Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. Topics for the 12 lessons include the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions.
Numbered Treaties Part 1
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Del curso dictado por University of Alberta
Indigenous Canada
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De la lección
Trick or Treaty
Examines Indigenous and settler perspectives of treaty making. Discusses the variation of treaties in Canada and the unique circumstances surrounding these events. Outlines the temporal and geographical history of the numbered treaties (beginning on the east) and ends with a discussion of the historical events and policies leading up to Métis scrip.
Conoce a los instructores
Dr. Tracy BearAssistant Professor
Faculty of Native Studies & Dept. of Women's and Gender Studies
Dr. Paul GareauAssistant Professor
Faculty of Native Studies
Previously, we discussed Rupert's Land,
the area of present day northwest Canada
originally granted to the Hudson's Bay Company for the purposes of trading.
Although the Hudson's Bay Company never owned title to the lands in northwest,
they were expected to negotiate with
the area's indigenous peoples if they wanted to develop or settle any of the territory.
When the Earl of Selkirk was granted
three hundred thousand square kilometers at the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers,
the resident Cree, Assiniboine,
Saulteaux and Métis were not consulted.
To rectify this, in 1817,
Chief Peguis and four other leaders entered into an agreement with
Selkirk granting the Red River settlement access to the lands adjacent to the forks.
Reverting to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1836 and the Canadian government in 1869,
both argued that Selkirk's 1817 agreement constituted a land surrender,
but in 1863 Peguis published a rebuttal stating
that the Selkirk treaty was never intended as a session of title.
We also discussed how the Métis community at Red River
began and how by the time of confederation,
it had become a well established community.
For the newly formed government of Canada,
formalizing their ownership of Rupert's Land was critical.
Despite the fact that much of the land in northwest outside of
Red River was still unceded first nation in Métis territory,
Canada negotiated to purchase these lands from
the Hudson's Bay Company without consulting the region's inhabitants.
When the Métis and the area's other indigenous peoples heard of the planned transfer
of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company to the new Dominion of Canada,
many were angry at not being consulted.
To formalize the transfer and determine the area's resources,
a group of government representatives led by William McDougall,
the territory's first lieutenant governor traveled to Red River to
begin the process of reserving the settlements River Lot Farms.
This decision put in motion a series of events,
culminating in what is now known as the Red River Resistance of 1869 to 1870.
In November of 1869, Louis Riel,
a prominent member of the Métis community,
organized a group of Métis to block
the government's representatives from entering the settlement.
Successful in their efforts,
community representatives proclaimed a provisional government
under the leadership of Riel.
This provisional government entered into negotiations with
the Canadian Dominion for the settlements anticipated entry into confederation.
The Manitoba Act of 1870 was a result of these negotiations
between the government of Canada and Riel's provisional government.
Establishing the postage stamp province of Manitoba,
the Manitoba Act of 1870 resolved
the dispute between the Red River Métis and the government of Canada.
The act included a provision for 1.4 million acres of
land to be reserved for the children of Métis heads of household,
which the government felt extinguished
Métis Aboriginal land title to the Red River Valley.
This land was to be distributed through the issuance of scrip.
Métis scrip consisted of certificates redeemable either for land or for money.
Métis were given scrip individually and
each certificate was worth one hundred sixty or 240 acres or dollars.
The amount depended upon each individual's age and status.
Due to delays and administrative problems,
distribution of scrip did not commence until 1876
causing many Métis to disperse to areas of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Montana.
It should be noted because this land distribution was never realized,
the Manitoba Métis Federation filed a lawsuit in 1981.
After a lengthy debate in the courts,
the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2013 that
the Métis did not receive the land they were promised in the Manitoba act.
As the fur trade economy faltered and the bison herds began their steady decline,
many indigenous peoples knew that engaging in the settler
State's new economies of agriculture, ranching,
mining and forestry provided an avenue for income
and survival especially in the face of an uncertain future.
Well this module is not able to fully engage with the details of each treaty.
It should be noted that each includes
distinct perspectives with their own historical context.
Additional resources are included in this course for you to begin your exploration.
Following the problematic sale of Rupert's land,
Indigenous leaders in the northwest were demanding formal agreements
to be made with government representatives in the form of treaties.
These agreements took the form of the Numbered Treaties.
