Editing First Nations in Canada (section)

===Nationhood===
:''First Nations by linguistic-cultural area: [[List of First Nations peoples]]''
First Nations peoples had settled and established trade routes across what is now Canada by 500 BCE – 1,000 CE. Communities developed, each with its own culture, customs, and character.<ref name="Joe">{{cite book|last1=Joe|first1=Rita|last2=Choyce|first2=Lesley|title=The Native Canadian Anthology|year= 2005|publisher=Nimbus Publishing (CN)|isbn= 1-895900-04-2}}</ref> In the northwest were the [[Athabaskan languages|Athapaskan-speaking]] peoples, [[Slavey language|Slavey]], [[Tłı̨chǫ]], [[Tutchone language|Tutchone-speaking]] peoples, and [[Tlingit]]. Along the Pacific coast were the Haida, [[Tsimshian]], Salish, [[Kwakiutl]], [[Nuu-chah-nulth]], [[Nisga'a]] and [[Gitxsan]]. In the plains were the Blackfoot, [[Kainai Nation|Kainai]], [[Tsuu T'ina Nation|Sarcee]] and [[Northern Peigan]]. In the northern woodlands were the [[Cree]] and [[Chipewyan]]. Around the Great Lakes were the [[Anishinaabe]], [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]], [[Iroquois]] and [[Wyandot people|Wyandot]]. Along the Atlantic coast were the [[Beothuk]], [[Maliseet]], [[Innu]], [[Abenaki]] and [[Mi'kmaq]].

The [[Blackfoot Confederacy]] resides in the [[Great Plains]] of [[Montana]] and [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Canadian provinces]] of [[Alberta]], [[British Columbia]] and [[Saskatchewan]].<ref name="gibson5"/>{{rp|5}} The name ''Blackfoot'' came from the dye or paint on the bottoms of their leather [[moccasin]]s. One account claimed that the Blackfoot Confederacies walked through the ashes of prairie fires, which in turn blackened the bottoms of their moccasins.<ref name="gibson5"/>{{rp|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. Historically, they allowed only legitimate traders into their territory, making treaties only when the bison herds were exterminated in the 1870s.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}
[[File:Mrs. Joe Capilano.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Squamish people|Squamish]] woman]]
Pre-contact [[Squamish history]] is passed on through [[oral tradition]] of the [[Squamish people|Squamish]] [[indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]]. Prior to colonization and the introduction of writing had only oral tradition as a way to transmit stories, law, and knowledge across generations.<ref name="Khatsahlano 1966. p16">{{Cite book
 | last1 = Khatsahlano
 | first1 = August Jack
 | last2=Charlie|first2=Dominic
 | title = Squamish Legends: The First People
 | publisher = Oliver N. Wells
 | date = June 1966
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IT3YAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA16
 | page = 16}}
</ref> The writing system established in the 1970s uses the [[Latin alphabet]] as a base. Knowledgeable elders have the responsibility to pass historical knowledge to the next generation. People lived and prospered for thousands of years until the [[Deluge myth|Great Flood]]. In another story, after the Flood, they repopulated from the villages of [[Schenks and Chekwelp]],<ref>{{Cite book
 | last = Clark
 | first = Ella E
 | title = Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest
 | publisher = University of California Press
 | year = 2003
 | pages = INSERT p.19
 | isbn =0-520-23926-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8-3KVL03UYC&pg=PA19}}
</ref> located at [[Gibsons, British Columbia|Gibsons]]. When the water lines receded, the first Squamish came to be. The first man, named Tseḵánchten, built his [[Longhouses of the indigenous peoples of North America|longhouse]] in the village, and later on another man named Xelálten, appeared on his longhouse roof and sent by the Creator, or in the [[Squamish language]] {{lang|squ|keke7nex siyam}}. He called this man his brother. It was from these two men that the population began to rise and the Squamish spread back through their territory.<ref name="Khatsahlano 1966. p16"/>{{rp|20}}
[[File:Theiroquoislonghouse.png|thumb|upright|A traditional Iroquois [[longhouse]].]]
The Iroquois influence extended from northern New York into what are now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Ramsden |first=Peter G.|url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/iroquois|title=Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)|publisher=[[Historica Canada]]|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |edition=online |date=October 16, 2018}}</ref> The Iroquois Confederacy is, from oral tradition, formed circa 1142.<ref>{{cite magazine
 | last =Johanson
 | first = Bruce E
 | title = Dating the Iroquois Confederacy
 | magazine= Akwesasne Notes |series=New Series |date=Fall 1995 |volume=1, 3 & 4 |pages=62–63
 | url = http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/DatingIC.html
 | access-date=October 9, 2009
}}</ref> Adept at cultivating the [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|Three Sisters]] ([[maize]]/[[bean]]s/[[Squash (plant)|squash]]), the Iroquois became powerful because of their confederacy. Gradually the Algonquians adopted agricultural practises enabling larger populations to be sustained.

