Glossary

General Definitions
Negotiations Terms

Aboriginal People

A collective name for the original people of North America and their descendants. The Canadian Constitution (the Constitution Act, 1982) recognizes three groups of Aboriginal peoples — Indians, Métis and Inuit. These are three separate peoples with unique heritages, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs.

Aboriginal Rights

Collective rights, based on Aboriginal occupation and use of lands and customs, traditions and practices that make Aboriginal societies distinctive. Aboriginal rights are protected by section 35 (1) of the Constitution Act, 1982.

Aboriginal Title

A type of Aboriginal right. Aboriginal title is the Aboriginal society's ongoing collective right to use and occupy (subject to certain restrictions) those lands that they used and occupied exclusively at the time the Crown assumed sovereignty over those lands.

Band

A body of Indians for whose collective use and benefit lands have been set apart or money is held by the Crown, or declared to be a band for the purposes of the Indian Act. Each band has its own governing band council, usually consisting of one chief and several councillors. Community members choose the chief and councillors by election, or sometimes through custom. The members of a band generally share common values, traditions and practices rooted in their ancestral heritage. Today, many bands prefer to be known as First Nations (e.g., the Batchewana Band is now called the Batchewana First Nation).

Band Council

The governing body of a band. It usually consists of a chief and councillors, who are elected for two or three-year terms (under the Indian Act or band custom) to carry out band business, which may include education; water, sewer and fire services; bylaws; community buildings; schools; roads; and other community businesses and services.

Chief

The leader of a First Nation community or council who is elected by members of the First Nation, by the councillors according to the Indian Act, or through custom elections.

Band Council Resolution

A written decision made by a band council. The decision is made during a council meeting and must have the support of the majority of council members.

Crown

In Canada, and in other Commonwealth countries, which recognize the same Queen as the formal head of state, the state (or government) is commonly referred to as "the Crown."

Elder(s)

A man or woman whose wisdom about spirituality, culture and life is recognised by the community. Elders can be any age. The Aboriginal community and individuals will normally seek the advice and assistance of elders in various traditions and contemporary areas.

First Nation(s)

A term that came into common usage in the 1970s to replace the word "Indian." It has also been adopted by some First Nation communities to replace the term "band."

Aboriginal Governance (Also known as self-government)

Governments designed, established and administered by Aboriginal peoples under the Canadian Constitution through a process of negotiation with the federal government and, where applicable, the provincial government. The right to Aboriginal self-government is outlined in Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 as an Aboriginal and treaty-protected right.

Indian

The term "Indian" collectively describes all the Indigenous people in Canada who are not Inuit or Métis. Indian peoples are one of three peoples recognized as Aboriginal in the Constitution Act, 1982. It specifies that Aboriginal people in Canada consist of the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Indian Act

Canadian federal legislation first passed in 1876, and amended several times since. It sets out certain federal government obligations and regulates the management of Indian reserve lands, Indian moneys and other resources. Among its many provisions, the Indian Act currently requires the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development to manage certain moneys belonging to First Nations and Indian lands and to approve or disallow First Nations bylaws.

Indian Status

A person's legal status as an Indian, as defined by the Indian Act.

Indigenous

Means "native to the area." In this sense, Aboriginal people are indigenous to North America.

Inuit

The Aboriginal people of Arctic Canada. Inuit live primarily in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and northern parts of Labrador and Quebec. They have traditionally lived above the treeline in the area bordered by the Mackenzie Delta in the west, the Labrador coast in the east, the southern point of Hudson Bay in the south and the High Arctic islands in the north.

Métis

The word "Métis" is French for "mixed blood." The Canadian Constitution recognizes Métis people as one of the three Aboriginal peoples.

Historically, the term "Métis" applied to the children of French fur traders and Cree women in the Prairies and of English and Scottish traders and Dene women in the North. Today, the term is used broadly to describe people with mixed First Nations and European ancestry who identify themselves as Métis, distinct from Indian people, Inuit or non-Aboriginal people. (Many Canadians have mixed Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal ancestry, but not all identify themselves as Métis.) Note that Métis organizations in Canada have differing criteria about who qualifies as a Métis person.

Nation

A group of Aboriginal people who have a shared sense of national identity and are the largest population in a territory or collection of territories.

