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.
Perspectives on Treaty Making
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From the course by University of Alberta
Indigenous Canada
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From the lesson
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.
Meet the Instructors
Dr. Tracy BearAssistant Professor
Faculty of Native Studies & Dept. of Women's and Gender Studies
Dr. Paul GareauAssistant Professor
Faculty of Native Studies
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We have learned in previous lessons that when Europe's competing empires,
including the British and the French, arrived in North America,
Indigenous peoples were already resident throughout the continent;
with their own distinct cultures and intricate political structures.
Indigenous people saw the arrival of these new people as both an opportunity
to create new political alliances
and an occasion to create new trading partnerships.
This lesson examines the subsequent treaty agreements and
alliances made between North America's Indigenous peoples,
and the newly arrived empires in the area that eventually became Canada.
The Two Row Wampum Belt of the Haudenosaunee,
also known as that Iroquois,
is a great example that illustrated one way that Indigenous peoples recorded and
preserved their laws and government systems.
The Two Row Wampum Belt is made from either whelk shell,
quahog, or hard shell clams.
The belt's rows of cylindrical purple and
white beads are bound together with hemp that runs its full length.
It was these belts and their intricate bead work designs
that served as the foundation for all other treaties and
agreements between the Haudenosaunee and the colonial representatives.
In addition to confirming an individual's credentials and authority,
these belts also served as one of the first methods used to document oral
agreements.
Today, they also act as evidence of pre-existing Indigenous
diplomatic relationships.
Wampum belts were used as mnemonic devices to record important events
and were often brought out for official gatherings and sacred ceremonies.
Indigenous laws were also recorded within the patterns on these belts.
Items like masks, medicine bundles, birch bark scrolls,
petroglyphs, and button blankets.
Although primarily spiritual in nature, could also record and
preserve legal traditions.
Named Gusweñta, this two row wampum belt serves as a symbolic and
binding agreement
that was made in 1645 between Haudenosaunee leaders and
Dutch colonial officials.
When the Dutch began making incursions into Haudenosaunee territory,
Mohawk runners traveled to Onondaga to request a meeting among
the Haudenosaunee leadership
to determine how to deal with these new uninvited guests.
This belt represents the outcome of subsequent meetings
between Haudenosaunee representatives and Dutch officials.
Like other wampum belts, this living treaty is made of purple and
white wampum beads.
The three rows of white beads each represent the shared tenants
of friendship, peace, and forever.
The two parallel rows of purple represent two vessels.
One row embodies the Haudenosaunee, their people and their life ways.
The other row stands for the Dutch, their people and their life ways.
Traveling side by side as equals down the river of life, the Haudenosaunee and
the Dutch share a mutual respect
and the promise not to interfere with one another.
Two row wampum and its meanings were applied to subsequent agreements
that the Haudenosaunee made with the French in 1701, and
the British in 1763 and 1764.
A treaty is a legally binding agreement outlining the rights and
duties of its signatories and is protected by international law.
Negotiated and agreed to by two or more sovereign nations,
treaties are formal agreements used to reinforce and
protect relations between those parties.
In North America, Indigenous societies and
colonial powers often held divergent traditions
and understandings on the composition and structure of these agreements.
These understandings were informed by their own social, political and
economic norms.
Far from homogenous, pre-colonial laws, customs, and
practices informed Indigenous treaty agreements, like that scene in Gusweñta.
Many of these principles were shared among Indigenous nations,
ensuring that all parties upheld their obligations.
Many Indigenous nations recognize this treaty legacy
and continue to advocate that the original intent of these agreements with the Crown,
and then Canada, be honoured.
Conflict between competing empires often made its way to North America,
and almost always involved Indigenous peoples.
The Great Peace of Montreal serves as but
one example of an agreement that brought to a close prolonged periods of conflict.
Signed in 1701 between New France and forty (40) Indigenous groups of Central and
Eastern North America.