The [[Assiniboine people|Assiniboine]] were close allies and trading partners of the Cree, engaging in wars against the [[Gros Ventres]] alongside them, and later fighting the Blackfoot.<ref name="Assini" /> A Plains people, they went no further north than the [[North Saskatchewan River]] and purchased a great deal of European trade goods through Cree middlemen from the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]. The lifestyle of this group was semi-nomadic, and they followed the herds of [[Plains bison|bison]] during the warmer months. They traded with European traders, and worked with the [[Mandan]], [[Hidatsa]], and [[Arikara]] tribes.<ref name="Assini">{{Cite book
 | last = Denig
 | first = Edwin Thompson
 | editor= J.N.B. Hewitt
 | title = The Assiniboine
 | publisher   =University of Oklahoma Press
 | year = 2000
 | isbn =978-0-8061-3235-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9VvgKUDbRcC&pg=PP1}}
</ref>

In the earliest [[oral tradition|oral history]], the Algonquins were from the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast. Together with other Anicinàpek, they arrived at the "First Stopping Place" near Montreal.<ref name="Algonquins">{{Cite book
 | last = Bright
 | first = William
 | title = Native American Place Names of the United States
 | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press
 | year = 2004 |isbn=978-0-8061-3598-4
 | page = 32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5XfxzCm1qa4C&pg=PA32
 }}
</ref> While the other Anicinàpe peoples continued their journey up the [[St. Lawrence River]], the Algonquins settled along the [[Ottawa River]] ({{lang|alq|Kitcisìpi}}), an important highway for commerce, cultural exchange, and transportation. A distinct Algonquin identity, though, was not realized until after the dividing of the Anicinàpek at the "Third Stopping Place", estimated at 2,000 years ago near present-day [[Detroit]].<ref name="Algonquins" />
[[File:Eastman Johnson - Ojibwe Wigwam at Grand Portage - ebj - fig 22 pg 41.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Detail of the painting ''Ojibwe Wigwam at Grand Portage'' by [[Eastman Johnson]] ]]
According to their tradition, and from recordings in [[birch bark]] [[scroll]]s ({{lang|oj|[[wiigwaasabak]]}}), Ojibwe (an Algonquian-speaking people) came from the eastern areas of North America, or [[Turtle Island (North America)|Turtle Island]], and from along the east coast.<ref name="Ojibwe">{{Cite book
 | last = Johnston
 | first = Basil
 | title = Ojibway Heritage
 | publisher = McClelland and Stewart
 | year = 1976
 | location = Toronto | isbn = 978-1-55199-590-8
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kqbu8yjqYx0C&pg=PP1
}}
</ref> They traded widely across the continent for thousands of years and knew of the canoe routes west and a land route to the west coast. According to the oral history, seven great {{lang|oj|miigis}} (radiant/iridescent) beings appeared to the peoples in the {{lang|oj|Waabanakiing}} to teach the peoples of the [[midewiwin|{{lang|oj|cat=no|mide}} way]] of life. One of the seven great {{lang|oj|miigis}} beings was too spiritually powerful and killed the peoples in the {{lang|oj|Waabanakiing}} when the people were in its presence. The six great {{lang|oj|miigis}} beings remained to teach while the one returned into the ocean. The six great {{lang|oj|miigis}} beings then established {{lang|oj|cat=no|[[Anishinaabe clan system|doodem]]}} (clans) for the peoples in the east. Of these {{lang|oj|doodem}}, the five original Anishinaabe {{lang|oj|doodem}} were the {{lang|oj|Wawaazisii}} ([[Brown bullhead|Bullhead]]), {{lang|oj|Baswenaazhi}} (Echo-maker, i.e., [[Crane (bird)|Crane]]), {{lang|oj|Aan'aawenh}} ([[Northern pintail|Pintail Duck]]), {{lang|oj|Nooke}} (Tender, i.e., [[Bear]]) and {{lang|oj|Moozoonsii}} (Little [[Moose]]), then these six {{lang|oj|miigis}} beings returned into the ocean as well. If the seventh {{lang|oj|miigis}} being stayed, it would have established the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|Thunderbird]] {{lang|oj|doodem}}.<ref name="Ojibwe" />

