Treaty elders of Saskatchewan : our dream is that our peoples will one day be clearly recognized as nations by Cardinal Harold 1945-

Treaty elders of Saskatchewan : our dream is that our peoples will one day be clearly recognized as nations by Cardinal Harold 1945-

Author:Cardinal, Harold, 1945-
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Indians of North America -- Saskatchewan -- Government relations, Indians of North America -- Saskatchewan -- Treaties
ISBN: 1552380432
Publisher: Calgary : University of Calgary Press
Published: 2000-09-15T00:00:00+00:00


Elder John B. Bigeye, Black Lake Denesuline Nation, Treaty 8

Elder George Cannepotato, Onion Lake First Nation, Treaty 6

Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan

41

1 Jr

~ ■' £ 4f

Indian Agent for Treaty 5 paying treaty money. Little Grand Rapids, 1925. Provincial Archives of Manitoba

conducted during the treaty negotiations and sacred undertakings made under the umbrella of those ceremonies created enduring sovereign relationships in a manner that precluded change by any of the parties to the fundamental aspects of the treaty arrangements.

Elder Peter Waskahat said:

The indigenous person was given a lot by the Creator ... [treaty] agreement that will last and cannot be broken by a two-legged person. It can only be broken through the will of the Creator. 89

Elder Celeste Randhill said:

Today is another example, based on the signing of the treaty, everybody is asking for one purpose, and that’s towards anything that’s got to do with helping us Dene people.

We have this one voice here, and everybody’s got the same story. What the Queen (or was it the King?) agreed on the treaty, we are not going to abolish that; we will respect that. We will always respect the treaties and all the things that are involved in that. It doesn’t matter even though they try and take different rights from us, we’ll still hang onto our rights, and we ll preserve it as much as we can. 90

The treaties are instruments that expanded the sovereign First Nations circle to accommodate and include the sovereign Crown. These arrangements are, in the view of the Elders, nation-to-nation agreements.

Elder Ceorge Cannepotato said:

The Treaty Commissioner had come over to shake their hands, and the Commissioner offered to be related to them, and he wanted the rest of the White people to have a

relationship with them ... in our way we made those commitments through and in the name of and in the force of the pipe stem.

And it was the pipe stem that the chiefs had Alexander Morris hold who came as the representative. That is our solemn way of doing promises. 91

The statement “treaties cannot be changed” refers to the sacred undertakings made by the parties at treaty. These undertakings included, in part, territorial and power-sharing arrangements between the sovereign authorities. Such arrangements require a foundation of stability, continuity, and certainty. The irrevocable nature of the arrangement provided such a guarantee to each of the treaty parties.

* * *

Having described the Elders’ concerns and thoughts on the perpetual character of the treaties, we now turn to consider those aspects or elements of treaty that, in their view, required flexibility and adaptability in accordance with changing times. Some of the Elders referred to a promise that these elements or matters would be dealt with in the future by the parties.

Elder Gordon Oakes said:

As I was saying about the depth of the plough, the Treaty Commissioner [Alexander Morris] also advised that some day he will be mining valuable minerals and at the time I will come back and negotiate with you again on it. You have not



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