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Order in Council Setting up Commission for Treaty no. 10
P.C. No. 1459

On a Report dated 12th July 1906, from the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, stating that the aboriginal title has not been extinguished in the greater portion of that part of the Province of Saskatchewan which lies north of the 54th parallel of latitude and in a small adjoining area in Alberta; that the Indians and Half-breeds of that territory are similarly situated to those whose country lies immediately to the south and west, whose claims have already been extinguished by, in the case of those who are Indians, a payment of a gratuity and annuity and the setting aside of lands as reserves, and in the case of those who are Half-breeds, by the issue of scrip; and they have from time to time pressed their claims for settlement on similar lines; that it is in the public interest that the whole of the territory included within the boundaries of the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta should be relieved of the claims of the aborigines; and that $12,000.00 has been included in the estimates for expenses in the making of a treaty with Indians and in settling the claims of the Half-breeds and for paying the usual gratuities to the Indians.

The Minister recommends as follows:

That a Treaty be made with the Indians of the aforesaid territory, which is situated partly in the Province of Saskatchewan and partly in the Province of Alberta, and lying to the east of Treaty 8, and to the north of Treaties 5 and 6, and the addition to Treaty 6, which territory contains, approximately, an area of 85,000 square miles; and that the Treaty provide:

• for the setting aside of reserves of an area not to exceed one square mile for each family of five for such number of
  • families as may elect to reside on reserves, or in that proportion for larger or smaller families, and for such Indian families or individual Indians as prefer to live apart from band reserves, the setting aside of lands in severalty to the extent of 160 acres for each Indian with a proviso as to non-alienation without the consent of the Governor in Council;
  • for the payment at the time of the making of the Treaty of $32.00 in cash to each Chief, and $22.00 to each headman, and $12.00 to every other Indian of whatever age, and the payment every year thereafter of $25.00 to each Chief, $15.00 to each headman and $5.00 to every other Indian of whatever age;
  • for the making of such provision as may from time to time be deemed advisable for the education of the Indian children; and
  • for the affording of such assistance as may be found necessary or desirable to advance the Indians in farming or stock-raising or other work.
  That the Half-breeds of the territory aforesaid be granted scrip redeemable to the amount of $240.00 in payment for Dominion Land or locatable for 240 acres of Dominion Land in the form and according to the rules followed in the issue of scrip to the Half-breeds in the territory covered by Treaty 8, which are as follows:
  
  • Every Half-breed resident in the territory to be covered by the proposed Treaty at the time of the making thereof whose claim has not been extinguished either by the issue of scrip to himself or his parents or otherwise to be granted scrip as aforesaid for land or money as he, or his parent or guardian, if he be under eighteen years of age, may elect;
  • The extinguishment of the claim of one parent shall not be held to debar from scrip any Half-breed who is a resident of the said territory at the time of the making of the Treaty;
  • In case of Half-breeds whose claims were previously extinguished and who may be residents of the said territory those of their children born in the territory or in any ceded portion of the North West outside the old boundaries of Manitoba between the 15th of July, 1870, and the end of the year 1885 are, if they have not previously received scrip, to be recognized as entitled to scrip, as they would have been recognized had their claims been presented to the Commission appointed to dispose of such claims;
  • The certificates for scrip issued in favour of Half-breeds under eighteen years of age shall be delivered to the father, if he be alive, and if not to the mother or guardian.
  The Minister further recommends that James Andrew Joseph McKenna, of the City of Winnipeg, in the Province of Manitoba, be appointed Commissioner, to make the proposed Treaty with the Indians of the territory described herein, and to hear and determine the claims of the Half-breeds therein and issue scrip as aforesaid to those of them whom he may find to be entitled; Mr. McKenna to be allowed in addition to his regular salary extra remuneration at the rate of $5.00 per diem.
  
  WILFRID LAURIER
  Ratification of Treaty no. 10
  P.C. No. 2490
  
  On a Memorandum dated 7th November, 1907, the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, submitting herewith for Your Excellency's consideration Treaty No. 10 made in 1906 by the Commissioner, James Andrew Joseph McKenna, Esquire, who was appointed to negotiate the same with the Chipewyan, Cree and other Indian inhabitants of the territory situated partly in the Province of Saskatchewan and partly in the Province of Alberta and lying to the east of Treaty No. 8 and to the north of Treaties Nos. 5 and 6 and the addition to Treaty No. 6 described in the said Treaty.
  
  The Minister also submits adhesions to the said Treaty, taken by Thomas Alexander Borthwick, Esquire, who was appointed a Commissioner to take the same during the summer of 1907 from such of the Indians of the Tribes above referred to as were not met with by Commissioner McKenna.
  
  The Minister recommends that the said Treaty, and the adhesions thereto, be approved by Your Excellency in Council; the original Treaty and adhesions to be returned to the Department of Indian Affairs and the copy thereof to be Kept of record in the Privy Council Office.
  The Committee submit the same for approval accordingly.
  WILFRID LAURIER
  
  
  Report of First Commissioner for Treaty no. 10.
  OTTAWA, January 18, 1907.
  
