Among 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 18185, 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 second language, as well as numerous Aboriginal tongues. A 19 th-century community of
the Métis people, the Anglo-Métis, were referred to as Country born. They were children of Rupert’s Land fur trade
typically of Orcadian, Scottish, or English paternal descent and Aboriginal maternal descent.[103] Their first language
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 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.

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 people for fur trading skill and
survival. To ensure alliances, relationship 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 13 th 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, Ívar Bárðarson, speaks of “small people” with whom the
Norsemen fought.[88] 14th century account 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 routes with more southern cultures. Boundary disputes were common and
led to aggressive action.[15]

Inuk in 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 15 th-16th centuries), and
have been brought thought 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 1000CE, 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 16 th 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- 1,000CE, and has locates 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 tradition culture that flourished along American rivers from 300BCE-500CE.
At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange system networked cultures and societies with the peoples on 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 established routes across what is now Canada by 500BCE-1,000CE. Communities
developed each with its own culture, customs and character.[75] In the northwest were the Athapaskan, slavery,
Dogrib, Tuchone and Tiignit. Along the Pacific coast were the Tsimshian; Haida; Salish; Kwakiutl; Heiltsuk; Nootka;

Nisga’a; Senakw and Gitxsan. In the plains were the Blackfoot; Káínawa; Sarcee and Peigan. In the nothern
woodlands were the Cree 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.

Thule site (Copper Inuit) near the waters of Cambridge Bay (Victoria Island)

The west coast of Canada by 7,000-5,000 BCE (9,000-7,000 years ago) saw various cultures who organized
themselves around salmon fishing.[65] The Nuu-chah-nulth of Vancouver Island begin whaling with advanced long
spears at about this time.[65] The Maritime Archaic is one group of North America’s Archaic culture of sea-mammal
hunters in the subarctic. They prospered from approximately 7,000 BCE-1,500 BCE (9,000-3,500 years ago) along the
Atlantic Coast of North America.[66] Their settlements included longhouses and boat-topped temporary or seasonal
houses. They engaged in long distances trade, using as currency white chert, a rock quarried from northern Labrador to
Marine.[67] The Pre-Columbian culture, whose members were called Red Paint People, is indigenous to the New
England and Atlantic Canada regions of North America. The culture flourished between 3,000 BCE- 1,000 BCE
(5,000-3000 years ago) and was named after their burial ceremonies, which used large quantities of red ochre to cover
bodies and grave goods.[68]
Post-Archaic Periods

A northernly section focusing on the Saugeen, Laurel and Point Peninsula complexes of the map showing south
eastern United States and the Great Lakes area of Canada showing the Hopewell Interaction Sphere and in different
colours the various local expressions of the Hopewell cultures , Including the Laurel Complex, Saugeen Complex,
Point Peninsula Complex, Marksville culture, Copena culture, Kansas city Hopewell, Swift Creek Culture, Goodall
Focus, Crab Orchard culture and Havana Hopewell culture.

The Old Copper Complex societies dating from 3,000BCE – 500BCE (5,000-2,500 years ago) are a manifestation of
the Woodland Culture, and are pre-pottery in nature.[70] Evidence found in the northern Great Lakes regions indicates
that they extracted copper from local glacial deposits and used it in its natural form to manufacture tools and
implement.[70]

The Arctic small tool tradition is a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula, around Bristol
Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2,500 BCE (4,500 years ago).[69] These Paleo-Arctic
peoples had a highly distinctive toolkit of small blades (micro blades) that were pointed at both ends and used as side-
or end-barbs on arrows or spears made of other materials, such as bone or antler. Scrappers, engraving tools and adze
blades were also included in their toolkits.[69] The Arctic small tool tradition branches off into two cultural variants,
Including the Pre-Dorset, and the Independence traditions. These two groups, ancestors of Thule people, were
displaced by the Inuit by Common Era (CE).[69]:179-81

