Indigenous Identifiers: Non-Indigenous Canadians' Stereotypes Associated with Labels for Indigenous People

Abstract

Studies have shown that Canadians perceive stereotypes of ethnic groups as differentially varying in terms of warmth and competence, and that Aboriginal groups are stereotyped as less competent and warm than other ethnic groups. This study extends this research by examining whether different labels for designating Indigenous people are associated with variations in warmth and competence. Online questionnaires were collected from 402 non-Indigenous, Canadian-born undergraduate students. All participants rated their perceptions of how “typical Canadians” perceived the warmth and competence of four major ethnic groups (English Canadians, French Canadians, Chinese Canadians, and South Asian Canadians) and Indigenous groups in Canada. The term used to label the Indigenous group varied across six conditions, including “Indigenous”; “Aboriginal”; “Native”; “First Nations, Metis, and Inuit”; “Indian”; and “(North American) Indian”. The results indicated that, regardless of the label, the Indigenous group was rated lowest in competence and warmth compared to the other ethnic groups, with the exception of “Indian” and “(North American) Indian” labels. The results are discussed with reference to other studies on the potential of relabelling in mitigating discriminatory stereotypes and the connotations that young adult Canadians may associate with the labels used in this study.