B1. Colonial Naming and Cultural Identity
Specific Expectations
B1.1
describe the cultural and linguistic classifications used in Western anthropology to identify First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities and groups (e.g., cultural: Arctic, Northwest Coast, Plains, Plateau, Subarctic, Eastern Woodlands; linguistic: Algonquian, Inuktitut, Athapaskan, Iroquoian), and explain some consequences of this approach to cultural identity
- What criteria have been used by Western anthropologists to distinguish among diverse Indigenous cultures in Canada?
- In what ways did the Western anthropological view accepted by European colonial settler communities reflect a political perspective? How has this view affected First Nations, Métis, and Inuit languages and cultures? How does it continue to do so?
- How have Western anthropological interpretations of Indigenous groupings changed over time? What are some political consequences?
B1.2
explain various ways in which colonial naming has affected and continues to affect First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultural identities (e.g., the historical assignment of colonial family names in preference to cultural naming practices impeded the transmission of family lineages and kinship systems; colonial names fail to acknowledge cultural diversity within regions; Indigenous cultural connections between territory and oral history have been erased in favour of place names reflecting French and English geography and people)
- How are family lineages preserved over time? How might colonial naming practices cause knowledge of the lineages of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit families to develop gaps or disappear?
- How do Inuit kinship systems and naming customs help preserve cultural identity? What has colonial naming substituted for these customs?
- Why might you have to use the search term ‘First Nation’ when looking for information about the Haudenosaunee people? How might this lead to inaccuracies in your understanding of Haudenosaunee culture?
- What is the function of place names in Anishinaabe oral tradition?
B1.3
identify a variety of legal and administrative classifications of Indigenous peoples used in Canadian legislation and government records (e.g., the Gradual Civilization Act, 1857; the Constitution Act, 1982; the Indian Act, 1985; Bill C-31, Bill C-3, and other amendments to the Indian Act that address gender equality rights; the Indian Register; Aboriginal population reports in 1801 and 2012 census data; Project Surname and the disc number system for Inuit), and analyse the continued impact of these classifications on individual and collective First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultural identities (e.g., with reference to social, cultural, and political assimilation; “status” and “non-status” designations; legislated rules for band membership; “rights-bearing” and “non-rights-bearing” Métis communities; the Powley test; the ability of women to sustain their cultural and familial identities)
- What impact have Bill C-31, Bill C-3, and other amendments intended to address gender-based discrimination in the Indian Act had on First Nations and Métis cultural identities? What is the significance of these amendments for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of affected women?
- What inferences can you make about the political perspectives reflected in Project Surname and the disc number system? What have the implications been for Inuit cultural identity?
- What consequences do you think the coexistence of legislated identification policies and family/community traditions have for membership/citizenship in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities?
B1.4
analyse the key objectives and results of various efforts by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals and communities to reaffirm and strengthen cultural identity in response to colonial naming (e.g., with reference to re-establishing family identity through legal restoration of original family names, conducting research on family clans to rediscover traditional kinship ties, reinforcing cultural identity by abolishing colonial names for traditional territories)
- The Aamjiwnaang First Nations community used to be known as the Sarnia 45 Indian Reserve. What has the name change abolished? What has it restored?
- What role can Indigenous language revitalization have in redressing colonial naming?
- What impact does restoring Anishinaabe place names to city streets, or renaming the streets, have on Indigenous and non-Indigenous city residents? Do you think the policy of restoring place names achieves its intended result? Why, or why not?
- How do plaques explaining historical place names help to reaffirm First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultural identities?
- What examples can you give of historical place names being reinstituted in traditional Métis territories in Canada?
