Treaties

The Blakeney government implemented the Saskatchewan formula, which proposed that land entitlements would be based on First Nation band populations from December 31, 1976 rather than the time that treaties were signed. Action was delayed as Ottawa and Regina fought about the land and money required. A handful of Treaty Land Entitlement claims eventually went forward, including that of the Lucky Man band which received a reserve in the Battleford area 110 years after it had entered treaty (1879). (Waiser, Saskatchewan: A New History, 444).

“There are three major types of claims in Saskatchewan: specific, surrender, and land entitlement. A specific claim arises when a First Nation alleges that the federal government has not lived up to its obligations under treaty or other agreement or legal responsibility (see Table FNLC-1). According to Canada’s land claim policy, a valid specific claim exists when a First Nation can demonstrate that Canada has an outstanding lawful obligation as follows: the non-fulfillment of a treaty or agreement; a breach of an Indian Act or other statutory obligation; the mishandling of Indian funds or assets; or an illegal sale or disposition of Indian land. Canada will also consider claims that go beyond what is considered to be a lawful obligation, usually including failure to compensate a band for reserve land taken or damaged under government authority; or fraud by federal employees in connection with the purchase or sale of Indian land.

A Treaty Land Entitlement claim occurs when a First Nation alleges that the Canadian government did not provide the reserve land promised under treaty. For some, this means that no reserve land was received; for others, that the correct amount was not received…

In September 1992, twenty-five First Nations, the province of Saskatchewan and the Canadian government signed the Saskatchewan Treaty Land Entitlement Framework Agreement... Under the terms of the agreement, the First Nations with outstanding entitlements will receive approximately $539 million over twelve years to purchase just over two million acres of land. As of February 2004, 596,010 acres had attained reserve status. When the TLE process is completed, reserve land will account for just over 2% of the provincial land base. Presently about 1% of the land base is reserve land, but the status Indian population constitutes about 10% of the province’s population.”

Nestor, Rob. “Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan.” University of Regina. Accessed July 2020. https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/first_nations_land_claims.jsp

In 1952, after pressure from the CCF on the Federal Government due to their failure in providing adequate services to Indigenous peoples across the province, the Federal Government transferred jurisdiction of welfare services for off-reserve Indigenous peoples in their entirety. The Department of Indian Affairs now claimed that any person living off reserve for more than a year were under the obligation of the provincial government. However, the transfer of welfare services was not accompanied by any financial assistance for the new responsibilities of the CCF. This meant that the new duty of delivering welfare services to a considerable population would be made ever the more difficult; without funding, services could not be fully implemented, adequately staffed, and resulted in under-serving communities the transfer meant to serve. The complex and confusing process of accessing provincial welfare services often discouraged Indigenous applicants and they frequently ran into uncooperative municipal employees.

To the federal government, in theory, once a status-Indian lived off reserve for over a year they would be assumed by provincial welfare, and incidentally, lost their status. This led to many of those living off reserve (who sought wage labour) in Saskatchewan to move back to their reserves in order to retain access to services provided by Indian Affairs, despite their inadequacy. The loss of status also posed great concern, as access to land and the right to live on their reserve would be threatened after the 12-month mark; undermining access to land directly harmed Indigenous peoples, while the government benefited as they would no longer have a fiduciary duty to any of these persons. These new changes to provincial welfare services, as has been continuously seen in service implementation, failed to address the needs of Indigenous peoples within Saskatchewan due to the paternalistic approach taken. Instead of allocating funds directly to Indigenous peoples, governments continued to fail in directing Aboriginal welfare services.

The North-West Mounted Police was established in 1873 by the government of John A. MacDonald. The Cypress Hills massacre as well as the increasing number of conflicts on the U.S border due to alcohol smuggling are often cited as the main reasons the MacDonald government passed the bill creating the new military-style police force. However, most historians agree that the primary reason for establishing the force was to control First Nations and Métis populations, as the government sought to populate the West with settlers. Under the central authority of Ottawa, the NWMP marched West in 1874. The NWMP served as an arm of colonial control for politicians and lawmakers in Ottawa. For Indigenous communities in the Northwest, it represented an additional source of repression. The newly formed para-military style force was entrusted with wide-ranging powers and duties. Officers acted as Justices of the Peace, able to apprehend and sentence offenders, as well as impose Indian Act polices such as the Pass System. Since western courthouses did not exist at the time on the Prairies, NWMP barracks were often used for court proceedings and as temporary prisons. The NWMP assisted Indian Agents with the ration system, as well as enforcing laws obliging Indigenous students to attend residential schools. Government policies such as the Residential School system, the Sixties Scoop and gender discrimination in the Indian Act subjected Indigenous families to violence, cultural dislocation and land dispossession. The NWMP was successful in instituting a system of surveillance and curtailment, restricting Indigenous people to their reserves, regulating their land use and criminalizing livestock theft to benefit settler farmers and ranchers.

