Treaty Making: Examining Indigenous Perspectives and Crown Intent

This essay examines the historical context of treaty making between Indigenous peoples and the Crown, focusing on the perspectives of the First Nations, particularly concerning Treaty 7. It highlights the differing motivations, with the Indians viewing treaties as a means to adapt to economic and s...Read More

Running head: TREATY MAKING
TREATY MAKING
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Author Note

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The Indians viewed the treaties from the perspective of the ushering in of the economic
and social changes that shall enhance their life. Indulgence in fur trading had provided the
Indians an experience of how to deal with the Europeans, and they had already anticipated that
their lands shall be taken away. Hence the Indians were favourably disposed to the idea of
having a treaty with the Crown and co-habit in the continent of America with the Europeans by
means of demarcating their territories by means of peaceful agreement. The very fact that the
Indians shall be paid for the land made them all the more favourably disposed towards entering
into treaties with the Europeans (Hildebrandt, Rider & Carter, 1996).
The Crown on the other hand had surreptitious motives behind entering into treaties with
the Indians. The Crown had the ulterior motive of exploiting the differences that had crept into
the Indian tribes, under the garb of trying to project that it was actually trying to be amicable
with the Indians and had care and concern for the interests of the original inhabitants of the
continent (Hildebrandt, Rider & Carter, 1996).
The central issue of claim in the article “Blood Tribe seeks massive land claim in Federal
Court”, is the addressing of the injustice that was meted out to the Blood Tribe by the
Government of Canada. According to the folk lores of the indigenous Indians the hilly region of
the Southern Alberta were formed by the intestines of a particular beast who had swallowed a
person alive, and he had escaped by splitting the stomach of the beast causing the intestines to
spill out. The land had been occupied by the Canadian Government, and the claim of the Red
Indians to the land to be restored had time and again been rejected by the Canadian Government
time and again (Southwick, 2018).
With regard to the treaties conducted between the Indians and the Europeans, the cultural
factor of having a peaceful mindset among the former is quite evident. According to the Indians,

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land cannot be surrendered as it is considered as highly sacred. However treaties could be made
to offer land between in-laws, as payment to a spiritually elevated person, and between
belligerents to settle a dispute (Ray, Miller & Tough, 2000).
Prior to the Treaty 7, the Indians had never experienced making treaty with foreigners.
However, they used to enter into treaties with the other Indian tribes. It was a matter of festivity
during which they smoked sacred pipes and other traditional customs were observed. The
concept of treaty was as such not alien to them, but by making treaty with Europeans, the Indians
had gained a different experience (Ray, Miller & Tough, 2000).
The modern issues that have developed as a result of the misrepresented treaty process in
Treaty 7 are the clashes between the Indians and the Europeans over the issue of land sharing.
The Indians had been deprived of their land and had been betrayed with regard to the fulfillment
of the terms of the treaties, and their efforts to seek justice had been jeopardized (Ray, Miller &
Tough, 2000).

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References
Hildebrandt, W., Rider, D. F., & Carter, S. (1996). True Spirit and Original Intent of Treaty 7.
McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP.
Ray, A. J., Miller, J., & Tough, F. (2000). Bounty and Benevolence: A History of Saskatchewan
Treaties (Montreal: McGill.
Southwick, R. (2018). Canada's largest First Nation seeks massive land claim that cuts into
national park | CBC News. Retrieved from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-blood-tribe-kanai-blackfoot-land-claim-
waterton-1.4716390