Treaties, Politics, and Opportunities?

Relationships

One of the recurring themes throughout this course is the theme of relationships. It is one of the most

important concepts in Aboriginal philosophies, Politics is all about the relationship between the individual andthe Nation. As we move into talking about Aboriginal people and politics, the concept of Treaties really isanother moment where we’re talking about relationships.

Treaties were, and still are, ways of defining relationships between Indigenous peoples and European

settlers, or those who came afterwards.

Here’s another way to look at it. Imagine you’re sitting with someone you don’t know, who doesn’t speak thesame language, and who has an item that you would like to have. You also have an item that he or she wouldlike to have. How do you decide what you will exchange and how you’re going to do it? There’s no rule book. You’ll have to figure it out, through trial and error, and define the relationship between the two of yousomehow. When you look at the Treaties, that’s what you see: a process of trial and error, where Indigenousand non-Indigenous people did their best to define the rules of how to live together, while still maintainingthemselves as Nations.

Treaties

Roughly half of all Aboriginal People in Canada are descendents of people who signed treaties. Starting in 1701, Aboriginal People in what is now Canada signed treaties with the British government and later with the Canadian government.

Treaties are essentially documents that set out the conditions under which the British or Canadian governments could gain access to lands traditionally occupied by Indian people. Many of the early treaties were straight land for cash deals. Most of those treaties involved Aboriginal People living in what is now Eastern Canada. It was not until the Robinson Treaties, signed with Aboriginal People living around Lakes Huron and Superior in 1850, that Aboriginal People received not only cash, but also reserves, annuities and hunting and fishing rights on unoccupied land.

The later historical treaties, known as the Numbered Treaties, contained increasingly complex ongoing obligations on the part of the Canadian government in exchange for title to Aboriginal lands, mostly in the northwest.

The "Numbered Treaties" - 11 of them - were signed between 1871 and 1921 as the Canadian government began to pursue settlement, farming and resource development in the west and north of the country.

The 11 treaties cover Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and portions of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and British Columbia. Indians who occupied these territories ceded vast tracts of land with the signing of these treaties.

Today, the process of negotiating treaties is far from over. A number of Indian groups are currently in negotiations with the federal government to create modern-day treaties, also known as comprehensive land claim settlements.

Adapted from CBC at

Treaties from the Beginning

Well, first, you start with agreeing to talk. It might sound silly, but agreeing to be civil is the stepping stone totalking about other things. That's what the first treaties were all about. The Peace and Friendship Treatiesof the 18th Century, and the Two-Row Wampum or Kaswentha between the Haudenosaunee and theEuropean settlers are two examples of the beginnings of this "conversation" or relationship between Nativeand non-Native.

Peace and Friendship Treaties

The Peace and Friendship Treaties are basically exactly what they say they are. In them, there’s some

discussion about which Nation, whether it be Indigenous or non-Indigenous, can do what and where, but

basically they are treaties where the Nations of the East, notably the Mi’kmaq and the Maliseet, and the

British Crown agree to a relationship of Peace and Friendship. They start out simply enough, but like anythingelse, become more complicated as the relationship evolves.

Two-Row Wampum Treaty

The Two-Row Wampum is another treaty that sets out to define how Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoplewill relate to each other. Basically, what it says is that Haudenosaunee people will travel in their canoe, andEuropeans will travel in their ship, both traveling side by side, but not interfering in each other's directions

Modern Treaties, aka Land Claims

Land Claims are modern treaties. They have been in the process of negotiation for many decades, and

sometimes take upwards of 25 years to finalize. There are three major modern treaties (James Bay/Northern Quebec, Nunavut, and Nisga’a), and several dozens of smaller ones. For the purposes of this course, we will be examining only these three largest.

Canadian Treaties since 1973

Since 1973, the Federal Government and Indigenous Nations have negotiated and signed over 12 treaties. These modern treaties address matters related to lands and resources. Some provide for the negotiation of self-government agreements as well. Most if not all of them have taken over twenty years of negotiation to finalize.

James Bay/Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA)

Extinguishment means that by agreeing to the treaty, the Indigenous people named in thetreaty (in the JBNQA, the Inuit, Cree and Naskapi) agree to forever snuff out any claims to landoutside what is agreed to in the treaty itself. They forever have no more rights anywhere elseoutside the boundaries of the treaty territory. It is the oldest and most out-dated policy, and isunjust because it is asking Indigenous communities to surrender forever something for whichthe true value is uncertain, and which they have had since long before the Europeans came.

