|
Before 1899 | 1900
to 1980 | Since 1980
Dates in History after 1980
1980
- March: An Anishinabe boy named Steve Collins wins the World Junior
Ski Jumping Championship in Sweden. He is 16 years old.
1980 - March: Mohawk people from the Bay
of Quinte in Ontario apply to the Canadian government to keep their traditional
government.
1980: Television's most famous Indian, the
Lone Ranger's "Tonto," dies in Woodland Hills, California at the age of
61. Jay Silverheels (born Harold J. Smith) was born on the Six Nations
Reserve near Brantford, Ontario in 1919. In addition to his career as
an actor, he was a lacrosse player, a boxer and an expert marksman with
a pistol. He also founded the Indian Actors Workshop in 1963.
1981 - March: Aboriginal people in Ontario
can now establish their own community police forces.
1981 - June: Aboriginal protestors begin
a 2,400-kilometre walk from Manitoba to Ontario to help focus attention
on the rights of Aboriginal people living off their reserves.
1982 - April: Canada repatriates its own
constitution from Britain. The Canadian Constitution recognizes and affirms
existing Aboriginal and treaty rights.
1982 - June: The Assembly of First Nations
recognizes June 21 as National Solidarity Day for all Aboriginal peoples.
1983 - February: The Saskatchewan Indian
Federated College starts a new bachelor's degree in Native Studies.
1984 - September: The Pope says that Canada's
Aboriginal people have a right to self-government, their own resources
and their own economy.
1984: Yukon First Nations and the federal
government reach an agreement on land claims. The agreement calls for
the bands to receive $620 million and secure title to 20,000 square kilometres
of land.
1987 - February: The Whitebear Nation in
Saskatchewan receives $19 million in a land claim settlement for land
that was sold in 1890.
1988 - January: An exhibition of priceless
Aboriginal artifacts opens at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, drawn from
museums around the world.
1988 - May: The Glenbow Museum in Calgary
removes a sacred mask from a collection as a result of protests by Iroquois
leaders.
1990 - July: Quebec provincial police try
to dismantle a roadblock set up by a group of Mohawks from the community
of Kanesahtake near Montreal. The Mohawks had set up the roadblock to
prevent the nearby town of Oka from expanding a golf course onto land
the Mohawks considered their own. This resulted in a 78-day armed stand-off
involving Mohawks, the Quebec provincial police and later the Canadian
Forces.
1990: Grand Chief of the Quebec Cree, Matthew
Coon Come, moves to protect the traditional Cree way of life by filing
an injunction to stop the billion-dollar Great Whale hydro-electric project
in the James Bay area. The Cree maintain that flooding over 5,000 square
kilometres of their lands will result in irreversible damage to the environment.
1990: Yukon First Nations and the federal
government sign a final agreement on land claims which will provide the
Nations with $232 million in cash, mineral rights and the surface title
to 41,000 square kilometres of land
1990: Canada's Supreme Court rules that the
Métis Federation in Manitoba may proceed with its legal challenge to claim
areas of the Red River Valley promised to them in the 1870s.
1990: The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal affirms
that Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia have a constitutional right to hunt and fish
for food provided they observe conservation laws.
1990: The Mohawk Reserve of Akwesasne is
the scene of fighting as the community divides over the issue of gambling
on the New York side of the reserve. The violence leads almost 500 residents
to leave the reserve temporarily until the gambling issue is resolved.
1990: Donald Marshall Jr., a Mi'kmaq from
Nova Scotia, receives an apology from the Nova Scotia government after
spending 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He is exonerated
of the 1971 murder charge by a Royal Commission and is awarded $270,000
in compensation from the province.
1990: The Supreme Court of Canada rules on
a case now referred to as Regina v. Sparrow. The case reaffirms First
Nations' constitutional rights to fish for food for social and ceremonial
purposes, restricted only by conservation regulations. The case is considered
a landmark decision. The case originated when Ronald Sparrow, a member
of the Musqueam First Nation in British Columbia was charged while fishing
in the lower Fraser River.
