Independence

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in North America the Aboriginal peoples of what is now Canada lived in distinct communities which designated their respective traditional/ancestral territories. While these territories did not consist of specifically mapped out borders, they were nonetheless distinct sovereign socio-political entities resembling nation states. Each of the distinct Aboriginal communities, or nations, had/has its own forms of governance, political structures and a unique respective sense of civic responsibility. The governance and political structures of the Aboriginal nations functioned much in the same way as political infrastructure might function in a modern country.

The Aboriginal nations of pre-European contact, in what is now Canada, interacted with each other socially, economically and militarily. They traded with each other to improve their respective economic situations, they formed alliances with each other to improve their relative security and they fought wars with each other at times. In fact, due to the relative geographical isolation, and the resultant lack of contact with dissimilar cultures, the Aboriginal nations, in spite of some periods of regional strife, developed a relatively harmonious and interdependent socio-political environment. It was not until the arrival of the European colonists that that environment experienced drastic changes.