The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon
status. [58] There is a continuous record of occupation of S’ólh téméxw by Aboriginal people dating from the early
Holocene period, 10,000-9,000 years ago.[62] Archaeological sites at Stave Lake, Coquitlam Lake, Fort Langley and
region uncovered early period artifacts. These early inhabitants were highly mobile hunter-gatherers, consisting of
about 20 to 50 members of an extended family.[62] [verification needed] The Na-Dene people occupied much of the
land area of northwest and central North America starting around 8,000 BCE.[63] They were the earliest ancestors of
the Athabaskan-speaking peoples, including the Navajo and Apache. They had villages with large multi-family
dwellings, used seasonally during the summer, from which they hunted, fished and gathered food supplies for the
winter.[64] The Wendat peoples settled into Southern Ontario along the Eramosa River around 8,000-7,000 BCE
(10,000-9,000 years ago). [65] They were concentrated between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay. Wendat hunted
caribou to survive on the glacier-covered land.[65] Many different First Nations cultures relied upon the buffalo
starting by 6,000-5,000 BCE (8,000-7,000 years ago) They hunted buffalo by herding migrating buffalo off cliffs.
Head-smashed in Bufalo Jump, near Lethbridge, Alberta, is a hunting grounds that was in use for about 5,000 years.
[65]

The Plano cultures was a group of hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the great Plains area of North America
between 12,000-10,000 years ago.[56] The Paleo-Indians moved into new territory as it emerged from under the
glaciers. Big game flourished in this new environment.[57] The Plano culture are characterized by a range of
projectiles point tools collectively called Plano points, which were used to hunt bison. Their diets also included
pronghorn, elk, deer, raccoon and coyote.[56] At the beginning of the Archaic Era, they began to adopt a sedentary
approach to subsistence.[56] Sites in and around Belmont, Nova Scotia have evidence of Plano-Indians, indicating
small seasonal hunting camps, perhaps re-visited over generations from around 11,000-10,000 years ago.[56] Seasonal
large and smaller game fish and fowl were food and raw material sources. Adaptation to the harsh environment
included tailored clothing and skin-covered tents on wooden frames.[56]

Archaic period

The North American climate stabilized by8000 BCE (10,000 years ago); climatic conditions were very similar to
today’s.[58] This led to widespread migration, cultivation and later a dramatic rise in population all over the Americas.
[58] Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large
array of plant species. These now constitute 50-60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide.[59]
 Distribution of Na-Dene languages show in red

A Clovis Point created using bi-facial percussion flaking (that is, each face is flaked on both edges alternatively with a
percussor)

Clovis Sites dated at 13,500 years ago were discovered in western North America during the 1930s. Clovis peoples
were regarded as he first widespread Paleo-Indian inhabitants of the New World and ancestors to all indigenous
peoples in the Americas.[49] Archaeological discoveries in the past thirty years have brought forward other distinctive
knapping cultures who occupied the Americas from the lower great plains to the Shores of Chile.[50]

Localized regional cultures developed from the time of the Younger Dryas cold climate period from 12,900 to 11,500
years ago.[51] The Folsom tradition are characterized by their use of Folsom points as projectile tips at archaeological
sies. These tools assisted activities at kill sites that marked the slaughter and butchering of bison.[52]

The land bridge exist until 13,000-11,000 years ago, long after the oldest proven human settlements in the New World
began.[53] Lower sea levels in the Queen Charlotte sound and Hecate Strait produced great grass lands called
archipelago of Haida Gwaii.[54] Hunter-gatherers of the area left distinctive lithic technology tools and the remains of
large butchered mammals, occupying the area from 13,000-9,000 years ago.[54] In July 1992, the Federal Government
officially designated Xá:ytem (near mission, British Columbia) as a national Historic site, One of the first indigenous
spiritual sites in Canada to be formally recognized in this manner.[55]

The first inhabitants of North America arrived in Cabada at least 15,000 years ago, though increasing evidence
suggests an even earlier arrival.[40] It is believed the inhabitants entered the Americans pursuing Pleistocene
mammals such as the giant beaver, steppe wisent, muskox, mastodons, woolly mammoths and ancient reindeer (early
caribou).[14] One route hypothesized is that people walked south by way of an Ice-free corridor on the east side of he
Rocky Mountains, and then fanned out across North America before continuing on to South America.[42] The other
conjectured route is that they migrated, either on foot or using Primitive boats, down the Pacific Coast to the tip of
South America, and then crossed the Rockies and Andes.[43] Evidence of the latter has been covered by a sea level
rise of hundreds of meters following the last Ice age.[44][45]

