Native Americans of North America

VII

Native Americans Today

At the turn of the 20th century, many people believed that Native Americans would assimilate into mainstream society and disappear as unique peoples. But native communities in both the United States and Canada survived disastrous assimilation efforts. Instead of disappearing, they revitalized tribal governments, created modern economies, attained legal rights, and revived cultural traditions and ceremonies that had nearly died out. They combined aspects of their traditional cultures with contemporary life without sacrificing the core of their identity.

Despite their resiliency, however, Native Americans faced serious economic, health, and educational problems at the beginning of the 21st century. Many U.S. and Canadian indigenous peoples lived in poverty. Unemployment and school dropout rates were high, and rates of alcoholism and suicide for Native Americans were far above those for the general population in both countries. But as a testament to the cultural and economic renewal taking place, many indigenous peoples were leaving cities and returning to their homelands. They went back for jobs, to attend tribal colleges, or to participate in long-dormant ceremonies.

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Population

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Introduction

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United States

Getting an accurate count of the number of Native Americans in the United States can be difficult. In both the United States and Canada, many Native Americans mistrust federal government representatives and withhold information or refuse to fill out census forms. With the 2000 census, the U.S. Census Bureau made efforts to do a better job of counting Native Americans than it did in the 1990 census. In that census, Native Americans were undercounted by as much as 12.5 percent, the highest of any ethnic group. Besides working with tribal governments, the Census Bureau developed culturally specific television and newspaper advertisements and posters to encourage Native Americans to take part in the 2000 census.

The 2000 census was the first in which Americans could select more than one race and ethnic identity. This was an important change for Native Americans because they have mixed intertribally for thousands of years and interracially for the last 500 years. On the 2000 census form, Native Americans could select “American Indian and Alaska Native only” or “American Indian and Alaska Native” and at least one other race. They were also given a space for tribal affiliation.

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According to the 2000 census, about 2.5 million people in the United States reported they were Native Americans. Some 1.5 million others reported they were Native American plus another race, typically white. The two figures together represented a 26 percent increase over the 1990 census figures. Overall, Native American people accounted for about 1 percent of the total U.S. population.

At the time of the census, California had the largest concentration of Native Americans (314,000), followed by Oklahoma (263,000), Arizona (261,000), New Mexico (166,000), Washington State (105,000), and Alaska (101,352). Nearly 50 percent of Native Americans lived in the West, 29 percent in the South, 17 percent in the Midwest, and 6 percent in the Northeast. The Native American population was a young and growing population: Thirty-nine percent of its population was under 20 years of age, compared with 29 percent of the nation’s total population.

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Canada

Since 1982 the Canadian census has categorized aboriginal people as North American Indian, Métis (people of mixed European and aboriginal ancestry), and Inuit. The census also asks every Canadian, including aboriginal people, to which ethnic or cultural group a person’s ancestors belonged. In 1996 Statistics Canada, the national agency that takes the census, included an additional question for aboriginal people: “Is this person an aboriginal person, that is, North American Indian, Métis, or Inuit?”That is, does this individual identify as an aboriginal person?

The 1996 census reported there were 1,170,190 people with aboriginal ancestry in Canada, making up about 3 percent of Canada’s inhabitants. Some 867,225 reported North American Indian ancestry; 220,740 reported Métis; and 49,845 Inuit. Counts based on identity went down from the overall number: 554,000 identified as North American Indian, 210,000 as Métis, and 41,000 as Inuit. About 6,400 people were counted more than once because they claimed to be members of more than one aboriginal group. But Statistics Canada admitted its census did not catch everyone; forms were not completed on more than 75 Indian reserves.

In 1996 aboriginal people lived across Canada in every province and territory. More than four out of every five aboriginal people lived west of Québec. About 63 percent of all aboriginal people lived in the four western provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Ontario had 18 percent of Canada’s aboriginal people and more North American Indians than any other province. Almost two-thirds of Canada’s total Métis population lived in the three Prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, with Alberta having the largest Métis population. In 1996 Northwest Territories had the largest Inuit population.