For the Canadian government,
they would be better able to settle the Northwest
with agricultural immigrants and to extract
the area's natural resources if
Indigenous land title was dealt with prior to the anticipated settlement boom.
For indigenous peoples, they hope to address what would soon be
a rapidly expanding Canadian state and
its settlers as they began to make their way west and fill the fertile belt.
Following confederation in 1867,
the new government looked westward as a place to expand its territorial claims,
settle its anticipated immigration boom and provide a source of natural resources.
To accomplish this as per the Royal Proclamation of 1763,
the new government needed to deal with
preexisting Indigenous land title throughout Rupert's land.
Urged by fears of American annexation they adopted
a formula similar to the Robinson treaties and negotiated
a 11 number treaties between the Dominion and the indigenous peoples of
the West between 1871 and 1921.
This encompassed all territory falling between the Lake of the woods in the east,
the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Beaufort Sea to the North.
In exchange for signing these treaties,
indigenous groups were promised reserve lands,
annuities and the right to continue hunting and fishing on Crown lands.
These agreements resembled the civilisation programs
initiated during the treaties of Central Canada.
This included clauses for schools and teachers to
educate Indigenous children and to provision
for agricultural implements to ensure the transition from immobile to a sedentary life.
Thus, all Indigenous signatories of
the treaties were encouraged to settle on reserve land,
build permanent communities, adopt agriculture,
and permit the state to educate their children.
For indigenous signatories, these agreements had a stronger emphasis on shared usage,
rights, and responsibility for the lands rather than a surrender of land.
For the state, these treaties were considered a massive land
surrender bringing Indigenous peoples under the jurisdiction and law of the new Dominion.
Treaties one through seven became a way in which
the new Department of Indian Affairs implemented assimilation policies in the north west.
Treaties eight through 11 with many of
the same aims also focused on opening the North to resource development.
Although based on the earlier Robinson treaties,
treaties one through 11 were not created equal.
While the scope of the agreements share a number of similarities,
individual circumstances reflected the unique demands
of each group and the competing interests of each party.
Concluded in 1871, the first two treaties had the fewest number of provisions and did
not outline an ongoing right for
indigenous signatories to hunt and fish in a defined treaty area.
Reserve lands were also fixed at 160 acres per
family of five and annuities were fixed at three dollars.
These substantial differences and
many of the agreements indigenous leaders claimed were left out of the final text,
led to an 1875 amendment that sought to deal with many of these concerns.
Treaty three was signed in 1873 at Lake of the woods and covered
the highly desirable land lying between Lake Superior and the Red River Valley.
Land allocation was increased to 640 acres per family of
five and included guaranteed hunting and fishing rights on unoccupied lands.
In addition to a five dollar annuity,
a one time gratuity of twelve dollars was granted to each person as
well as an annual allocation of 1,500 dollars for purchasing ammunition and twine.
Negotiated at fort Qu'Appelle,
treaty four was finalized in 1874,
where a larger gratuity was granted in addition to
the inclusion of trapping along with hunting and fishing rights.
Treaty five was similar to treaty three with the exception of
a reduction of land allocation to 160 acres
of land per family of five and a one time payment of 5,500 dollars for ammunition,
twined, agriculture and tools.
"You are telling us all this,
you will never be able to treat us the way you are treated by Manito.
Look at this land with its abundance of food for us,
you'll never be able to match that,
you will not be able to do this.".
This elder's skepticism of
the government's promises made during the negotiation of the numbered treaties,
echoes the sentiment of many first nations.
Cultural and language differences played a significant role in
the divergent interpretations of the written and oral contents of the treaties.
The indigenous understanding of the spirit and
intent of the treaties excepted the numbered treaties to
be a nation to nation agreement
similar to the spirit of the peace and friendship treaties.
However, for the crown,
the treaties granted certain benefits to
indigenous signatories in return for the complete surrender of land title.
"Our country is getting ruined of fur-bearing animals,
hitherto or sole support,
and now we are poor and want help.
We want you to pity us.
We want cattle, tools agricultural implements,
and assistance in everything when we come to settle.
Our country is no longer able to support us.
Make provision for us against years of starvation.
We had a great starvation the past winter,
and the smallpox took away many of our people,
the old, young, and children.
We want you to stop the Americans from coming to trade on our lands,
and giving firewater, ammunition,
and arms to our enemies, the Blackfeet.
Our young men are foolish.
It may not last long."
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