THE TREATIES OF CANADA WITH THE INDIANS OF MANITOBA AND THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES, INCLUDING THE NEGOTIATIONS ON WHICH THEY WERE BASED, AND OTHER INFORMATION RELATING THERETO.

BY THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS, P.C., LATE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF MANITOBA, THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES, AND KEE-WA-TIN.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY The Right Honorable the Earl of Dufferin,

Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg, K.P.P.C., K.C.B., G.C.M.G., &c., &c., &c.

My Lord,--

Encouraged by the earnest interest, your Lordship ever evinced, in the work of obtaining the alliance and promoting the welfare of the Indian tribes in the North-West of Canada, and in opening up the Territories for settlement, by obtaining the relinquishment of the natural title of the Indians to the lands of the Fertile Belt on fair and just terms, I have the honor, by your kind permission, to dedicate this collection of the treaties made with them, to your Excellency, in the belief that its publication will be timely, and that the information now supplied in a compact form, may prove of service to the Dominion of Canada.

I have the honor to be Your Lordship's obedient servant, ALEXANDER MORRIS,

Late Lieut.-Gov. of Manitoba, the North-West Territories, and Kee-wa-tin.

TORONTO, March, 1880.

PREFACE

The question of the relations of the Dominion of Canada to the Indians of the North-West, is one of great practical importance The work, of obtaining their good will, by entering into treaties of alliance with them, has now been completed in all the region from Lake Superior to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. As an aid to the other and equally important duty--that of carrying out, in their integrity, the obligations of these treaties, and devising means whereby the Indian population of the Fertile Belt can be rescued from the hard fate which otherwise awaits them, owing to the speedy destruction of the buffalo, hitherto the principal food supply of the Plain Indians, and that they may be induced to become, by the adoption of agricultural and pastoral pursuits, a self supporting community--I have prepared this collection of the treaties made with them, and of information, relating to the negotiations, on which these treaties were based, in the hope that I may thereby contribute to the completion of a work, in which I had considerable part, that, of, by treaties, securing the good will of the Indian tribes, and by the helpful hand of the Dominion, opening up to them, a future of promise, based upon the foundations of instruction and the many other advantages of civilized life.

M.

CONTENTS

Introduction I. The Selkirk Treaty II. The Robinson Treaty III. The Manitoulin Island Treaty IV. The Stone Fort and Manitoba Post Treaties, Numbers One and Two V. Treaty Number Three; or, the North-West Angle Treaty VI. The Qu'Appelle Treaty, or Number Four VII. The Revision of Treaties Numbers One and Two VIII. The Winnipeg Treaty Number Five IX. The Treaties at Forts Carlton and Pitt X. Treaty Number Seven; or, the Blackfeet Treaty XI. The Sioux in the North-West Territories XII. The Administration of the Treaties--The Half-breeds--The Future of the Indian Tribes APPENDIX--Texts of the Treaties and Supplementary Adhesions thereto

THE TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS OF MANITOBA, THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES, AND KEE-WA-TIN, IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA.

INTRODUCTION

One of the gravest of the questions presented for solution by the Dominion of Canada, when the enormous region of country formerly known as the North-West Territories and Rupert's Land, was entrusted by the Empire of Great Britain and Ireland to her rule, was the securing the alliance of the Indian tribes, and maintaining friendly relations with them. The predecessors of Canada--the Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay,