Why were Treaties negotiated?
The treaty negotiation process originated with the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This document not only outlined but boundaries of the British Colonies in the new world, but also established a mechanism where Aboriginal title to lands can be extinguished via surrender to the Crown. In exchange for land, the First Nations Chiefs negotiated for special rights in exchange for these lands. Generally treaty rights include but are not limited to:
- Land
- Education
- Health
- Economic development
- Hunting, gathering and fishing
- Self-governance et.al
While the early treaties did not necessarily include these rights, in the numbered treaties negotiated on the plains largely during the 1870s these rights are recorded in the treaties. On the plains this was a time of extreme hardship, the buffalo were becoming scarcer and scarcer, largely due to the actions of the cavalry and settlers in the United States. Depletion of fur stocks, also meant increased migration often increasing tensions among various tribes and due to European introduced diseases such as smallpox, was decimating the Indigenous populations. In addition the building of the trans-Canada railroad also meant an increase in white settlement across the territories formerly controlled by First Nations. The Chiefs of the time recognized that times were changing, that unless First Nations people adapted to this new reality, First Nations people could disappear. These Chiefs viewed Education as a means for their children to adapt to this changing world.
First Nations View of Education
First Nations education was vastly different from the Euro-Canadian view of education. To First Nations people, education was a means to give children the knowledge they needed to survive. To meet this goal, every member of the community played a role in the education of Children. Largely this education system was based upon the concepts of looking, listening and learning.
Unlike European institutionalised education system, First Nations education system was based on a subtle guidance toward desired behaviour through the use of games, stories, and as the child neared early adulthood ritualized ceremonies to impart rights of passage along with educating children of the customs and values of the people. In the case of those chosen by the Elders to become spiritual and community leaders even more structured and specialized knowledge were taught. Within this system corporal punishment as used in European cultures was unknown, rather acceptable behaviour was taught by example, discipline was administered via ridicule and subtle warnings rather than blows or physical punishment.
The "Cunning of the Whiteman"
This statement has generally been interpreted as the education clause within the numbered treaties. During the negotiations of treaty four, treaty commissioner Alexander Morris stated that the Queen was offering her red children the opportunity to learn the cunning of whiteman, when and if they chose to adopt it. This statement implies that First Nation people did not agree to send their children away to residential schools, and understandibly, many of the First Nations people present viewed this education to be a partnership between First Nations and non-First Nations to give their children the opportunity to learn what they needed to survive in this quickly changing economy. However, history has shown that the education system established by the government has been anything but a partnership and for generations was established to assimilate First Nations people into the Canadian norm, as stated by the Superintendent of Indian Affairs Dr. Duncan Campbell Scott in 1920, "Our objective is to continue until there is not one Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department."
This attitude resulted in a system where First Nations lost control of the development of their culture and society. The introduction of foreign values via this education system controlled by church and government not only changed First Nations people, but the very foundation of their societies and culture and resulted in losses that are still being felt today.
While in 1972, control of this education system was turned over to First Nations, the government retained ultimate control by retaining control of funding. Thus maintaining the hegemonic relationship between First Nations and the government of Canada.