The Old Crow Flats and basin was one of the areas in Canada untouched by glaciations during Pleistocene Ice ages,
thus it served as a pathway and refuge for ice ages, plants and animals.[46] The area hold evidence of early human
habitation in Canada dating from about 12,000.[47] Fossils from the area include some never accounted for in North
America, such as hyenas and large camels.[48] Bluefish Cave is an Archaeological sites in Yukon, Canada From
which a specimen of apparently human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon dated to 12,000 years ago.[47]

Maps depicting each phase of a three- step early human migrations for the peopling of the Americas

According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with
human habitation.[27] During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50-000-17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to
move across Bering land bridge that joined Siberia to north west North America (Alaska).[28] Alaska was ice-free
because of low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist. The Laurentide Ice sheet covered most of Canada,
blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska (East Beringia) for thousands of years.[29][30]

Aboriginal genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single ancestral population, one
that developed in isolation, conjectured to be Beringia might have lasted 10,000-20,000 years ago, the glaciers began
melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond.[37][38][39]

An Aboriginal community in Northern Ontario

The term Eskimo has pejorative connotations in Canada and Greenland. Indigenous peoples in those Areas have
replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit.[23][24] The Yupik of Alaska and Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit, and
ethnographers agree they are a distinct people.[8]24] They preferred the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or Eskimo. The
Yupik languages are linguistically distinct from the Inuit languages.[8] Linguistics groups of Arctic people have no
universal replacement term for Eskimo, inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik people across the geographical area inhabited
by the Inuit and Yupik peoples.[8]
Besides these ethnic descriptors, Aboriginal peoples are often divided into categories based on their relationship with
the Crown (i.e the state). Section 91 (clause 24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 gives the federal government (as
opposed to the provinces) the sole responsibility for “Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians”. The
government inherited treaty obligations from the British colonial authorities in Eastern Canada and signed treaties
itself with First Nations in Western Canada (the Numbered Treaties). It also passed the Indian Act in1876 which
governed its interactions with all treaty and non-treaty peoples. Members of First Nations bands that are subject to the
Indian Act with the Crown are compiled on a list called the Indian Register, and such people are called Status Indians.
Many non-treaty First Nations and all Inuit and Métis peoples are not subject to the Indian Act.
However, two court cases have clarified that Inuit, Métis, and non-status First Nations people, all are covered by the
term “Indians” in the Constitution Act, 1867. The first was Re Eskimos in 1939 covering the Inuit, the second being
Daniels v. Canada in 2o13 which applies to Métis and non-status First Nations.[25]

Notwithstanding Canada’s location within the Americas, the term “Native America” is not used in Canada as it is
typically used solely to describe the Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of the present-day United States.[26]

The characteristics of Canadian Aboriginal culture included permanent settlements,[10] agriculture,[11] civic and
ceremonial architecture, [12] complex societal hierarchies and trading networks.[13] The Métis culture of mixed blood
originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and Inuit people married Europeans.[14] The Inuit had more
limited interactions with European settlers during that early period.[15] Various laws, treaties, and legislation have
been enacted between Europeans immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Aboriginal Right to Self-Government
provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within first
people’s communities.

