Ethnic groups. The Eastern and Western Dakota are two of the three groupings belonging to the Sioux nation (also called Dakota in a broad sense), the third being the Lakota (Thítȟuŋwaŋ or Teton). The three groupings speak dialects that are still relatively mutually intelligible.

The Dakota (Sioux) occupied what is now western Ontario and eastern Manitoba prior to 1200 AD, and western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan prior to 900 AD. After the War of 1812, the Dakota drew closer to their lands in the United States, but never abandoned their northern territory.

Jordan's Principle is a child-first and needs-based principle used in public policy and administration in Canada to ensure that First Nations children living on and off reserve have equitable access to all government funded public services.

SVDN, formerly called the Oak River Reserve, is located on the banks of the Assiniboine River in Southwestern Manitoba. The Oak River Reserve was created by an Order in Council of the Government of Canada in 1876. Sioux Valley Dakota Nation is the largest Dakota Nation in Canada with a membership of approximately 2500.

Dakota communities in Canada include Sioux Valley First Nation, Dakota Plains Wahpeton First Nation, Dakota Tipi First Nations, Birdtail Sioux First Nation, Canupawakpa First Nation, Standing Buffalo First Nation, Whitecap Dakota First Nation, and Wood Mountain First Nation.

Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation members are the descendants of Sitting Bull's tribe. It is the only Lakota First Nation in Canada and one of three First Nations in Saskatchewan that has not entered into Treaty. The Nation's reserve is located approximately 65 kilometres southwest of the Town of Assiniboia.

Today, the Sioux maintain many separate tribal governments across several reservations and communities in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Montana in the United States; and reserves in Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada.