Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of First Nation.
  • noun Canada The indigenous peoples of Canada (typically not including Inuit or Metis).
  • noun Canada, less common The indigenous peoples of any country or region.
  • adjective Of or relating to a First Nation or the First Nations.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1980, from first + nation.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word First Nations.

Examples

  • Although treaties have yet to be established for many of Canada's more than 630 indigenous groups - known as First Nations - a 2004 Supreme Court ruling held that the government must consult with and accommodate aboriginal peoples when territory that they have a claim to is being mined, fished or otherwise exploited.

    NYT > Home Page By IAN JOHNSON 2012

  • Aboriginal groups, also known as First Nations, say they fear the consequences of a spill from the pipeline, which would pass through some of Canada's most spectacular mountain landscape.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed David Ljunggren 2011

  • Although treaties have yet to be established for many of Canada's more than 630 indigenous groups - known as First Nations - a 2004 Supreme Court ruling held that the government must consult with and accommodate aboriginal peoples when territory that they have a claim to is being mined, fished or otherwise exploited.

    NYT > Home Page By IAN JOHNSON 2012

  • Aboriginal groups, also known as First Nations, say they fear the consequences of a spill from the pipeline, which would pass through some of Canada's most spectacular mountain landscape.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed David Ljunggren 2011

  • The Aboriginal peoples of Canada are comprised of three groups: First Nations, which is actually comprised of hundreds of distinct nations or bands (such as the Mohawk Nation and the Algonquins, for example); the Inuit, who inhabit the Arctic and subarctic regions of Canada

    Progressive Bloggers A Past 2010

  • The Aboriginal peoples of Canada are comprised of three groups: First Nations, which is actually comprised of hundreds of distinct nations or bands (such as the Mohawk Nation and the Algonquins, for example); the Inuit, who inhabit the Arctic and subarctic regions of Canada

    Progressive Bloggers A Past 2010

  • Guujaaw, President of the Haida Nation on the north-west coast of British Columbia, recalls the First Nations struggles to end MacMillan Bloedel's clear-cut logging of the Haida Gwaii's world-renown old-growth forests.

    The Dominion: All Stories 2010

  • It's damned serious, but I'd say Canada's ancient policy of cultural genocide against the First Nations is the biggest issue.

    Progressive Bloggers 2009

  • In 2000, he wrote an explosive book called First Nations?

    Liblogs.ca latest blog entries 2008

  • Representatives of the canadian tribes, known as First Nations, say Palin and other pipeline proponents are treating them with disrespect.

    ModerateVoters.org 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.