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Canada - First Nations

First Nations

You may be interested to know that the phrase "Native American" is not the politically correct (not that I'm in favour of euphemisms) way of referring to Indians, Métis, and Inuit in Canada. They prefer the term "First Nations."
Dean Tiegs - 1997-12-10

Ahem -- but being the Metis just that, metis (i.e., mixed), a creole nation based on cree(*), inuit, scot, french and irish ancestry, I'd say that call them a "First Nation" is, however PC, simply wrong...
Antonio Martins - 1997-12-20

I agree that it doesn't seem correct; however, I think many people do include the Métis when they say "First Nations."
Dean Tiegs - 1997-12-19

Cree is a PC name, it's the name that the Cree use to refer to themselves. The only thing is that before, Cree was used in English to refer indistinctiveley to Cree, Montagnais-Innu, Naskapis and (perhaps) other related Algonkian nations.

AFAIK, there isn't any Inuit ancestry in the Metis nation. They do have Cree, Ojibwa and Chippewa ancestry. I'm not sure if they really have Scot ancestry ; their main white ancestry is French Canadian, with some Irish, though many of the latter were already assimilated to the French Canadians and were of mixed Irish-French Canadian blood.

I think qualifying the Metis of Natives or not is a matter of definition, not of PC. If you consider any nation with European blood or heritage in whatever cultural aspect you want, then the Metis are not Natives, but neither are the Mohawks, the Abenakis, the Cree, etc. If you want to mesure the quantity of European blood or culture within the Metis nation and arbitrarely fix a percentage over which the nation should not be considered Native, it's your right, but it would be quite ridiculous. Taking this logic to its extreme, you would then have to say that a child of a Mohawk and a white is not a Native, but his/her children might be if he/she has these children with a Native.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 1997-12-19

Bien sûr, but that was not at all my point. The fact is that the Metis Nation emerged not before the 17th or 18th ct., as thus cannot be considered as "first". In fact, I suppose that the Metis are one of the *last* nations to arrive in Canada... (Only maybe just the more recent emmigrants like the Ukranians are latter.) That doesn't mean they are european-like.

I didn't said that, nor I did think it (especially after your interesting explanation!). My point is just chronological, not etnological.
Antonio Martins - 1997-12-22

A First Nations flag

by Jaume Ollé

Canadian natives do have a flag, I've rarely seen fly - there is an example in the window of the Army surplus store (FS as merchandise) and IIRC once on a news report from a native reserve - it is the usual Canadian flag with the image of a native man/chief/warrior (I'm not sure, I'm not native, so I dont' know what he is supposed to be) superimposed on the flag.
David Kendall - 1997-12-02

If I remember correctly this flag is hoisted with several patterns. I made a drawing some years ago from a flag seen in photo or TV with the Indian Saskatchewan figure but I believe that other figures are also used. The image is very simple: Canadian flag with a head of a Indian chief in white part.
Jaume Ollé, 24 January 2000