Amongst notable Métis people are television

actor Tom Jackson,[98]Commissioner of the

Northwest Territories Tony Whitford,and Louis
Riel who led two resistance movements:the
Red River Rebellion of 1869-1870 and the
North-
West Rebellion of 1885,which ended in his
trial. [99][100][101]
The languages inherently Métis are either
Métis French or a mixed language called
Michif.
Michif,Mechif or Métchif is a phonetic spelling
of Métif,a variant of Métis.[102]The Métis
today predominantly speak English,with French
a
strong second language,as well as numerous
Aboriginal tongues.A 19th-century community
of the Métis people,the Anglo-Métis,were
referred to as Countryborn.They were children
of Rupert's Land fur trade typically of
Orcadian, Scottish,or English paternal descent
and
Aboriginal maternal descent.[103]Their first
languages would have been Aboriginal (Cree,
Saulteaux,Assiniboine,etc.)and English.Their
fathers spoke Gaelic,thus leading to the
development of an English dialect referred to
as "Bungee".[104]

S.35 of the Constitution Act,1982 mentions the

Métis yet there has long been debate over
legally defining the term Métis,[105]but on
September 23,2003,the Supreme Court of
Canada ruled that Métis are a distinct
people with significant rights (Powley ruling).
[106]
Métis

Mixed-blood fur trader,c.1870

The Métis are people descended from
marriages between Europeans (mainly
French) [95]and
Cree,Ojibway,Algonquin,Saulteaux,
Menominee,Mi'kmaq,Maliseet,and other First
Nations.[14]Their history dates to the mid-
17th century.[3]When Europeans first arrived
to
Canada they relied on Aboriginal peoples for fur
trading skills and survival.To ensure alliances,
relationships between European fur traders and
Aboriginal women were often consolidated
through marriage.[96]The Métis homeland
consists of the Canadian provinces of
British
Columbia,Alberta,Saskatchewan,Manitoba,
Quebec,New Brunswick,Nova Scotia,and
Ontario,as well as the Northwest Territories
(NWT).[97]
Warfare was common among Inuit groups with
sufficient population density.Inuit,such as the
Nunatamiut (Uummarmiut)who inhabited the
Mackenzie River delta area,often engaged in
common warfare.The Central Arctic Inuit
lacked
the population density to engage in warfare.In
the 13th century,the Thule culture began
arriving in Greenland from what is now Canada.
Norse accounts are scant.Norse-made items
from Inuit campsites in Greenland were
obtained by either trade or plunder.[87]One
account,ivar Bárðarson,speaks of "small
people"with whom the Norsemen fought.[88]
14th-century accounts that a western
settlement,one of the two Norse settlements,
was taken over by the Skræling.[89]

After the disappearance of the Norse colonies in

Greenland,the Inuit had no contact with
Europeans for at least a century.By the mid-
16th century,Basque fishers were already
working the Labrador coast and had
established whaling stations on land,such as
been
excavated at Red Bay.[90]The Inuit appear not
to have interfered with their operations,but they
did raid the stations in winter for tools,and
particularly worked iron,which they adapted to
native needs.[91]
Inuit

The Inuit are the descendants of what

anthropologists call the Thule culture,which
emerged from western Alaska around 1,000
CE and spread eastward across the Arctic,
displacing the Dorset culture(in Inuktitut,the
Tuniit).Inuit historically referred to the Tuniit as
"giants",or "dwarfs",who were taller and
stronger than the Inuit.[85]Researchers
hypothesize that the Dorset culture lacked
dogs, larger weapons and other technologies
used by the expanding Inuit society.[86]By
1300,the
Inuit had settled in west Greenland,and
finally moved into east Greenland over the
following century.The Inuit had trade routes
with more southern cultures.Boundary
disputes were
common and led to aggressive actions.[15]
Inuk in a kayak,c.1908-1914
Many Aboriginal civilizations[76]established
characteristics and hallmarks that included
permanent urban settlements or cities,[77]
agriculture,civic and monumental architecture,
and complex societal hierarchies.[78]These
cultures had evolved and changed by the time
of
the first permanent European arrivals (c.late
15th-early 16th centuries),and have been
brought forward through archaeological
investigations.[79]

There are indications of contact made before

Christopher Columbus between the first peoples
and those from other continents.Aboriginal
people in Canada interacted with Europeans
around 1000 CE,but prolonged contact came
after Europeans established permanent
settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries.[80]
European written accounts generally recorded
friendliness of the First Nations,who profited in
trade with Europeans.[80]Such trade generally
strengthened the more organized political
entities such as the Iroquois Confederation.[81]
Throughout the 16th century,European fleets
made almost annual visits to the eastern shores
of Canada to cultivate the fishing opportunities.
A sideline industry emerged in the un-organized
traffic of furs overseen by the Indian
Department.[82]
The Woodland cultural period dates from about
2,000 BCE-1,000 CE,and has locales in
Ontario, Quebec,and Maritime regions.[71]The
introduction of pottery distinguishes the
Woodland culture from the earlier Archaic stage
inhabitants.Laurentian people of southern
Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery
excavated to date in Canada.[60]They
created pointed-bottom beakers decorated by
a cord
marking technique that involved impressing
tooth implements into wet clay.Woodland
technology included items such as beaver
incisor knives,bangles,and chisels.The
population practising sedentary agricultural life
ways continued to increase on a diet of
squash, corn,and bean crops.[60]
The Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture
that flourished along American rivers from 300
BCE-500 CE.At its greatest extent,the
Hopewell Exchange System networked cultures
and societies with the peoples on the Canadian
shores of Lake Ontario.Canadian expression of
the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the
Point Peninsula,Saugeen,and Laurel
complexes.[72][73][74]
First Nations

Chief George from the village of Senakw with his

daughter in traditional regalia,c.1906

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.[75]In the northwest were the
Athapaskan,Slavey,Dogrib,Tutchone,and
Tlingit.Along the Pacific coast were the
Tsimshian;Haida;Salish;Kwakiutl;Heiltsuk;
Nootka;Nisga'a;Senakw and Gitxsan.In the
plains were the Blackfoot;Káinawa;Sarcee and
Peigan.In the northern woodlands were the
Cree and Chipewyan.Around the Great Lakes
were the Anishinaabe;Algonquin;Iroquois and
Huron.Along the Atlantic coast were the
Beothuk,Maliseet,Innu,Abenaki and Mi'kmaq.