In Canada the federal government officially determines who is an Indian for its purposes through the Indian Act, a law first passed in 1876 and amended several times since. The act defines who is an Indian and determines who can be registered in the Indian Register maintained by Canada’s Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), also called Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). For the federal government to grant Indian status, a person generally has to be a member of an aboriginal band that was granted a reserve or government funds or negotiated a treaty with the government. These people are referred to as Status Indians, and the Indian Act applies only to them. Status Indians are eligible for federal benefits. The Indian Act does not cover Inuit, Métis, and non-Status Indians, people with Indian ancestry who are not on the official register.

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Tribes and Bands

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United States

Tribes in the United States set up their own membership criteria. A person is permitted membership in only one tribe, and becoming a member of a particular tribe requires complying with its membership rules. Most tribes rely in part on blood quantum, or how much Native American blood a person has, for membership. The amount of blood quantum required varies. At one end of the spectrum is the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, which accepts anyone who can trace his or her ancestry back to the Dawes Commission of Final Rolls, a government document that compiled the names of tribal members between 1899 and 1906. At the other end is the Ute of Utah, who require five-eighths minimum blood quantum for membership. Generally, tribes require one-fourth minimum blood quantum for enrollment.

The whole notion of blood quantum is controversial within the Native American community. Many children and grandchildren of tribal citizens do not have the required amount of blood quantum to qualify for enrollment because their parents or earlier ancestors married outside their tribe. There are also Indians whose families have been part of Indian communities for generations but do not have the official records required for tribal membership.

Tribes fall into one of two categories: federally or state recognized. Federally recognized tribes are nations that have a special, legal relationship with the U.S. government. This relationship recognizes that tribes have certain rights of self-government and are entitled to participate in specific federal Indian programs. The federal government has the right to determine tribal membership for federal purposes, such as who can receive federal funds.

Most Native Americans in the United States belong to federally recognized tribes. There are more than 550 such tribes, including more than 220 village groups in Alaska. The tribes vary enormously in size. At the time of the 2000 census, the only tribes with more than 100,000 people were the Cherokee, Navajo (Diné), Sioux, and Chippewa. Most tribes had populations of less than 10,000, and several California tribal bands had only two to three members.

Tribes that want to be recognized by the federal government go through an administrative process prescribed by the Branch of Acknowledgment and Research (BAR) of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), an agency of the U.S. government that is part of the Department of the Interior. The BAR requires petitioners, or entities, to meet seven mandatory criteria for federal recognition. Entities must (1) prove they have been identified by reliable external sources on a continuous basis since 1900; (2) prove continuous community; (3) prove continuous political authority from historical times to the present day; (4) submit membership criteria; (5) prove that current members descend from historic tribes; (6) prove members are not members of another federally recognized tribe; and (7) prove Congress did not terminate its relationship with the tribe. Once an Indian tribe receives federal acknowledgment, it is eligible to receive BIA services.

Approximately 30 U.S. Indian tribes and groups without federal recognition are state recognized. This means the states administer programs for tribes such as the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot of Connecticut and the Shinnecock of New York. State-recognized tribes do not have relations with the BIA or participate in the programs it operates.

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Canada

According to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), there are about 600 bands in Canada. (In Canada, the term band generally corresponds to the term tribe in the United States.) A band is made up of Indian people who are registered as members of that group. Many bands prefer to be known as First Nations.

Before the Canadian Parliament amended the Indian Act in 1985, the federal government controlled the membership lists of bands. When it granted Indian status to a person, it would also add that person to a First Nation’s membership list. The 1985 amendment gave First Nations the option of defining their own membership. About 250 First Nations have opted to control their own memberships; Indian people seeking to join those First Nations must apply directly to them for membership. First Nations that control their membership can grant it to both Status and non-Status Indians. About 40 percent of the aboriginal population in Canada belongs to First Nations.

According to DIAND, the largest First Nations bands in 2001 were the Mohawk of Akwesasne in Ontario (9,500), the Blood of Alberta (9,051), the Mohawk of Kahnawake in Québec (8,888), and the Saddle Lake in Alberta (7,648). Only 10 percent of the bands had a population of 2,000 people or more, and 6 percent had populations of less than 100.

Because First Nations are legal-administrative bodies recognized by the Canadian government, they are eligible for funding from DIAND. DIAND distributes monies to First Nations for social services such as housing, postsecondary education, community economic development, business enterprises, health care, and youth programs. Inuit living in recognized Inuit communities may also be eligible for some federal benefits.

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Native Americans on Reservations and Reserves

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