- published: 14 Oct 2014
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Paulina Ayala (born 1962) is a Canadian Member of Parliament for the riding of Honoré-Mercier, first elected in the 2011 federal election. She is a member of the New Democratic Party. She succeeded Pablo Rodríguez of the Liberal Party.
She was born in Santiago, Chile and was a leader in the student movement and in citizens’ rights organizations under the Pinochet dictatorship. She later immigrated to Canada in 1995 and settled in Montreal. She earned a certificate in French as a second language and multicultural education from the Université du Québec à Montréal. She has a diploma in education, history and geography.
Source: Elections Canada
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The total population is nearly 700,000 people. Under the Employment Equity Act, First Nations are a "designated group", along with women, visible minorities, and persons with physical or mental disabilities. They are not defined as a visible minority under the Act or by the criteria of Statistics Canada.
The term First Nations (most often used in the plural) has come into general use for the indigenous peoples of the Americas located in what is now Canada, except for the Arctic-situated Inuit, and peoples of mixed European-First Nations ancestry called Métis. The singular, commonly used on culturally politicized reserves, is the term First Nations person (when gender-specific, First Nations man or First Nations woman). A more recent trend is for members of various nations to refer to themselves by their tribal or national identity only, e.g., "I'm Haida," or "We're Kwantlens," in recognition of the distinctiveness of First Nations ethnicities.