Just mildly curious; why would you characterize them as our National Treasure? They form an interesting but small part of the history of Canada. We know little about them before the arrival of the Europeans, because they had no record keeping. Did the Cree, the Ojibway, Blackfoot, Iroquois et al exist as tribes (oops, sorry, Nations!) 500 years ago? Or did the people of that time go by other names, with the tribes continuously evolving? We have no way of knowing. 

My ancestry in Canada goes back 8 generations from my Irish and English forefathers, and untold generations from my Ojibway great-grandmother. The current assortment of mixed-race people referring to themselves as First Nations are no treasure of mine.