INDG 100 Final Exam: Royal Proclamation, Treaties and Indigenous Lands

This assignment solution for a Sociology course (INDG 100) analyzes several key historical documents and acts that have shaped the relationship between the Crown, First Nations, and Métis peoples in Canada. The solution begins with an overview of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, its significance in establishing a framework for treaties and its protection of Aboriginal interests. It then examines Indian title, the Act for the Better Protection of the Lands and Property of Indians in Lower Canada (1850), and the British North America Act (1867), highlighting how each document defines and influences Indigenous rights and land claims. The solution further explores the Rupertsland and North-Western Territory Order (1870), the Manitoba Act (1870), the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (1930), and the Numbered Treaties. Each section explains the context, terms, and impact of these agreements, demonstrating their historical significance and ongoing relevance to Indigenous communities in Canada. The assignment fulfills the requirements of a final take-home exam, addressing the relationship between these documents and the historical interactions between Indigenous peoples, the British/Canadian Crown, and the Métis population, while also demonstrating how these documents connect and build upon each other.

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Indigenous 100
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PART I
The Royal Proclamation, 1763
The Royal Proclamation is was issued after the seven years of war by King George II who had an
aim of establishing an administration in North America territories. These North America
territories had originally been ceded under the treaty of Paris by France to Britain. This
proclamation was considered to be really important as is the basis for a constitutional framework
for different treaties of negotiation with the Aboriginal people in Canada (Tough, 2018). In
addition to this, this proclamation was also a very important tool that facilitated the America
Revolution in 1775. It was also a tool that was used to reserve a piece of lands in North America
specifically for use and occupation by the Aboriginal people.
There is a special section of this particular act that protects the Aboriginals interest. This is
according to section 25 of the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982. This section clearly suggests that
there is nothing that in Canada's charter of human rights and freedoms that can undermine the
Aboriginals entitlement and rights that the Royal proclamation suggests (Pasternak, 2014). The
Royal proclamations were referred to as the chief principle in matters regarding the Aboriginals.
Indian title
Unlike the Royal Proclamation, the Indian title also called the Aboriginal title was quite specific
in nature. This was commonly referred to as the rights of exclusive occupancy of land by
Indians. Despite its specific nature, the Indian title has its origin from the Royal Proclamation
(Wood & Rossiter, 2011).

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It argued that Indians were already present and were organized into various societies. This,
therefore, implied that Indians had a legal righty to stay on those pieces of land as they wished
to. This special right of Indians to live in these pieces of land was as unique as it was based on
the fact that their forefathers were occupants of that piece of land.
Act for the Better Protection of the Lands and property of Indians in Lower Canada, 1850
This act was used as a guide with whom the Federal government was to use so as to interact with
the Aboriginal people. It granted various constitutional powers to the federal government
especially over the Indians and some other reserve land users.
This act clearly defines who is an Indian and who can assume the Indian status as per the
Canadian constitution. There are also some special rights and duties that come along as a result
of holding the Indian status in Canada as well.
This act provided that there certain conditions that had to be fully met for one to be considered
Indian according to the law. Some of these conditions are outlined below;
a) One must have Indian blood. This is to mean that their biological parents had to be
Indians
b) All descendants of people with Indian blood and the people they married were considered
to be Indian
c) People who were adopted by Indian parents
British North American Act, 1867 and sec 91(24)
This act provides a legislative authority of the Canadian parliament in relation to the affairs of
their subjects. This act outlines the distinct subjects under legislative authority by the parliament

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and these are; Indians and Land reserves for Indians. This section is applicable to all Aboriginals
regardless of whether or not they were on a reserve, status or non-status.
Another section of this act provides that the federal government bears a unique responsibility of
protecting the welfare and all native people in Canada. This section was derived from the
historic nature of the two parties.
Ruperstland and North-Western Territory Order, 1870 and Term 14
This order involved the Ruperstland and North-Western Territories which became the first
Canadian territories. The region legally became part of Canada but it lacked economy as well as
the infrastructure to sustain its status. As a direct consequence of this, the territory fell under the
jurisdiction of the federal government (Parlee, 2015).
In order for that to happen there were a number of issues that were to be made by both parties
involved.
Some of the conditions that were to be met are outlined below;
a) Canada was supposed to pay 300,0002 once Rupert's land had been officially transferred.
b) The Company was supposed to retain some important posts that they occupied in the
North West Territories. It was also provided that within twelve months after they had
surrendered the land they had an option to choose a block of land that adjoined each of
the posts within nay areas and/or section of British North America as long as it did not
comprise of Canada and/or Britain (O'Toole, 2015).

