Indigenous 101
These 3 groups of Indigenous people are identified as “Aboriginal” in Canada’s Constitution
Who are Indian, Inuit and Métis?
Home to 25 institutions, this province operated more residential schools than any other in Canada.
What is Alberta?
This is the year First Nations people got the right to vote in Canada
What is 1960?
First signed in 1876 at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt between the Crown and Plains and Wood Cree Nations, this historic agreement encompasses the traditional land where Edmonton stands.
What is Treaty 6?
Considered a founding father of the province of Manitoba, this iconic Métis leader fought for Indigenous rights and led both the Red River and North-West Resistances.
Who is Louis Riel?
Carved out of the Northwest Territories, this northern region officially became Canada's newest territory in 1999.
What is Nunavut?
Situated in Queen Elizabeth Park overlooking the river valley, this 3.7-acre sculpture garden features six major works by Indigenous artists and bears a nêhiyawêwin (Cree) name translating to "I am of the Earth"
What is ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ (or the ÎNÎW Indigenous Art Park)?
Opened in Whitemud Park, this historic City-supported facility is Canada's first dedicated urban Indigenous ceremonial ground, providing space for sweat lodges, pipe ceremonies, and land-based learning.
What is kihcihkaw askî (Sacred Land)?
Given to the City of Edmonton through ceremony, this Îethka Nakoda word translates to "kinship relationships" and serves as a guiding name for the City's Indigenous Framework.
What is Wahigicicobi?
This is the name of the city’s guiding strategy for Reconciliation
What is the Indigenous Framework?
Alberta is home to 8 of these unique, land-based communities—the only ones of their kind in Canada.
What are Métis Settlements?
This person's story started "Orange Shirt Day"
Who is Phyllis Webstad?
This section of the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982 explicitly recognizes and affirms the existing treaty and inherent rights of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.
What is Section 35?
Ward 2 bears this Inuktitut name meaning "Breath of Life" to commemorate the historic Inuit community members who were flown to Edmonton in the 1950s and 1960s for tuberculosis treatment at the Charles Camsell Hospital.
What is Anirniq?
This south-central Edmonton municipal ward honours the First Nation that signed an adhesion to Treaty 6 at Fort Edmonton in 1877 before being illegally displaced from Reserve 136
What is Ward papastew?
This traditional nêhiyaw (Cree) name for the area now known as Edmonton translates directly to "Beaver Hills House.
What is Amiskwacîwâskahikan?
An Anishinaabe lawyer, judge and chair of multiple inquiries. He was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second Indigenous judge in all of Canada. He was a commissioner for multiple inquiries, including the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. He is likely best known as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC)
Who was the late Murray Sinclair?
Released in 2019, the Final Report of the National Inquiry into MMIWG issued 231 Calls for Justice, including Call 17.1 which specifically tasks municipal governments with providing safe, barrier-free, and culturally appropriate this
What is Housing? (or emergency shelter services)
This foundational nêhiyaw (Cree) worldview concept, featured prominently in the Framework, describes the interconnectedness of all living things and our shared mutual responsibilities to one another.
What is wâhkôhtowin?
These are the 4 roles for city Staff identified in the City of Edmonton's Indigenous Framework.
What are Listener, Connector, Partner, Advocate?
Highlighted as an exemplary community event in the City's Indigenous Framework, this major annual Edmonton gathering brings together Elders, youth, and dancers to celebrate Indigenous culture and Community.
What is the Ben Calf Robe Pow Wow?
During the TRC process, over 5 million of these were collected and transferred to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba.
What are residential school records?
These are the 4 pillars of the City's TRC Municipal Response Plan.
What are Awareness, Addressing, Resurgence & Advocacy?
Under this, Indigenous people had to present a travel document authorized by an Indian agent in order to leave and return to their reserves
What is the Pass system?
Edmonton sits within the traditional homelands of the Métis; in 2023, the Métis Nation of Alberta ratified a constitution establishing self-government under this Cree name meaning "the people who govern themselves.
What is the Otipemisiwak Métis Government?