A religious and legal concept that legitimized the colonization of lands outside of Europe.
Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas.

Signed by King George III at the end of the Seven Years War, the first legal recognition of Aboriginal rights, titles, and freedoms.

The treaties the Crown has signed with Indigenous peoples since the late 17th century have permitted the evolution of Canada. This treaty-making process has its origins in the early diplomatic relationship developed between European settlers and Indigenous peoples.

The first church-run Indian Residential School was opened in 1831. By the 1880s, the federal government had implemented an official policy of funding residential schools across Canada. The distinct cultures, traditions, languages, and knowledge systems of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples were eroded by forced assimilation.

A law passed by the British Parliament to create the Dominion of Canada (now known as Canada). This Act granted Parliament Legislative authority over “Indians, and lands reserved for the Indians”. Newly elected Prime Minister John A. Macdonald announced that it would be his government's goal to "do away with the tribal system, and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the inhabitants of the Dominion."

The federal government defines who is a “status Indian”, created and regulates band membership and government, taxation, lands, resources, and money management. The act denied Indigenous people the rigth to vote (until 1960). The act also made culture and ceremonies illegal (1880-1951).

In what is now Saskatchewan and Alberta, the Metis and their Indigenous allies led a five month resistance against the federal government.

The Department of Indian Affairs instituted a pass system after the Rebellion. No outsider could come onto a reserve to do business with an Aboriginal resident without permission from the Indian agent. In many places, the directives were interpreted to mean that no Aboriginal person could leave the reserve without permission from the Indian agent. Reserves were beginning to resemble prisons.

The Inuit from Inukjuak in Northern Ontario were forcefully relocated by the federal government to Craig Harbour on Ellesmere Island and Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island.

Between the 1960s and 1980s, Indigenous children were removed from their homes by child welfare authorities and many were placed in foster care or placed for adoption with non-Indigenous families.

It achieved full independence for Canada by allowing the country to change its Constitution without approval from Britain. It also enshrined the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada’s Constitution. The act recognizes and affirms the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. Section 35 also indicates that the term “Aboriginal peoples of Canada” includes the First Nation, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.

was a 78-day standoff (11 July–26 September 1990) between the Kanyen'kehà:ka (Mohawk) protesters, the Quebec police, the RCMP, and the Canadian Army. It started when members of the Kanyen'kehà:ka community started protesting the expansion of a golf course and the building of townhouses. An Indigenous burial ground was also on this land.

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was established following the Oka Crisis in the summer of 1990. It was part of a package of federal government initiatives in response to concerns arising from the crisis. The mandate of the commission was to study the evolution of the relationship between Indigenous peoples, the government of Canada and Canadian society as a whole. Sixteen areas were identified for special attention by Justice Dickson.

The National Aboriginal Day, now National Indigenous Peoples Day, was announced in 1996 by then Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc, through the Proclamation Declaring June 21 of Each Year as National Aboriginal Day. Every year, numerous activities are organized across the country on June 21 to showcase the richness and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis cultural expressions and stories.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms the human rights of Indigenous Peoples and provides us all with a roadmap to advance reconciliation. The Government of Canada is committed to working in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples to implement the Declaration in Canada.

On the 11th of June 2008 Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in the House of Commons to offer, on behalf of the Government of Canada, an apology to Indigenous peoples in Canada for the abuse, suffering, and generational and cultural dislocation that resulted from assimilative, government-sanctioned residential schools.

It was a result of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). The IRSSA recognized the suffering and trauma experienced by Indigenous students at residential schools. It also provided financial compensation (money) to the students. The TRC performed many tasks. It created a national research centre. It collected documents from churches and government. It held events where students told their stories. Also, it did research about residential schools and issued a final report.

The TRC created a historical record of the residential schools system. As part of this process, the Government of Canada provided over 5 million records to the TRC. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba now houses all of the documents collected by the TRC. In June 2015, the TRC held its closing event in Ottawa and presented the executive summary of the findings contained in its multi-volume final report, including 94 "calls to action" (or recommendations) to further reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples

In Canada, Indigenous women, girls and members of the 2SLGBTQQIA (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) community in Canada face disproportionate amounts of violence. While Indigenous women account for less than 5 per cent of the Canadian population, they make up 24 per cent of female homicide victims. Red Dress Day is on May 5th. The day honours and brings awareness to the thousands of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people who have been subject to disproportionate violence in Canada.

The Indigenous child welfare system between Jan. 1, 1992, and Dec. 31, 2019, is a time frame known as the "Millennium Scoop." According to the 2016 census, Indigenous children make up 7.7 per cent of the total child population in Canada, but 52.2 per cent of those in foster care. There are more First Nations children in care right now than at the height of the residential school system.

Co-developed with Indigenous, provincial, and territorial partners, Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families will finally enshrine into law what Indigenous peoples across Canada have asked of governments for decades: to affirm and recognize their jurisdiction over child and family services.

On May 27th, 2021 in Southern British Columbia, unmarked graves containing the remains of 215 children were found in Canada at a former residential school set up to assimilate indigenous people.

September 30, 2021, marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day that coincides with Orange Shirt Day. It recognizes the tragic legacy of residential schools, the missing children, the families left behind and the survivors of these institutions.

January 4th, 2023 marks the first national day to wear a ribbon skirt. A bill put forward by Senator Mary Jane McCallum to recognize National Ribbon Skirt Day has received Royal Assent and is now an act of parliament. McCallum was inspired to create the bill after a young Saskatchewan girl named Isabella Kulak was shamed for wearing a ribbon skirt during a formal school event.