Yes—but not as one universal holiday called Thanksgiving. Long before Europeans arrived, Indigenous Nations across Turtle Island had their own ways of giving thanks, harvesting food, gathering as communities and honouring relationships with the land. Those traditions differed—and still differ—by Nation.
There was no single Indigenous Thanksgiving
It is tempting to replace one oversimplified Thanksgiving story with another. Indigenous peoples are not one culture. First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities have distinct histories, languages, food systems and protocols. Some agricultural Nations held seasonal ceremonies connected to planting and harvest. Other Nations relied more heavily on hunting, fishing and gathering and developed traditions around those seasonal cycles.
Gratitude existed long before European settlement
Giving thanks did not arrive with Europeans. Indigenous societies had—and continue to have—relationships with plants, animals, water and land that include responsibilities as well as gratitude. How those relationships are expressed depends on the Nation and community.
The Three Sisters are one example—not a universal tradition
Corn, beans and squash are known as the Three Sisters in a number of Indigenous communities. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada documents the ancestral crop system among First Nations in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence region. Parks Canada also describes Anishinaabeg companion planting of corn, beans and squash. These are specific examples of sophisticated Indigenous food systems—not evidence of one continent-wide Thanksgiving holiday.
Why this matters when teaching Thanksgiving
A better classroom question is not “Did Indigenous people have Thanksgiving?” but “How did the Indigenous Nations of this territory give thanks, obtain food and mark seasonal change?” That question encourages students to learn locally and avoids treating hundreds of distinct Nations as one culture.
Learn the larger Thanksgiving history
For the Canadian timeline and the difference between Canadian and American Thanksgiving, read our Real History of Thanksgiving in Canada: An Indigenous Perspective.
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