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Signed August 23 and 28 and September 9, 1876 Location Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt and Battle River | ||
Treaty 6 is an agreement between the Canadian monarch and the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine, and other band governments of First Nations at Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt and Battle River. The area agreed upon by the Plains and Woods Cree represents most of the central area of the current provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. One Manitoba band also signed on to the treaty by adhesion in 1898. The treaty signings began in August 1876, with adhesions added in 1898 in central Saskatchewan in the Montreal Lake area.
Contents
Reasons
At this time, the buffalo were disappearing at an alarming rate, because they were being systematically slaughtered by European settlers for their fur and meat. The chiefs realized that if they did not sign a treaty with the crown they might starve. A second major reason for the signing of the treaty was that smallpox had recently been introduced by settlers and spread through the area, killing many of the Cree who had no immunity to this new disease.
Terms
According to the European version of history and terms of Treaty Making, the First Nations people gave up their customary title to the land under common law in exchange for provisions from the government. The First Nations understanding is radically different from the British version; due to the nature of oral histories, translations (for example there is no concept of "land ownership" or "cede", which follows from the concept of land ownership, in the Cree language), and British customs, there continues to be a controversy as to the exact terms as they were understood at the time of the Treaty signings.
The Plain and Wood Cree Tribes of Indians, and all other the Indians inhabiting the district hereinafter described and defined, do hereby cede, release, surrender and yield up to the Government of the Dominion of Canada, for Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors forever, all their rights, titles and privileges, whatsoever, to the lands included within the following limits...
In exchange, certain areas were "reserved" (i.e. protected from encroachment by white settlers). These lands can be taken or sold by the government, but only with the consent of the natives peoples or with compensation. In addition the government promised to open schools for Indian children and restrict the sale of alcohol on reserves.
Each native family of five covered by Treaty 6 also received 4.45 square miles (11.5 km2) of land (128 acres (52 ha) per person), which they could sell back to the Government of Canada for compensation. Each person immediately received $12 (CA$) and an additional $5 a year. The chief and other band officer would receive a salary of $25 per year plus one horse, one harness, and one wagon or two carts. The people would, collectively, also receive $1500 per year for ammunition and fishing net twine. As well each family was to be given an entire suite of agricultural tools including ploughs, axes, hoes, and several bags of seed, as well a payment, at the Indian agent's discretion of up $1000 per year for the first three years after a reserve was surveyed. However most of these terms were not kept by the government, and the native people were left reliant on the government for support.
Medicine Chest Clause
One of the selling points of the treaty was that a medicine chest would be kept at the home of the Indian agent for use by the people. Another of the selling points was the guarantee of assistance for famine or pestilence relief.
The "medicine chest clause" has been interpreted by native leaders to mean that the federal government has an obligation to provide all forms of healthcare to First Nations people on an ongoing basis. In particular, the Assembly of First Nations considers the funding of the Non-Insured Health Benefits program as one aspect of this responsibility.
At the time Treaty 6 was signed, the famous medicine chest clause was inserted at Indian insistence that the Indian agent should keep a medicine chest at his house for use. Today Indian thinking is this means medical care, in general terms, the medicine chest may be all they had at that time and place but today we have a broader range of medical care and this is a symbol for that.
The interpretation of that clause is very different for the federal government employees or bureaucrats and the Indian leadership because to us and to our elders and leaders who negotiated and signed that treaty, it refers to health care and health benefits for our people. And because our traditional way of healing is still present and alive but we recognized that we would need that assistance
Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations
The Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations was created in the spring of 1993 by 17 of Treaty Six band governments to be the "united political voice" of the Treaty Six First Nations.
On 6 July 2012, the City of Edmonton, represented by Mayor Stephen Mandel signed a partnership agreement with the Confederacy. This believed to be the first such agreement between a city in Alberta and a group of First Nations governments. Edmonton is within Treaty 6 territory and has the second largest Aboriginal population of any municipality in Canada.