[15]: 5  They had migrated onto the Great Plains (where they followed bison herds and cultivated berries and edible roots) from the area of now eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.

[31] According to their tradition, and from recordings in birch bark scrolls (wiigwaasabak), Ojibwe (an Algonquian-speaking people) came from the eastern areas of North America, or Turtle Island, and from along the east coast.

[34] In 1999 the discovery of the body of Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi provided archaeologists with significant information on indigenous tribal life prior to extensive European contact.

In the early days of contact, the First Nations and Inuit populations welcomed the Europeans, assisting them in living off the land and joining forces with the French and British in their various battles.

An expedition captured about 60 Aboriginal people as slaves who were said to "resemble gypsies in colour, features, stature and aspect; are clothed in the skins of various animals ...They are very shy and gentle, but well formed in arms and legs and shoulders beyond description ...." Some captives, sent by Gaspar Corte-Real, reached Portugal.

French voyageurs travelled deep into the hinterlands (of what is today Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba, as well as what is now the American Midwest and the Mississippi Valley), trading with First Nations as they went – guns, gunpowder, cloth, knives, and kettles for beaver furs.

The British had long wished to create a neutral Indian state in the American Old Northwest,[66] and made this demand as late as 1814 at the peace negotiations at Ghent.

Abandoned by their powerful sponsor, Great Lakes-area natives ultimately assimilated into American society, migrated to the west or to Canada, or were relocated onto reservations in Michigan and Wisconsin.

[69] Just as the bison disappeared (the last Canadian hunt was in 1879), Lieutenant-Governor Edgar Dewdney cut rations to indigenous people in an attempt to reduce government costs.

In 1884 the Métis (including the Anglo-Métis) asked Louis Riel to return from the United States, where he had fled after the Red River Rebellion, to appeal to the government on their behalf.

Discouraged by the lack of government response but encouraged by the efforts of the Métis at armed rebellion, Wandering Spirit and other young militant Cree attacked the small town of Frog Lake, killing Thomas Quinn, an Indian agent, and eight others.

Founded in the 19th century, the Canadian Indian residential school system was intended to force the assimilation of Aboriginal and First Nations people into European-Canadian society.

According to the historian Mary-Ellen Kelm, "inadequate reserve allocations, restrictions on the food fishery, overhunting, and over-trapping" alienated First Nations from their traditional way of life, which undermined their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

[81] As Canadian ideas of progress evolved around the start of the 20th century, the federal Indian policy was directed at removing Indigenous people from their communal lands and encouraging assimilation.

[citation needed] When the Kainai (Blood) Nation refused to accept the sale of their lands in 1916 and 1917, the Department of Indian Affairs held back funding necessary for farming until they relented.

Later the government created a pass system in the old Northwest Territories that required indigenous people to seek written permission from an Indian Agent before leaving their reserves for any length of time.

Four years later, in May 1943, the government declared that, as British subjects, all able Indian men of military age could be called up for training and service in Canada or overseas.

[102] This proposal offered a far different way of doing politics than the traditional policy of assigning First Nations matters under the jurisdiction of the Indian and Northern Affairs, managed by one minister of the federal cabinet.

The evacuation of Kashechewan was largely viewed by Canadians as a cry for help for other underlying social and economic issues that Aboriginal people in Canada face.

The demonstrations were largely peaceful, although groups disrupted transportation with blockades or bonfires; a stretch of the Highway 401 was shut down, as was the Canadian National Railway's line between Toronto and Montreal.

It consisted of a number of political actions worldwide, inspired in part by the hunger strike of Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence[105] and further coordinated via social media.

[117] There are currently over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 2006 people spread across Canada with distinctive Aboriginal cultures, languages, art, and music.

One of its chief goals was to remove Aboriginal children from "the influence of the wigwam", which he claimed was stronger than that of existing day schools, and keep them instead "constantly within the circle of civilized conditions".

In many schools, students were not allowed to speak their Indigenous languages or practice any of their own customs, and thus lost their sense of identity, inevitably driving a cultural wedge between children and their family.

[144] The Christian denominations that operated the schools on behalf of the federal government have expressed regret and issued apologies for their part in a system that harmed many indigenous children.

Chief Commissioner, Judge Murray Sinclair, has publicly declared the residential school system a deliberate act of cultural genocide against First Nations peoples.

[154] The reasons behind the lower life expectancy for First Nations individuals are varied and complex; however, social determinants of health are thought to play a large part.

Projects such as "mining, logging, hydroelectric construction, large-scale export oriented agribusiness or oil exploration"[attribution needed] are usually coupled with environmental degradation and occasionally violence and militarization.

Privatization of public services and reduction in the universality of health care produces negative repercussions for those of lower socioeconomic status in rural locations; these downsides are magnified for female Aboriginals.

[166] According to summaries of seven consultation sessions posted to a government website, the desire to dedicate some attention to violence against indigenous men and boys has come up at four of the meetings.