When was treaty 8 signed

Lubicon Lake Band is seeking a qualified individual to be responsible for the completion of all financial activities of Lubicon Lake Band. DCN is seeking a qualified individual to be the Nurse in Charge, responsible for a range of core nursing functions and services in Driftpile Cree Nation.

The signatories of Treaty 8 agreed to its terms for reasons of peace and friendship — ensuring what they thought would be a partnership. WHEREAS, the Indians inhabiting the territory hereinafter defined have, pursuant to notice given by the Honourable Superintendent General of Indian Affairs in the year , been convened to meet a Commission representing Her Majesty's Government of the Dominion of Canada at certain places in the said territory in this present year , to deliberate upon certain matters of interest of Her Most Gracious Majesty, of the one part, and the said Indians of the other.

AND WHEREAS, the said Indians have been notified and informed by Her Majesty's said Commission that it is Her desire to open for settlement, immigration, trade, travel, mining, lumbering and such other purposes as to Her Majesty may seem meet, a tract of country bounded and described as hereinafter mentioned, and to obtain the consent thereto of Her Indian subjects inhabiting the said tract, and to make a treaty, and arrange with them, so that there may be peace and good will between them and Her Majesty's other subjects, and that Her Indian people may know and be assured of what allowances they are to count upon and receive from Her Majesty's bounty and benevolence.

AND WHEREAS, the Indians of the said tract, duly convened in council at the respective points named hereunder, and being requested by Her Majesty's Commissioners to name certain Chiefs and Headmen who should be authorized on their behalf to conduct such negotiations and sign any treaty to be founded thereon, and to become responsible to Her Majesty for the faithful performance by their respective bands of such obligations as shall be assumed by them, the said Indians have therefore acknowledged for that purpose the several Chiefs and Headmen who have subscribed hereto.

And Her Majesty the Queen HEREBY AGREES with the said Indians that they shall have right to pursue their usual vocations of hunting, trapping and fishing throughout the tract surrendered as heretofore described, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be made by the Government of the country, acting under the authority of Her Majesty, and saving and excepting such tracts as may be required or taken up from time to time for settlement, mining, lumbering, trading or other purposes.

And Her Majesty the Queen hereby agrees and undertakes to lay aside reserves for such bands as desire reserves, the same not to exceed in all one square mile for each family of five for such number of families as may elect to reside on reserves, or in that proportion for larger or smaller families; and for such families or individual Indians as may prefer to live apart from band reserves, Her Majesty undertakes to provide land in severalty to the extent of acres to each Indian, the land to be conveyed with a proviso as to non-alienation without the consent of the Governor General in Council of Canada, the selection of such reserves, and lands in severalty, to be made in the manner following, namely, the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs shall depute and send a suitable person to determine and set apart such reserves and lands, after consulting with the Indians concerned as to the locality which may be found suitable and open for selection.

Provided, however, that Her Majesty reserves the right to deal with any settlers within the bounds of any lands reserved for any band as She may see fit; and also that the aforesaid reserves of land, or any interest therein, may be sold or otherwise disposed of by Her Majesty's Government for the use and benefit of the said Indians entitled thereto, with their consent first had and obtained. It is further agreed between Her Majesty and Her said Indian subjects that such portions of the reserves and lands above indicated as may at any time be required for public works, buildings, railways, or roads of whatsoever nature may be appropriated for that purpose by Her Majesty's Government of the Dominion of Canada, due compensation being made to the Indians for the value of any improvements thereon, and an equivalent in land, money or other consideration for the area of the reserve so appropriated.

And with a view to show the satisfaction of Her Majesty with the behaviour and good conduct of Her Indians, and in extinguishment of all their past claims, She hereby, through Her Commissioners, agrees to make each Chief a present of thirty-two dollars in cash, to each Headman twenty-two dollars, and to every other Indian of whatever age, of the families represented at the time and place of payment, twelve dollars.

Her Majesty also agrees that next year, and annually afterwards for ever, She will cause to be paid to the said Indians in cash, at suitable places and dates, of which the said Indians shall be duly notified, to each Chief twenty-five dollars, each Headman, not to exceed four to a large Band and two to a small Band, fifteen dollars, and to every other Indian, of whatever age, five dollars, the same, unless there be some exceptional reason, to be paid only to heads of families for those belonging thereto.

