From Dream to Reality: The Story of Treaty Land Entitlement

Key Concept

Treaties are part of the law of Canada and there is a legal obligation to fulfill Treaty promises, including the promise to set aside a specific amount of land for the exclusive use of First Nations.

This concept is best illustrated with the handout Upholding the Honour of Treaties.

Rationale
This lesson is designed to introduce students to the basics of the legal system and to Canada’s system of law-making. This will help students understand how society must adhere to laws, how agreements must be honoured, why Treaties were entered into and how Treaties and Treaty Land Entitlement fit into this legal framework.

Learning Objectives
Knowledge

• Students will describe the basis for Treaty Land Entitlement.
• Students will examine the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the land.
• Students will synthesize the relationship between worldview and the approach to settling Treaty Land Entitlement issues in Canada.

Values

• Students will develop respect for the legal and moral basis for fulfilling Treaty rights.

Skills

• Students will practice group process skills.
• Students will justify their position toward Treaty Land Entitlement and be prepared to demonstrate rational support.

Teacher’s Background Information
By the 1970s both federal and provincial levels of government and First Nations recognized that the obligation to provide land to First Nations as part of what was agreed to in the Treaties had not been fulfilled. The federal government would not be keeping their part of the bargain, created when Treaties were entered into, if this debt was not satisfied. The province also had obligations under the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement to transfer provincial Crown land to the federal government to allow them to fulfill these obligations.

To understand the gravity of breaching a Treaty it is helpful to understand why Treaties were entered into in the first place and how governments, First Nations and Canadian law view the fulfillment of obligations under Treaties.

Mutual Benefit
When people from Britain and other countries came to what is now Canada they found it already occupied by First Nations. They could have chosen war or peace. They could have chosen negotiation or confrontation. They chose peace and negotiated mutually binding and beneficial agreements. They chose to enter into Treaties. The choices that the newcomers and the original occupants of this land made about how to live together form the foundation of what is Canada today.

Treaties by their very nature involve at least two parties and represent an agreement between those parties. Treaties are not about one side giving and the other side taking. They involve mutual benefit, compromise and give and take on the part of both parties. Both First Nations and the Canadian government signed the Treaties. They did so on behalf of their people and for the future benefit of their people. The descendants of the newcomers continue to benefit from the use of the land opened up by the Treaties while the descendants of the First Nations continue to have the right to the benefits promised to them in exchange for enabling peaceful settlement of the land. As the descendants of the people on whose behalf the Treaties were signed we are all Treaty people and have both the obligation to uphold the Treaties and the right to benefit from them.

The Need for Treaties
There were a number of very practical reasons that Britain, and later Canada, chose to negotiate Treaties with the First Nations. Early on the British needed military support from the First Nations if they were to succeed in claiming what is now Canada for their own in the face of competing claims from other countries. As more people came from Britain and other places to what is now Canada it also became clear that conflict could result if no agreement was reached about sharing the land. The government was anxious to avoid this conflict and at the same time secure for itself access to the land and resources.

This reality has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada. When looking back at the 1752 Mi’Kmaq Treaty the Supreme Court noted that this Treaty was entered into after more than a decade of intermittent hostilities between Britain and the Mi’Kmaq, that the British wanted peace and safety for their settlers and that they did not feel completely secure in occupying what is now Nova Scotia.

Similarly the Supreme Court, when considering the 1760 Treaty with the Huron First Nation concluded that “...both Great Britain and France felt that the Indian nations had sufficient independence and played a large enough role in North America for it to be good policy to maintain relations with them very close to those maintained between sovereign nations.” The court went on to note that Britain did everything it could to keep each Indian nation as an ally and to encourage nations that supported their enemy, France, to change sides. Once Britain secured a nation’s alliance a Treaty would be negotiated. The Treaties and the relationships created by them stopped wars between the First Nations and the French and the British and helped to ensure the peaceful settlement of what is now Canada. After becoming independent of Britain, the Canadian Government used the already well established Treaty-making tradition when negotiating with the First Nations on the prairies. Just as Britain had before Confederation, Canada benefited from these Treaties in many lasting ways. Treaties 1 to 7 cleared the way for the Canadian Pacific Railway and agricultural settlement in the prairies and northwestern Ontario. The waterways of the north, the Peace, the Athabasca and the Mackenzie Rivers all afforded passage to the Yukon and once the gold rush began the potential for conflict between First Nations and those travelling to the Yukon through First Nations territory increased. Treaty 8, giving access to the Yukon Territory, was entered into after the start of the gold rush. Treaty 9 followed silver discoveries and expected hydroelectric, pulp and paper development in northern Ontario and Treaty 10 served a similar purpose in northern Saskatchewan. Treaty 11 was entered into after Imperial Oil’s first gusher at Norman Wells and gave access to this potentially lucrative resource.

The Treaties were made because First Nations and non-First Nations people were occupying a common territory and could have come into conflict unless some means of reconciling the rights of each were found. While the American government spent around $20 million every year during the 1870s forcing First Nations off of the United States plains through bloody conflicts, Canada spent only slightly more than $730,000 between 1875 and 1905 on costs related to the Treaties. There was also considerably less bloodshed in Canada during these years. The Treaty rights that the Crown received have had a profound influence on the history of Canada, and the Crown and Canadian people continue to exercise their Treaty rights today.

Procedure
1. Using the Teacher’s Background Information, introduce students to the concepts surrounding entering into Treaties between the Crown and the First Nations. Using a talking circle format, discuss what the statement “We are all Treaty People” means to students.

2. As a group, read and discuss the handout Law and Treaties.

3. Break students into groups of four to discuss the handouts Upholding the Honour of Treaties: The Crown and Upholding the Honour of Treaties: First Nations as First Word, Last Word activities:

• Students should independently read Upholding the Honour of Treaties: The Crown then highlight two or three different passages about which they have thoughts.
• In groups, have first student read one of their highlighted passages without comment.
• Rotate through circle and allow each remaining student an opportunity to share their thoughts on that highlighted passage while others listen but do not interject.
• End with student who originally shared passage to summarize their thoughts given the feedback of others.
• Continue activity with next student sharing a passage until all have had the opportunity to discuss pertinent passages from the reading.
• Have students repeat activity with reading Upholding the Honour of Treaties: First Nations.

4. Using the overhead Considering Treaties: The Courts discuss how Treaties are meant to ensure that First Nations continue to have the ability to support themselves and share the economic benefits
of the land. Teachers may wish to use the Considering Treaties: Case Studies overhead notes to illustrate how Treaties are not concepts frozen in time.

5. To summarize the concepts about the legal and moral obligations of fulfilling Treaty obligations, have students create a concise position statement: Why should Treaty Land Entitlement be honoured? Students should be able to justify their position with evidence.

6. For further understandings on the relationship between the law and Treaties, check out Treaties and the Law. This learning resource features both an Information Backgrounder and a full-length Teacher’s Resource Guide.