As of the 2011 census, Aboriginal peoples in Canada totaled 1,400,685 people, or 4.3% of the national population,
spread over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music.[1]
[16] National Aboriginal Day recognizes the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples to the history of Canada.
[17] First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of all backgrounds have become prominent figures and have served as role
models in the Aboriginal community and help to shape the Canadian cultural identity.[18]

The terms First peoples and First Nations are both used to refer to indigenous peoples of Canada.[19] The terms first
peoples or Aboriginal peoples in Canada are normally broader terms than First Nations, as they include Inuit, Métis
and First Nations. First Nations (most often used in the plural) has come into general used for the Indigenous peoples
of North America in Canada, and their descendants who are neither Inuit nor Métis. On reserves, First Nations is being
supplanted by members of various nations referring to themselves by their group or ethnical identity. In conversation
this would be “I am Haida”, or “we are Kwantlens”, in recognition of their First Nations ethnicities.[20] In this Act,
“Aboriginal peoples of Canada “includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.[21]

Indian remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution. Its usage outside such situations can be
considered offensive.[7] Aboriginal peoples is more commonly used to describe all indigenous peoples of Canada.[22]
The term Aboriginal people is beginning to be considered outdated and slowly being replaced by the term Indigenous
people.[2]

Indigenous peoples in Canada

Indigenous peoples in Canada,[2] also known as Indigenous Canadians or Aboriginal Canadians, are the indigenous
people within the boundaries of present-day Canada. They comprise the First Nations, [3] Inuit [4] and Métis.[5]
Although “Indian” is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors “Indian” and “Eskimo” have
somewhat fallen into disuse in Canada and some consider them to be pejorative.[6][7][8] Similarly, ‘Aboriginal’ as a
collective noun is a specific term of art used in some legal documents, including the Constitution Act 1982, though in
some circles that word is also falling into disfavour.[9]

Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Canada. The Paleo-
Indian Clovis, Plano and Pre-Dorset cultures pre date current indigenous peoples of the Americas. Projectile point
tools, spears, pottery, bangles, chisels and scrappers mark archaeological sites, thus distinguishing cultural periods,
traditions and lithic reduction styles.

Under letters patent from King Henry VII of England, the Italian John Cabot became the first European known to have
located in Canada after the time of the Vikings.[33] Records indicate that on 24 June 1497 he sighted land at a
northern location believed to be somewhere in the Atlantic provinces.[34] Official tradition deemed the first landing
site to be at cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, although other locations are possible.[35] After 1497 Cabot and his son
Sebestian Cabot continued to make other voyages to find the Northwest Passage, and other explorers continued to sail
out of England to the New World, although the details of these voyages are not well recorded.[36]

Based on the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Spanish Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited by John
Cabot in 1497 and 1498 CE.[37] However, Portuguese explorers like João Fernandes Lavrador would continue to
visited the north Atlantic coast, which accounts for the appearance of ”Labardor” on topographical maps of the
periods.[38]In 1501and 1502 the Corte Real brothers explored Newfoundland (terra Nova) and Labrador claiming
these lands as part of the Portuguese Empire.[38][39] in 1506, king Manuel I of Portugal created taxes for the cod
fisheries in Newfoundland waters.[40] João Álvares Fagundes and Pêro de Barcelos established fishing outposts in
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521CE; however, these were later abandoned, with the Portuguese colonizers
focusing their efforts.
 L’Anse aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland, site of a Norsemen colony about year 1000.

There are reports of contact made before the 1492 voyages of Christopher Columbus and the age of discovery between
First Nations, Inuit and those from other continents. The Norse, who had settled Greenland and Iceland, arrived around
the year in 1000 and built a small settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland
(carbon dating estimate 990-10500 CE) [31] L’Anse aux Meadows is also notable for its connection with the
attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Erikson around the same period or, more broadly, with Norse
exploration of the Americas.[31][32]

Pre-Columbian Distribution of Na-Dene languages in North America

The Interior of British Columbia was home of the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap (Secwepemc),
Okanagan and southern Athabaskan language groups, primarily the Dakelh (Carrier) and the Tsilhqot’in.[27] The
inlets and valleys of the British Columbia Coast sheltered large, distinctive populations, such as the Haida,
Kwakwaka’wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth, sustained by the region’s abundant salmon and shellfish. [27] These peoples
developed complex cultures dependent on the western red cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and
war canoes and elaborately carved potlatch items and totem poles.[27]

