TREATIES BETWEEN BRITISH COLONIAL POWERS AND THE

ORIGINAL NATIONS OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE

GREAT TURTLE ISLAND

Eric John Large, Oniciskwapewini (Saddle Lake)

Email: eric_j_large@hotmail.com

Cell phone: (780) 614-0064

My first source is the Canadian Encyclopedia (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca)

Its article uses the terms ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Aboriginal’ to refer to what I call the original peoples and their descendants of the original Nations of the Great Turtle Island (North American Continent)

The article, Indigenous Peoples: Treaties (authored by Anthony J. Hall), details the history, back-ground, and development of Treaties. Its preamble and introduction describe Aboriginal treaties in Canada as recognized agreements between the Crown and Indigenous peoples that sets the constitutional and moral basis of alliance between the Crown and Indigenous peoples. It states these agreements generally illustrate “exchanges where Aboriginal groups agree to share…interests in their ancestral lands in return for various payments and promises”. It states treaties, at times especially on the Aboriginal side, “as sacred covenants” between those for whom Canada is an inherent homeland with those whose “family roots lie in other countries”.

My commentary: I purposely avoid the term “Canada” for some thoughtful people argue that Canada is not fully a nation, country, or State due to some unfulfilled conditions required in the Constitution regarding the full consent of the Indigenous peoples and also the status of Quebec within Confederation. It is written in sources that Canada is not listed as a Nation in Washington, DC but as a corporation. I prefer ‘the original peoples of the original nations of the northern Great Turtle Island’ in place of “Indigenous”, “Aboriginal”, and “Indian” and “Canada”. My sources for “the original peoples of the original nations of the Great Turtle Island” are: Tamara Starblanket as cited in Indian Country Today Media Network.com in the article “Reconciliation is the New Assimilation: New NAIPC Co-Chair” by Terri Hansen, 5/2/16 and Steven T. Newcombe as cited in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Politics in the U.S., onlinelibrary.wiley.com > doi > summary.

My questions and terms to consider further are: What is the status of present day “Canada”? Is it still a colonial power? What is a colony and what power does it have? What or who is the “Crown”? What is a ‘treaty’? What are the exchanges, payments, promises and the terms and conditions made in ‘treaties’?

The encyclopedia article is divided into: Top; Introduction; Treaty Traditions; 1754 – 1814 The Zenith of Treaty Making; Pre-Confederation Treaties; Post-Confederation Treaties; Modern Treaties; Treaties in Canada’s Constitutional and International Law; Summary; Suggested Reading; Related Articles; and Links. In this summary I will only deal with the Introduction to the section on Modern Treaties as the subject of Treaties is complex and detailed at times.

I will paraphrase paragraphs and sentences from each of the sections of the article.

In the Introduction, it is important to note that the sacredness and binding nature of the treaties on the Aboriginal part is based on what was authentically said in the Aboriginal languages at the point of negotiations in conjunction with customary ritual such as the smoking of the pipes or reciprocity such as gifting of presents for example wampum belts. Therefore, numerous Aboriginal people rely on their elders, grounded in their oral histories, as the experts on the spirit and intent of treaties.

Treaty making principles with Aboriginal people were expressed by King George III in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which set the constitutional bases of Canada after France relinquished its claims to North America. The constitutional nature of past and present treaties was reaffirmed in the Constitution Act of 1982 specifically Section 35 that acknowledges and affirms “existing Aboriginal and treaty rights”.

One huge challenge is the proclivity of the federal and provincial levels of governments to presume to translate the treaties in strict legal terms while adhering to the attitude “that Aboriginal peoples ceded , surrendered, and yielded’ “ forever their rights and title to their ancestral land. The Aboriginal view of their treaty negotiators is that “treaties were instruments of relationships between autonomous peoples who agree to share the lands and resources of Canada”. With this latter view, treaties did not do away (extinguish) rights but confirmed that the Aboriginal people possessed the ability to act as self-governing players on the international setting.

My questions and comments to consider are: What do you think ‘the spirit and intent of treaties’ means in English and in Plains Cree? All our elders of Treaty Six have said that land and resources were not surrendered nor sold. Land was to be shared to the depth of a plow. All other access to land and resources were retained by the original peoples for their use and children in the future.

