Cultural safety is an outcome of culturally competent practices, defined and experienced by those who receive the service - they feel safe. Cultural safety is based on understanding the power differen [..]

Home > Working Together> Aboriginal Terminology Working Together Plans Partnership Accord Aboriginal Health Initiative Program Cultural Competency Aboriginal Terminology Committees & VCH Str [..]

This description is to assist those with no familiarity of Aboriginal culture with some of the more commonly used concepts and terms in relation to Aboriginal cultural practices.

Aboriginal is a collective term used to describe the three constitutionally recognized Indigenous populations in Canada – ‘Indians’ (First Nations), Métis and Inuit. While the term Aboriginal is commo [..]

The term ‘First Nations’ has largely become the preferred terminology for Indigenous peoples of North America in what is now Canada, and their descendants, who are neither Métis or Inuit. First Nation [..]

Métis refers to a person who is of mixed First Nation and European ancestry. The Métis Nation Governing Members have formalized a national citizenship definition that is defined as a person who self-i [..]

First Peoples refers to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples in Canada, as well as Indigenous peoples around the world. The plural ‘peoples’ recognizes that more than one distinct group comprises t [..]

The Indian Act is Canadian federal legislation, first passed in 1876, that sets out certain federal government obligations, determines the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian gove [..]

This term, while outdated and inappropriate, is still used in the Canadian government to mean an Aboriginal person who is registered under the Indian Act.

An Aboriginal person who is not registered under the Indian Act.  This may be because his or her ancestors were never registered, or because he or she lost status under paternal provisions of the Indi [..]