Renegotiating Aboriginal Prairie Land Treaties: NOT a Case of Bleeding Heart Liberalism

“We are ALL Treaty People”

So says the government slogan here in Saskatchewan. Is this really true? Well, after looking at the issue both historically and in the present, it is clear that yes, we definitely are all treaty people.

The question that begs to be asked, however, is why do studies show that most non-Aboriginal students in this province believe that the treaties really only benefit First Nations and Metis people? 

This is puzzling, and points to the failure of the public school system to properly educate students in this province (and elsewhere, as well). Research also suggests that these students receive these incorrect views from their parents. 

Over my adult years, I sensed that most non-Aboriginal people are aghast when they become aware of what happened to First Nations children in those awful residential schools. I say my “adult years” because back when I was in high school in the early 1970s I did not learn one thing about residential schools. Indeed, I did not learn one thing about First Nations peoples!

(For anybody unaware of what happened, the residential school policy was developed in the 1870s by the federal government. The residential schools themselves, however, were administered by both Catholic and Protestant churches. First Nations children as young as six years old were taken away from their parents for 10 months of the school year until they turned 16. Their parents had no visitation rights. To say that the vast majority of them were treated poorly, even inhumanely, by their teachers, is an understatement. To acknowledge that the residential school policy was in effect for well over a century is to note that a major crime was committed. Think about these facts for a moment. Perhaps even reflect on how this might have impacted your own family and cultural group.)

Being raised in the Church, I found it implausible that many supposedly Christian school teachers treated young Native children in the abusive ways that they did. These revelations led me to develop a sympathetic attitude toward helping First Nations people, an attitude that came out of a bleeding heart liberalism that I was immersed in during that time. I think that almost everyone I knew shared this perspective, especially those with progressive politics.

Studying the historical context of the land treaties, however, has led me to the conclusion that this bleeding heart liberalism must stop! This is not an issue calling for sympathy. Please allow me to explain. Once again, I ask for a little patience as I share some historical facts on the matter.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is the definitive legal document in outlining Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal relations in North America. This proclamation from the British government contains three very important points. First, it states that the British government and only the British government must engage in land treaty negotiations with the First Nations. (This was an attempt to block the whiskey traders and their ilk from dealing for land, especially in the 13 colonies.) Second, Aboriginal Title exists, meaning that First Nations peoples are allowed to hunt and fish on “crown” land to feed their communities. (Again, I am amazed that I never heard of this even once in my high school education.) Third, “Indian” peoples belong to nations, and as such, negotiations must adhere to nation-to-nation international law.

Most readers know that Canada became a political entity through the passing of the British North America Act of 1867. Far fewer are aware that the statements pertaining to the First Nations in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 still applied with the one caveat that now the Canadian federal government must engage in land treaty negotiations with the original inhabitants of the land.

And this brings me to the main point, namely, that the Treaties of Saskatchewan, specifically Treaties 4 and 6, were negotiated in such a way that I am quite certain everyone save for the most racist among us would agree that they must be renegotiated.

It was the 1870s, and Prime Minister John A. MacDonald sent Alexander Morris, the main Treaty Commissioner of the federal government, to negotiate with the First Nations leaders on behalf of Canada. From what I can discern, both sides in these treaty negotiations were very serious and respectful. The peace pipe was lit, and after some time it seemed as though the treaties were done!

The European settlers would receive parcels of land as the First Nations people would have to live on (quite tiny) reserves. The newcomers would be able to live in peace because the First Nations agreed to this. They would also be able to practice their various European-based religions. In exchange for this, the First Nations people would receive education in schools located right beside the new reserves – the Cree leaders wanted the next generation to know how to read and write to better understand the ways of the Euro-Canadians. They would receive medical help (such as it was in those days), and they would also receive agricultural tools to change from buffalo hunters to farmers. (It is true that any time the First Nations people became successful at farming and out-competed the settlers, and some did, they were quickly relocated to less arable land. This happened in the Qu’Appelle Valley. But I digress!)

Clearly, all the people on the prairies in those days were treaty people.

Unbeknownst to most Canadians, however, and the part of the story that was an epiphany for me, was that at the very same time that Morris and the Cree leaders were engaged in treaty negotiations, there was another legal document being developed back in Ottawa. This document had absolutely no input from First Nations people, yet it changed the lives of every single Aboriginal person in Canada from the 1870s until this very day. It was called the Indian Act.

The Indian Act of 1874 included the racist and horrific residential school policy. When Cree leaders asked about the promised band schools they had negotiated in good faith, they were told that the Indian Act trumped anything in the treaties! First Nations children would be taken from their parents, the Cree were told, and relocated in schools very far away from their reserve. In other words, the original treaty negotiations were virtually meaningless!

It is worthwhile for all Canadians to reflect upon this. My own reflections have led me to eschew the bleeding heart liberalism of my past thinking. This has been replaced by a moral, ethical, legal and economic position on the matter of renegotiating treaties. 

The Canadian government never did fulfill its own end of the deals that are known as Treaties 4 and 6. The colonial settlers clearly did benefit from the treaties – the  First Nations people let them live in peace. In return, their children were taken away from them and treated worse than badly. They did not receive the medical help they asked and negotiated for. Nor were they allowed to become successful at farming, despite the fact that the buffalo herds were completely decimated by the newcomers.

Many non-Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan believe that the treaties have only benefited Aboriginal people. In light of the above discussion, this is quite incredulous. Clearly, the public school system has failed to properly educate people about the original negotiations, about how these treaties were completely trumped by the racist Indian Act.

It is clear that the treaties of the prairies need to be renegotiated. It is also very clear that indeed, We are ALL Treaty People.

[For more on non-Aboriginal students' views on who benefits from treaties in Saskatchewan, please see Tupper, J. & Cappello, M. (2008). Teaching Treaties as (un)usual narratives: Disrupting the curricular commonsense, Curriculum Inquiry, 559-578.]