Treaty Traditions

Covenant Chain Treaties

“The Covenant Chain refers to the elaborate diplomatic relationship developed after 1676 between…Anglo-American colonies and … Aboriginal nations in northeastern North America”. Representatives of the colony of New York negotiated with the League of the Haudenosaunee or the Five, and Six Nations Confederacy. However, Crown officials still incorrectly presumed their government had jurisdiction in Haudenosaunee territory and into the interior Aboriginal lands of what is now Canada.

Treaties and Wampum

Treaties were signified on wampum belts which were made of shell beads woven into rightful symbolic forms. To accept a belt was to agree to be governed by the principles woven into its design. The wampum also served to preserve the memory of the treaty.

Maritime Treaties

Another tradition of treaty relations links the British Crown to the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet peoples of the Maritimes and parts of the Gaspé Peninsula. These treaties do not deal with land title but are known as the Boston Treaty of 1725 and the Halifax Treaty of 1752 and are mainly of peace and friendship expressed as mutual promises. These treaties also guaranteed the Aboriginal rights of unrestricted trade, to fish and hunt in their traditional way, and to obtain annual food supplies, provisions and ammunition from the Crown.

1754 – 1814: The Zenith of Treaty Making

Overview

The most disruptive era in the history of treaty relations between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples was from the start of the Seven Years’ War in 1754 to the War of 1812 and its ending in 1814. Aboriginal confederacies made treaties, war, and asserted their interests through policies that shaped the geopolitical scene of North America to the present day. Researchers wanting to understand the modern constitutional definition of Aboriginal and treaty rights are advised to observe carefully to this era.

Treaties and the Seven Years War

In 1755 the British imperial government withdrew the authority for Aboriginal treaty making from its colonies and created two branches of the British imperial Indian Department as extensions of the military and administered directly by the king’s authority. The northern branch of the Indian department ensured the existence and continuance of the Covenant Chain and Canada’s current Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. The head of the northern branch, Sir William Johnson with help from Molly Brant, a Mohawk, succeeded in ridding the French-Aboriginal Seven Years’ War alliance with treaties that protected Indigenous lands from aggressive Anglo-American colonists. After the defeat of the French in 1759 Sir Johnson made agreements with seven nations near Lake Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River Valley. These agreements are the Treaty of Oswegatchie of 1760 and the Murray Treaty of Longueuil of 1760.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763

The Royal Proclamation:created clear borders for the British province of Quebec and for the 13 Anglo-American colonies,reserved the territory beyond the Appalachian Mountains for Aboriginal peoples, andlaid out a procedure for the future opening of Aboriginal land for colonization and settlement by the Crown’s non-Aboriginal subjects. This procedure formed the basic principles for the negotiation of Crown-Aboriginal treaties then and in post-1867. The king ruled that no individual or colony could buy land from Aboriginal peoples but also that the British Crown was to be the a main player in treaty making. The Royal Proclamation establishes the basis for Aboriginal treaties as affirmed by Section 25 of the Constitution Act of 1982.

The Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1768

This treaty, the first major one made pursuant to the Royal Proclamation, moved the border between the Aboriginal land and the Anglo-American colonies west to the Ohio River, and led to the question among the Aboriginal peoples of the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley region as to who could cede land in treaties

Treaties and Land Speculators

To counter acquisitive land speculators who opposed the Royal Proclamation, the British government legislated the Quebec Act in 1774 “which favored the fur-trade interests of Montréal over the land-speculation interests of Philadelphia and the treaty rights of Aboriginal peoples over the expansionist aspirations of Anglo-American settlers”. This act was a major development leading to the American revolution of 1776.

British Betrayal of Aboriginal Allies in the Treaty of Paris, 1783

In the Treaty of Paris, a new border was made along the Great Lakes that overlooked the Covenant Chain and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. The Indigenous nations were not welcome to the Paris negotiations while their lands were being taken. They were betrayed. To head off a crisis, Québec Governor Frederick Haldimand made treaties with the Mississauga north of Lake Ontario that allowed for two large tracts of land for the Six Nations people to migrate from the United States and the State of New York.

