Canadian Aboriginal Languages

There are about fourty five Aboriginal or First Nation languages spoken in Canada. There are 11 language families, including Algonquian, Athapaskan, Eskimo-Aleut, Haida, Kutenai, Salishan, Siouan, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Iroquoian and Wakashan. The most widely spoken Aboriginal languages in Canada are Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi, Ojibwe, Mi'kmaq, Blackfoot, and Maliseet (belonging to the Algonquian family), Carrier, Babine, Dogrib, Chipewyan, Slave, Gwich'in and Chilcotin, (belonging to the Athapaskan family), Assiniboine, (Siouan family), Mohawk, (Iroquoian family), Gitksan and Nishga (Tsimshian family).

For more information visit the Canadian Linguistic Association Committee on Aboriginal Languages

 

Family

Language

Where Spoken

Athapaskan 

Tagish, Sarcee, Babine, Han, Sekani, Kaska, Beaver, Hare, 
Dogrib, Slave, Chilcotin, Tahltan, Carrier, Tutchone, 
Kutchin, Chipewyan
 
Yukon, North West Territories, Northern British Colombia, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and Manitoba

Algonquian

Blackfoot, Cree- Montagnais-Naskapi, Ojibwe, Mi'maq, Maliseet, Potawatomi, Abenaki, Munsee Delaware

 
Blackfoot is spoken in Southern Alberta; Cree-Montagnais- Naskapi 
is spoken in the Rockies to the Québec and Labrador peninsula; Ojibwe
is spoken around the Great Lakes and in the Ottawa valley region; Mi'maq is spoken in 
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Québec. Maliseet is spoken in New Brunswick.

Eskimo- Aleut

 
Inuktitut
 North West Territories, Nunavut, Arctic Quebec and Labrador..

Haida

 
Haida
 
Queen Charlotte Islands and northward.

Iroquoian

 
Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Tuscarora
 Southern Ontario and Québec.

Kutenai

 
Kutenai
 
Interior British Columbia and along the Kootney River

Salishan

 
Bella Coola,Comox, Halkomelem, Northern Straits 
Salish, Sechelt, Lillooet, Okanagan, Squamish, Shuswap, Thompson
 
Bella Coola is spoken in coastal British Columbia. Comox, Halkomelen, 
Northern Straits Salish, Sechelt and Squamish are spoken in interior British
Columbia and costal British Columbia. Lillooet, Okangan, Shuswap and Thompson 
are spoken in interior British Columbia.

Siouan

 
Dakota, Sioux, Assiniboine, Stoney
 
Spoken in Morley, Alberta; Saskatchewan and Southern Manitoba

Tlingit

 
Tlingit
 
Spoken in Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon.

Wakashan

 
Haisla, Heiltsuk, Kwak'wala, Nootka, Nitinaht
 
Haisla, Heiltsuk and Kwak'wala are spoken in Northern Vancouver 
Island and the neighbouring mainland coast. Nootkan and Nitinah are spoken 
on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Tsimshian Nass-Gitksan, Coast Tsimshian Coastal British Columbia, along Nass and Skeena rivers

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