Cultural appropriation is the use of Indigenous Knowledge without permission or regard for the cultural system from which it originated. It typically occurs when the original meaning and context of the Indigenous Knowledge has been lost, simplified, characterized, or distorted, regardless of whether it is presented in a positive light, and may be viewed as insulting or offensive to the affected Indigenous group.

For so many years, the cultures of Indigenous groups and Indigenous people of Canada have been stripped from them because of the Indian Act enacted in 1876, residential schools (1880s to late the 1990s) and the Sixties Scoop. In its own way, cultural appropriation is a continuation of this mistreatment.

What about cultural appreciation? Author and radio host Rosanna Deerchild states that cultural appreciation, "truly honours our nations’ arts and cultures. You take the time to learn and interact, to gain understanding of a culture, or cultures, different from your own. It is a cultural exchange based on mutual respect and the key is consent and participation. If it is about us, it must include us.” (Cultural appropriation vs. appreciation, CBC News, June 1, 2017).

Attribution
Some of the information in this FAQ has been adapted from the University of Saskatchewan’s "Indigenous Knowledges and Canadian Copyright Law", licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.