Regarding the Term "American Indian"

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Deepa Mehta doesn't sound too likely to be eligible for registration under the Indian Act.

An unregistered Indian would be a person of Amerind descent who is eligible for Indian status according to the Indian Act but has chosen not to register with the Indian Register.

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this.
My dad is Cree (which is Native) and my mum is métis. By law, I'm considered métis because the white side tends to take precedence in law.
Usually, in my band, it's actually the métis that are considered more "lower class" because that means you're more white, and that you don't have status.
I'm just going by what I was taught, and I was taught that using Indian for Aboriginal people is disrespectful just because that's mis-identifying us. That was basically Columbus coming over here, think he was in India, and calling the people Indian because that made sense.
We now know that we live North America, and I know a few Indians (from the actual India) who aren't too happy about us being called Indian either.
It's not me thinking that anybody is more lower class, it's just our preferred way of labeling ourselves.

It's like say, if you moved to Russia. What if people kept on calling you Russian, even if they knew that you're American, and that you expressed your desire to be referred to as an American.
Not only would it be annoying, confusing (people in Russia thinking that you are Russian, then believing that you betrayed them) disrespectful, and frustrating, you could be looked down upon.

In the end, it's up to the individual to decide what they prefer to be called, and it's up to you to respect their wishes. When in doubt, ask a person of that race. White people aren't allowed to choose what they prefer a poc to be called, and they should respect whatever somebody tells them.

Sorry for the long (and somewhat bossy ) ramble

I understand now. Thanks.

Pardon me.

Don't mean to interrupt but earlier someone disputed the FACT THAT MY WIFE IS AN INDIAN PRINCESS, or maybe it was my great great grandmother but never the less, this is the Indian Princess Katrina who rules the beach of sugar white sands of Navarre that my somewhat Indian great Uncle named in Indian lore..

And sadly enough.. she was not there with the great spirit this week.. to protect the 11 marines who died in Black Hawk Helicopter crash there.. but seriously.. WE are praying to the Great Spirit for them...

All people from the Indian sub-continent are Indian.
Americans from India are American Indians.
Aboriginals in America have not and never will be Indian.
Columbus was ignorant and those who inaccurately use the term are likewise uninformed.

I am part Native American. I will never see my NATIVE AMERICAN ancestors as INDIAN, leave that name to people form INDIA.

Indians are from India, Native Americans are from America, GET IT RIGHT!

I was born in America. That makes native American, but I amn't Native American? See the problem with such a description? It fails to differentiate between you (who has American Indian ancestry) and me (who has no known American Indian ancestry).

Probably, the term "aboriginal" is the most accurate for the descendants of the people who migrated over the Bering Sea Land Bridge during one glacial period or another.

American Indian is not the right term either!
Native, as in the first nation/first people of said land.
If you have no American Aboriginal ancestry, you are not Native American!
Indian is for India, Native American is for American Aboriginals!
Europeans are not native to America, I may be a white boy, but at least I know I'm part American Aboriginal/ Native American, and know the difference.
Calling American Aboriginals/Native Americans, Indians of any kind is not correct!

Anyone born in America is a native American. For instance, me. On the other hand there are those born in American of Aboriginal ancestry, i.e. their forebears were persons born on this continent before Europeans came to settle here.

So the really correct term is "of American aboriginal ancestry".

ruveyn

Europeans are not Native to America. The word Aboriginal and Native are synonyms so no you are not Native American.

AAA?

Etimologically, I agree. I do believe that people can and should call themselves whatever they wish. But, that goes for me, too. And, as I was born in Utah, my nation of nativity is the United States. That makes me a native American, though I amn't a Native American according to contemporary parlance. I also believe that aboriginal is a good descriptor for this matter. But, determining the very first migrants to North America gets a little sketchy unless one uses DNA migration patterns in which case, we end up where this topic got started: India. "It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma...."

Nobody is native to America

That would mean Europeans aren't native to Europe and Asians aren't native to Asia and Australian Aborigines are not native to Australia.
Aboriginal and Native refer to first nation/first people/first humans to settle said land.

correct

I also agree with this----the qualifying bit, "settle said land", is what defines it, IMO, because, as we all know, the Vikings (Scandinavian warriors) were here before so-called "Native Americans"----but, from what I've read, they were just, sort-of, "passing-through".....