Between 1871 in and 1921, the British Crown signed eleven treaties with various Indigenous nation. These treaties cover vast areas of Canada, from Ontario to the Alberta-British Columbia border, and northward into the Northwest Territories. Generally, treaty agreements have been understood by Canadian governments as centered around the idea that Canada will have governing rights to the land, ceded by Indigenous people while maintaining certain rights. However, treaties are differently understood by Indigenous peoples as “diplomatic processes for negotiation relations of non-violent and generative co-existence” rather than as a dividing of assets or a fixed legal agreement. These treaties are still in place today.
Historical Context
Following Confederation, the leaders of the newly formed Dominion of Canada had its eyes set on one major goal: the expansion of their land. In order to achieve this, they looked westward towards what we now recognize as Canada’s prairie provinces. Manitoba and the Northwest Territories became part of Canada in 1870, and British Columbia joined following year, and the Government of Canada was committed to building a transcontinental railway that would connect the new Dominion, as well as to settle the surrounding territories.
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 had required the British Crown (as represented by the Dominion of Canada) to enter into formal treaty processes with Indigenous peoples to occupy Indigenous lands. In his book, Clearing the Plains, historian James Daschuk describes the motivation to pursue the treaties asserting that “[t]o Canada, they were a legal imperative, an obstacle to be overcome before settlement could proceed in earnest.”
From the perspective of the federal government, the treaties legally allowed the settlement of the West—allowing for land to be acquired for settlement, agriculture, and a transcontinental railway—while also bringing Indigenous peoples into the purview of the Canadian government, to be governed as the Constitution Act of 1867 imagined.
For Indigenous peoples, there was an impetus to engage in negotiations with the Canadian Government, on behalf of the Crown, to address the changing realities of life in the West, in light of the thinning of bison herds, and the increased settlement of agrarian settlers. Signing treaties signified a renegotiation of the relationship with the Crown, recognizing the shared use of the land. Each treaty covered specific geographic areas and included various promises from the Canadian government to the Indigenous signatories, such as reserve lands, annual payments, farming equipment and assistance, and rights to hunt and fish on traditional lands. On the part of First Nations – at least in the early days of these treaties – they were “seen as reiterating peaceful alliances, securing assurances for both parties to share the wealth associated with First Nations ancestral lands, and ensuring the respectful right for each party to retain their way of life.”
Content of the Numbered Treaties
The numbered treaties were modelled off of the Robinson Treaties which—in 1850—had created a system in which large tracts of land were the subject of the treaty and the provisions included small parcels of land, “reserve” land for Indigenous settlement, and included specific legal and property rights. All of the numbered treaties have a similar scope and include discussion of large tracts of land in exchange for reserve land (meant to remain under control of the Indigenous signatories), and usually include provisions related to annual payments, agricultural development, the provision of education, and health care.
However, the numbered treaties are specific to the context in which they were signed, reflecting the nature and terms of the negotiations. Treaties 1 and 2, for example, include fewer clauses than some of the others, and do not include ongoing rights to hunt and fish on treaty land. Treaty 6, for example, includes specific provisions about health care, namely the maintenance of a “medicine chest,” the terms of which would be important to future cases about the federal responsibility for providing healthcare and relevant treatments to Indigenous peoples.
Importantly, these treaties occurred in a period when the federal government was seeking to “administer its constitutional responsibility for ‘Indians and lands reserved for Indians’” under the British North America Act. While Indigenous people were negotiating the treaties with an understanding of their authority over their lives and territory, Canadian government officials understood themselves to have authority over Indigenous peoples. As a result, the provisions around education, about health care, and about reserve land, among others, would come to be part of the 1876 Indian Act, and the issues that had come to be negotiated (or would be negotiated) as sites of support from the federal government were used to enact violence and control over Indigenous peoples.
| Year | Location | |
| Treaty 1 | 1871 | Southern Manitoba |
| Treaty 2 | 1871 | South-central Manitoba and a small portion of Saskatchewan |
| Treaty 3 (Grassy Narrows Treaty) | 1873 | Northwestern Ontario and eastern Manitoba |
| Treaty 4 (Qu’Appelle Treaty) | 1874 | Southern Saskatchewan and parts of Alberta and Manitoba |
| Treaty 5 | 1875 | Northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and a portion of Ontario |
| Treaty 6 | 1876 | Central Alberta and Saskatchewan |
| Treaty 7 | 1877 | Southern Alberta |
| Treaty 8 | 1899 | Northern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia, northwestern Saskatchewan, and a portion of the Northwest Territories |
| Treaty 9 | 1905-1906 | Northern Ontario and a small part of northeastern Manitoba |
| Treaty 10 | 1906 | Northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, and a small section of the Northwest Territories |
| Treaty 11 | 1921 | The Mackenzie River Basin in the Northwest Territories |
Contemporary Implications
Critics argue that the treaties were often negotiated in bad faith or without the full understanding and consent of Indigenous signatories. Moreover, the Indigenous concept of land sharing and stewardship was fundamentally different from the European view of land ownership and use, leading to conflicts over land rights and resource management. According to political scientist Gina Starblanket, “there is a ongoing disjuncture between the characterization of treaties as nation-to-nation agreements and the political relations that Indigenous peoples have called for since their signing. Indeed, simplistic narratives of land cession and surrender through treaty making have always been contested by Indigenous peoples, who understand treaties as having involved the negotiation of far more complex political arrangements” (79).
Today, the Numbered Treaties are central to discussions about Indigenous rights and land claims in Canada. They are cited in legal battles, negotiation processes, and discussions about the duty to consult Indigenous communities on projects affecting their traditional territories. The interpretation and fulfillment of treaty obligations remain contentious issues, with Indigenous Peoples advocating for recognition of their rights as intended.
Additional resources:
- Treaty Road — an APTN documentary program on the “sites, history and people connected to the signing of the numbered treaties?
- Government of Canada resource on the Numbered Treaties
- Article in the Winnipeg Free Press on the numbered treaties and where they are located…
Contributors: Amélie Dionne, William Patterson, and Saman Ali Zaidi
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