2587, 2588, 2921 CANADA - First Nations

2587 First Nations (1)

Posted on 01.06.2016, 28.12.2016
The First Nations are the various Aboriginal Canadians who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. Although not without conflict or slavery, Euro-Canadians' early interactions with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit populations were less combative compared to the often violent battles between colonists and native peoples in the United States. In 2011, there were more than 1.3 million people in Canada who identified as being of First Nations heritage.

2588 First Nations (2)

First Nations can be grouped into cultural areas based on their ancestors' primary lifeway, or occupation, at the time of European contact. These culture areas correspond closely with the six main physical and ecological regions of Canada. Within each of these six areas, First Nations had very similar cultures, largely shaped by a common environment.  Even if today Aboriginal people live outside their ancestral homes, the traditional cultures of their ancestors still exert a strong influence on their culture, from spirituality to political attitudes.

2921 First Nations (3)

The six groups were: Woodland First Nations (in dense forest in the East); Iroquoian First Nations (in the southernmost area, a fertile land suitable for planting corn, beans and squash); Plains First Nations (on the grasslands of the Prairies); Plateau First Nations (from semi-desert conditions in the south to high mountains in the north); Pacific Coast First Nations (who had access to abundant salmon and shellfish); and the First Nations of the Mackenzie and Yukon River Basins (whose harsh environment consisted of dark forests, barren lands and the swampy terrain.

2556, 2557 CANADA - Pow Wow

A pow wow is a social gathering held by many different Native American / First Nation communities. A modern pow wow is a specific type of event for Native American / First Nations people to meet and dance, sing, socialize, and honor their cultures. There is generally a dancing competition, often with significant prize money awarded. The word derives from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning "spiritual leader". Pow wows vary in length from a one-day event, to major pow wows, which can be up to one week long.

2500 CANADA (Alberta) - The Cree

The Cree (autonym: nehiyawak) are the most populous and widely distributed First Nations in Canada, with over 317,000 members (2015) living in the Subarctic region from Alberta to Quebec, as well as portions of the Plains region in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Moving from west to east their main divisions, based on environment and dialect, are the Plains (Alberta and Saskatchewan), Woods (Saskatchewan and  Manitoba), Swampy (Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario), Moose (Ontario) and James Bay/Eastern (Québec) Cree. In the United States, they live mostly in Montana.

2130 CANADA - The Musical Ride of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

One of the most iconic symbols of Canada is the The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who perform their Musical Ride at countless venues the world over each year. The horses, all black, and the 32 riders in their scarlet jackets, Stetson hats and lances perform a ride that is precision perfection. Members are first and foremost police officers who, after at least two years of active police work, volunteer for duty with the Musical Ride.

2101 CANADA (Alberta) - The Stoney Nakoda Nation

2101 Stoney Nakoda Nation - Beaver Family
(Sampson, Leah and baby Frances Louise), 1906

The Nakoda (also known as Stoney or Îyârhe Nakoda), lived along Alberta's  Rocky Mountains foothills from the headwaters of the Athabasca River south to Chief Mountain in Montana. They refer to themselves as Nakoda, meaning friend, ally. The name Stoney was given them by white explorers, because of their technique of using fire-heated rocks to boil broth in rawhide bowls. They are very closely related to the  Assiniboine who are also known as Stone Sioux (from Ojibwe asinii-bwaan).

2054, 2055 CANADA ( Alberta) / UNITED STATES (Montana) - Blackfoot Confederacy

2054 Bull Bear, a Siksika warrior

The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsitapi (meaning "original people") is the collective name of three First Nation band governments in the province of Alberta, in Canada, and also a Native American tribe in  Montana, United States. There are three tribes in Canada, the Siksika (Blackfoot), the Kainai or Kainah (Bloods) and the Northern Piegan (Poor Robes) or Peigan or Pikuni, and one tribe in the United States: the Southern Piegan (Poor Robes) or Pikuni in Montana.

2055 A Blakfoot little girl (ca. 1900)

Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of Western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens.