Indigenous peoples of Quebec

The Indigenous peoples of Quebec are the inhabitants of the Canadian province of Quebec whose descendants lived in the region before the arrival of European settlers. The province considers Indigenous peoples to be members of First Nations bands and the Inuit, Indigenous residents of the northernmost regions of North America. The Canadian government includes the Métis as an Indigenous people. Métis are mixed-race descendants of First Nations and Europeans. According to the Canadian census profile in 2021, the Indigenous population of Quebec was 205,010. The Indigenous population of the province is divided along linguistic and cultural lines into three groups. The Algonquian language family includes eight First Nations bands, the Iroquoian family includes two, and the Eskimo-Aleut family includes the Inuit.

Demographics

The eastern province of Quebec is the second-largest of Canada's provinces and territories with a total area of about 595,000 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers). Quebec is also the nation's second-largest province by population, with an estimated population of 8.5 million in 2021. It borders Ontario to the west and southwest, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast, and the United States to the south. Quebec was once the heart of New France, French territory in North America that stretched across much of eastern and central Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico. The Canadian territories of New France were lost to the British after the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and underwent several boundary changes during the next century. Quebec, along with Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, became one of the nation's original four provinces when the British united its North American colonies to form the Dominion of Canada in 1867.

The northern reaches of Quebec consist of Arctic tundra and a region of dense forests and lakes. The southern section includes the fertile St. Lawrence River valley and is home to the major population centers of Montreal and Quebec City. Temperatures in the province's northern regions can get very cold, with average winter highs struggling to approach 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius). The southern regions are more temperate. Montreal's average January low is about 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 degrees Celsius), while the average July high is 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius).

Quebec's largest cities in 2024 were Montreal with a population of 1.8 million and Quebec City with about 560,270 inhabitants, according to World Population Review. According to Statistics Canada, Quebec's Indigenous population was 205,015 in 2021, making up 2.5 percent of the population. Quebec's First Nations population was 116,550 with populations of 61,015 Métis and 15,795 Inuit.

Background

Archaeologists believe the first humans in North America crossed over a land bridge from Asia in the Bering Strait about 13,000 to 15,500 years ago. As the glaciers of the last Ice Age began to recede about 12,000 years ago, groups of human hunters followed the caribou herds into the region of modern-day Quebec. Traces of the distinctive stone tools from the era have been found at an archaeological site near Lake Megantic in southeastern Quebec. From about 10,000 to 3,000 years ago, the number of settlements in the region grew and humans began moving farther north. Sometime about the year 1000 BCE, native groups from the south moved into the Quebec region and brought with them a more agricultural-based lifestyle, introducing the important crop of corn to the region.

By the year 1000 CE, many native groups had adopted a more settled existence, supplementing their hunting and fishing with crops such as corn, squash, and beans. It was about the same time that the Thule people, ancestors of the modern Inuit, arrived from the west and settled in the arctic regions. The first Europeans sailed up the St. Lawrence River in the early sixteenth century and encountered several farming villages in the area around modern-day Montreal and Quebec City. As the foreign powers pushed for control of the region's fishing and fur trade, they began to form alliances with the native people. The British aligned with the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, which included the Mohawk people. The French joined with the Huron, Algonquin, Innus, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq—groups found north of the St. Lawrence River. After the British emerged victorious in the French and Indian War (1756-1763), France was forced from its Canadian territories and the British began peace negotiations with native allies of the French.

During the American Revolution (1775-1783), much of the Iroquois Confederacy fought alongside the British and became refugees when England lost the war. Many members of the confederacy relocated to southern Canada and sought land compensation from the British for their loyalty during the war. For years, the British government in Canada accommodated the First Nations people in the region, negotiating land deals and trying to cultivate military and trade alliances. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, as the population of Canada grew, the government began to claim more First Nations' land and push the native people into smaller reserves. In 1867, Canada gained its independence from Britain and for much of the next six decades the Canadian government negotiated a series of land-surrender treaties with First Nations from Ontario to British Columbia. The native peoples of Quebec were not included in any of these treaties.

In the early 1970s, the government proposed building a system of hydroelectric dams in northern Quebec. The Cree and Inuit went to court to stop the project, arguing that since they never signed a treaty with the government, they retained the land rights to the region. The court agreed, forcing Canada to negotiate the first treaty with its Indigenous peoples since the early twentieth century. The 1975, James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement granted the Cree and Inuit control over their own government, schools, and police force, and included $225 million in compensation. Three years later, the Naskapi First Nations were added to the agreement and received $9 million. The settlement was the first of more than one thousand land claims agreements negotiated between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian government as of 2023. During the same year, the government agreed to transfer 109,385 acres of crown land to five First Nations.

Overview

As of 2024, the Government of Quebec listed forty-one First Nations bands in Quebec. These bands incorporated ten distinct First Nations identities—Abenaki, Algonquin, Atikamekw, Cree, Huron-Wendat, Innus, Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Mohawks, and Naskapis. The Huron-Wendat and Mohawks belong to the Iroquoian language family. The remaining eight groups are part of the Algonquian family. The majority of the Indigenous groups live in the more heavily populated southern third of the province, the Cree, Innus, and Naskapis reside in north-central Quebec, and the Inuit inhabit the far northern region.

Innus and Naskapis

According to 2021 statistics from the Government of Quebec, the Innus were the largest First Nations group in the province with a registered population of 25,000 living in nine communities. The name Innu means "people" in their native language, although they are also called the Montagnais—a French term meaning "mountain people." The Naskapis are an independent branch of about 1,600 Innus, with 969 residing on the Kawawachikamach Reserve in northeastern Quebec.

