Knowra Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are distinct communities with historical continuity to societies that inhabited a territory before colonization or dominant-state formation. They maintain distinct social, cultural, or political identities and often claim collective rights to land and self-determination.
Indigeneity : A social and political identity grounded in Indigenous peoples’ histories, relationships to place, and distinctiveness. It describes how identity is formed and asserted beyond a single legal definition.
Settler colonialism : A form of colonialism in which settlers seek to establish permanent societies on Indigenous lands. It helps explain enduring pressures on Indigenous territory and political presence.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples : A 2007 United Nations declaration setting international standards for Indigenous peoples’ individual and collective rights. It articulates rights to culture, lands, institutions, and self-determination.
Colonization : The establishment of control over a territory and its people by an external power. Colonization is a central historical process behind many Indigenous peoples’ claims.
First Nations : A term for many Indigenous peoples in Canada, excluding Inuit and Métis in its common legal usage. It is a nationally specific identity category within the broader concept.
Indigenous knowledge : Knowledge systems developed and sustained by Indigenous peoples through generations of lived experience and practice. Knowledge is one way distinct identities and relationships with place are maintained.
Indigenous land rights : Collective rights of Indigenous peoples to own, use, govern, or maintain relationships with their ancestral lands. Dispossession and competing claims make land rights central to Indigenous politics.
Indigenous sovereignty : The inherent authority of Indigenous peoples to govern themselves and sustain their political communities. Sovereignty expresses political identity beyond recognition by a dominant state.
Doctrine of discovery : A legal doctrine used by colonial powers to justify claims over lands inhabited by non-Christian peoples. It helped legitimize European territorial claims that disregarded Indigenous sovereignty.
Inuit : An Indigenous people of the Arctic, with communities across Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. Inuit identity is distinct from other Indigenous identities and spans several state borders.
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