Joint Management Bodies are organizations that manage and distribute the funds that ariseout of the treaty, as well as any programs, education, land and resource management, and so on. The joint management bodies of the JBNQA have representatives from the Cree, Naskapiand Inuit, as well as the Federal Government. It is the Federal Government who controls theJoint Management Board.

The JBNQA contains stipulations about remuneration (being paid back) for the loss of and damage to the

Land, education, health care, and resource management, with a significant difference to past Treaties: It alsocontained a guaranteed annual income for hunters and trappers. The whole thrust of land claims to that pointhad been to move people off the Land and into communities, but the JBNQA uses a small amount of theincome generated by the hydroelectric development to assist those still living on the Land.

Overall, though, the JBNQA has many problems. At the grassroots level, there is a lot of distrust because of many parts of the treaty which have yet to be implemented thirty years after its signing. As well, many

unforeseen environmental problems due to mass flooding for the hydroelectric projects have caused havoc (chaos and huge problems) in the communities of the North, as have continued hydroelectric development.

Nunavut Treaty

The negotiations for the Nunavut Treaty were begun by the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada in 1975, when they

attempted to negotiate a global land claim for all Inuit of Canada. In 1978, regional groups began to negotiate their own claims. At that time, the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) wanted self-government included in their treaty, which was inspired by the Greenland Home Rule example. This was mostly unsuccessful as a negotiation point till the late 1980s. By 1989, only two land claims or modern treaties had ever been negotiated, but the TFN persevered, and succeeded in having Article 4 of the Treaty agreed upon, which is the self-government clause. The Nunavut land claim resulted in $550 million being offered to 27,000 beneficiaries, as well as a certain amount of self-government within the larger Canadian nation, throughbecoming the third territory after the Yukon and Northwest Territories. It is the largest land claim ever negotiated, and makes the Inuit of Nunavut the largest land-holders in North America. There are many joint management boards, as well as guaranteed annual income for hunters and elder support. This is known as “soft” money, as it is a limited program for five years, and is a direct outgrowth of the first seeds planted by the JBNQA.

The Inuit of Nunavut will control as outright owners 18% of the land base of Nunavut, and control the rest

through government as they are the vast majority of the population of the territory.

Once the final agreement was signed in 1992, the TFN ceased to exist, and became Nunavut Tungavik

Incorporated, which is responsible for the finances and management of culture and language programs, as well as others.

This Treaty also includes an extinguishment clause.

Nisga’a Treaty

The Nisga'a Treaty is a negotiated agreement between the Nisga'a Nation, the Government of British

Columbia (B.C.) and the Government of Canada. The last step needed to give legal effect to the Treaty took place on April 13, 2000, when Parliament passed the Nisga'a Final Agreement Act. The Nisga'a Treaty is the first modern-day treaty in B.C. and is the fourteenth modern treaty in Canada to be negotiated since 1976.

The Nisga'a People

The Nisga'a live in a fairly remote area of northwestern British Columbia. Approximately 2500 of the 5500

Nisga'a live in the Nass Valley, which they share with about 100 non-Aboriginal residents. Forestry is the

dominant economic activity in the Nass Valley, but fishing, eco-tourism, pine mushroom harvesting and

service industries are also important.

The Nisga’a Treaty contains elements of self-government. There is no extinguishment clause, which meansthat the people who are beneficiaries of the Treaty will still maintain their Aboriginal Rights to fish, hunt andotherwise use the Land, essentially what amounts to being Aboriginal property rights. There are 6000beneficiaries of this Treaty, and the financial remuneration (payment) was $190 million, and 2000 km2,including subsurface rights, which in most other Treaties, the Government kept rather than return them to theIndigenous peoples. The Nisga’a Treaty cancels out all tax exempt status for those under its umbrella, andalso will eventually replace most of the Indian Act, except where the Indian Act defines who is eligible to beNisga’a. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms will apply, as will all general laws. For the economicwell-being of the community, the Nisga’a will own the forest resources within their territory, and individualscan purchase timber licenses for 150,000 square metres. As well, the Nisga’a will have rights to 26% of theNaas River salmon fishery for subsistence and sale. The Nisga’a territory is run by the Nisga’a Lisimsgovernment, based on Nisga’a traditions, which controls citizenship, cultural programs, education, and so on,all with powers on a provincial level.