  The Hon. Frank Oliver,
  
  Superintendent General of Indian Affairs,
  Ottawa.
  
  SIR, --- I have the honour to transmit herewith the treaty which, under the commission issued to me July 20, 1906, I made with the Chipewyan Indians of English River and Clear Lake and the Crees of Canoe Lake, in the northern part of Saskatchewan.
  
  The arrangements which I made for meeting the Indians, of which they were advised, provided that the first meeting was to be at Portage la Loche on September 3, but unfavourable weather and the action of the Indians themselves made it impossible to carry out my programme.
  
  On reaching Isle à la Crosse on August 26, en route to Portage la Loche, I found that all the Chipewyans from English River and some ten families from Clear Lake were gathered there, waiting for the commission, which was announced to be at that point on September 13. These Indians urged strongly that they be treated with at once, on the ground that they had been gathered there for several days, that their supplies were getting low, that it was necessary that they should return to their hunting grounds without further delay, that they had come long distances, and that they would have to travel far before reaching their winter quarters.
  
  I decided to accede to their request, and met them on August 28, 1906.
  
  It appeared for a time as if there would be some considerable difficulty in effecting a settlement on the lines of the treaty, for it was evident from the trend of the talk of the leaders among the Indians that there had been at work an influence which tended to make them regard the treaty as a means of enslaving them. I was able to disabuse their minds of this absurd notion and to make it clear that the government's object was simply to do for them what had been done for neighbouring Indians when the progress of trade or settlement began to interfere with the untrammelled exercise of their aboriginal privileges as hunters.
  
  By the end of the day, the treaty was signed and the annuity and gratuity moneys paid.
  
  The number of Indians paid at this point was:
  
  2 chiefs at $32 - 64.00
  2 headmen at $22 - 44.00
  195 other Indians at $12 - 2,340.00
  199 - $2,448 00
  
  The chief of the Clear Lake band, who was empowered to speak for his people, requested that the remainder of the band be paid at Buffalo Narrows, where they would gather to meet me on the return journey from Portage la Loche.
  
  After treating with these Indians, I left Isle à la Crosse on August 30 for Portage la Loche, at which point I was due on September 3; but for the reasons given above, I did not reach there until the 5th.
  
  The people at this point were all half-breeds and were dealt with as such.
  
  On the 8th of the same month, I left for la Loche mission, across la Loche lake, a distance of nine miles, where more half-breeds had to be met and dealt with. There were at this point three aged Chipewyan women who desired to be attached to the Clear Lake band, and I entered them as members and paid them treaty.
  
  Having completed my work at la Loche mission on the 11th, I started on my return journey to Isle à la Crosse, reaching Buffalo Narrows on the evening of the 16th. The chief of the Clear Lake band and those of his people who had not yet been paid treaty were gathered here. I met them the following day; found them satisfied with the action of their chief in becoming a party to the treaty, and paid the gratuity and annuity.
  
  The number of Indians paid at this point, including three members of the band at Bull's House, was: --- 110 Indians at $12, $1,320.
  
  At the request of the chief, the appointment of headmen was deferred until next treaty payments, as the Indians were not then prepared to make their selections.
  
  After completing the work at Buffalo Narrows, I pushed on to Isle à la Crosse, a distance of fifty-five miles, arriving there the same night. I met the Cree Indians of Canoe Lake the next day and explained to them all the stipulations contained in the treaty. I secured their adhesion on September l9.
  
  The number of this band is eighty-two, consisting of one chief, two headmen and seventy-nine other Indians; the amount paid was $1,024.
  
  The next point of destination was Stanley, where I was scheduled to meet the Indians on October 8; but between my leaving and returning to Isle à la Crosse a report came to the Hudson's Bay Company to the effect that the streams were very shallow and that travel would, therefore, be so very difficult and slow that in all probability our party would be frozen in and would have to remain at Stanley until dog trains could be procured. This report was quite confirmed by the information which Messrs. Revillon Freres had from that part of the country, and of which their manager, Monsieur Benard, very kindly apprised me. From the report it also appeared that, even if we made the trip, it would be impossible for the Indians from the northeastern portion of the country to be gathered there, and that there were at Stanley and in its immediate vicinity only a few half-breed families who had had their claims settled before they migrated to that region. I therefore decided to cancel the appointment, and sent notice to that effect to the people, assuring them at the same time that they would be visited at a future date, of which they would be duly notified.
  
  As the discussions which took place with the bands treated with were much on the same lines, I shall confine myself to a general statement of their import.
  
  There was a marked absence of the old Indian style of oratory, the Indians confining themselves to asking questions and making brief arguments. They all demanded even more liberal terms than were granted to Indians treated with in past years, the chief of the English River band going so far as to claim payment of 'arrears' from the year when the first treaty was made; some expected to be entirely fed by the government, after the making of the treaty; all asked for assistance in seasons of distress; and it was strongly urged that the old and indigent who were no longer able to hunt and trap and were consequently often in destitute circumstances, should be cared for by the government.
  
