The Robinson Treaties: A Call to Order

In 1850, Sir William B. Robinson, on behalf of the British Crown, negotiated and signed two major treaties with the Ojibway of Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The treaties are referred to as the Robinson–Superior and the Robinson–Huron treaties.

The Crown had granted lands and mining rights north of Lake Huron and Lake Superior without the consent of the Ojibway, who protested and filed petitions. Seeing their claims ignored, the Ojibway of the Sault Ste. Marie area took action in 1849 by taking over a mine and expelling the miners (Richardson 1987, 24). Having been called to order, the Crown was forced to comply with the procedure set out in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Peace was key to colonization and industrial development. Treaties were needed. The need to conclude treaties was obvious, but it was also the decent thing to do.

Portrait of a group of Ojibways, Long Lake, Ontario, 1916.

Photo credit:  Canadian Museum of Civilization, photograph by F. W. Waugh, MCC 36751

The Robinson treaties were a determining factor in subsequent events, serving as a model for the major treaties signed as colonization moved westward following the founding of the Canadian Confederation in 1867.

Louis Riel and the Métis Rebellion

In 1670, the King of England granted the Hudson’s Bay Company a monopoly over the fur trade in the vast territory known as Rupert’s Land, which covered the entire Hudson Bay drainage basin and extended westward as far as the Rocky Mountains. Countless marriages between fur traders and First Nations women across the territory resulted in the development of a distinct Métis identity and culture. On the prairies, the language of the Métis – Michif – was a mixture of French and several Aboriginal languages. “Some Métis formed permanent settlements around trading centres. The buffalo hunt was an important organizing feature of other, more mobile Métis groups.” (Canada, .Royal Commission 1996).

Soon after Confederation, in 1869, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold its rights in Rupert’s Land to the new Dominion of Canada. No one bothered to inform the Métis and Indian tribes of what was in store for them. What is more, caravans of settlers set out from eastern Canada to grab the best lands before the transaction had even been finalized. As more settlers moved west, the Métis began to fear the establishment of an agricultural society, that their way of life was threatened and that their land was being invaded. “Under the leadership of Louis Riel, the Metis expelled a team of government surveyors plotting routes for incoming settlers in 1869.” (Canada, Indian Affairs 1997, 57)

The newly appointed governor of the territory was denied entry. Métis resistance increased. The Hudson’s Bay Company trading post in Fort Garry was seized. Now in a strong position, the Métis set up a provisional government and adopted a bill of rights demanding that the territories known as Rupert’s Land and the NorthWest could only enter Confederation as a province. Accordingly, the government entered into the negotiations leading to passage of the Manitoba Act in 1870. Unfortunately, when the Métis provisional government executed one of its prisoners, the federal government was compelled to send troops to Manitoba. The promise of amnesty made during the negotiations was not kept and Louis Riel had to go into hiding.

An engraving of Louis Riel, 1873.

Photo credit:  L’Opinion publique, collection of Pierre Lepage

Although the Manitoba Act provided for the granting of land to the Métis, this remained a largely unfulfilled promise. The Métis were unhappy and summoned Louis Riel from the United States, where he had taken refuge. Rebellion broke out in 1885. This time, two Cree chiefs, Big Bear and Poundmaker, rallied their people and joined Riel’s forces. When settlers were killed during a skirmish with Poundmaker’s warriors, the Canadian government responded by sending 8,000 troops west and the rebellion was swiftly quelled. “Riel was convicted of treason in 1885 and sentenced to death. The Indian Chiefs Big Bear and Poundmaker were imprisoned for two years and eight other Indians were hanged.” (Canada, Indian Affairs 1997, 59).

The history of the settlement of western Canada focused so greatly on the Riel affair and the Métis uprising that the conclusion of major treaties with the country’s First Nations was pushed completely into the background. Nevertheless, Louis Riel remains a symbol of both resistance to fait accompli policies and fierce struggle against assimilation.

The Robinson treaties involved huge tracts of land, which was something new. Another first was that the Aboriginal signatories to these treaties surrendered their land titles in return for the setting aside of lands for their exclusive use. The treaties provided for the creation of 20 small reserves. From that point on, the notorious “Indian reserves” would be an integral part of major treaties.

A short history of treaty No.6: Hostile natives block construction of the telegraph line

In 1873, the Government of Canada put off entering into treaties with the First Nations of western Canada. A hostile group of Aboriginal people ordered a member of the Geological Survey team to halt his work. The following year, the federal government authorized contracts for the construction of a telegraph line between Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Cache Creek, British Columbia, that would blaze the trail for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The authorities again turned a deaf ear to the warnings that there would be trouble if the telegraph construction crew headed west without a treaty having been made.

Cree chiefs Mis-ta-wa-sis and Ah-tuk-u-koop and their warriors took action in July 1875 by preventing the telegraph construction crew from moving beyond the elbow of the North Saskatchewan River. They also stopped the Geological Survey team from exploring for ore and oil deposits. The train transporting the equipment for construction of the telegraph was cut off near Fort Carlton and the person in charge was asked to order a halt to the work. He was also warned not to fell any trees west of the South Saskatchewan River for use as telegraph poles.

An engraving of Chief Abraham Mikaskokiséyin, signatory of Treaty No. 6.

Photo credit:  L’Opinion publique, collection of Pierre Lepage

A team working farther east also encountered problems. Twenty-five Indian tents were erected near the work site: the protesters wanted cash settlements for the lands used and the wood cut, because no treaty had been made with them. The chief asked for 50 cents per pole and threatened to have the line destroyed if payment was not received.

The government responded swiftly by sending a well-respected Methodist missionary to the area to visit the Indians and promise a treaty the following year. The Western Cree accepted the proposal and called back their warriors. The work resumed quickly. As promised, Treaty No. 6 was signed with the Plains Cree the following year, in summer 1876.

(Events reported in Ronaghan 1976)

The Crown was anxious to obtain Aboriginal consent, but it was not easy. The situation led treaty commissioners to assure the signatory Aboriginal communities that they could continue to hunt and fish, even on the ceded lands, as long as those lands were not required for settlement. Aboriginal people were thus guaranteed, at least verbally, that they could continue their way of life after the treaty had been signed. So why refuse to sign a treaty that guaranteed they would live under Crown protection and maintain their way of life. Confusion and miscommunication reigned!

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