use in the 1970s. About half live on reserve, in about 600 communities. | 65% |
| Métis | A distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry, mostly in the Prairies. They speak Michif. | 30% |
| Inuit | Inuit means "the people" in Inuktitut. They live in small scattered communities across the Arctic. | 4% |
1763 — the Royal Proclamation of King George III first guaranteed Aboriginal territorial rights and set the basis for treaties.
2008 — Ottawa formally apologized to former students of residential schools, which ran from the 1800s until the 1980s.
p.17
Most Canadians have been born here since the 1800s. Since the 1970s, most immigrants have come from Asian countries. Chinese languages are the second most-spoken at home in Vancouver (13%) and Toronto (7%). The largest religious affiliation is Catholic. p.21