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c) Another condition was that the size of each block was not supposed to exceed 300 acres
of land in the Upper Fort Gary region and 10 acres of land in the Upper Fort Garry
region.
Manitoba Act, 1870, and Sec 31
This act provided that Manitoba be enlisted as the fifth province of Canada. It marked a legal
resolution of the struggle for self-determination that had existed between the federal government
and the residents of the Red River colony (Krasowski, 2011). This act came into play as a direct
consequence of the federal government purchase of Rupert’s land.
It is important to note that this Act had a unique feature in it. It contained unique protection for
the Metis region. Most of the people did not know about this during that time and as a result of
that, a number of people from Metis moved to the North West Territories.
Metis later became a province of its own and moved out of the North West Territories.
Natural resources Transfer Agreement, 1930
This act is a combination of a series of acts that were passed to transfer the control Crown land
as well as other natural resources from the federal government to provincial governments. The
provinces that were affected by this act are; Manitoba and Alberta.
The federal government did this with the aim of controlling and overseeing the land as well as
natural resources from these provinces in order to facilitate economic development in the areas
and stir towards reaching a national goal that was populating Prairie West as quickly as possible

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so that it could in a position to be incorporated into the national economy (Godlewska, Moore,
Bednasek, 2010).
Numbered Treaties
These comprised of eleven treaties that were made between the Crown and the Indigenous
people from the year 1871 to 1921 (Fraser & Viswanathan, 2013). Some of the areas that were
covered by these treaties comprise of areas between the Lake woods and Northern Ontario.
These treaties were meant to provide the Crown with land for the industrial revolution and white
settlement.
The indigenous people played a very noble role to the federal government for offering their land
to be used for white settlement and industrial development (Elias, Busby, Martens, 2015). As a
result of these, the Crown offered to reward them. Quite a number of promises were made to
them. For instance, they were promised special rights to the treaty lands and other incentives
such as cash, fishing tools, and hunting tools.
The numbered treaties had very controversial terms that affected the indigenous people in
various ways. It is important to note that some of these treaties and their time still have an effect
on the indigenous people in Canada up to date (Chambers, 2012).

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References
Chambers, C. (2012). “We are all treaty people”: The contemporary countenance of Canadian
curriculum studies. In Reconsidering Canadian curriculum studies (pp. 23-38). Palgrave
Macmillan, New York.
Elias, B., Busby, K., & Martens, P. (2015). One little, too little: Counting Canada's indigenous
people for improved health reporting. Social Science & Medicine, 138, 179-186.
Fraser, C. M., & Viswanathan, L. (2013). The crown duty to consult and Ontario municipal-First
Nations relations: Lessons learned from the Red Hill Valley Parkway project. Canadian
Journal of Urban Research, 22(1), 1-19.
Godlewska, A., Moore, J., & Bednasek, C. D. (2010). Cultivating ignorance of Aboriginal
realities. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 54(4), 417-440.
Krasowski, S. K. (2011). Mediating the numbered treaties: eyewitness accounts of treaties
between the Crown and Indigenous Peoples, 1871-1876 (Doctoral dissertation, Faculty
of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina).
O'Toole, D. (2015). Section 31 of the Manitoba Act, 1870: A Land Claim Agreement. Man.
LJ, 38, 73.
Parlee, B. L. (2015). Avoiding the resource curse: Indigenous communities and Canada’s oil
sands. World Development, 74, 425-436.
Pasternak, S. (2014). Jurisdiction and settler colonialism: Where do laws meet?. Canadian
Journal of Law & Society/La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société, 29(2), 145-161.

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Tough, F. (2018). Financialising a junk charter?: British capital and the survival of the
mercantilist Hudson’s Bay Company during the age of high imperialism, 1870-
1914 (No. 18006).
Wood, P. B., & Rossiter, D. A. (2011). Unstable properties: British Columbia, aboriginal title,
and the “new relationship”. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 55(4),
407-425.