FURTHER, Her Majesty agrees that each Chief, after signing the treaty, shall receive a silver medal and a suitable flag, and next year, and every third year thereafter, each Chief and Headman shall receive a suitable suit of clothing. FURTHER, Her Majesty agrees to supply each Chief of a Band that selects a reserve, for the use of that Band, ten axes, five hand-saws, five augers, one grindstone, and the necessary files and whetstones.

The aforesaid articles, machines and cattle to be given once for all for the encouragement of agriculture and stock raising; and for such Bands as prefer to continue hunting and fishing, as much ammunition and twine for making nets annually as will amount in value to one dollar per head of the families so engaged in hunting and fishing.

Therefore we have amended this document to reflect that. Not long after, we felt the pain and trauma again after the discovery of more than children buried at the former Brandon Residential School near Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation.

In , a doctor accompanied the treaty party and "gave advice and dispensed medicines to large number of Indians and vaccinated many. West, R. After the measles epidemic of , Chief Pierre Squirrel, who signed treaty for his band at Fort Smith, demonstrated his disappointment concerning health care:.

You see how unhappy we are, how miserable and sick. When I made this treaty with your government, I stipulated that we should have here a policeman and a doctor; instead of that you have sent nothing but missionaries. Nine years later, the Indian agent at Fort Smith advised that a medical officer was much needed and finally, in , Dr.

MacDonald was appointed. Other Indians, however, did not receive proper health care. Treaty Eight Inspector H. Conroy reported:. It is a physical impossibility for Dr. The right to an education was emphasized in the treaty negotiations by Kinosayoo at Lesser Slave Lake in and the federal government indicated that this would be supplied.

The churches were expected to continue to provide schooling and the Indians were promised that they would have complete freedom in choosing education under the religion of their choice. Nevertheless, neither the written treaty, the report of the treaty commissioners, nor the negotiations were clear about the nature and extent of the education to be provided under the treaty.

Finally, there has been some controversy regarding the treaty provisions for once-for-all expenditures. The treaty includes guarantees of assistance in agriculture and stock raising and the provision of tools, implements, seed and cattle. The treaty commissioners could not have explained that the allotment of cattle and implements was a "once-for-all" provision rather than a commitment to economic development.

Those elders interviewed by the Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Research group of the Indian Association of Alberta recall that assurances were made regarding cattle, implements and provision during planting. Footnote There is no evidence, as Daniel points out, that the Indians understood these promises to be on a "once-for-all" basis. After the Treaty Eight negotiations were completed, the affairs of the northern Indians came under the jurisdiction of a small, distant federal bureaucracy and an equally small field staff.

Furthermore, with the establishment of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in and the transfer of control over natural resources by the federal government to the Prairie provinces and British Columbia in , the provincial governments assumed a more active role in controlling the development of the northern hinterland, especially development concerning land use and natural resources. In the post-treaty period, the provincial governments represented the attitudes of the new settlement frontier and shared the settlers' views on land use and the exploitation of natural resources.

Consequently, the fulfilment of treaty promises, particularly those concerning reserve land and hunting, fishing and trapping rights, were in direct conflict with settler interests as represented by the provincial governments. In , nine years after Treaty Eight was signed, the Lesser Slave Lake agency was established with headquarters at Grouard. John District in northeastern B. Indian agencies were also opened at Fort Smith and Fort Simpson in "to distribute relief and carry out experiments in farming.

Footnote These agencies provided more contact with bands situated close to the agency headquarters, but the more distant bands continued to have little contact with the Indian Affairs field staff.

Besides attending to the general complaints of the Indian bands in the Treaty Eight area, the Indian agents were involved in performing various treaty functions such as paying annuities, admitting Indians to treaty, instructing them in the art of farming, providing medical assistance and aiding Indians generally in the transition from a nomadic to a more settled life style.

These duties were all accomplished in one yearly visit at each post. The annual visits by the Indian agents to the various posts are well documented.

Early Indian Affairs correspondence for the Lesser Slave Lake agency, for example, has revealed that the Indian agents did not always fulfill their responsibilities regarding treaty obligations.

There were complaints from the Indians that they were not being taught how to farm, and it was not until that a farm instructor was appointed for the Lesser Slave Lake agency.