  There was a general expression of fear that the making of the treaty would be followed by the curtailment of their hunting and fishing privileges, and the necessity of not allowing the lakes and the rivers to be monopolized or depleted by commercial fishing was emphasized.
  
  There was evidenced a marked desire to secure educational privileges for their children. In this connection and speaking for the Indians generally, the chief of the English River band insisted that in the carrying out of the government's Indian educational policy among them there should be no interference with the system of religious schools now conducted by the mission, but that public aid should be given for improvement and extension along the lines already followed.
  
  The chief of the Canoe Lake band stated that there were about twenty-five children of school age in his band, and asked that a day school be established at Canoe Lake for their benefit and that it be put under the management of a woman teacher.
  
  There was also a demand made for a few head of cattle to be given to those of the Indians who wished to go into the industry of stock-raising.
  
  The Indians all agreed to have one place of payment in the future; but made it a condition that the payments should be held about the middle of June of each year, as that is the only time at which the gathering for annuity payments would not interfere with their avocations to an extent that the payment would be no adequate compensation for. They selected Isle à la Crosse as the place of payment.
  
  They further requested that medicines be furnished, and made an earnest appeal for the appointment of a resident medical man.
  
  In my reply I convinced them that such a claim as they put forward for what they called 'arrears' had never before been heard of, and that I could not for a moment recognize any obligation on the government's part except such as would be put upon it in virtue of the execution of the treaty. I pointed out to them that the government could not undertake to maintain Indians in idleness; that the same means of earning a livelihood would continue after the treaty was made as existed before it; and that Indians would be expected to make as good use of them in the future as in the past. I stated that the government was always ready to assist Indians in actual destitution; that in times of distress they would, without any special stipulation in the treaty, receive such assistance as it was usual to give in order to prevent starvation among them, and that the attention of the government would be called to the necessity of some special provision being made for assisting the old and indigent who were unable to work and dependent on charity for subsistence.
  
  I guaranteed that the treaty would not lead to any forced interference with their mode of life. I explained to them that, whether treaty was made or not, they were subject to the law, bound to obey it and liable to punishment for any infringement thereof; that it was designed for the protection of all and must be respected by all the inhabitants of the country, irrespective of colour or origin; and that, in requiring them to abide by it, they were only being required to do the duty imposed upon all the people throughout the Dominion of Canada. I dwelt upon the importance, in their own interest, of the observance of the laws respecting the protection of fish and game.
  
  As to education, the Indians were assured that there was no need for special stipulation over and above the general provision in the treaty, as it was the policy of the government to provide in every part of the country as far as circumstances would permit, for the education of the Indian children, and that the law provided for schools for Indians maintained and assisted by the government being conducted as to religious auspices in accordance with the wishes of the Indians.
  
  It was explained that the assistance in farming and ranching mentioned in the treaty, is only to be given when the Indians are actually prepared to go into those industries. It is not likely that for many years to come, there will be a call for any but a small expenditure under these heads. It is not probable that the Indians will, while present conditions continue, engage in farming further than the raising of roots in a small way. As to cattle, I stated that the agent who will be sent to make the next treaty payments, would be asked to discuss the matter with them, but that those only who are considered able and willing to take good care of cattle would receive assistance in that form.
  
  I promised that medicines would be placed at different points in the charge of persons to be selected by the government, and would be distributed to those of the Indians who might require them. I showed them that it would be practically impossible for the government to arrange for a resident doctor owing to the Indians being so widely scattered over such an extensive territory; but I assured them that the government would always be ready to avail itself of any opportunity of affording medical service just as it provided that the physician attached to the commission should give free attendance to all Indians whom he might find in need of treatment.
  
  In the main, the demand will be for ammunition and twine, as the great majority of the Indians will continue to hunt and fish for a livelihood. It does not appear likely that the conditions of that part of Saskatchewan covered by the treaty will be for many years so changed as to affect hunting and trapping, and it is expected, therefore, that the great majority of the Indians will continue in these pursuits as a means of subsistence.
  
  The Indians were given the option of taking reserves or land in severalty, when they felt the need of having land set apart for them. I made it clear that the government had no desire to interfere with their mode of life or to restrict them to reserves and that it undertook to have land in the proportions stated in the treaty set apart for them, when conditions interfered with their mode of living and it became necessary to secure them possession of land.
  
  The Indians dealt with are in character, habit, manner of dress and mode of living similar to the Chipewyans and Crees of the Athabaska country. It is difficult to draw a line of demarcation between those who classed themselves as Indians and those who elected to be treated with as half-breeds. Both dress alike and follow the same mode of life. It struck me that the one group was, on the whole, as well able to provide for self-support as the other.
  
  After leaving Green Lake, our route was by rivers and lakes and afforded not much opportunity for forming an opinion of the country ceded and of its resources. From our point of view, the country appeared flat. There were extensive stretches of hay-lands along the rivers and wooded heights about the lakes. The waters abound in fish, which form the chief article of food.....
  
  
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