These are 3 different towns with unique stories, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs. The Bow Valley has also long been important to the Ktunaxa and Secwépemc First Nations, who traditionally occupied land and used the hydrographic basins of the Columbia and Kootenay rivers and the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The Bow Valley has also long been important to the Ktunaxa (Kootenay) and Secwepemc First Nations, who traditionally occupied land and used the hydrographic basins of the Columbia and Kootenay rivers and the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, as well as in parts of Alberta, Idaho, Montana and Washington. First Nations can be grouped into cultural areas according to the main way of life or occupation of their ancestors at the time of contact with Europeans.
This creates unique challenges in the region in relation to economic development and service delivery, as First Nations economies have historically depended on federal transfers. Related organizations include the Assembly of First Nations and the Manitoba Commission on Treated Relations. According to the jurisprudence of the Charter, First Nations are a designated group, together with women, visible minorities, and people with physical or mental disabilities. In 1763, King George III of Great Britain (1738-1820) issued a Royal Proclamation in which Great Britain (and later Canada) pledged to occupy only those lands in North America that had been “ceded or purchased from Indian nations”.
In Canada, the term First Nations has been generalized to refer to indigenous peoples other than the Inuit and the Mestizos. To support Western expansion, the Crown established 11 numbered treaties across Canada, each of which involved the relocation of First Nations to reserve land to clear the way for new arrivals. Life expectancy at birth is significantly lower for First Nations babies than for babies in the Canadian population as a whole. Indigenous reservations, established in Canadian law through treaties such as Treaty 7, are the very limited contemporary First Nations lands recognized by non-indigenous governments.
In the early days of contact, the populations of the First Nations and the Inuit welcomed the Europeans, helped them to live off the land and to join forces with the French and the British in their various battles. In 1960, First Nations people received the right to vote in federal elections without losing their Indian status. The organization's objectives are to protect the rights, treaty obligations, ceremonies, and claims of Canadian First Nations citizens. There are some reservations within cities, such as the Opawikoscikan Reserve in Prince Albert, Wendake in Quebec City or Enoch Cree Nation 135 in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region.
In 1493, Pope Alexander VI, assuming international jurisdiction, divided the lands discovered in America between Spain and Portugal.