Furthermore, there were reports, particularly from bands located in the more isolated areas of the agency, that they were not receiving medical assistance.

Footnote The Fort Smith agency was successful in increasing the government's presence in the north and performing several public services, but the farming experiments failed.

The bands of the Fort McKay, Fort Chipewyan and Fond du Lac areas were not interested in agriculture because of the scarcity of arable farm land in the region. To improve the level of assistance and to provide more contact with the more distant bands, the Great Slave Lake agency was established in and included the Fort Resolution, Snowdrift and Hay River Bands. Footnote Finally, the Fort St. John agency was inaugurated in and comprised those bands located in the Peace River block.

The allotment of reserves in the Alberta portion of the Treaty Eight area occurred as early as , when Chief Kinosayoo of the Lesser Slave Lake Band requested reserve surveys and farming provisions. Moostoos, a band councillor, indicated the reason that treaty was accepted in was "that we saw we had to change our way of living, that furs were getting scarce and also moose, and that if we had cattle Footnote It became apparent with the first surveys that the treaty clauses regarding reserve land had been misunderstood.

Kinosayoo and Moostoos asked for " Footnote Treaty Commissioner J. Macrae explained to them that they could not receive any more land than they were entitled to under Treaty. The Indians complied and selected two reserves at Driftpile and Sucker Creek and several parcels of land in severalty. Footnote See chart for reference to reserves for Kinosayoo's band. There is further evidence that the selection of reserves conflicted with settler interests.

When the Sawridge Band requested a reserve in , area settlers protested the allocation of good agricultural land because further settlement might be inhibited.

Footnote They argued, moreover, that the Indians should be allotted a single block of land outside the area already surveyed, leaving the good agricultural land open for settlement.

Footnote Similar conflicts with settlers' rights at Fort McKay and Swan River resulted in the Indians losing sections of reserve land. Generally, the Indian Affairs agents and administrators supported Indian rights, while those of the settlers were represented by the Department of the Interior. In some cases, however, the main concern of the Indian Affairs administrators was to reduce survey expenses, and this led to a policy of discouraging Indians from choosing land in severalty.

Footnote Several families, nevertheless, took advantage of the provision for lands in severalty, and several bands split their land entitlement into many smaller reserves, with the result that the reserves of Treaty Eight are larger in number but smaller in size than the reserves in the rest of Alberta.

The Treaty Eight commissioners expected that the Indians of the Athabasca District would select reserves only for agricultural purposes. Footnote In the immediate post-treaty period, however, hunting, fishing and trapping were more reliable and the level of assistance to Indian farmers was inadequate. Most bands in the Athabasca region, therefore, did not select reserve land because of its agricultural potential but because it was adjacent to good fishing or trapping areas.

Those bands which attempted farming generally failed due to lack of assistance from the Indian Affairs Department; in some cases, there was pressure to surrender their lands to settlers who might put it to better use.

Footnote The Indian Affairs Department initially refused, but by there was little indication that these bands were using the land, and part of the Duncan's Band reserve and all the Dunvegan reserve were surrendered. Footnote The proceeds from the latter were used to purchase a new reserve at Clear Hills. Furthermore, by , the premier of Alberta was requesting that idle reserve lands in the Lesser Slave Lake area be surrendered.

Footnote The Indian Affairs Department resisted surrenders of the Driftpile and Sucker Creek reserves because the land was being put to good use but consented to the surrender of part of the Swan River reserve. The band, however, voted unanimously against a surrender. In the federal government transferred control over natural resources to the Prairie provinces and B.

Since , the federal government has retained responsibility for Indians lands, while settler and regional metropolitan interests have increasingly been represented by the province. Footnote The resource transfer agreements contain a clause which exempts Indian reserve lands from the transfer and provides that:.

The Indian Affairs Department has interpreted this clause to mean that the federal government would determine the amount of land allocated to a particular band but the province would indicate where the bands would be located. Footnote That is, under the agreements the province would assume obligation to set aside such lands as would enable the federal government to fulfill treaty land obligations.

