I’m reading an article about a middle school in Alaska that held a Moose hunt. An activity almost all of the kids participated in. Not sure what the proper formatting is here on the new Boards, but this is from a New York Times article today. ( To avoid getting slammed for copyright infringement, I only quote the relevant passage here )
" While most people may not think of moose as food, for many Alaskans and Canadians, it has been a crucial nutrition source “because of all the richness that it has,” he said. Moose are an important traditional food for many Alaska Native, Native American and First Nations people. "
Please explain the difference to me. I get that you can be an Alaska Native and be 100% Nigerian by blood and history. Duh.
But what’s the difference between Native Americans living in Alaska and First Nation People?
First Nation people live in Canada. Just different terminology, but the US infrastructure for Native Americans is somewhat different than for First Nation people in Canada.
In summary, Native American is the most common and neutral term in the US, while First Nations is the preferred term in Canada, although both exclude the Inuit. Indian is acceptable in the US, but should be avoided in Canada. Aboriginal is the only common umbrella term encompassing First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada, but it is not used in US English.
That’s kind of what I thought as well, but it’s a blog so take it with a grain of salt.
No, you can’t. An Alaska Native is an indigenous person, and that is an official designation, much like First Nation. A native Alaskan, on the other hand, is someone like me who just happened to be born there, just like someone born in Akron is a native Ohioan.
AIUI, the difference is that a Hopi Native American who moved to Alaska would still be a Native American, but he’ll never be an Alaska Native.
Also, in the past (probably still is, for some), some of the Alaska Native groups like the Iñupiat or the Yupik were considered separate in some sense from the Native American groups like the Haida (“Eskimo” vs “Indian”, to use the outdated terminology), so it was considered more of an umbrella group.
Note that in Canada, “First Nations” does not include Inuit.
I wasn’t aware of that. Alaska Natives fought for a long time to be recognized by the BIA as having tribal status. It finally happened in 1993. That said, there are still court battles being fought between Alaska Native Corporations and the federal government over status. It’s all about grabbing federal dollars. There’s a good article here.
The federal government in Canada has jurisdiction over “Indians”. That has been held to include all indigenous groups: First Nations, Inuit, Métis and non-status.
None taken. Most people don’t know a whole lot about Alaska, let alone terminology. “Eskimo” is still used up there in many places, especially by the Alaska Natives, but of course that doesn’t mean others should use the word. At one point my boss (who was Inupiat and had an MBA from Harvard) would always describe herself as a “poor Eskimo girl from Barrow”. Anybody buying into that notion could find themselves on the wrong end of a business contract.
I once heard a so-called Canadian on a podcast refer to a First Nations person as a “Native American”, was that guy a fake Canadian? He lived in Toronto all his life too, it’s not like he picked the phrase up after decades of living in America
Alaska Eskimos belong to different cultural groups, but Canadian Eskimos are all Inuit and prefer to be called that. (Greenland Eskimos are all Inuit as well, but prefer to be called Greenlanders.)