In the Arctic Archipelago, the distinctive Paleo-Eskimos known as Dorset peoples, whose culture has been tracked
back to around 500BCE were replaced by the ancestors of today’s Inuit by 1500CE.[28] This transition is supported
by archaeological records and Inuit mythology that tells of having driven off the Tuniit or ‘first inhabitants’.[29]
Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from western law. Customary law was non-existent in Inuit
society before the introduction of the Canadian legal system.[30]

Pre-Columbian Distribution of Algonquian languages in North America

Speakers of eastern Algonquian languages included the Mi’kmaq and Abenaki of the maritime region of Canada and
likely the extinct Beothuk of Newfoundland.[18][19] The Ojibwa and other Anishinaabe speakers of the Central
Algonquin languages retain an oral tradition of having moved to their lands around the western and central Great lakes
from the sea, likely the east coast.[20] According to oral Tradition, the Ojibwa formed the council of Three Fires in
796CE with the Odawa and the Potawatomi.[21]

The 1roquouis (Haudenosaunee) were centered from at least 1000 CE in northern New York, but their influence
extended into what is now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec.[22] The Iroquois Confederacy,
according to oral tradition, was formed in 1142CE.[23][24] On the Great Plains Cree or Nēhilawē (who spoke a
closely related central Algonquian language, the plains Cree language) depended on the vast herds of bison to supply
food and many of their other needs.[25] To the northwest were the peoples of the Na-Dene languages, which include
the Athapaskan-speaking peoples and the Tlingit, who lived on the islands of southern Alaska and Northern British
Columbia. The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia.[26] The Dene
of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration from Asia to North America.[26]

Great Lakes area of the Hopewell interaction Area.

The woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and includes the Ontario, Quebec, and Maritime
regions.[12] The introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous Archaic-stage
inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada.
[13]

The Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 BCE. At
its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to the people on the Canadian
shores of Lake Ontario.[14] Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the point Peninsula,
Saugeen, and Laurel complexes.[15]

The eastern woodland areas of what become Canada were home to the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples. The
Algonquian language is believed to have originated in the western plateau of Idaho or the plains of Montana and
moved eastward,[16] eventually extending all the way from Hudson Bay to what is today Nova Scotia in the east and
as far south as the Tidewater region of Virginia.[17]

The North America climate stabilized around 8000 BCE (10,000 years ago). Climatic conditions were similar to
modern patterns; however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of
meltwater.[10] Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers.[11]
However, individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally; thus with the passage of time, there
is a pattern of increasing regional generalization (i.e.; Paleo-Arctic, Plano and Maritime Archaic traditions).[11]

A northernly section focusing on the Saugeen, Laurel and Point Peninsula complexes of the map showing south
eastern United States and the Great Lakes area of Canada showing the Hopewell interaction Sphere and in different
colours the various local expression of the Hopewell cultures, including the Laurel Complex, Saugeen Complex, Point
Peninsula Complex, Marksville culture, Copena culture, Kansas City Hopewell, Swift Creek Culture, Goodall Focus,
Crab Orchard culture and Havana Hopewell Culture.

The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the last glacial period (about 10,000 years ago), when
the Laurentide ice sheet receded

Archaeological and Aboriginal genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were the last continents into
which humans migrated.[1] During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50,000 – 17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed
people to move across the Bering land bridge (Beringia), from Siberia into northwest North America.[2] At that point,
they were blocked by the Laurentide ice sheet that covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska and the Yukon
for thousands of years.[3] The exact dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing
debate.[4][5] By 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia, and
into Canada.[6] The Queen Charlotte Islands, Old Crow Flats , and Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-
Indian archaeological sites in Canada.[7][8][9] Ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone
tools and the remains of large butchered mammals.

History of Canada

The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day.
Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, with trade networks, spiritual
beliefs, and styles of social organization. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first European
arrivals and have been discovered through archaeological investigations. Various treaties and laws have been enacted
between European settlers and the Aboriginal populations.
Beginning in the late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, and later settled along the Atlantic Coast.
France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America to Britain in 1763 after the seven Year’s War. In 1867, with
the union of the three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal
dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy
from the British Empire, which became official with the Statute of Westminster of 1931and completed in the Canada
Act of 1982, which served the vestiges of legal dependencies on the British parliament.