However, the nature and extent of this clause has never been clearly defined by either subsequent agreements or court decisions. Hence, those bands acquiring land after have been treated differently, depending on the particular circumstances of each claim. The efforts of certain isolated communities to obtain reserves provides a basis for some tentative conclusions on the handling of land entitlement claims since Footnote Since the treaty negotiations of , several Indians in those isolated communities were committed to treaty and were added to band lists at the points where annuities were paid.

Footnote The addition of several Indians to the band lists affected land entitlement and by some of the isolated communities requested that their autonomy be recognized and reserves allocated. McInnes, secretary of the Indian Affairs Branch, calculated in that Indians had been added to the Wabasca Band lists from to , entitling the band to 27, additional acres. Footnote No action, however, was taken regarding the separate identity and the outstanding land entitlement for the isolated communities.

Rather, in , M. The action was protested by the people concerned and by local missionaries and as a result an investigation was conducted by Alberta District Court Justice W. Macdonald upon the advice of Jack Sissons, member of Parliament. An Indian treaty, or for that matter any formal arrangement entered into with a primitive and unlettered people, should not be construed according to strict or technical rules of construction. So far as it is reasonably possible, it should be read in the sense in which it is understood by the Indians themselves.

When Treaty No. Many of them taken into Treaty at that time were themselves of mixed blood. They knew that individuals of mixed blood who had adopted the Indian way of life were encouraged to take treaty.

They cannot reconcile the removal from the band rolls of a large number of individuals who have been in treaty for many years, with their understanding of the situation as it existed when the treaty was signed.

The Indians Act is loosely drawn and is replete with inconsistencies. I venture to say that flexibility rather than rigidity and elasticity rather than a strict and narrow view should govern its interpretation.

It has been suggested that the removal of certain individuals from the band lists "may have been prompted by a realization of the extent of outstanding entitlement in Northern Alberta and the federal government's unwillingness or inability to get the provincial government to provide the required land in accordance with the commitments made when the natural resources were transferred to the province in The Lubicon Lake Band and the Isolated Communities have been frustrated in more recent attempts to obtain reserve land.

In the spring of the Indian Association of Alberta forwarded the land claim of the Isolated Communities and Lubicon Lake to the federal government. However, efforts to have their settlement claims recognized failed. Lubicon Lake filed their claim in federal court in April , while the claim of the Isolated Communities was presented in , subsequently withdrawn, and then resubmitted in autumn Footnote Other bands in northern Alberta in the Treaty Eight area have requested additions to their reserves since , either because the land provisions of Treaty Eight were unfulfilled or because several families had been granted treaty status and had joined the band since the survey of its reserve.

In some cases, however, a more cooperative approach has been reached by the federal and provincial governments. The Fort Chipewyan Crees' request for a reserve has also remained outstanding. This is partly because of their incessant and difficult request for land within Wood Buffalo National Park and partly due to government delays. Footnote The problem of calculating the extent of entitlement, moreover, has been a major stumbling block.

The federal government and the band have agreed to calculate entitlement on the basis of the population of the band on 31 December , but the Alberta government has maintained that the population at treaty time is the pertinent population figure.

Footnote In the fall of , the Fort Chipewyan Band indicated that it was close to reaching an agreement with the federal government. One of the parcels of land is a two square kilometre little less than on square mile plot at Peace Point in Wood Buffalo National Park. The band would also retain its traditional hunting, fishing and trapping rights in the rest of the park.

In the B. Moreover, as B. Footnote The reserve land problem in B. Reserves in the Peace River block were surveyed for the Fort St. John, Hudson's Hope and Saulteaux Bands in because of increased settlement in the region and were based on the Treaty Eight formula of acres per capita. Since all lands for these bands were located within the Peace River block, Footnote which was under federal jurisdiction until , the province of B.

There have been some reserve land transactions regarding the Fort St. John Band which have raised questions concerning its land entitlement under the terms of Treaty Eight. In , D. Robertson "surveyed a reserve 28 square miles [17, acres] for the Fort St. John Band of Beaver Indians. John Indian Reserve No.

John Band. As indicated by Indian Superintendent E. Galibois, this reserve was replaced by Beaton River I. These three reserves were confirmed by order-in-council P. John I. John Band under the provisions of Treaty Eight. Issues dealing with the legality of the surrender and the reserve land entitlement question are presently before the provincial courts.