The Innus are related to the Cree and mostly reside on the Labrador Peninsula, north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence River. The Innu language, Innu-aimun, is one of the most widely spoken Indigenous dialects in Quebec, with more than 11,000 speakers in Quebec and Labrador in 2021. The Innus were traditionally nomadic hunters and fisher folk who relied on moose, caribou, bear, and salmon for their survival. In the twentieth century, the Canadian government forced them to settle in permanent communities, where they continue the hunting and fishing lifestyles of their ancestors. The religious beliefs of the Innus are tied to these hunting and fishing traditions. They believed animals possessed spirits that must be appeased to ensure successful hunts.

Mohawks

The Mohawks were one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, which in Canada is referred to as the Haudenosaunee, "people of the longhouse." The Mohawks call themselves the Kanien'kehá:ka, or "people of the flint." In Quebec, they reside in three communities in the southern part of the province near Montreal. In 2020, according to the Government of Quebec, the Mohawk population in Quebec was about 20,000. Unlike many Algonquian groups, the Iroquoian-speaking Mohawks were primarily an agricultural people. They cultivated three main crops—corn, beans, and squash—and revered them as the "Three Sisters." Their reliance on farming allowed them to establish relatively settled communities, some of which became quite large with some populations reaching more than one thousand.

The largest single reserve in Quebec, the Kahnawake Reserve near Montreal, is a Mohawk community with a population of 11,787. The Kahnawake Mohawk have built a reputation as accomplished ironworkers, helping in the construction of some of New York City's tallest buildings for more than a century. Among their accomplishments are the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, and One World Trade Center, which finished construction in 2013.

Cree

The Cree are the largest First Nation in Canada with an estimated 2021 registered population of more than 223,745; in Quebec they numbered about 21,000, according to the Government of Quebec. Cree comes from Kiristinon, the French pronunciation of an Ojibway word describing the native people near Hudson Bay. The Cree refer to themselves by their traditional name, Nêhiyawak. An Algonquian language, Cree is the most widely used Indigenous language in Canada with 86,475 speakers as of 2021. The Cree of Quebec are called the Eastern or James Bay Cree, or the Eeyouch in their native tongue. They are closely related culturally and linguistically to the Innus and reside in the west-central region of Quebec near Hudson Bay.

Algonquin

The Algonquin call themselves the Anishinabeg and are closely related to the Ojibway and Odawa peoples of Ontario, Manitoba, and the upper Midwestern United States. The Algonquin in Quebec numbered about 13,704 in 2024 and resided on nine reserves in the southwestern region of the province near Ontario. The name Quebec was based on an Algonquin term kebec meaning "where the river narrows." It originally referred to the region around modern-day Quebec City but was later adopted as the name of the province.

Atikamekw

The Atikamekw reside in three communities near the Saint-Maurice River valley in central Quebec, north of Montreal. The Atikamekw, a name meaning "whitefish" in their language, numbered 8,000 in 2024. The Atikamekw were formed from the consolidation of several hunter-gatherer groups in the seventeenth century. As a result, they share a heritage with several neighboring First Nations. The Atikamekw are known for their woodworking skills with birch and birch bark, which earned them the nickname "people of the bark."

Mi'kmaq

The Mi'kmaq, or Micmacs, are a people found predominantly in the Canadian maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and parts of Quebec—a traditional homeland they call Mi'gma'gi. Of the approximately 66,748 registered Mi'kmaq in Canada, 7,600 reside in three reserves in the coastal areas of southeastern Quebec. Because of their location near the Atlantic Ocean, the Mi'kmaq were the first Indigenous people of Canada to have contact with European settlers. As a result, the Mi'kmaq readily accepted the newcomers, acting as guides and intermediaries with other native peoples of the region. The Mi'kmaq were the first Indigenous people of Canada to convert to Christianity.

Huron-Wendat

The Huron-Wendat were once part of a five-nation confederacy in Ontario before they were defeated and scattered by the Haudenosaunee in the mid-seventeenth century. The Huron-Wendat are an Iroquoian-speaking people with a traditional farming-based society. Despite their linguistic relation to the Haudenosaunee, the two confederacies were longstanding adversaries. After their defeat, many Huron-Wendat were absorbed into other tribes, while one group settled on the Wendake Reserve near Quebec City. According to the Government of Quebec, in 2024, about 7,600 Huron-Wendat First Nation Indigenous peoples resided in Quebec. They were split into three groups, or bands: the Listuguj, the Gesgapegiag, and the Gespeg. The Gespec did not have a reserve and lived mainly in Gasp

Abenaki and Maliseet

The Abenaki, a name meaning "dawn-land people" in their language, reside on two reserves on the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City. The population of Abenaki was about 3,000 in 2021. The Maliseet call themselves Welastekwewiyik, or "people of the beautiful river." They primarily reside in the Atlantic provinces of Canada. About 400 lived in Odanak and Wolinak.

Inuit

The Inuit are an Indigenous people living in the Arctic regions from Greenland to Siberia. The Quebec population of 15,795 is part of a larger population that numbers more than 70,000. In Canada, their traditional homeland is known as Inuit Nunangat, a region that stretches from Labrador to parts of the Northwest Territories and Yukon. The section of this homeland that covers the northern third of Quebec is called Nunavik. The Inuit are part of the Eskimo-Aleut language family with the inhabitants of Nunavik speaking a dialect known as East Inuktitut. Many modern Inuit continue to rely on traditional hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. Seal, whale, caribou, fish, and native berries remain an important part of their diets.

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