This treaty ushered in several years of peace.
Treaties such as this lay the groundwork for peace and
cooperation between colonial powers and the areas Indigenous populations.
And were tested and fractured time and again when European rivals
clashed overseas and brought their conflict to the Americas.
In the area of North America that eventually became Canada,
there have been five distinct phases of treaty making between Indigenous and
non-Indigenous peoples.
These are the Peace and Friendship Treaties from 1725 to 1779,
the Robinson Treaties in 1850,
The Douglas Treaties from 1850 to 1854, the Numbered Treaties from 1871 to 1921,
and the Modern Treaties from 1922 to the present.
Key differences in treaty making during each of these phases
is a direct result of the economic, political, and
social dynamics that emerged
as colonial and later state powers competed for control of the continent.
As trade relations, wartime diplomacy,
increasing land settlement pressures, and resource development increased,
so too did the need for
officials to deal with the question of Indigenous land title.
The first phase of treaty making, the Peace and Friendship Treaties,
were entered into with an aim of maintaining peaceful relations
between Indigenous groups on the East Coast and the British Crown.
These treaties ended years of hostility
that were a direct result of conflict between the British and French empires and
their Indigenous allies.
When the British conquest of French Acadia and
subsequent colonial agreements along the East Coast of North America
failed to take into account the pre-existing Indigenous political
order, conflict with local groups increased.
To end this conflict, and to gain allies in the competition for the continent,
British officials were required to incorporate characteristics of Indigenous
treaty-making into their own diplomatic traditions.
To this end, the British entered into the Peace and
Friendship Treaties with East Coast nations
to end hostilities, to encourage ongoing cooperation,
peaceful relations, and trade with the area's Indigenous peoples.
These treaties were signed between 1725 and
1779 with the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy
throughout present day Maine, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
These treaties established promises and obligations to be honoured by
both parties within aim of stabilizing trade and relations.
In exchange for increased trade and
promises to gain consent prior to settling any East Coast Indigenous territories,
Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy signatories agreed to end their
hostilities with subjects of the British Crown.
To this end, a critical part of these treaties included the Truck House Clause,
requiring the British to establish trading posts for
the exclusive use of the treaty's Indigenous signatories.
For the Mi'kmaq, there is a word used to describe treaties,
It means adding to our relations.
Speaking to the complexity of Indigenous political order in North America,
this interpretation stands in contradiction with the earlier
Haudenosaunee use of the two row wampum belt
and their desire for a peaceful but respectful distance.
For the Mi'kmaq, treaty agreements would bring all signatories together as
though related,
making treaties a kinship-based relationship.
Indigenous peoples were keenly aware of the need to protect
their continued access to their traditional territories.
These Peace and
Friendship Treaties sought to normalize peace in commercial relationships,
but did not see the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, or
Passamaquoddy surrender their right to land or resources.
Aimed at stabilizing relations during periods of intermittent conflict,
the renewals of 1749 and 1752 reaffirmed the original agreement and
provided for the establishment of the Truck House.
The 1760 renewal brought the Maliseet under the provisions of the Truck House
and also acknowledged the possibility of future non-Indigenous
settlement within East Coast Indigenous territories,
without fear of Indigenous reprisal.
Fluctuating tensions between the French, English, and their Indigenous allies
aaw the negotiation of over half-dozen treaties up and
down the East Coast between 1725 and 1779.
As the French and British empires entered into the final phase of their conflict for
northern North America,
these treaties served as the basis for critical alliances before
conflict ended with the conquest of New France in 1760.
As we shall see, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 sought to
protect Indigenous sovereignty and title to traditional lands
when facing what British officials knew would be increased settlement
demands after the conflict ended.
When France ceded its North American claims to
Britain after the Seven Years War,
colonial officials sought to stabilize their relationship with Indigenous peoples
residing within their new territories.