Greater Canada and the Crown-Aboriginal Alliance

Despite the diplomatic setback of 1783, the treaty alliance between the Crown and the Aboriginal peoples recovered briefly. The alliance expanded as an economic alliance that was prominent in the development and wealth of Montréal whose head businessmen formed the North-West Company (NWC). The NWC held and grew its network of trade throughout the Mississippi Valley supporting the Crown’s alliances with Aboriginal peoples, while its agents were led by Aboriginal guides to the West coast and the northerly reaches of what is now Canada. The NWC geographers, traders and diplomats competed with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) who had since 1670 had traded among the Aboriginal peoples in Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territories. The ceremonial aspects (elaborate protocols of diplomatic and economic relations) – apparent features of treaty relations – became operational in the 19th century as Crown representatives designed the Numbered Treaties to effect the growth of the Dominion of Canada.

Treaties and Aboriginal Title

In regard to the new international border that cut Aboriginal peoples’ ancestral land in half, the British Crown still was of the view that all that had been transferred was its exclusive right to buy land from Aboriginal peoples through treaties” in accordance with the principles outlined in the Royal Proclamation

A Sovereign Aboriginal Nation-State

Aboriginal victories such as Tecumseh’s two victories of 1790 and 1791 over the American forces caused the British to act with a new strategy that

was the most notable feature of the treaty alliance between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples. The British government schemed to support Tecumseh’s confederacy so the confederacy could assert international sovereignty over territory between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes.

To British imperialists, a sovereign Aboriginal nation-state would act as buffer zone to thwart the expansionist tendency of the new American

republic

Jay’s Treaty, 1794

This treaty, though not technically an Aboriginal treaty, resulted from the defeat of Tecumseh’s

confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. British representatives agreed to:

Abandon the posts south of the Great LakesA condition allowing Aboriginal peoples to freely cross

the international border to mainly allow the Montréal fur-traders to trade with the Aboriginal peoples of the

northern Mississippi Valley.The US has honored the Jay Treaty by allowing Registered Indians

from Canada to live and work in the US without restriction.Canada’s refusal to recognize the Jay Treaty has been challenged by

the Six Nations, Ojibwa, and Blackfoot peoples whose lands are divided by the international border.

Tecumseh and Indian Treaties as Instruments of International Law

At the center of the movement for a sovereign nation-state for the confederacy in the first decade of the 19th century were two Shawnee

brothers, Tenskwatawa a visionary and Tecumseh a political strategist, who called for Aboriginal unity.

Tecumseh, while advocating coordinated action, sought to raise Indigenous treaty-making authority to the point of international

relations.

The War of 1812

With the defeat of Tecumseh’s confederacy in 1811 at a battle in Tippecanoe, resulted in Tecumseh forming of closer ties with the British

Indian Department

The events of 1812 such as trade embargoes and sea conflicts that ignited the war, the British assault of Michillimackinac and Detroit convinced the

British of the usefulness of the treaty system

Tecumseh was killed in 1813 and the confederacy largely dissolved

The War of 1812 ended in 1814 with the Treaty of Ghent

Pre-Confederation Treaties

The Mississauga and Other Upper Canadian Treaties

The Royal Proclamation was carelessly enforced in obtaining approval of the Mississauga peoples when the Loyalists moved to Québec after the US Revolution.

With the imminent move of the capital of Upper Canada from Niagara-on-the-Lake to York, now Toronto, it was found there was no proof the Crown had legally documented the site purchase. Governor General Lord Dorchester authorized a new agreement be made with the Mississauga. He was aware that the Crown-

Aboriginal alliance was critical to Canada’s security and asserted that all treaties in future be made “with great Solemnity and Ceremony according to the Ancient

Usages and Customs of the Indians.”These directives renewed a custom that was mainly adhered to in the formation of

subsequent treaties and included the strict prohibition of alcohol during negotiations.

