Learning from First Nations, Métis and Inuit Texts

Remember from Grade 2

In Grade 2 you learned that First Nations, Métis and Inuit are three distinct groups of Indigenous peoples. You found cultural elements like symbols, languages and values in texts, and you learned about the Métis sash, inuksuit, the Water Walker and Orange Shirt Day.

In Grade 3 you will learn about new texts and traditions, ask questions about how cultural elements add meaning, and explore themes like relationships, respect and knowledge passed down through generations.

Hook: What does a picture remember?

Long before there were notebooks, how could people remember an important promise for hundreds of years? Some peoples told the promise again and again in speeches. Some wove it into beads. Let's find out how.

Read 1: The Two Row Wampum

The Haudenosaunee (ho-deh-no-SHOW-nee) are a group of Nations whose homelands include parts of what is now Ontario, Quebec and New York State.

About 400 years ago, in the 1600s, the Haudenosaunee made an agreement with Dutch traders who had come from Europe. The agreement was recorded in a wampum belt, woven from white and purple shell beads.

The belt is called the Two Row Wampum. It has two long rows of purple beads running side by side on a background of white beads.

One row stands for a Haudenosaunee canoe. The other row stands for a European ship. The two boats travel down the same river side by side. Neither one steers the other boat. The white beads stand for peace, friendship and respect.

The message is: We will share this river and live in peace, and each people will keep its own ways.

Today, Haudenosaunee people still share the teachings of the Two Row Wampum. It reminds people in Canada that agreements made long ago are about respect, and that they still matter now.

Read 2: The Three Sisters Garden

In spring, Kaya helped her aunt plant the garden. First they made small hills of soil. In each hill, they planted corn seeds. When the corn grew a little, they planted beans and squash around it.

"These are the Three Sisters," her aunt said. "Corn, beans and squash. Our Haudenosaunee ancestors grew them together for hundreds of years."

"Why together?" Kaya asked.

"Because sisters help each other. The tall corn gives the beans something to climb. The beans help make the soil healthy. The squash spreads its big leaves on the ground, keeping the soil damp and shading out the weeds. Together, they grow strong."

In the fall, Kaya's family shared the harvest at a big meal. Before they ate, her aunt gave thanks to the plants, the earth, the rain and the sun.

Read 3: Two Voices, One Song

Katajjaq (ka-TAI-yak) is a kind of Inuit throat singing. Two singers, often two women, stand face to face, very close. One makes a sound, and the other answers quickly. Their voices weave together into a fast rhythm. Some sounds are like the calls of geese, the wind, or the river.

Throat singing is also a friendly game. The singers keep going until one of them runs out of breath or bursts out laughing!

Long ago, women sang katajjaq in the Arctic, sometimes while the men were away hunting. Then, for many years, visitors from the south, such as missionaries, discouraged it, and fewer people learned it.

But Inuit worked hard to keep their songs alive. Elders taught young people. Today, Inuit throat singers perform on stages around the world, and children learn katajjaq in their communities and schools.

Read 4: The Infinity Flag

Amélie's class was learning about flags. She brought a picture of the Métis flag. It shows a white infinity symbol (∞) on a blue background. (There is also a version with a red background.)

"The infinity symbol has no beginning and no end," Amélie explained. "It shows two cultures joined together, First Nations and European, into one people, the Métis. It also means the Métis people will live on forever."

Then she showed a pair of moccasins her grandmother had decorated with bright flowers made of tiny glass beads. "Métis people are sometimes called the Flower Beadwork People," she said proudly, "because of beadwork like this."