Celebrating National Indigenous History Month in Canada

The history of Indigenous peoples in Canada begins much earlier than any other group living here — and is far more complex. 

When European settlers arrived in what would become Canada in the early 16th century, the number of Indigenous people ranged from an estimated low of 350,000 to as high as 2,000,000. By Confederation, more than 350 years later, the Indigenous population had not grown, as might be expected, but had shrunk dramatically. In 1867, there were between 100,000 and 125,000 First Nations people here, along with about 10,000 Métis in Manitoba and 2,000 Inuit across the Arctic (see Demography of Indigenous People).

The reasons for their decline are tied to such factors as war, illness, and starvation, arising directly from European settlement and habits. As The Canadian Encyclopedia notes, “The Indigenous population… continued to decline until the early 20th century.” Even after that trend reversed, other problems continued, including discrimination, ignorance or misunderstanding of Indigenous cultures, and government laws and policies that often had disastrous effects. [MORE]