- "Indigenous peoples are the first inhabitants of an area and their descendants."
The history of how indigenous populations were systematically oppressed, disenfranchised, and stripped of their rights and land.
Colonialism: The takeover and domination of Indigenous territories and peoples by European powers, resulting in dispossession, marginalization, and cultural suppression.
Treaty rights: The formal agreements signed between Indigenous nations and colonial governments that outline rights, responsibilities, and obligations between the parties.
Land claims and self-determination: The return and control of traditional lands and resources, allowing Indigenous communities to govern themselves and determine their own futures.
Residential schools: The widespread policy of forced assimilation of Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture through the government-run boarding schools.
Indigenous languages and cultural preservation: The importance of preserving Indigenous languages and traditions, which have suffered greatly from colonialism and assimilation policies.
Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls: The disproportionately high rates of violence and discrimination faced by Indigenous women and girls in Canada and the resulting calls for action to address these injustices.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: The government-sponsored commission established to document the history and lasting impacts of residential schools and to make recommendations for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
Indigenous legal systems: The unique legal traditions and practices of Indigenous communities, which have often been overlooked or suppressed by colonial legal systems.
Indigenous health and social issues: The disproportionate rates of poverty, poor health outcomes, and social problems faced by Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Indigenous activism and leadership: The work of Indigenous leaders, activists, and communities in advocating for their rights and asserting their sovereignty in the face of ongoing discrimination and marginalization.
Land rights: Recognition of Indigenous people's ancestral lands as their own and the protection and preservation of these lands from development and expropriation.
Cultural rights: Rights to preserve, express and practice one's own culture through tradition, language, music, dance, art, and other forms of expression.
Linguistic rights: The protection, preservation, and promotion of Indigenous people's languages and the right to education in their own languages.
Self-determination: The right of Indigenous peoples to make decisions about their own lives and territories, including the right to participate in decision-making processes that affect them.
Right to consultation: The obligation of states to consult with Indigenous peoples before making decisions that affect them.
Reparations: Making amends for injustices caused to Indigenous peoples, such as through compensation, land restitution, and the restoration of cultural heritage sites.
Health rights: The right to access healthcare, including traditional and western medicine, that is culturally appropriate and accessible.
Environmental rights: The right to access and manage natural resources, and to live in a clean and healthy environment.
Right to autonomy: The right to govern themselves through their own institutions, laws, and justice systems.
Historical memory: Recognition and acknowledgement of the injustices and atrocities suffered by Indigenous peoples in the past, including apology, restitution, and truth-seeking.
- "The term Indigenous was first used by Europeans, who used it to differentiate the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the European settlers of the Americas, as well as from the sub-Saharan Africans the settlers enslaved and brought to the Americas by force."
- "The term may have first been used in this context by Sir Thomas Browne in 1646."
- "Peoples are usually described as Indigenous when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that are associated with the first inhabitants of a given region."
- "Not all Indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion, or language."
- "Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world except Antarctica."
- "There are approximately five thousand Indigenous nations throughout the world."
- "Indigenous peoples continue to face threats to their sovereignty, economic well-being, languages, ways of knowing, and access to the resources on which their cultures depend."
- "Indigenous rights have been set forth in international law by the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, and the World Bank."
- "In 2007, the UN issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)."
- "UNDRIP guides member-state national policies to the collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including their rights to protect their cultures, identities, languages, ceremonies, and access to employment, health, education, and natural resources."
- "Estimates of the total global population of Indigenous peoples usually range from 250 million to 600 million."
- "Official designations and terminology of who is considered Indigenous vary between countries, ethnic groups, and other factors."
- "In the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand, Indigenous status is often applied unproblematically to groups descended from the peoples who lived there prior to European settlement."
- "In Asia and Africa, definitions of Indigenous status have been either rejected by certain peoples or applied to minorities and oppressed peoples who may not be considered 'Indigenous' in other contexts."
- "The concept of indigenous peoples is rarely used in Europe, where very few indigenous groups are recognized, with the exception of groups such as the Sámi."