Numbered Treaties
Numbered Treaties
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Numbered Treaties

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Numbered Treaties

The Numbered Treaties (or Post-Confederation Treaties) are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada (Victoria, Edward VII or George V) from 1871 to 1921. These agreements were created to allow the Government of Canada to pursue settlement and resource extraction in the affected regions, which includes the entirety of modern-day Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, as well as parts of modern-day British Columbia, Ontario, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. These treaties expanded the Dominion of Canada resulting in the displacement of Indigenous populations for large tracts of land in exchange for promises made to the indigenous people of the area. These terms were dependent on individual negotiations and so specific terms differed with each treaty.

These treaties came in two waves—Numbers 1 through 7 from 1871 to 1877 and Numbers 8 through 11 from 1899 to 1921. In the first wave, the treaties were key in advancing European settlement across the Prairie regions as well as the development of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In the second wave, resource extraction was the main motive for government officials. During this time, Canada introduced the Indian Act extending its control over the First Nations to education, government and legal rights. The federal government did provide emergency relief, on condition of the Indigenous peoples moving to the Indian reserve.

Today, these agreements are upheld by the Government of Canada, administered by Canadian Aboriginal law and overseen by the Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations. They are often criticized and are a leading issue within the fight for First Nation rights. The Constitution Act, 1982 gave protection of First Nations and treaty rights under Section 35. It states: "Aboriginal and treaty rights are hereby recognized and affirmed." This phrase was never fully defined. As a result, First Nations must attest their rights in court as the case in R v Sparrow.

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 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 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.

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