[[File:Nuu-chah-nulth children in Friendly Cove.jpg|thumb|Three [[Nuu-chah-nulth]] (Nootka) children at Friendly Cove, British Columbia in the 1930s]]

The [[Nuu-chah-nulth]] are one of the Indigenous peoples of the [[Pacific Northwest|Pacific Northwest Coast]]. The term ''Nuu-chah-nulth'' is used to describe fifteen separate but related First Nations, such as the [[Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations]], [[Ehattesaht First Nation]] and [[Hesquiaht First Nation]] whose traditional home is on the west coast of [[Vancouver Island]].<ref>{{cite book|last=McMillan|first=Alan D.|title=Since the Time of the Transformers: The Ancient Heritage of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, and Makah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoxeHCjALygC&pg=PP1|year=1999|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-4237-2}}</ref> In pre-contact and early post-contact times, the number of nations was much greater, but [[smallpox]] and other consequences of contact resulted in the disappearance of groups, and the absorption of others into neighbouring groups. The Nuu-chah-nulth are relations of the [[Kwakwaka'wakw]], the [[Haisla people|Haisla]], and the [[Ditidaht First Nation|Ditidaht]]. The [[Nuu-chah-nulth language]] is part of the [[Wakashan languages|Wakashan language]] group.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jacobson|first=William H. Jr|editor1=Lyle Campbell |editor-link1=Lyle Campbell |editor2=Marianne Mithun|title=The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maGDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=1999|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-76850-5|chapter=Hokan Inter-Branch Comparisons}}</ref>

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. Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi (meaning "Long Ago Person Found" in [[Southern Tutchone]]), or "Canadian Ice Man", is a naturally [[mummy|mummified]] body that a group of hunters found in [[Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park]] in British Columbia. [[Radiocarbon dating]] of artifacts found with the body placed the age of the find between 1450&nbsp;AD and 1700&nbsp;AD.<ref name="background">{{cite web|title=Kwaday Dän Ts'inchi Project Introduction – Archaeology – Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts |url=http://www.tsa.gov.bc.ca/archaeology/kwaday_d%C3%A4n_ts%E2%80%99inchi/project_introduction.htm |publisher=Government of British Columbia Tourism, Culture and the Arts Archaeology |date=July 22, 2008 |access-date=October 7, 2009  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612044728/http://www.tsa.gov.bc.ca/archaeology/kwaday_d%C3%A4n_ts%E2%80%99inchi/project_introduction.htm |archive-date=June 12, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="relatives">{{cite news |title=Scientists find 17 living relatives of 'iceman' discovered in B.C. glacier |url=http://www.lincolnheritage.org/scientists-find-17-living-relatives-of-iceman-discovered-in-b-c-glacier/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150202080835/http://www.lincolnheritage.org/scientists-find-17-living-relatives-of-iceman-discovered-in-b-c-glacier/  |archive-date=February 2, 2015 |date=April 25, 2008 |publisher=[[CBC News]] |access-date=October 7, 2009 }}</ref> [[Genetic testing]] showed that he was a member of the [[Champagne and Aishihik First Nations]].<ref name="background"/><ref name="relatives" /><ref name="photos">{{cite web|title=Kwaday Dän Ts'inchi Project Photos Archaeology Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts |url=http://www.tsa.gov.bc.ca/archaeology/kwaday_d%C3%A4n_ts%E2%80%99inchi/pages/7.9.3_index.htm |publisher=Government of British Columbia Tourism, Culture and the Arts Archaeology |date=July 22, 2008 |access-date=October 7, 2009  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501070334/http://www.tsa.gov.bc.ca/archaeology/kwaday_d%C3%A4n_ts%E2%80%99inchi/pages/7.9.3_index.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2008 }}</ref>