HCO Glossary - A

Or APTN. A TV network that airs and produces programming made by, for, and about Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The service first went on the air in 1992 as Television Northern Canada. It was originally available only in the NWT on CHTY-TV, channel 11 in Yellowknife, CHWT-TV, channel 11 in Whitehorse, Yukon, and several rebroadcasters across the Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, Alberta]] and Newfoundland and Labrador. APTN made its debut as a national network on September 1, 1999. The network is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. APTN's service consists of two different feeds: a terrestrial feed for the Arctic territories (the original TVNC network); and a cable-only, cross-Canada feed. The network's programming is approximately 60% English, 15% French, and 25% Aboriginal languages. Since its launch in 1999, the CRTC has required all Canadian cable television operators to carry APTN. It is one of four officially licenced television networks in Canada.

Official Site

Aboriginal Rights

Usually refers to the inherent, collective rights of Aboriginal people. These rights come from the social orders that existed prior to European contact and land occupation. Most Aboriginals consider this their right to self-determined independence when it comes to their culture, land, governance and resources.

Aborigines’ Protection Society

A Protestant coalition in Britain during the 1830s against slavery and the prejudicial treatment of Aboriginal peoples in British colonies. The society was particularly against Sir Francis Bond Head’s 1836 attempt to get Aboriginals in Upper Canada to settle on Manitoulin Island.

Absolutism

The system of government in which the ruler (or rulers) had unrestricted power. It is generally used to refer to the period in which European kings believed they ruled by divine right and they should exercise that right over their subjects. It can be contrasted with a constitutional monarchy, in which the power of the monarch is limited.

Act

A statute, decree, or enactment delivered by a legislative or a judicial body. An act is termed an ordinance if the governor creates it, and is termed a statute if it is made by the legislature.

Adversarial system of justice

The system of justice based on the British model, in which two lawyers (the prosecutor and the defence) present opposing cases in an open court. A judge or jury decides the case on the merit of the arguments presented. Innocence is presumed until guilt is proven. This system can be contrasted with the inquisitorial method.

Akwesasne

Iroquois name that means "Where the ruffed grouse drums." Primarily a Mohawk settlement the reserve spans the international boundary between Canada and the United States

Algonkian

Or Algonquian, an Aboriginal language group that numbers hundreds of First Nations. In Canada, includes the Abenaki, Maliseet and Micmac of Atlantic Canada, the northern Betsiamites, Atikamekw, Algonkin and Montagnais/Naskapi (Innu), the central and western Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ottawa and Cree and the western Blackfoot nations. In the US, includes the Mohegan, Pequot, Narragansett, Wampanoag, Massachusett, Nipmuck, Pennacook, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, Maliseet, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Cree, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Shawnee, Illiniwek, Kickapoo, Menominee, Miami, Sac, Fox, Powhatan, Lumbee, Nanticoke, Lenape, Munsee and Mohican peoples.

Algonquin

The Anissinapek, an Aboriginal people living in western Quebec and eastern Ontario, centred along the Ottawa River; speak a dialect of Ojibwa; call themselves either Omàmiwinini (plural: Omàmiwininiwak) or the more generalised name of Anicinàpe; closely related to the Odawa and Ojibwe.

Amending Formula

The process by which the constitution would be changed in the future.

Anglicize

The act of anglicizing: to cause a society to adopt English idiom, pronunciation, customs, manners etc.

Anishnabe

Nishnaabe, Anicinàpe,, Anishinaabe, Anishinabe, Anicinape or Anishinaabeg (plural Anishinabek; people belonging to the Odawa, Ojibwa, and Algonquin peoples, meannig "First- or Original-People". Please see Ojibwa.

Assimilation

Occurs when a minority or outside group is completely absorbed into a dominant group.

Assiniboine

Assiniboin. Stoney. Aboriginal nation that splintered from the Sioux tribe during the 1640s. Its members speak either Dakota or Lakota dialects. They originally called the Mississippi headwaters their home, before moving northward into the Lake of the Woods and near Lake Winnipeg. During their peak, their territory ranged from the Saskatchewan and Assiniboine Rivers in Canada well into the American Plains.

Athabascan

Athapascan, Athabaskan or Athapaskan. Aboriginal language group from the Cree name for Lake Athabasca (ahdhap-ask-a-w); has three main geographic groupings: Northern (Alaska and Canada), Pacific Coast, and Southern; the 31 Northern Athabaskan languages are spoken throughout the interior of Alaska, the Yukon and NWT as well as in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Several Athabaskan languages are official languages in the Northwest Territories, including Dene Suline, Dogrib or Tlicho, Gwichʼin, and Slavey. Tlingit is distantly related to this group to form the Na-Dené stock (also known as Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit). Branches include the Yukon (Tsetsaut, N. Tutchone, S. Tutchone, Tagish, Tahltan, Kaska, Sekani, Dunneza), British Columbia (Babine-Witsuwit’en, Dakelh, Chilcotin), Eastern (Dene Suline, Slavey, Dogrib) and Southernly (Tsuut’ina, Apachean, Pacific Coast Athabaskan)

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