1991: Prime Minister Brian Mulroney calls
for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) with the objective
of settling all Aboriginal land claims by the year 2000.
1993 - May: The Council of Yukon Indians
and the Canadian government sign the Umbrella Final Agreement for land
claims and other issues.
1993 - August: The General Assembly of the
United Nations declares that the years 1995 to 2004 will be the International
Decade of the World's Indigenous People.
1994: The 15,000 members of Sahtu Dene and
Métis of the Mackenzie Valley and the federal government sign a final
agreement on land claims, providing the Nations with $500 million in cash
over 20 years, surface title to 181,230 square kilometres of land and
mineral rights to 10,000 square kilometres.
1995 - November: Elijah Harper, a Cree Member
of Canada's Parliament from Manitoba, organizes the first Sacred Assembly.
This is a gathering for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal spiritual leaders
in Canada.
1996 - March: Canada, Newfoundland, Labrador
and the Innu Nation sign a major land claim agreement. Negotiations on
this land claim started five years earlier.
1996: The Nisga'a of British Columbia are
successful in striking an agreement in principle with the federal government
over land claims. The proposed comprehensive claim includes title to an
area of 1,930 square kilometres and $190 million in compensation.
1996 - November: The final report of the
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) is tabled in Canada's Parliament.
The Commission's report took five years of hearings and research.
1996 - November: The Mushuau Innu sign an
agreement with Newfoundland and Labrador and the Canadian government to
move the Davis Inlet community to Natuashish (Little Sango Pond) on the
Labrador mainland to help counteract severe health and social problems
in the community.
1996 - April: The Department of Indian Affairs
and Northern Development agrees to give administrative responsibility
for the Cultural Educational Centres Program to the First Nations Confederacy
of Cultural Education Centres.
1996 - June: June 21 of each year is declared
National Aboriginal Day. This special day is set aside to celebrate the
cultures of Aboriginal peoples of Canada and their numerous contributions
to Canadian society.
1997 - July: The Saskatchewan Indian Summer
Games (July 6-10) are hosted by the Whitecap Dakota/Sioux First Nation
near Saskatoon.
1997 - August: The village of Oka (near Montreal)
and the Canadian government agree about buying land to enlarge the Mohawk
cemetery at Oka. Disagreement over ownership of this land started an armed
stand-off in 1990.
1997 - August: The United Nations declares
August 9 of each year to be International Day of the World's Indigenous
People.
3rd Monday - February: Every year, the third
Monday in February is celebrated as Indian Government Day. Many national
Aboriginal organizations close their offices on this day.
1998 - January 7: The Government of Canada
apologizes to the Aboriginal people who were victims of the residential
school system. The government acknowledges its role in the development
and administration of the residential schools, and announces a commitment
of $350 million which will be administered by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
1998 - May 4: The Aboriginal Healing Foundation,
a non-profit corporation run by Aboriginal people, is formed. This new
Foundation will support community-based healing initiatives for Aboriginal
individuals, families and communities who experienced physical and sexual
abuse in the residential school system.
1998 - August 4: A ceremony is held celebrating
the initialling of the Nisga'a Final Treaty Agreement. Once ratified,
this will be British Columbia's first treaty since 1899 and end the Nisga'a's
112-year effort to regain some traditional lands. The Agreement will provide
the Nisga'a with about 2,000 square kilometres of the Nass River Valley,
with rights to the surface and subsurface resources and a share of the
salmon from the Nass River. The Nisga'a will establish their own central
government.
1999 - January 27: Joe Kunuk is named as
the Acting Interim Commissioner for Nunavut. This office terminates on
March 31, 1999.
1999 - April 1: The Government of Nunavut
(Canada's newest and largest territory), comes into being.
Back
|