After 1814, the martial nature of the old alliance was revived until the 1850s. At annual ceremonies at posts on the Great Lakes, Crown representatives gave

presents to Aboriginal veterans and their families.By the 1830s, treaties covered arable lands in Upper Canada, involved a

distribution of goods and money with promises of small annuities, and allowed the gradual design of the principle that treaties include the granting of reserves.

The Bond Head Treaties, 1836

In 1836, Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis Bond Head negotiated treaties with the Wyandot (or Huron), the Saugeen Anishnabek, and a group of mainly Protestant Anishnabek who had formed a transport company along the Toronto Portage route. Bond Head wanted to do away with all efforts to mold Aboriginal peoples into Christian Euro-Canadian farmers. He desired to relocate farming Aboriginal peoples to Manitoulin Island where they could hunt and fish and fulfill his stereotype

of noble savagery.

Manitoulin Island was determined as a permanent Aboriginal land in a treaty at the gift-giving rituals at Manitouwaning in 1836. The scheme was for Manitoulin Island to also receive Aboriginal refugees from south of the Great Lakes, whose territories were now lost to the America authorities.

While the Colonial Office in Britain reverted to the 1830 policy of supporting Aboriginal peoples to adopt the Euro-Canadian ways of their neighbors, Imperial powers never repudiated the Bond

Head treaties.

Bond Head did not succeed in relocating the Aboriginal peoples to Manitoulin as he found during negotiations that the Saugeen people wanted a Crown guarantee of protection of their traditional

territory from squatters. Bond Head then promised the Saugeen houses and assistance so the Saugeen become civilized and to cultivate land and for the Great Father to offer protection for

them from White encroachment.

In many subsequent treaties, Aboriginal peoples assented to open most of their territories for non-Aboriginal settlement in exchange for permanent occupation in smaller areas and to accept the government’s promise of adequate resources and education to adjust to the new socio-economic

ways of life.

The Robinson Treaties

In 1850 Crown representative William Benjamin Robinson finalized agreement with Aboriginal leaders to “cede, grant, and convey” to Her

Majesty about 50,000 square miles north of the Great Lakes

These treaties created 21 new reserves, each to be held in trust by the Crown for the use and benefit of the groups of the leaders whose names

and marks were on the agreements

Initial payments of 4,000 pounds and annuities of 1,100 pounds were made.

The Crown promised the Aboriginal peoples they could continue to hunt and fish throughout the ceded territory as they had done through custom

Saugeen and Manitoulin Treaties

These treaties, signed in 1854 and 1862, covered the Saugeen Peninsula and part of Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron. These regions had been

reserved for the Aboriginal peoples pursuant to the Bond Head Treaties of 1836.

These treaties did not obtain the full consent of the Aboriginal peoples even with the offered payment from the interest from the sale of seceded

lands

To date, the Wikwemikong, Ontario is an unceded Aboriginal reserve

Post-Confederation TreatiesThe Numbered Treaties

11 numbered Treaties were negotiated between 1871 and 1971

In 1867 Confederation set the scene for Canada to buy Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territories from the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The purchase led to the Canadian government to take legal oversight for the “protection” and “well-being” of the region’s Aboriginal peoples

Canada was obliged to bear the task of compensating Aboriginal peoples for their interest in the annexed territory. The treaty-making system that had developed in Upper Canada was applied westward. Further growth of the system was based on economic utility as it cost less to Canada than risk non-peaceful means to attain

the acquiescence of the 35,000 Aboriginal inhabitants to Euro-Canadian settlement.

Crown representatives adhered to directives to offer terms similar to the Robinson treaties at the negotiations of the Numbered Treaties.

The Aboriginal delegates expected more in the initial and subsequent negotiations. The delegates sought to deal with the destruction of Indigenous

economies notably the destruction of the prairie buffalo through treaties.

From some Aboriginal peoples’ viewpoint, the spirit and intent of earlier treaties included Canada to commit for instruction and material assistance to adapt to a

new way of life.

The North-West Mounted Police

The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a notable feature in the treaty negotiation process. They arrived in 1874 in the southwest area of

present day Alberta. They earned respect by protecting Aboriginal peoples from American whiskey traders.

