First Nations and Inuit
Economies
What do people need and want?
• In the past, First Nations and Inuit based their
economies on land and natural resources.
• Natural resources are resources which are
found in nature such as trees, animals, stone
etc.
• Needs and wants were based on survival –
First Nations and Inuit needed and wanted
what was necessary to survive.
How will we produce those goods and
services?
• First Nations and Inuit people produced the
goods and services they needed very
efficiently. They did not waste any of their
resources.
• People mostly lived in family groups and
travelled through the year depending on what
resources were available.
• Everyone worked together, everyone had a job
to do.
• First Nations and Inuit people saw themselves
as part of nature. They did not believe anyone
“owned” the land.
• As a result, they were very careful about how
they used land and the resources it provided.
How will the goods be distributed?
• Because everyone helped with the production
of goods, everyone shared equally.
• In hard times, everyone helped one another
so that they could survive.
• Each nation used large areas of land and water
to gather their resources. Sometimes these
nations had clear boundaries, but many times,
even the land itself was shared equally among
groups.