The notion of First Nations
We’re becoming better informed, I hope, about the big issues toward Aboriginal people in Canada health for habitation, sanitation or education, and land claims to population growth.
However, too often our understanding of these issues fails to take account of root causes of pains and inequity among First Nations, Inuit and Metis people in this land and that has everything to do with our notion of a nation.
First nations tend to think a “nation” is the same as a “country”. That’s especially true in Canada, where the idea of French Quebec as a nation is often seen as incompatible with the identity of the larger nation as we call Canada. However, the very foundations of this country, legally, geographically, historically and culturally, are found in agreements between nations.
-Peter Choi-
