15 Facts

15 Facts

The Great Law of Peace of the People of the Longhouse is one of the earliest recorded treaties negotiated between Aboriginal tribes. It predates the year 1450, and covered 117 articles governing customs and relationships between the Seneca, Mohawk and Cayuga tribes, among others. It was passed on orally from generation to generation, and was written down for the first time in 1880.

Despite the covenant chain and its promises of neutrality, four of the six Iroquois nations fought on the side of the British during the American Revolution. After the Revolution was over, the non-Loyalist Iroquois that did not fight were excluded from the chain.

The so-called Gunshot Treaty gave the British land rights stretching along Lake Ontario from just west of present-day Toronto east to the Bay of Quinte. The Aboriginals gave up their land rights extending north of the Great Lake within the sound of a gunshot - almost 20 kilometers - in exchange for annual gifts.

When the Jay Treaty was signed, it angered the French as it allowed the British to seize French goods off American ships. The French pulled their minister from the U.S. and began seizing American ships on the Atlantic.

The American government spent around $20 million annually to forcibly remove Aboriginal settlers living on the U.S. plains during bloody conflicts of the 1870's. In comparison, the Canadian government spent slightly more than $730,000 between 1875 and 1905 on costs related to its Aboriginal treaties. There was also comparatively little bloodshed in Canada during this period.

Some Aboriginal nations would not sign these treaties at first, but would wish to be added on at a later date. This is called an adhesion.

Following the 1876 Indian Act, Aboriginals who lived on reserves were forced to carry an identity card, like a passport, every time they stepped off reserve land

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the federal government was paying about three-quarters of its spending on Aboriginals to those living on the Prairies, even though they made up only about one-quarter of the total Aboriginal population in Canada.

Comprehensive land claim settlements deal with areas of Canada where Aboriginal people's claims to Aboriginal rights have not been addressed by treaties, or other legal means. The first of these modern-day treaties was the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, signed in 1975. To date, the federal government has settled 24 self-government and comprehensive land claim areas (two are stand-alone self-government) with Aboriginal people in Canada.

Between 1871 and 1921, the Crown entered into treaties with various First Nations that enabled the Canadian government to actively pursue agriculture, settlement and resource development of the Canadian West and the North. Because they are numbered 1 to 11, the treaties are often referred to as the "Numbered Treaties." The Numbered Treaties cover Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and parts of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and British Columbia.

Between 1760 and 1923, the British Crown signed 56 land treaties with Aboriginal Peoples. Part of the protocol was to award a medal to the chiefs who signed certain treaties. On one side of the medal was a bust of Queen Victoria; on the other, a British officer and a native chief shaking hands.

For Michael Anderson, this handshake symbolizes the profound meaning of historic treaties. Anderson is research director of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, an organization that defends the political interests of the some 30 groups that signed treaties 4, 5, 6 and 10.

Canada’s Constitution Act, 1867(2) does not explicitly delineate federal or provincial authority with respect to the conduct of international affairs.  In 1867, Canada was still a colony of the British Empire, and the British Parliament delegated the power to represent the Dominion of Canada internationally to the British Crown.  However, although the British Crown had the authority to enter into treaties with foreign countries on Canada’s behalf, the Canadian federal government was granted responsibility for implementing those treaties in Canada under section 132 of the Constitution Act, 1867

Treaty making process: Negotiations, Signature, Ratification and Implementation, Coming Into Force

Treaties 8-11 were signed between 1899 and 1921, largely in the northwest, with the exception of Treaty Number 9, which dealt with lands in northern Ontario