To this end, King George III issued a Royal Proclamation on October 7th, 1763
that acknowledged Indigenous land title, until such a time it was ceded by
treaty with the British Crown.
In other words, all lands of the North American interior and
west of the Appalachian mountains was considered off limits to settlers,
unless they were first ceded to the Crown during treaty negotiations.
The Proclamation describes generally how the Crown could go about purchasing lands
that fell with this defined “Indian Territory”.
The outbreak in 1783 of the American War for Independence had
profound effects on Indigenous peoples and their British allies.
With over thirty thousand (30,000) loyalist refugees, both Indigenous and
non-Indigenous alike, making their way north.
Thirty (30) years later, the War of 1812 saw Britain fight
the American Republic's attempt at Northern expansion,
a conflict in which Britain's Indigenous allies played a crucial role.
When the conflict ended in a stalemate in 1814, Indigenous
peoples saw a significant drop in their influence with colonial officials.
This post-1812 period saw Indigenous peoples transformed
from crucial allies into a barrier for colonial expansion and settler occupancy.
This marginalization became official when in 1830,
responsibility for Indigenous relations was transferred from the British military
to the civilian government in both Upper and Lower Canada,
which from then on embarked on a mission of “civilization”.
In light of these conflicts and the changing political, social,
and economic dynamics,
the years between 1764 and
1836 saw the newly created colonies of Upper and Lower Canada
negotiate roughly twenty-seven (27) land purchases
to secure the lands falling within their newly defined territories.
This also coincided with the post-1812 shift in colonial
policy away from military alliance,
and towards demands that Indigenous people abandoned their traditional life ways and
adapt an agrarian and sedentary lifestyle.
These plans for “civilization” saw a shift from cash payment and trade relationships,
in favour of annuity payments used to develop permanent agricultural
communities.
As non-Indigenous settlement moved west and conflict over land and
its resources escalated,
colonial officials sought to speed up land session agreements around
the areas of Lake Huron and Superior.
Officials' laissez-faire approach in making treaties with Indigenous
communities, whose territories they were moving into,
resulted in an armed insurrection at Mica Bay on Lake Superior in 1849.
Canada, now a unified colony, selected William Benjamin Robinson,
an experienced trader familiar with Indigenous language and
trade customs, as their primary negotiator.
Negotiations began in Sault Ste.
Marie and Indigenous leaders were at first hesitant to accept the Crown's terms
and requested additional time to consider them.
Robinson confirmed that Indigenous groups would maintain their hunting and
fishing rights,
terms that encouraged reticent leaders to sign.
Although Lake Huron leaders demanded accommodation be made for
their half-breed kin, Robinson refused.
The Robinson Treaties, also known as the Robinson-Huron and
Robinson-Superior Treaties.
Saw Canada secure almost all of northwest Ontario for settlement and
resource development.
New in these agreements were provisions made for
reserves based on sites chosen by Indigenous leaders.
These Robinson Treaties of 1850 are credited with laying the foundation
for what later became known as Western Canada's Numbered Treaties.
Treaty making during this period was not just confined to the eastern and
central areas of what would become Canada.
When the Hudson Bay Company established a colony on Vancouver Island in 1849,
little thought was given to the pre-existing Indigenous presence.
In the four years that followed, the colony's Chief Factor James Douglas,
who despite the indifference of company officials,
oversaw fourteen (14) agreements to purchase land from the island's Indigenous inhabitants.
As far as company officials were concerned,
these agreements abolished Indigenous land title,
in exchange for an agreement to protect Indigenous fisheries and villages sites.
Differing in their interpretation,
Indigenous leaders understood these agreements to be peace treaties
rather than a land purchase,
and Douglas' promises to protect winter villages and fisheries
would have encouraged many indigenous leaders to sign these agreements.
Indigenous leaders also understood these agreements to represent a desire for
both Indigenous and newly arrived settlers
to co-exist peacefully while sharing the land.
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