Treaty 1

Treaty between First Nations and Canadian Crown

Treaty 1 (also known as the "Stone Fort Treaty") is an agreement established on August 3, 1871, between the Crown and the Anishinaabe and Swampy Cree, Canadian based First Nations. The first of a series of treaties called the Numbered Treaties that occurred between 1871 and 1921, this accord has been held to be essentially about peace and friendship. However, the eight days of treaty making ended with the Indigenous groups agreeing to "cede, release, surrender and yield up to Her Majesty the Queen and successors forever all the lands" in southern Manitoba to the Crown, in exchange for an annual annuity and material goods such as clothing and agricultural supplies. However, due to the different intentions and understandings of the Canadian officials and the indigenous communities at the time of its creation, this treaty continues to be considered controversial well into the 21st century.

Also known as the Stone Fort Treaty, Treaty 1 would be the first treaty signed since the 1867 formation of the modern Canadian government and one year after the province of Manitoba was formed as a part of the Canadian Confederation.

The treaty was established between Canadian officials and the local indigenous communities as both groups desired the security of land and resources. The Anishinaabe and Swampy Cree Nations sought to maintain their traditional lands while gaining security in transitioning to a new form of life with the incoming arrival of settlers. In its process of annexing the West, the Canadian government sought to assimilate the indigenous peoples in their movement to settle prior areas of trade.

The negotiations of Treaty 1 spanned over a period of eight days from July 27 to August 3, 1871. Led by governor Archibald and his commissioner Wemyss Simpson, the Canadian government invited the indigenous communities to attend negotiations for a treaty at Lower Fort Garry (or Stone Fort). Approximately one thousand indigenous individuals attended including adults and children of all genders, who were led by a number of chiefs that included Mis koo kenew or Red Eagle (also known as Henry Prince). The governor then went on to lay out both his and the Canadian government's terms of negotiations, including the introduction to the idea of reserves. For the Anishinaabe, however, the treaty held a much greater significance as they regarded it as a "Creator sanctioned covenant" that would guarantee the continuation of their livelihood. Unlike the Canadian government, the Anishinaabe also saw the agreement as the beginning of a continuing relationship with the government in which both groups would provide benefits and maintain coexistence with each other. The Anishinaabe viewed these proposals through their systems of inaakonigewin (law), in which they believed land to be not an exclusive and exclusionary possession of one person or party but a shared entity, such as other fundamental Earthly prerequisites of life including unpolluted air and water. Based on the available evidence from the negotiations, it seems that, despite disagreements in the amounts of land to be provided within the tenets of the treaty, the Anishinaabe agreed to the terms of land division as they understood it as a treaty of non interference and equality between themselves and incoming settlers; in which they shared land desired for agriculture while also being able to utilize land for their traditional activities. Essentially, the Anishinaabe did not view the agreements about giving the land to the government as the exclusionary surrender of their title to land, but the sharing of land and its resources. Not only did the imperial British Crown act discreetly, the radical, bellicose senses of surrender and property it forwarded in the seemingly diplomatic making of treaties. In addition, the land agreements within the treaty are controversial, as it was never recorded that the Anishinaabe agreed to surrender their land to the Canadian government that the British Crown later was party to creating.

Treaty 1 also remains controversial due to the differing understandings of kinship, the role of the "Great Mother" and her promises. As with Governor Archibald's opening statement on the "Great Mother", government officials utilized this term throughout the negotiations of the treaty simply as a way to connect with the Anishinaabe kinship language, which helped enable them to enter into these agreements. For the Anishinaabe, the term held a much deeper significance as, based on their kinship relations and duties, the "Great Mother" or Queen acted as a symbolic figure who would treat their peoples with kindness, respect, and as equals, listening and aiding them with their needs.