Treaty 6 Flag. Image retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/sktreaties/photos.
Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Our Country has had the tendency throughout its history to look at Treaties through the lens of the Crown, emphasizing that the true intent and meaning of a Treaty stems from the written text. However, the Treaties cannot be understood in isolation.1 The Indigenous perspective is equally as important in Treaty interpretation, especially as we move forward in reconciliation.
For Indigenous signatories, the Treaty process was significant to their spiritual traditions, beliefs, and ceremonies.2 Elders explain that the starting point of the Treaties is their relationship to the Creator, who
“[gave them] animals for food and shelter, water to drink and to make things grow, trees for shelter, fuel and ceremonies, plants for medicine, rocks to help make fire and for arrowheads...The Creator gave them all that they needed to survive both spiritually and materially.” 3
As such, the Treaty process was seen as involving three parties: the Crown, the Indigenous, and the Creator. With their laws flowing from the Creator, the Indigenous signatories acknowledged the strength of their promises to one another stemming from the Treaty. Harold Johnson explains,
“A bond far stronger than any contractual obligations holds us together. Your law of contract and treaty allows for breach and remedy. The Creator’s law does not allow for any breach whatsoever. Failure to comply has consequences, and no matter how severe the failure, the promise never becomes null and void.” 4
The Treaty promises were solemnized with the use of the sacred pipe, as the Indigenous signatories took the Crown’s “ancestors as relatives” in accordance with the law of adoption.5 To further strengthen the nature of the Treaty, Alexander Morris, Commissioner of Treaty 6, used the promise “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the river flows.” This promise indicated the everlasting nature of the Treaty between the Indigenous and the Crown, as it depicted the “spiritual aspects of the sun, the grass, and the river.” When promises are made that invoke such spirits, it is believed that “the maker of the promise and all his descendants are bound by that promise. A promise made to these spirits cannot be broken.” 6
The Indigenous understanding of the meaning and intent of the Treaties shows the importance of the promises made during negotiations, whether written or not, and opens up dialogue on why many promises within the Treaties are not being met today. There cannot be an “enduring and lasting relationship”7 between the Indigenous and the Crown when one side is consistently leaving their Treaty promises unfulfilled. This ignores the sacred nature of the Treaties as described by the Elders, which ultimately sets all Canadians back as we strive to move forward in reconciliation.
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] Harold Cardinal & Walter Hildebrandt, Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan: Our dream is that our peoples will one day be clearly recognized as nations (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2000) at 1.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid at 10.
[4] Harold Johnson, Two Families: Treaties and Government (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing Ltd., 2007) at 29.
[5] Ibid at 27.
[6] Ibid at 29.
[7] Cardinal, supra note 1 at 15.
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