Indigenous Peoples of CanadaThe Indian does not exist. It is an imaginary figure, according to Daniel Francis (The Imaginary Indian), invented by Europeans and born from the error of Columbus, who believed he had landed in the East Indies, and which was transformed into fantasy. “Through the prism of white hopes, fears, and prejudices, Native Americans would be seen as having lost touch with reality and having become “Indians”; it’s everything non-Natives wanted them to be” (5). They were thus attributed with a wide range of contradictory characteristics, simultaneously perceived as noble savages, full of stoicism, the last representatives of a dying race and bloodthirsty, emotionless and stupid warriors, reflecting European romanticized notions. This fabricated image has been presented in popular fiction, art, Hollywood films, textbooks, newspapers, and documentaries, where it has been readily accepted as fact. So how has this affected today's indigenous population and how much resistance to projected images of the "other" manifests in today's postcolonial climate? In this short essay, I will examine how the indigenous peoples of Canada used literature to deconstruct the stereotypical way in which they were depicted in European, Canadian, and American portraits, creating a new style and, in some cases, a new form that marries tradition with the present and looks toward the future. I will use All My Relations: Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Native Fiction, edited by Thomas King, alongside a variety of critical and theoretical works that illustrate the complex issues involved, in terms of postcolonial definitions, and some of the objections that have been raised. in response to...... middle of article ...... advanced pre-colonial or traditional indigenous literature. Only by exercising caution will the term remain useful. Perhaps the use of a term such as "ethnicity", once it has been redefined in a universal and non-pejorative way, addressing difference without allowing hierarchy, will allow group consciousness to develop in a way unfettered by the associations of colonialism. FRANCOIS, Daniel. The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1993.FRIDERES, James S. Aboriginal Peoples of Canada: Contemporary Conflicts. Scarborough: Prentice Hall, 1988. KING, Thomas, ed. All my relationships. McClelland and Stewart: Toronto, 1990. KING, Thomas. “Godzilla versus Post-Colonial.”PETRONE, Penny. Indigenous literature in Canada: from oral tradition to the present day. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1990.