Crowfoot, Red Crow and other leaders of the Siksika, Piikuni, Kainai, Tsuu, T’ina, and Stoney-Nakoda signed Treaty No.7 [at Blackfoot Crossing

in 1877]

My second source is: O-SAK-DO Treaty No. 6, 125th Year Commemoration 1876 – 2001, 24 page Commemorative edition of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations document produced by Iyiniwak Advocate, Saddle Lake Cree Nation

On page one, Treaty 6: A Brief History by Miriam McNab, Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, mentions Treaty Six was signed by First Nations and the Queen in right of Canada in 1876 with Cree and Nakota, and some Saulteaux and Dene in the North-West Territories of what is now central Saskatchewan. Chief Sweetgrass is quoted as he addressed Governor Archibald in 1871 stating his peoples’ land is being depleted of fur-bearing animals their traditional single support but that his people are now indigent. He asked for assistance, wanting the Governor’s pity. Small pox had struck. Peace had been made between the Plains Cree and the Blackfoot. Two hundred years of fur trade had resulted in the people of the Saskatchewan River valley to be on the verge of starvation as fur bearing animals and the buffalo declined due to expanding fur trade and the growth of settlers. In 1871 Plains Cree leaders from Edmonton House travelled to Fort Carleton to inquire of the Hudson’s Bay Company Chief Factor for the Saskatchewan District whether their territories had been sold and to ascertain what the Canadian government planned for them. They were in dire need for help and were promised that the Government would meet them soon.

Treaty 6: A Brief HistoryFort Carleton

Lieutenant-Governor Alexander Morris, along with Commissioners James McKay and William J. Christie arrived at

Fort Carlton on August 15, 1876. Morris met with Chiefs Mistawasis, Atahkakoop and other chiefs and offered the treaty terms of the Queen. To the chiefs, the offer was insufficient to effect a change to agriculture without much loss of life. They

considered benefits and losses of each offer. But they were in a bad bargaining position and Morris appeared to rush them.

Ten Chiefs and 36 headmen accepted with their “X” mark on the Treaty on August 23

At Duck Lake three Chiefs and 8 headmen accepted the Treaty on August 28.

Treaty 6: A Brief History

Fort Pitt

At the treaty talks of September 5 to 9, 1876 at Fort Pitt, Sweet Grass took a lead roll

The following Chiefs concluded the Treaty on the 9th of September:

Wee-kas-koo-kee-pay-yin (Sweet Grass), Pee-yas-ee-wah-ka-we-chah-koot [One Who is Accompanied by a Thunder Bird], Pakan

(James Seenum), Oo-nah-tah-mee-nah-hoos (Little Hunter), See-kahs-kootch, Tus-tuk-ee-squais, Pee-quay-sis, Kee-ye-win, and

Kin-oo-say-oo, along with 20 headmen

Numerous adhesions to the Treaty were made in following years

Resistance to Treaty

There was apprehension by the original representatives to what Treaty offered. This is indicated in part by Nus-was-oo-wah-turn’s statement to Lieutenant-Governor Morris, “…all along the prices have been to one side,

and we have had no say…”. Mistahimuskwa said he could not act on his own without his people’s direction. More and more Plains Cree wanted a

change in the Treaties to allow them to settle on Reserves but with sufficient assistance to help them transition from hunting to farming.

The government penalized the resisting Cree by withholding rations. Big Bear’s headmen accepted Treaty and finally Big Bear accepted at Fort

Walsh, North-West Territories in 1882.

Adhesions to Treaty 6

From August 9, 1877 at Fort Pitt, at various locations, to May 15, 1956 at Jackfish Lake several Chiefs and Headmen signed 17 adhesions to Treaty Six

