Background information

It's important to remember that in Québec alone there are eleven recognized Aboriginal nations. These ten First Nations - Abenaki, Algonquin, Atikamekw, Cree, Huron-Wendat, Malecite, Micmac, Mohawk, Montagnais, Naskapi - and the Inuit of Québec make up the 54 different communities across the province. The 1996 Census enumerated 71,415 Aboriginal people in Québec, or 9% of Canada's Aboriginal population. However, it should be noted that several large reserves in Québec were not enumerated in the this Census. Aboriginal people accounted for only 1% of Québec's total population. North American Indians made up about 67% of these Aboriginal people, Métis about 22%, and Inuit 12%. Québec's Inuit population of 8,300 is the second-largest in the country, representing about one-fifth of the total Inuit population.

For more information about Québec's Aboriginal people, visit The Native Trail -
http://www.autochtones.com/
(Unavailable as of Sept. 2009.  French copy exists here though!)

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's website contains a map of Québec's First Nations:
http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/scr/qc/aqc/Nations_2007.pdf

Many First Nations in Québec and the rest of Canada have long practiced beadwork. This art has become a very real tradition for two Iroquois nations in particular, the Mohawks, who live near Montreal, and the Tuscaroras, who live on the American side of Niagara Falls. The McCord Museum exhibition - Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life - that inspired this project is based mainly on the beadwork of these two nations. This website focuses on the beadwork of members of the Mohawk community in Kahnawake.

The Iroquois/Haudenosaunee People

The Iroquois Creation Story and its symbols

The origins of beadwork

Styles and techniques of beadwork

WWW Links