Reserve land entitlement problems have also existed for bands which were located outside the Peace River block and for non-signatory bands. By , the only signatory band for whom land had not been provided under Treaty Eight was the Fort Nelson Band.

This bands was situated outside the Peace River block and the problem of providing its land allotment, therefore, came within the terms of reference of the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs McKenna-McBride Commission. Footnote Likewise, the selection and allotment of reserves for the non-signatory bands were dealt with by the McKenna-McBride Commission. After the commission visited the Fort Nelson area in , it decided not to deal with the question of reserve allotments for this band and instead issued Interim Report No.

Footnote The Slave Indians of the Fort Nelson Band did not claim reserve entitlement until , due to lengthy negotiations with the province of B. Reserves for the non-treaty bands were created in pursuant to Interior Report No. Reserves totalling about 4, acres were set aside for the nomadic Indians resident in the western portion of Treaty Eight, immediately east of the Arctic divide, including the Liard River, McLeod Lake and Fort Grahame Indians.

More recently, the question of a possible adhesion to Treaty Eight by some non-signatory bands has been raised. There is the problem, however, of the province's stand on providing reserves. Finally, there are the unfulfilled treaty land entitlement provisions for those Indians resident in the Treaty Eight portion of the Northwest Territories. In , s. At this meeting, it was noted that resolution of the land entitlement question in the Northwest Territories about , acres should not be further postponed because of settlement due to northern development.

It was also indicated that the Indians were divided on the question of whether to insist on full land entitlement and, consequently, might consider renegotiation of the treaties. To examine these questions, the Nelson Commission was appointed to investigate the unfulfilled provisions of Treaties Eight and Eleven.

Footnote The alternatives presented to the 15 Indian communities were:. During the course of the presentations, it was explained that the choice of any alternative but the taking of reserve lands as provided in the treaties would necessitate a renegotiation of the treaties and the consent of the Indians of the Northwest Territories. Footnote The commission indicated that no consensus emerged on the issue and that the Indians did not understand the distinction between land ownership, hunting and fishing rights, and mineral rights.

Footnote No action was taken until almost a decade later. More insight into the views of the Mackenzie peoples was given by the Report of the Indian Act Consultation Meeting, held in Yellowknife in The report reflected the importance of the treaty lands issue but did not state a conclusion. Footnote Not until was a single reserve site chosen anywhere in the Mackenzie District. The fulfilment of treaty obligations regarding hunting, fishing and trappings rights had produced much conflict, controversy and bitterness.

The Indians understood that, in return for signing Treaty Eight, their economic system was to be guaranteed and protected. However, the extent to which governments would impose legal restrictions on Indians' access to fish and wildlife resources and the extent to which they would restrict non-Indian competition has been a subject of debate in the post-treaty period.

The game restrictions on native and non-native trappers that followed the treaty negotiations have caused considerable hardship for many Indians. In , the province of Alberta closed beaver hunting for two years. When Treaty Inspector Conroy and N. Sergeant Mellor arrived at Fort Chipewyan in , "the Indians were Section 4 of the Game Act established closed season on moose, caribou, mink, muskrat, ptarmigan, wild geese, wild ducks, etc.

Furthermore, game laws and their application to Indians were discussed in the House of Commons on 8 June The solicitor general, the Honourable Arthur Meighen, commented on the game restrictions:. The Indian outside his reserve must comply with any provincial restrictions with respect to hunting or the preservation of game. The Indians have sometimes resisted the imposition of these restrictions by the provinces, but the policy of the department has been to get them to comply, I do not want to give that as a final opinion, but that is my impression.

In and again in the Dogribs, Chipewyans, Slaveys and Yellowknives at Fort Resolution boycotted the treaty days in violation of treaty promises. They refused to accept treaty money as a protest against the government and against the imposition of strict game law regulations in violation of treaty promises.

The introduction of the registered trapline system in B. The Indian Affairs Department's concern about the protection of these rights is evident in the following report:.

The condition of the Indians in the northerly and outlying districts who are still dependent upon the chase for their livelihood has become a matter of grave concern to the department.

During recent years there has been an alarming increase in the number of white trappers who are encroaching upon hunting grounds in the northern parts of the various provinces, which were formerly used by Indians only. White trappers are using poison extensively, and this illegal and vicious practice is becoming a grave menace to game conservation. Not a single instance of the use of poison by any Indian trapper anywhere in Canada has ever come to the attention of the department.