The Terms of Treaty Six

The scripted articles of Treaty 6 and the First Nation understandings were quite different when it was all finished. Each party had its own purpose and thought it had completed it. The negotiations were made through interpreters and the scripted treaty document was an almost identical template of previous Treaties. There are differences between the terms of the text and the expectations and understandings of the First Nations. Oral promises such as exemption from fighting in the Queen’s wars are not in the treaty text. On the government side the sole purpose was to get title to the lands as required by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 before White settlement or use could occur. Article 1 of Treaty Six stipulates that the Plains and Wood Crees and all other Indians living in the district yield to the Dominion of Canada on behalf of the “… Queen and her successors all rights, titles and privileges…to the land …within the following limits and…all other lands across Canada to have and to hold the same to the…Queen and her successors forever”. Article 2 creates reserves for farming for each band and for the sale of which the Queen “made them a present of $12 for each man, woman, and child…in extinguishment of all claims…”. But from the Firsts Nations’ point of view, they agreed to share only the land for agriculture. All other surface and sub-surface resources were retained by the First Nations. In Articles 5 and 7 the Queen recognized and promised to protect the First Nations’ traditional ways of making a living of hunting and fishing with the assistance of ammunition and twine as promised.

The Terms of Treaty Six

In Article 7 the Queen also promised implements, seed, animals, and farming instruction, promised a $5 per head annuity.

Article 3 promised education with the maintenance of schools for instruction.

In Article 4 the Queen “further agrees that no intoxicating liquor shall be allowed to be introduced or sold.”

Articles 14 and 15 promised an annual salary for each Chief and subordinate officer, a suit of clothing, and for each Chief a flag and a medal.

Article 16 guarantees assistance in the event of any pestilence or general famine.

Article 18 provides that “A medicine chest shall be kept by the Indian Agent for the use and benefit of the Indians….”.

The Implementation

The First Nations rightly expected the Queen to provide assistance and compensation due to their vastly reduced resources but instead the Treaty resulted in great suffering. They had to adhere to a work for rations policy once they were on a reserve while Indian agents hoarded stores of food. The agricultural assistance was often too little or too late. One band did produce a very good crop but did not have the grain mill to make the grain into flour. The violence of 1885 was partly due to the tight-fisted implementation of the Queen’s promises. Repressive policies were applied after 1885 such as the pass system, the permit system, and oppressive education and agricultural policies contrary to the spirit and intent and the articles of the Treaty. While the children and grandchildren of the First Nations signers faced oppression and poverty, non-Native Canadians reaped the full benefits of the Treaty and prospered on the land. There are many unresolved Treaty issues still such as getting additional land due to increase in First Nations populations. First Nation leaders and Elders still hold hope to right things for future generations. The Treaty is to last for “as long as the grass grows, the sun shines, and the rivers flow”.

Further questions and terms to consider:

Is Canada a dominion, a nation, state, or still developing as an entity?

Where does the word “dominion” come from? Why?

What term do you think describes best our peoples in our area? Plains Cree, original peoples, Indians, Aboriginals, Indigenous peoples, Nehiyawak? Or other?

What is the origin of the word “Indian”?

What is “title” to land or resources? How did the British Crown acquire land and resources to what it now calls Canada? Do you think they were legally and morally acquired by the Crown? Can you research “British common law” and locate the three ways in which a country can claim authority over another territory: conquest (through winning a war), the signing of a treaty, or lack of occupation of land (also known as terra nullius doctrine)? Source: Aboriginals Create the World’s Newest Government / lara , larahentz.wordpress.com

Terms and questions What do the terms “cede”, “surrender”, “sell”, “annex”, “purchase” mean?

What do you think is “the spirit and intent of Treaty”?

What do you understand by “as long as the grass grows, the sun shines, and the rivers flow”?

Do you think we are getting our Treaty benefits from Canada, as the Crown’s representative, for our health, education, hunting and gathering right, land and resources, and others rights and benefits?

An additional source on the development of Treaty No. 6 is: Loyal Til Death: Indians and the North-West Rebellion, by Blair Stonechild and William A. Waiser, Calgary, Fifth House Publishers 1997

Disclaimer:

This presentation is for information and educational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Elders and Chiefs of the Numbered Treaties and their particular Treaty talks currently underway within their First Nations and organizations.

Numbered Treaties in Canada

Fort Pitt Monument –site of the signing of Treaty No. 6, September 9, 1876

Fort Pitt Monument

Fort Pitt Monument – Big Bear inscription

Treaty Six elders: Johnny Paul (Kehewin); Lawrence Larocque (Masckwacis); Tom Cardinal (Saddle Lake); and Solomon Delver (Frog Lake) c.2004