Numbered Treaties

The relationship between the Canadian Crown and Indigenous peoples stretches back to the first contact between European colonialists and North American Indigenous peoples. Over centuries of interaction, treaties were established concerning the interaction between the monarch and Indigenous peoples. Both the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the British North America Act 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867) established guidelines that would be later used to create the numbered treaties. The royal proclamation occurred in 1763, and is considered to be the foundation of treaty-making in Canada. This proclamation established a line between the Appalachian Mountains from Nova Scotia to the southern region of the Province of Georgia, and prevented settlement beyond that specific area by settlers. The proclamation also established protocols that needed to be acknowledged by the governing authority in regards to purchasing land from First Nations Peoples in North America and later Canada. The royal proclamation was created as a result of the assertion of British jurisdiction over First Nation territory. While the British laid claim over First Nation territory, uprisings from Pontiac, the Three Fires Confederacy, and other First Nations Peoples resulted in a period of violence between the two peoples as the British attempted to maintain their claim and the Indigenous peoples fought to dislodge British troops from their land. As a result of these uprisings, the intention of the royal proclamation was to prevent future disputes. The royal proclamation stated that the only authoritative government that was able to purchase land from First Nations People was the British Crown. One of the stipulations of this agreement was that First Nations People were to be informed and attend the public assembly regarding the purchase of lands. When the British North America Act 1867 was enacted, a division of power was established between the Dominion government and its provinces that separated First Nation Peoples and settlers. The federal government retained responsibility for providing health care, education, property rights and creating other laws that would affect the First Nations people. The government of Canada replaced the British Crown as the leading authority, and gained control of 19th-century First Nations land transfers. Both the royal proclamation and the British North America Act 1867 impacted the procedures of governmental and First Nations negotiations. They set the stage for future negotiations that would occur, including the numbered treaties that would begin in 1871 with Treaty 1. == Negotiation ==

Negotiation of the Numbered Treaties began in 1871. The first seven affected those living on the prairies, while the remaining were negotiated at a later time between 1899 and 1921 and concerned those living further north. Each treaty delineates a tract of land which was thought to be the traditional territory of the First Nations signing that particular treaty. For Canada it was a necessary step before settlement and development could occur further westward. No two treaties were alike, as they were dependent upon specific geographic and social conditions within the territory being addressed. Government After confederation, Canada looked to expand its borders from sea to sea. There was a fear amongst the population that rapid expansion from the United States would leave the country cornered with limited arable land, lack of opportunity for economic growth, and resource extraction. To the west of Ontario was Rupert's Land, fur trading territory operated by the Hudson's Bay Company since 1670, which contained several trading post and some small settlements, such as the Red River Colony. During the first session of Parliament many called for the annexation of the territory and letters were sent to the British Monarchy suggesting that "it would promote the prosperity of the Canadian people, and conduce to the advantage of the whole Empire if the Dominion of Canada ... were extended westward to the shore of the Pacific Ocean". In the following years, negotiations took place to acquire full control of the region with the creation of the Rupert's Land Act 1868 and the North-Western Territory Transfer Act of 1870. Even though the government acquired the land from the Hudson's Bay Company, they failed to have full control and use of the land; this transfer solely provided sovereignty over the area. One of the conditions to ensure British Columbia would join Confederation at the time was the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway to connect it to the rest of the nation. This major infrastructure project would have to go through the interior of the newly acquired land and through First Nation territory. Canadian law, as set out in the Royal Proclamation, recognized that the First Nations who inhabited these lands prior to European contact had title to the land. In order to satisfy British Columbia's request and the growing need for land by eastern settlers and new immigrants, treaties had to be created with the First Nation people in the interior. Similarly, the later treaties of the turn of the century were not conducted until the land was useful for government purposes. When gold was discovered in the Klondike in the 1890s, Treaty 8 was established in the hopes of quelling tensions and conflicts between First Nations of the northern reaches and miners and traders. Despite the fact that First Nations people of the Mackenzie River Valley were in economic need well before the 1920s, it was not until an abundance of oil was found that treaties needed to be implemented. The Government of Canada lobbied for treaties in the north only when potential development could be supported in the region. For political and economic reasoning, the Government of Canada hastily put treaties into place without regards to First Nation well-being. First Nations With Treaties 1–7, there was some resistance from members of the First Nations to the treaty process and growing anxiety that it would allow a flood of settlers, but many saw it as a way to secure much needed assistance. The First Nations at this time were suffering due to the changing dynamics of the west including disease, famine, and conflict. First Nations people were being decimated by disease, specifically smallpox, and tuberculosis which had catastrophic ramifications for several groups. Tsuu T'ina for example were decimated by Old World disease. Their population fell from several thousand to only 300 to 400 remaining within the 1800s. They began to suffer from famine due to the near extinction of the buffalo. Active participation in selling pemmican and hide in the fur trade, in addition to hunting for personal sustenance, meant that those living on the plains lacked a vital food source to maintain their livelihood.