It is felt that unless some protection is afforded, the Indian trappers in the northern regions, where other means of livelihood are not available, may become dependent, owing to the depletion of the game. Hunting an fishing are the aboriginal vocations of the primitive Indians. By immemorial usage the Indians are conservationists of the game and fish, and may be expected to continue so, if protected; on the other hand, if whites are allowed to deplete the fish and game on Indian hunting grounds, the Indians themselves will naturally take all they can, while they can, and there is grave danger that such a situation may bring about intensive competition between whites and Indians, ending in the virtual extermination of valuable species.

Indian families, in most cases, are permanent residents, and their hunting grounds are recognized among themselves, and handed down from one generation to another, whereas white trappers are frequently of the itinerant class, whose practice is to trap out an area and then move elsewhere.

Author Hugh Brody has argued that the registered trapline system in northeastern B. Fort St. John area produced a severe limitation on Indian land use and that the Indians were encouraged to believe that the guarantees promised in Treaty Eight would be secured under this system.

About First Nations Treaty Process. First Nations in Treaty Process. Incremental Treaty Agreements. First Nations A-Z Listing. Forest Consultation and Revenue Sharing Agreements.

Strategic Engagement Agreements. Economic and Community Development Agreements. Forestry Agreements. After much discussion about the virtues of annual payments versus lump sums and what kind of reserves would be appropriate for northerners, who tended to live in small family groups rather than communally in large tribes, a party of treaty commissioners consisting of former lieutenant governor David Laird , civil servant James Andrew Joseph McKenna and politician James Hamilton Ross set out in the summer of to negotiate Treaty 8 with the Cree, Denesuline Chipewyan , Dane-zaa Beaver and other inhabitants of the territory.

The three treaty commissioners left Athabasca Landing on 3 June for a territory that was not well-known to settlers. The first signing of Treaty 8 occurred at Lesser Slave Lake on 21 June , and included representatives of the Cree. The commissioners believed that it would be easy to sign other groups once some had already joined, and missionaries — including Father Lacombe , an influential priest who travelled with the treaty party itself — encouraged Indigenous people to sign.

Eventually, the signatories agreed to the treaty based on a number of oral promises, including that the old and poor would be taken care of, that medical care would be provided as needed and — most importantly — that nothing would be done to interfere with their way of life.

The need to guarantee that the Indigenous people would be able to hunt, trap and fish as they had always done emerged at every location that the commissioners visited. Following Lesser Slave Lake, the commissioners split up in order to cover more ground.

James Ross and James McKenna arrived at Fort Chipewyan on 13 July, where similar issues arose; according to Pierre Mercredi, an interpreter for the Denesuline, the treaty that he read to them and that they signed did not include a clause on hunting regulations, which he maintained was added later.

The commissioners reported that their trip was successful, though there were groups they had not been able to reach. Some of these would be included starting in The eventual boundaries of the proposed treaty were based on mining areas, the presence of prospectors, transportation corridors to the Klondike and the need to create peace between the few existing settlers and First Nations. The terms were drawn up prior to the actual negotiations, but finalized during negotiations at Lesser Slave Lake, and were similar to those written down in previous treaties , in that they provided reserves , annual cash payments annuities , and other promises in exchange for the surrender of the land.

The written terms also included the right to pursue hunting, trapping and fishing, subject to certain regulations, and excluding tracts that might be required for settlement, mining, lumbering, trading or other initiatives.

Reserves were to be granted based on the arithmetic of one square mile about 2. Immediate cash payments for everyone were to be followed by smaller annual payments, with larger amounts going to chiefs and headmen.

Salaries for teachers to instruct the children were also included in the treaty terms. Agricultural implements and livestock for groups that took reserves and were interested in cultivating the land were to be provided; extra cattle could be acquired by those who wanted to ranch. Further adhesions to the treaty additional signings took place after It is important to note, however, that inconsistent and false reports of the commissioners have led to a muddled understanding of Treaty 8 adhesions and admittances.

As a result, gaps in the knowledge may exist. Macrae was appointed to obtain the adhesions of the Indigenous peoples at Fort St. John and Fort Resolution.