Non-status Indian

People who consider themselves to be Indians or members of a First Nation, but the Government of Canada doesn't recognize them as Indians under the Indian Act. Non-status Indians aren't entitled to the same rights and benefits available to Status Indians.

Many people in Canada lost their Indian status through discriminatory practices in the past. For example:

In 1857, the concept of "enfranchisement" allowed Indians to give up their status. If a man did this, members of his family would also lose their status.
Starting in 1869, women who married non-Indians lost their status and their children weren't entitled to be registered as Indians.
In 1876, "enfranchisement" became mandatory for Indians who became doctors, lawyers, Christian ministers or earned a university degree.
Starting in 1951, children whose mother and grandmother on the father's side of the family weren't registered as Indians before their marriages could be registered as Indians, but lost their status when they turned 21. This was known as the "double mother" clause.
Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Indian Act, was passed in 1985 to remove discrimination and restore status to people who had lost their Indian status.

Currently, a provision known as the "second generation cut-off rule" terminates status after two generations of intermarriage between Indians and non-Indians. For example, a child with one Indian and one non-Indian parent can be registered, but if that child later marries a non-Indian person, his or her children can't be registered.

Off-Reserve

A term used to describe people, services or objects that are not part of a reserve, but relate to First Nations.

Oral History

Evidence taken from the spoken words of people who have knowledge of past events and traditions. This oral history is often recorded on tape and then put in writing. It is used in history books and to document land claims.

Oral Tradition

Traditional and cultural information passed down by word of mouth or through songs, chants, music and story telling from one generation to another without written records.

Reserve

A tract of land, the legal title to which is held by the federal government, set apart for the use and benefit of an Indian band. Some bands have more than one reserve.

Status Indian (Registered Indian)

People who are entitled to have their names included on the Indian Register, an official list maintained by the federal government. Certain criteria determine who can be registered as a Status Indian. Only Status Indians are recognized as Indians under the Indian Act, which defines an Indian as "a person who, pursuant to this Act, is registered as an Indian or is entitled to be registered as an Indian." Status Indians are entitled to certain rights and benefits under the law.

Treaty

An agreement made between the Crown and First Nations with the intention of creating mutually binding obligations, which would be solemnly respected.

Treaty Indian

A status Indian who belongs to a First Nation that signed a treaty with the Crown.

Treaty Rights

The specific rights of the Aboriginal peoples embodied in the treaties they entered into with a Crown government, initially Britain and after confederation, Canada. They often address matters such as the creation of reserves and the rights of Aboriginal communities to hunt, fish and trap on Crown lands. Treaty rights are protected by section 35 (1) of the Constitution Act, 1982.

Agreement-in-Principle

A non-legally binding document outlining proposed elements of a settlement as agreed to by negotiators.

Final Settlement Agreement

A legally binding document that outlines the elements of a negotiated settlement and is formally ratified/ approved before being signed by the federal minister, provincial minister, and First Nation Chief or negotiator.

Implementation

The process by which the parties carry out the legally binding commitments set out in the Final Settlement Agreement. Prior to ratifying a final settlement agreement, the parties often develop an Implementation Plan describing how the terms of the agreement will be fulfilled.

Land Claim

A formal submission to the federal and/or provincial government from an Aboriginal community that states that the Crown has not lived up to its obligations with respect to Aboriginal or treaty rights involving land. The federal government recognizes two broad classes of claims: comprehensive and specific.

Litigation

A proceeding in a court through which legal rights are sought to be determined and enforced.

Negotiation Framework Agreement

An agreement made by all parties to cover the content of early negotiations. It may include costs, timeframes, the matters to be negotiated, studies to be undertaken, etc.

Offer

Generally speaking, it is a proposal that, if accepted by the other party/parties, would form the basis of an agreement.

Parties

The groups who are entering into a negotiating process to settle a land claim, normally the Aboriginal claimant(s), the federal government and Ontario, and who will be signatories to a final settlement agreement.

Pre-Negotiation/Assessment Period

The period during which Ontario and Canada review the claim submitted by an Aboriginal claimant to determine whether the claim will accepted for negotiation.

Ratification

The process by which the parties formally approve an agreement. Normally this involves a vote by the Aboriginal community, approval by the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs for Ontario and approval by the federal Minister of Indian Affairs for Canada.