In May 1996, the Shoal Lake Cree Nation and the Red Earth Cree Nation jointly submitted a specific claim to the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, alleging that Canada had breached the terms of Treaty 5 and the 1876 Adhesion by not providing farming lands to the Red Earth and Shoal Lake Cree Nations. Following a near 9 year silence on behalf of the Federal Goverment, the First Nations requested that the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) investigate their claim, despite it not being formally rejected by the Federal Government. In December 2006, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs formally rejected the First Nations' claim. In addition, the ICC found that the Canadian Government had upheld its obligations to provide both First Nations with farming lands in accordance with Treaty 5. However, the ICC report suggests that both reserves are no longer viable places to grow crops and raise animals due to the increase in water levels. This finding by the ICC is significant in the discussion of sustainability and climate vulnerability of the Shoal Lake, Red Earth and James Smith First Nations. The ICC recommended that the Canadian government initiate discussions with all affected communities to find a long-term solution to the problems caused by the condition of their reserve lands.

In February 1987, the Nekaneet First Nation submitted a specific claim to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development seeking compensation under Treaty 4 for outstanding provisions of agricultural benefits, programs and services, annual payments to band members and damages for failure to provide a reserve at the time of the treaty's signing in 1874. On October 23, 1998, the federal government offered to accept Nekaneet's claim for negotiation of a settlement. According to the federal government, this was the first agricultural benefits claim Canada had ever accepted under Treaty 4

An additional settlement was reached between the Nekaneet band and the provincial government of Saskatchewan on September 23, 1992. The settlement concluded that the Nekaneet band has not received reserves of sufficient area to fulfill the requirements of Treaty 4, and that Canada has an unfulfilled land obligation to the band under Treaty 4.

Indian Agents were required to make a yearly report on the reserves in their respective agencies. In 1886, Agent Williams reported that there had been 11 deaths and 2 births in Standing Buffalo band, 18 deaths and 5 births in Pasquah band, 5 deaths and 4 births in Muscowpetung band, and 26 deaths and 7 births on Piapot.

Indigenous people complained of the quality of tobacco, ammunition, and farming implements distributed to them. These were items that had been promised in treaty negotiations, and had been included in the written documents. The tobacco was of such bad quality that in some cases Aboriginal people simply threw it away. The shot distributed the previous year was all No. 5-8 shot, but should have been No. 2 shot instead. The wooden pitchforks that were distributed were of poor quality, and it was recommended that steel ones should be distributed instead, which would make work more efficient. Government officials like Angus Mackay who interacted with Indigenous people recognized the barriers presented by the distribution of improper goods to Indigenous people on the prairies.

As a symbol of the treaty made between the Dakota people and the British in which they would fight together in the War of 1812, Robert Dixon presented the Dakota with seven King George III medals. They were also given a small cannon, which was a symbol of the time the two groups had fought together. Though the battle was mainly fought in the western Great Lakes, Niagara, and St. Lawrence regions, communities in Saskatchewan have ancestry that traces back to this battle. These communities are Standing Buffalo Dakota, Wahpeton Dakota, and Whitecap Dakota.

In 1851, a treaty was signed between the Dakota and the American government that stipulated that they would be provided for during the following fifty years. The Treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, as they were named, also forced the Dakota to cede all remaining lands in Minnesota and a small part of South Dakota. Historical accounts suggest the american government failed to deliver promised food, goods and payment for land transfer to the Dakota bands in 1862, thus breaching treaty promises. The Minnesota Massacre, also known as the Dakota War of 1862, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of Dakota. Following settler encroachment on Dakota lands near the Minnesota river, as well as broken treaty promises, tensions arose and attacks were committed against settler communities, with the american military eventually retaliating against the Dakota bands. The conflict ended with the hanging of 38 Dakota men on December 26, 1862, making it the largest mass execution in american history. Thousands of Dakota fleeing the violence crossed the border into Canada. Oral history accounts suggest that at the time, bounties were potentially being offered for Dakota who were suspected of having participated in the Minnesota Massacre. It is possible americans travelled to Canada and deliberately poisoned Dakota members living there in retaliation for their participation in the Minnesota Massacre. Please see the Robert Goodvoice interview, pages 5-9, for further information.---------------- In 1876, a group of Dakota led by Chiefs Whitecap and Medicine Bear requested that they be granted reserves in British territory, but were refused by government officials on the grounds that they had already signed a treaty with the United States. However, this treaty had been nullified following the Minnesota Massacre. In fact, in 1863 the Lincoln government expelled the Dakota from Minnesota to Nebraska and South Dakota, and their reserves were abolished. Oral history accounts suggest the government of the United States subsequently offered the Dakota who had fled to Canada following the Minnesota Massacre an amnesty. The amnesty was intended to encourage them to return to the United States. They were told that those who returned would receive a quarter section per adult and eighty acres per child. Only one person, Wasoomacanow, returned to the US and received his land. The offer of amnesty for returning Dakota following the Minnesota Massacre was open for ten years.

Will Wagner was sent an order to distribute farm implements to the bands in Treaty 4, but received the order too late to follow through with the request. Wagner stated, however, that had he received the order in time, he would still not have distributed the implements, believing they would simply have been sold instead of used by the Indigenous people.