Grade 9 · Social Studies · Unit 5 of 8
Indigenous Peoples & Canada
Treaties, laws and reconciliation
What your child practises
Treaties and unceded land in BC, the Indian Act, residential schools and the potlatch ban, and the ongoing work of reconciliation. This unit describes hard history factually, without graphic detail; consider talking it through together.
BC Curriculum learning standard: Indigenous peoples and colonial policies: treaties, the Indian Act, residential schools and reconciliation
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What is Aboriginal title?
- A type of treaty money
- A chief's nickname
- The legal recognition of an Indigenous nation's rights to its traditional land
- A school degree
Show answer
The legal recognition of an Indigenous nation's rights to its traditional land
Hint: The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that Aboriginal title exists in law.
Question 2
What does “Inuit” mean in Inuktitut?
- the travellers
- the people
- the northern lights
- the hunters
Show answer
the people
Hint: Inuit homelands include Inuit Nunangat in the Arctic.
Question 3
What was the Indian Act (1876)?
- A treaty between nations
- A school curriculum
- A trade deal
- A federal law giving the government control over many aspects of First Nations peoples' lives
Show answer
A federal law giving the government control over many aspects of First Nations peoples' lives
Hint: The Act controlled who counted as “Indian,” reserve land, and many aspects of daily life, and it is still in force with amendments.
Question 4
When did the last federally run residential school close?
- 1950
- 1876
- 1996
- 1920
Show answer
1996
Hint: Families and communities have felt the harm for generations.
Question 5
The potlatch is a ceremony of many Northwest Coast Nations. What happened to it in 1885?
- It became the national festival
- It was copied by settlers
- Canada banned it, and the ban remained until 1951.
- It was never banned
Show answer
Canada banned it, and the ban remained until 1951.
Hint: The ban attacked governance, law and cultural life, and was ignored in secret by many communities.
Question 6
What does it mean that most of BC is “unceded”?
- Most of the land was never given up by treaty.
- The land has no owners
- The land belongs to the Queen by treaty
- The land is empty
Show answer
Most of the land was never given up by treaty.
Hint: Aside from a few treaties, such as the Douglas Treaties and Treaty 8, Indigenous title was never signed away.