Canada and First Nations sign the Numbered Treaties
Eleven treaties across the West trade land cession for reserves, annuities, and broken promises
Quick facts
- Treaties
- 11, signed 1871 to 1921
- Region covered
- Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains to the Beaufort Sea
- Treaty 6 unique clause
- 'Medicine chest,' famine and pestilence protection
- Common clause
- Provision for schools/teachers on reserve
What happened
Beginning with Treaty 1 in 1871 and continuing through Treaty 11 in 1921, the Canadian government negotiated eleven Numbered Treaties with First Nations across the territory from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains and north to the Beaufort Sea, using a model established by the earlier 1850 Robinson Treaties. In exchange for ceding title to their lands, Indigenous signatories were promised reserve lands, annual payments, farming equipment or, in Treaty 7's case, cattle for ranching, and continued hunting and fishing rights on unoccupied Crown land. Treaty 6, signed in 1876 at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt with Cree, Assiniboine, and Ojibwe leaders, added unique provisions including a promised 'medicine chest' at the Indian agent's house and a 'famine and pestilence' clause. Government negotiators also inserted clauses for schools and teachers on reserves in every treaty, embedding the same assimilationist goals that would soon expand into the residential school system.
Why it matters
The treaties remain legally binding today and are central to modern land and resource rights litigation, but Canada's government was slow, and often outright unwilling, to honour their terms once signed, particularly the promised support during the collapse of the buffalo economy that Indigenous nations had been assured would not be allowed to happen.
How we know
The treaty texts themselves survive in federal archives and are reproduced by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, which documents each treaty's date, signatories, and specific provisions.
Sources
- Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. The Numbered Treaties (1871-1921) · Primary source (author-declared)rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- The Canadian Encyclopedia. Numbered Treaties · Reputable sourcethecanadianencyclopedia.ca · The domain "thecanadianencyclopedia.ca" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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